Magnus Öström E.s.t. 30

Magnus Öström is finally back with the first album as a leader of his career. After more than two years of silence Magnus went back to his favorite studio, the Atlantis Studio in Stockholm. He joined up with his old friend, sound engineer Janne Hansson, to record some brand new compositions that he had written during the period following Esbjörn Svensson´s untimely passing and the dissolution of e.s.t..

Swedish drummer Magnus Öström is best known as part of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, which became a successful jazz-rock crossover act until Svensson’s tragically early death in a diving accident in 2008. Since then Öström has pursued a solo career (with supporting band), and this, his third album, shows him exploring similar generic territory to e.s.t. Yet the mood is very different: e.s.t. had a knack of creating slow-burning, melodic hits that lingered in the memory like a favourite aroma. They were subtle and complex, but accessible to many outside the usual jazz crowd. Öström was a childhood friend of Svensson’s and has spoken of his enduring grief at his companion’s death, and the title Parachute refers to the solace he finds in music.

Esbjorn Svensson Trio - When Everyone Has Gone (1993) {2004 Japan diskUnion Edition DIW-480}
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© 2004 Dragon Records / diskUnion | DIW-480
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz / Piano / Electronic

Clearly it's difficult to listen to any jazz recording without making comparisons with other great artists who have gone before them. In the last couple of decades, the position occupied by Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio has almost demanded that such comparisons should be made with them, and those who are fans of Jarrett will not be disappointed here. But this 1993 (and also pre-ACT) recording in the wide-ranging catalogue of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio not only establishes them as artists who march to the beat of their own orignal drum, but offers the listener a signpost to how the trio would emerge over the next decade or so.

Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Strange Place For Snow (2002) {Columbia}
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© 2002 Columbia / Sony Music | CK 86545
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

E.S.T.'s second U.S. outing offers palatable, often lively acoustic jazz with tantalizing electronic flourishes. It's similar in thrust to the trio's 2001 U.S. debut, Somewhere Else Before, but not as strong melodically. Still, leader/pianist Esbjörn Svensson, bassist Daniel Berglund, and drummer Magnus Öström deliver some heated improvisational exchanges, particularly later in the program on the speedy, almost Mehldau-esque "When God Created the Coffee Break" and the post-bop boogaloo blues "Spunky Sprawl."

Like jazz, soul has undergone an evolution from an American-based music rooted in the blues into a form of expression that now finds itself at home anywhere in the world. This global reach of the music is visible in ACT’s artist roster where we find, among others, Nils Landgren, Knut Reiersrud, Solveig Slettahjell, Magnus Lindgren, Torsten Goods, and - above all - the Swedish singer/pianist Ida Sand. Her four previous albums have channelled jazz, pop and folk influences, but "My Soul Kitchen" is different. It is Ida Sand's clearest declaration yet of her love of "sweet soul music", and is also a demonstration of her deep affinity for it. There are songs by soul greats such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and The Meters, which are completely at one with both Ida Sand's own tunes and with her soulful interpretations of the music of artists like John Fogerty and Mike Shapiro. As Ida Sand herself says: "Soul music is such a broad genre. There’s funky soul, blue-eyed soul, neo-soul, RnB, New Orleans soul, Motown-soul and many others. This album is a blend of many of these.”