Pianist and composer Tord Gustavsen premieres music from Restored, Returned, on Wednesday, March 31 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center, NYC.
The piano trio has a long and storied history in jazz, led by pianists whose ideas chart one hundred years of musical evolution. With his trio, Tord Gustavsen has come forth with an utterly new and unique sound, an extraordinary achievement given the rich history that precedes him. Bridging a contemporary European sense of improvisation with an emphasis on melody, he has created music that eschews bombast in favor of elegance and expressivity.
For his fourth release on ECM Records – Restored, Returned – he expands his trio into the Tord Gustavsen Ensemble with the addition of saxophonist Tore Brunborg and singer Kristin Asbjørnsen. Gustavsen's devotion to musical intimacy remains intact – focused on melody, making detail and nuance breathe and grow, striving for stripped down beauty – but now unfolds with two more voices and a larger number of duo and trio possibilities within the group's musical conversation.
The new repertoire has emerged both from commissions and from ideas that grew out of the trio's live performances of the past several years. The ensemble is Tord Gustavsen (piano), Kristen Asbjørnsen (voice), Tore Brunborg (saxophone), Mats Eilertsen (double bass), and Jarle Vespestad (drums).
Single Tickets: $25