As he ushers in his sixth decade, Bobo Stenson can reflect on a life put to the service of jazz expression in its most poetic guise, but there's no sign of this legendary figure in the European jazz pantheon reaching his coda...

"Extremely beautiful music…this is art you can think to." - Downbeat

"His ECM trio albums place Stenson among the greatest living jazz pianists." Jazz Times

As he ushers in his sixth decade, Bobo Stenson can reflect on a life put to the service of jazz expression in its most poetic guise, but there's no sign of this legendary figure in the European jazz pantheon reaching his coda. If anything, recent recordings, such as last years ECM release Goodbye with Paul Motian and Anders Jormin, are distilling his many years at the console into a music of profound depth and clarity.

Delicately poised between lyricism and abstraction, Stenson defines the Nordic approach to jazz, with its unapologetic lyricism, impeccably harnessed energy and oblique rhythms that refer directly back to his native Swedish folk music. His groundbreaking ECM recordings of the 70s were a blueprint for the sound that would later be explored so persuasively by Keith Jarrett, and effectively he became the house pianist for Manfred Eicher's iconic label, enjoying lengthy associations with Europe's greatest musicians, most notably saxophonist Jan Garbarek.

Since the mid 80's, his companion throughout has been Anders Jormin, a virtuoso in his own right and possessor of possibly the most beautiful contrabass sound in all of today's jazz. Between them, they enjoy an almost telepathic rapport, made all the more vivid by the precocious talent of Jon Falt, a young drummer who has made extraordinary strides since his inaugural concert with them, fittingly, in Dublin in 2003.