The tragic death of the Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson in June 2008 robbed the world of one of the most significant jazz musicians of recent times. Svensson perished in a freak diving accident at the age of just 44. With his colleagues Dan Berglund (bass) and Magnus Ohrstrom (drums) Svensson pretty much re-defined the parameters of the “piano trio” whilst achieving commercial success on what was, for jazz, an incredible scale. Svensson and his colleagues did this without in any way compromising or “dumbing down” their music and their last studio release “Leucocyte”, released after Svensson’s death, saw them still developing and widening their musical horizons.

E.S.T’s success was all the more remarkable given that they emerged from something of a provincial backwater in Sweden. Svensson and Ohrstrom were lifelong friends who had played music together since infancy, Berglund came on board in 1991 to create a unique chemistry that continued to flourish throughout the group’s career. E.S.T were pretty much the European equivalent of guitarist Pat Metheny with whom they occasionally played. Both E.S.T. and the Pat Metheny Group built up a word of mouth following by playing literally hundreds of gigs. This work ethic allied to the shrewd presentation of their music (or “marketing” if you must) got them across to an audience who were not necessarily jazz listeners first and foremost. Both groups used rock style lighting and sometimes volume but the integrity of their music was never in doubt. Even more important was their melodic sense and a knack for writing a good tune plus the ability to present complex musical ideas in an accessible manner. For E.S.T. signing for the Munich based ACT label meant that their music gained international distribution and this enabled them to conquer the whole of Europe (they were already stars in much of Scandinavia) and even America. They were famously the first European band to be featured on the cover of “Downbeat” magazine.

In the UK regular airplay on Radio 3’s “Late Junction” helped to spread the word. This was where I first heard the group round about the time of the release “Strange Place For Snow” (2002) which remains my favourite E.S.T album pretty much for this reason. The band’s whole catalogue is of a uniformly high standard.

The music on this compilation has been chosen by E.S.T.‘s surviving members Dan Berglund and Magnus Ohrstrom, their liner notes charting the history of the band album by album. This retrospective picks up the story five albums into E.S.T’s career. Their first release “When Everyone Has Gone” (1993) appeared on the Swedish Dragon label. It’s a record of considerable charm and displays a real promise of the delights to come. “Live ‘95” shows the group edging closer to their mature sound but “E.S.T Plays Monk” (1996), the only E.S.T record I’ve not heard incidentally, seemed like a marking time exercise. “Winter In Venice” (1997) explored similar territory to their début but it was in 1998 with “From Gagarin’s Point Of View” that things really began to take off. This was the band’s first release for ACT although “Live”, “Monk” and “Venice” were subsequently licensed to their new label and it is here that this retrospective begins.

The title track from “Gagarin” leads us off here. The introspective melody and spacey effects hint at the future direction the group’s music would take. E.S.T’s always intriguing song titles came from the fertile imagination of drummer Ohrstrom. The disembodied feel of the music here is perfectly summed up by it’s title. This is “Space Oddity” for grown ups. 
From the same album “Dodge The Dodo” is one of the key E.S.T tracks. A sense of rock energy permeates the music which is characterised by Svensson’s killer hook and Ohrstrom’s shuffling drum grooves. It’s a shame they didn’t find room here for the stunning live version recorded at Montreux in 1999 which appeared as a bonus disc with the ACT release of “Live ‘95”.

In 1999 E.S.T. played a residency at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London which began something of a love affair between the group, the club and the city. This period provided the inspiration behind the album “Good Morning Susie Soho”. From that album the title track expands from a lazily funky intro to wide-screen magnificence as the group slowly build in layers, a process they were to become increasingly expert at. There’s a hypnotic quality to Svensson’s soloing that came to distinguish much of his output. 
Also from “Susie”  the track “Spam-Boo-Limbo” has a typically catchy Svensson hook but Ohrstrom’s hip hop grooves and the judicious use of elements of electronica add mystery and give the piece something of an “acid jazz” feel. E.S.T were as adept at appealing to club audiences as to hard core jazz followers.

The next three albums “Strange Place For Snow” (2002), “Seven Days Of Falling” (2003) and “Viaticum” (2004) extended and defined E.S.T’s sound on an epic scale. I tend to think of these three albums as a trilogy, all similar but with each release subtly different to the last. All are full of peerless music that cemented the group’s reputation as musicians and composers. At the same time the trio became one of the most exciting live acts on the international circuit. Significantly this compilation mixes up the material from these three records rather than sticking to a strict chronological framework, evidence perhaps that the group viewed these albums in a similar way to myself. 

Bassist Dan Berglund continued to emerge as one of the most distinctive exponents of his instrument. Already a powerful and melodic player his increased use of electronics helped to give E.S.T a unique identity. Berglund has been dubbed the “Hendrix of the double bass” but he later revealed that his guitar like excursions were more influenced by 70’s heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple. The epic “Behind The Yashmak” from “Strange Place” features Berglund at his dynamic best soaring above Svensson and Ohrstrom’s hypnotic grooves on a killer E.S.T tune.

From “Viaticum” the chillingly lovely title track demonstrates the sheer breadth of colour and emotion present in the trio’s music of the time. Berglund’s playing is particularly soulful and a long way removed from some of the effects based wig outs to be heard elsewhere in the group’s oeuvre.

The title track from “Seven Days Of Falling” has a cinematic quality, alternately playful and sinister with Berglund’s bowed bass again making it’s presence felt.
“Strange Place For Snow” itself is a mesh of interlocking grooves but like all E.S.T music it’s unfailingly melodic. Svensson’s piano pushes and probes against the rich rhythmic undertow. His touch at the piano is superb, a blend of classical influences, pop sensibility and Jarrett like improvising, but ultimately Svensson created a style all his own. When this was allied to the equally individual approaches of Berglund and Ohrstrom the unique E.S.T sound was complete. This was a group whose music was unique and instantly recognisable. They effectively helped to re-draw the map for contemporary jazz piano and many musicians have subsequently borrowed from their innovations.

The beautiful ballad “Believe, Beleft, Below” from “Seven Days” contains one of Svensson’s most memorable melodies. It also formed the basis for that album’s “hidden track” (something of an E.S.T tradition) when Charlie Haden’s son Josh added lyrics and vocals to create the song “Love Is Real”, subsequently covered by Viktoria Tolstoy among others. 
The playfully titled “A Picture Of Doris Travelling With Boris” from “Viaticum” completes this section. There is an appropriately good humoured feel to the track but there are some mighty grooves and some inspired soloing too.   

When “Tuesday Wonderland”  (2006) was first released there was a mild critical backlash. Most writers admired the sheer craft and skill on display but felt that the trio were becoming mannered and that the album did not deliver the expected next step forward. In the long run they were to be proved wrong as E.S.T’s subsequent live performances saw them expanding on the “Tuesday Wonderland” material to create the lengthy improvisations to be found on the double set “Live In Hamburg”.

These explorations were taken a stage further on “Leucocyte” which sadly was to be the trio’s last studio album. The group had some downtime following the Australian leg of their tour and booked into a studio in Sydney for a jam session. The music played here formed the basis for Leucocyte"which was subsequently mixed back in Sweden just prior to Svensson’s death. “Leucocyte” formed a radical departure in that all it’s titles grew purely out of improvisation and it seemed to herald a new direction for the band, one that tragically they would not be able to fully explore.

The marathon performances on “Hamburg” don’t really fit into this compilation so two pieces from “Hamburg” plus the Radio Edit of “Leucocyte” itself close this collection.

“Goldwrap” is a concentrated burst of energy over Ohrstrom’s heavily treated drum groove but still crams a lot of ideas into a little under four minutes. “Dolores In A Shoestand” also from “Tuesday Wonderland” is more expansive, both grooving and disciplined and with just the right amount of electronic embellishment. There are brilliant contributions from all three members of this remarkable group.

The closing “Leucocyte”  is a tantalising glimpse at where the trio might have gone next. It’s almost industrial sound hints at a new heavier direction. This was a group that continued to develop right to the bitter end.

There is some wonderful music on this album mixing jazz, rock, pop and dance sensibilities together into one irresistible mix and from a uniquely European perspective. No American group has ever made music quite like this.

Distilling E.S.T’s impressive back catalogue into a single album is no mean feat and long term fans are likely to have most of this music already. However for anybody who may be new to the band this is an essential introduction to one of the most important groups of any genre in recent years. Adventurous rock fans will find much to enjoy here, E.S.T’s appeal wasn’t just limited to jazzers as their well deserved commercial success attested.

Unusually E.S.T’s increased public profile co-incided with a period of almost continuous artistic growth.  In the present musical and economic climate I’m not optimistic that we’re likely to see this kind of thing happening again very often in the future. Esbjorn Svensson, the last of a breed. R.I.P.

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