If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Admirers of Tord Gustavsen’s breakthrough series of trio albums beginning with the inspired ECM debut, Changing Places in 2003, will find much to please them in this very enjoyable continued return to the format. His tenth album for the label once again features new bassist Steinar Raknes and regular drummer and musical partner since the beginning, Jarle Vespestad. The repertoire consists of five original Gustavsen compositions, two adaptations of Bach chorales, and two hymns, the Norwegian ‘Jesus, gjor meg stille’ and ‘Nearer My God, To Thee’, the latter composed by Sarah Flower Adams in 1841, whose lyrics (not included in this instrumental version) retell the story of Jacob’s Ladder. So far, so Gustavsen.
The Norwegian hymn opens the album, introduced by Vespestad’s rumbling drums and eerie glissandi from bassist Raknes, before the piano enters in an eastern mode that recalls Gustavsen’s work with vocalist Simin Tander on the album ‘What was said’. It’s not until the following tune, ‘The Old Church’, that we get to the most characteristic-sounding trio vibe, a gorgeously laid-back, gently twinkling ensemble groove with acres of space for the listener to luxuriate in. From here on in, the album continues to exert its spell, with a very satisfying undercurrent of almost-funk (like Ramsey Lewis played at 16rpm?) moving the music forward, even when it barely moves at all. The sequence created by the final five (of ten) tunes is a formidable triumph, with the original compositions ‘Extended Circle’, ‘Beneath Your Wisdom’, and – especially – the transcendent final number, ’Seattle Song’, (derived from a soundcheck jam in the city) living up to the many highlights of the Gustavsen canon.
Overall, it’s a restrained and rather stately sounding trio, with few of Vespestad’s trademark drum and bass whispers. “On this record you won’t find much extensive soloing”, Gustavsen is quoted as saying. “Instead we tried to invest our musicianship in the interplay and the shaping of small improvised parts and to ‘maximising’ the fundamental details.”
Recorded at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, and produced by Manfred Eicher, ’Seeing’ sounds every bit as good as you could wish for.
Release date is 4 October 2024
