Certainly a major force in jazz today, probably more in Europe than in the US with artists like Silje Neergard having almost reached pop status, similar albeit not quite as successful as her American colleagues Ms Krall and Jones.
What are your favourite or recommended albums? This might be akin to asking "What's your favourite American jazz", but let's give it a try anyway.
I'll start with mine, mainly from recent jazz. All fairly uncontroversial and accessible recommendations, I think.
Tord Gustavsen - The Ground
A rather slow CD marked by spare lyricism and sheer beauty. Perfect background music but yields huge rewards for the attentive listener as well. Changing Places is very good, too, but I prefer The Ground. Upon first listening it almost sounds like New Age (although it needs be a very inattentive first listen) but the melodic approach shouldn't be mistaken for lack of profoundness. Very pretty, very melodic, real jazz. Whenever I need to rest my mind, I either go for Bach's Goldberg Variations or Bill Evans or Tord Gustavsen.
Arild Andersen Trio - The Triangle
A CD in typical ECM fashion. Not as minimalistic as Tord Gustavsen, with more dissonant passages and tension but also marked by very beautiful melody lines and modal landscapes. Yet neither is it clichéd nor does it have the superficial aftertaste of failed New Age compositions. It's real jazz with a solid backbone, intelligent musical build-ups and well-timed tension releases. The pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos is the real deal. Perfect with a lager beer.
E.S.T. - Somewhere Else Before (a best-of release of their earlier albums for the American market)
The Esbjörn Svensson Trio is one of my favourite piano trio and jazz bands in general. I adore their "Plays Monk", "Good Morning Susie Soho" and latest "Viaticum" album. Their music is, for jazz standards, fairly accessible, which may explain their pop status in the jazz community. But they're at the top for good reason. The live concerts I attended rank among the best I've ever heard. My piano teacher taught me that good jazz is like sex - with a continuous yet not monotonous increase in tension and musical density. The Esbjörn Svensson Trio executes that in a hip, Swedish and brilliant fashion.
Bugge Wesseltoft - Moving
Ah yes, probably the reigning master of jazz with electronica. His "New Conceptions of Jazz" releases and movement started a real boom for jazz mixed with ambient elements in Europe. This CD and his recording Filming featuring Joshua Redman are real gems in my CD collection. I personally prefer Filming but Moving is the more well-known recording. Great for chilling out in the lounge, too.
Nils Landgren - Live in Montreux
Many called him the successor to Maceo Parker. But wait a second, we're talking about a Swedish trombone player here. That's right, this is funk at its best. Maceo Parker was famous in Europe for being the ending act at jazz festivals because he would give one encore after another. Nils Landgren stepped into his foot steps after Maceo seemed to get a bit tired and lost a bit of his original drive and spontaneous energy. An excellent studio album is 5.000 Miles. He has also released more sensual recordings such as Sentimental Journey but I just like his funk and the live recording at Montreux captures it the best.
What are your favourite or recommended albums? This might be akin to asking "What's your favourite American jazz", but let's give it a try anyway.
I'll start with mine, mainly from recent jazz. All fairly uncontroversial and accessible recommendations, I think.
Tord Gustavsen - The Ground
A rather slow CD marked by spare lyricism and sheer beauty. Perfect background music but yields huge rewards for the attentive listener as well. Changing Places is very good, too, but I prefer The Ground. Upon first listening it almost sounds like New Age (although it needs be a very inattentive first listen) but the melodic approach shouldn't be mistaken for lack of profoundness. Very pretty, very melodic, real jazz. Whenever I need to rest my mind, I either go for Bach's Goldberg Variations or Bill Evans or Tord Gustavsen.
Arild Andersen Trio - The Triangle
A CD in typical ECM fashion. Not as minimalistic as Tord Gustavsen, with more dissonant passages and tension but also marked by very beautiful melody lines and modal landscapes. Yet neither is it clichéd nor does it have the superficial aftertaste of failed New Age compositions. It's real jazz with a solid backbone, intelligent musical build-ups and well-timed tension releases. The pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos is the real deal. Perfect with a lager beer.
E.S.T. - Somewhere Else Before (a best-of release of their earlier albums for the American market)
The Esbjörn Svensson Trio is one of my favourite piano trio and jazz bands in general. I adore their "Plays Monk", "Good Morning Susie Soho" and latest "Viaticum" album. Their music is, for jazz standards, fairly accessible, which may explain their pop status in the jazz community. But they're at the top for good reason. The live concerts I attended rank among the best I've ever heard. My piano teacher taught me that good jazz is like sex - with a continuous yet not monotonous increase in tension and musical density. The Esbjörn Svensson Trio executes that in a hip, Swedish and brilliant fashion.
Bugge Wesseltoft - Moving
Ah yes, probably the reigning master of jazz with electronica. His "New Conceptions of Jazz" releases and movement started a real boom for jazz mixed with ambient elements in Europe. This CD and his recording Filming featuring Joshua Redman are real gems in my CD collection. I personally prefer Filming but Moving is the more well-known recording. Great for chilling out in the lounge, too.
Nils Landgren - Live in Montreux
Many called him the successor to Maceo Parker. But wait a second, we're talking about a Swedish trombone player here. That's right, this is funk at its best. Maceo Parker was famous in Europe for being the ending act at jazz festivals because he would give one encore after another. Nils Landgren stepped into his foot steps after Maceo seemed to get a bit tired and lost a bit of his original drive and spontaneous energy. An excellent studio album is 5.000 Miles. He has also released more sensual recordings such as Sentimental Journey but I just like his funk and the live recording at Montreux captures it the best.
These records aren't maybe quite as uncontroversial or accessible as saint.panda's, but very good none the less. IMO, of course.
! I definitely need to expand my jazz horizons. Where is a good place to find and purchase CDs (or vinyl) from some of these folks?
