Sunday, 15 June 2008

Esbjörn Svensson : 1964 - 2008

I was very sorry to hear of the death of Esbjörn Svensson of EST, in a scuba accident near Stockholm, SWE.

I can't recall how I came across the music of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, but something about them resonated with me and I just got to love their free-flowing jazz influenced music which somehow also embraced other genres without patronising yet with a wicked sense of humour..

I was lucky enough to see EST twice; once at Bristol's St George's Hall and the second time in New York's Joe's Pub. St George's Hall is remarkable for its acoustics, good enough to be a favoured venue for BBC Radio to record recitals from classical to jazz and world music.

The next time I saw EST was at Joe's Pub. Linda and I sat next to a couple of French women who had last seen EST at ... St George's Hall ... small world.

It's hard to believe that we'll never do that again ...

So thanks EST ... it was a good ride.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard them the first time on the CBC French radio, and the word that introduced "A strange place for snow" was "energy". I never really stopped listening to them since then. I saw them in Ottawa and they struck me as modest, down to earth people who really enjoyed playing together with each occupying an equal role in the trio. We were expecting them to play in Ottawa in a few days at the Ottawa Jazz Festival but that concert will not happen now.
Esbjorn's creative energy will be missed. I feel very sad, there will be no evolution from Live in Hamburg...
Walk in beauty, Esbjorn, walk in beauty.



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