Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - The Ground - [CD]

THE GROUND is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Tord Gustavsen's highly successful CHANGING PLACES, with stormed the jazz charts in 2003, capturing the imagination of critics and public alike. THE GROUND, as it's name implies, is more earthy that it's predecessor and it's blues influence is nearer to the surface. The sound is mellow, caressing, sensual, and the melodies are strong and simple, so once their are heard, they remain in the mind.

The second album by Norwegian pianist and composer Tord Gustavsen is another set of crystalline beauty. Lyrical in both his writing and playing, the music is informed by his Scandinavian homeland's austere landscapes, as well as a wide swath of jazz traditions and gospel influences from his youth (as a teenager Gustavsen was a church organist). The trio's interplay is supple and subtle to the point of the rhythm section sounding like they're actually a part of the piano. The music's gentle propulsion seems to be carried forward equally by all three players. Emotionally resonant, the warmth and clarity of ECM's high production standards captures every nuance -- even lightly struck cymbals resonate with incredible presence. --David Greenberger

REVIEW

"The trio creates music rich with inner meaning and nuance." -- Stuart Nicholson, JazzTimes, May 2005

Gustavsen again demonstrates an enviable knack for penning compositions as simple, tuneful and seemingly inevitable as folk songs or hymns. -- Time Out NY, April 21, 2005

The Ground is uniformly beautiful, and the trio's rigorously restrained playing is a complete marvel. -- Christopher Porter, JazzTimes, May 2005

The relaxed, confident playing on this record is evidence that Gustavsen is here to stay. -- Nils Jacobson, AllAboutJazz, April 12, 2005

Tord Gustavsen's The Ground is sublime beyond description; another quiet masterpiece from this gifted pianist. -- Michael Dominici, Offbeat, New Orleans, LA, July 2005

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