Being There

The one thing Tord Gustavsen's jazz trio has in common with novelist Haruki Murakami is their ability to create dreamlike landscape through their own creativity media. The difference, though, is that in the process of the creation, Murakami will use as many as possible details to blend reality and dreamscape; whereas in the case of Tord Gustavsen Trio, we are only provided with the basic framework for slow and very often restrained melodies, in which nothing is developed into complexity rather than merely the feeling per se.

Nonetheless, this is not to say that their music is lackluster. The trio displayed in their previous albums Changing Places and the Ground, their abilities to compose such beautiful yet not abstract jazz in a discipline which Gustavsen puts, "inspired by a love of spaces". In jazz, sometimes playing a riff in between notes might be easy, but leaving it blank takes up imagination. Tord Gustavsen Trio definitely has this imagination.

Releasing their third album in five years, Being There, as part of a trilogy, the trio has taken their restraint way of utterance to a new territory. When you start listening to the album, the sense of déjà vu will dominate you even if you have never heard of their previous albums. Yet as the music goes on, it will be clear to even long-time listeners that you are not in a familiar place at all. Tunes like Blessed Feet (a Jarrett-like funky tune) and Where We Went (an up-tempo Spanish dance) sing a more assertive but not aggressive kind of lyrics, while the music is still kept as simple and uncanny as it possibly can. The way trio instruments are approached, especially by drummer Jarle Vespestrad, whose plays are being felt rather than heard for most of the time, meshes delicate whispers altogether in modest tempi and continuous rubato. This un-trio-like instrumental integration makes the music feel like dream flows in a constantly changing vista, which finally resolves back to the same place where it started when the album ends with the peaceful tune Wide Open.

All About Jazz reviewer John Kelman put the trio's distinctive character beautifully: "As silence can sometimes speak as loudly as thunder, and insofar as careful elaboration of melody can be just as compelling as more vivid expansion, Gustavsen's trio makes a clear case for the elusive power of restraint." Gustavsen phrases it romantically, that his music is "about loving every note". It is this very tendency of playing what you like, rather than what you ought to play between passages, together with the elaborated yet elegant lyrics of the tunes, that creates this unique aesthetic and the kind of feeling you will not have very often in reality, but in dreams.

"Being There" somehow manages to take the quiet rapture of the trio's previous album (The Ground) to a new level.

There are beautiful slow pieces that gradually unfold with paradoxically crystalline warmth (At Home, Draw Near, Sani, Still There), an intriguing angular piece (Karmosin) and three up-tempo numbers - the funky Blessed Feet, the Spanish-tinged Where We Went and my favourite, Vicar Street. Half of the track is a tense, urgent build-up that then resolves into a gorgeous yearning theme.

I've seen some great drummers and percussionists in my time (e.g. Airto Moreira, Mike Shrieve of Santana, Zakir Hussein) and the trio's Jarle Vesperstad is up there with the best, but in his own distinctive way. In his hands a standard drum kit becomes a real instrument.

What I love about the Tord Gustavsen Trio is that they show masterfully how improvised music can be melodically accessible without being schmaltzy and technically satisfying without degenerating into ego-tripping clever-clever stuff. It takes outstanding musicians to play such apparently simple music.

This is another album from the trio that can appeal to people who like it "easy on the ear", but will richly reward more discerning music lovers.

A bit like warm sun on a tropical island, Tord Gustavssen's music has the effect of purveying instant calm & contentment. Allow yourself NO distractions (headphones are perfect) & you will be transported into another space where anything & nothing is probable (another reviewer's "Dreamlike Adagio" title says it all!). The playing is at once masterful & spare, understated & yet quietly intense. Another bonus is it's 100% fully acoustic (ie. doesn't use reverb or other "tricks" of some jazz trios) & is totally relaxed & unhurried in its approach. As the first 3 tracks are immediate standouts, all you need do is have a quick listen to at least one of them & only the most hardened heavy-metal type audiophiles could fail to be moved. Even better, each track has its own distinct characteristics so there's no "heard this before" factor. For example, after you've listened to any or all of the first 3 tracks, skip forward to the attention grabbing intro to "Where we went". If I did have a minor criticism it would be that tracks 5 through 8 feature some slightly "heavy handed" chords & are therefore a little less subtle than the often sublime music that precedes & follows them. But overall, delightful stuff & worthy of 5 stars!

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