Tord Gustavsen Quartet – The Well (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 53:18 minutes | 995 MB | Genre: Modern
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM
Two years after “Restored, Returned” introduced this line-up and with extensive touring behind them, on “The Well” the four musicians of the Gustavsen Quartet really blossom as a band in a programme of new tunes by Tord. Sax player Tore Brunborg is given an important voice here, his melodic lines combining bluesy sonority and Nordic cry. Gently but effectively propelled by the subtle pulses of drummer Jarle Vespestad and bassist Mats Eilertsen, Gustavsen’s gospel-tinged, unhurried piano playing displays a characteristic warmth and tenderness.
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Tord Gustavsen Quartet – Extended Circle (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:09 minutes | 979 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM
For Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen, the title of his sixth album for ECM has a programmatic significance. Extended Circle refers, he says, to the completion of a “double circle” of trilogies: the first with the trio heard on Changing Places, The Ground and Being There, and the second with the quartet (formed inside the expanded ensemble of Restored, Returned in 2009 and then documented on The Well in 2012). Extended Circle opens and closes with a trio piece, while exploring textural and dynamic variations in between. “You come back to the point of departure but with new insight – and things are the same but not the same,” Gustavsen sums up an album that in his view points forward to musical openness, but also back to his 2003 ECM debut.
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