Tord Gustavsen Trio

Tord Gustavsen Trio

Tord Gustavsen – Piano
Harald Johnsen – Double Bass
Jarle Vespestad – Drums

Presented by KMD Architects

Saturday 1st October 8pm Vicar Street, D8

Special offer from IMC – Table (seats 4) offer 100e

"Soulfully hip, haunting themes delivered as a close three-way embrace... Gustavsen may not play many notes, but he does make them all count, and Vespestad's patient, multi-textured drumming is hypnotic listening." - The Guardian

"A definite spiritual flavour. The determining factor is Gustavsen's capacity for melody and for weaving graceful, even profound solos seamlessly from the fabric of each piece. But there is also Harald Johnsen's expressive bass and Jarle Vespestad's subtly imaginative drums to Engage intimately in an interplay that has grown even more secure and, in its understated way, more assertive." - The Irish Times

It’s apposite that Tord Gustavsen hails from The Land of the Midnight Sun, for this young pianist has fashioned a musical concept that radiates the character of Norway's enigmatic landscape. This is graceful, persuasive music, at once gentle and robust, performed by a seamless group that captures the essence of the acoustic piano trio.

Gustavsen's songs are tender meditations, occasionally coloured with the ephemera of the blues and that yearning melancholia that typifies the Nordic sound. Bassist Harald Johnsen and drummer Jarle Vespestad, who are distinguished Norwegian musicians in their own right and veterans of groups like Supersilent and Bugge Wesseltoft's New Conception, provide an impressionistic pulse for Gustavsen's wash of seductive hues from the piano, in a three-way dialogue that is masterful in its discipline and economy.

With "The Ground" their acclaimed second release for ECM, they've further refined their sense of purpose and conceptual rigour, without sacrificing the intense lyricism that is already the trio's hallmark. All things considered, a worthy addition to the label that has become a byword for artistry among Europe's elite of creative musicians.