Esbjörn Svensson JL 11.vi.11 Candy Floss or Muesli?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Esbjörn Svensson JL

after an initial flush of enthusiasm i found myself recoiling in embarrassment at my own reactions ... time to check out and review ... John Walters talks with Alyn ....

[Anna]

I've just switched on Jazz Library, a little bit late as it's 22 mins into it. I don't know him at all. Initially it sounds like Hotel Plaza Lounge music, but pleasant enough I guess.

[Old Grumpy]

May be an acquired taste, I agree - but I have certainly acquired it. As with most bands - best seen live, I guess - but too late now obviously. The Live in Hamburg album gives a good overall flavour.

The Plaza Hotel lounge comment is perhaps a little harsh!

[Serial_Apologist]

Having just heard what I take to be a representive sample of EST - not previously having paid the group the attention I should - I can hear where groups such as Kit Downes's trio get their foundational idea from: in Kit's case, early EST. But progress was not apparent to me: rather a process of simplification and banalisation as more effects were added, concluding, in that final CD, in something resembling Pink Floyd ca. Ummagumma. Walters's comment at the end that they might have gained an audience for themselves but not for jazz in the wider picture was the one statement in the programme I agreed with. Music sacrificed to effect and decibels. That last track almost made me physically ill. It's hard to imagine how the group could have emerged and resumed a more creative direction.

S-A

[Old Grumpy]

S-A, I do tend to agree - Leucocyte was one step too far. The rest is certainly worth listening to in my view, though (as with much in the Jazz world) it may take several hearings to get into. I, personally, think the musicianship of the three members of EST is beyond question - it is certainly not lounge music.

[hackneyvi]

The second track reminded me of a cross between the theme from Miami Vice and an especially bombastic intro to an ITV consumer affairs programme, the regular presenters all being filmed in expressionist camera angles.

The bass drum on the last track put me in mind of a one man band. I liked the pieces's syncopations as it finished but was surprised that it stopped so soon; the music seemed to be coming to a point where it could do something maybe minimalistically interesting with its rhythms.

[Serial_Apologist]

The second track reminded me of a cross between the theme from Miami Vice and an especially bombastic intro to an ITV consumer affairs programme, the regular presenters all being filmed in expressionist camera angles.

The bass drum on the last track put me in mind of a one man band. I liked the pieces's syncopations as it finished but was surprised that it stopped so soon; the music seemed to be coming to a point where it could do something maybe minimalistically interesting with its rhythms.

Reminders - indeed!

[Ian Thumwood]

I've been quite harsh of EST in the past but I felt that this programme was a good summation of their work. The comparison with Nina Simone and the more "jazz-lite" kinds of jazz piano groups of the 50's / 60's was spot on.

The most salient point about this band was the fact that the audience were coming from a different direction from the more typical jazz fan and, if your taste was in the more "challenging" side of rock, they would make a lot of sense. I must admit that my enthusiasm for their music was compromised by some very uncritical articles in "Jazzwise" magazine in the late 90's where I found , for the first time, that there were new aspects in jazz for which I didn't particularly care. So, to but in simply, EST's arrival on the scene marked the point at which I started to realise that I was getting on!! I would suggest that there won't be too many people over the age of 40 listening to their music.

As for the music, it is pretty lightweight but not too objectional. I don't really think that this group is essential in a notional "Jazz Library" by a long chalk other than for the fact it typified a movement in jazz which seems to be rapidly coming to a natural conclusion. Certainly, younger pianists like Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, Vijay Iyer and Gerald Clayton seem to me to be positioning themselves where the jazz piano should be. I only saw EST play live once and they certainly didn't seem anything special - a kind of piano trio version of "Weather Report" with elements of sub-Jarrett. They definately didn't seem capable of being as exciting as a live proposition as this programme suggested and I was put off by the iced smoke that filled the stage. This seemed to be incompatable with a serious jazz concert although I recognise that a young audience is unlikely to want to sit through a Keith Jarrett gig. Surely, the muisc should speak for itself? Definately a case of "style over content." Even more, I think this is a group whose music will quickly date. Curious to see MMW come up in the discussion and they have filled a pretty similar position in the States but I think their alignment to the jazz tradition marks them out as a far more interesting and challenging band. The recent "Radiolarians" CD's so are many notches above what EST acheived than they can quickly be forgiven some of the uneven discs on Blue Note. Definately worth a programme of their own too.

Difficult not to think about another "star" Swedish export when considering EST. Thomas Brolin was once hailed as one of the brightest talents in European football before he got fat and bloated and ended up as a laughing stock at Leeds United. He ended up as a cobbler - whereas I always felt that EST were always cobblers.

All in all, a well balanced programme and some salient comments. However, the music is probably too commercial to properly merit serious consideration in a definative collection of jazz records. The records are not unpleasant yet with so much great jazz out there to check out, I think you could be forgiven for over-looking them.

[burning dog]

I don't think there is much in common with Nina Simone, Ramsey Lewis et al These were people who were in the African Amercian tradition but lessened the improvisational aspect of there music for popularity, they were grounded in both jazz and soul as a lot of Amercans are.

EST sound like they have adopted both jazz and the 'popular' 'dance' of their music. MMW are much more in tune with the soul jazz blues tradition IMO