Scott Hamilton & Jeff Hamilton Trio Live in Bern

The early 1990s were the height of Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey's popularity, particularly spurred by his conspicuous appearance in the 1989 Patrick Swazye film Roadhouse (United Artists). Healey, who passed away in 2006 at age 41, was noted for his novel guitar playing technique, developed possibly in response to his childhood blindness caused by familial retinoblastoma. Healey played the guitar flat on his lap, right handed, picking with this right hand and fretting this his left, playing in a guitar standard tuning (EAGDBE).

'Live in Europe' crowns what was a momentous year for pianist Fred Hersch. Capturing his trio - with longtime associates, bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson - in peak form, the new album signals a high level mark for an ensemble that has been garnering critical and popular praise for nearly a decade.

On 10 October 2001 the Esbjörn Svensson Trio e.s.t. played a concert at Gothenburg Concert Hall in Sweden. Thereafter, Svensson would always refer to it as one of the very best that the trio ever played. The recording of that performance is now appearing for the first time as the album "e.s.t live in Gothenburg", and it was indeed, as Svensson described it, one of those very fortunate moments. Everything just flows naturally, the energies of the musicians and the listeners inspire each other, boundaries between composition and improvisation become blurred, melodies follow through seamlessly from the tunes and into the solos. At this point in its development, e.s.t. as a band has coalesced and found a genuine sense of unity. The tunes serve as mere starting points for the musicians to head off without any fixed ideas as to where they will end up. What is clear is that each of them is fully enjoying every step of the journey.