TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO - CHANGING PLACES
2003, ECM 1834
Tracks: Deep as Love/Graceful Touch/IGN/Melted Matter/At a Glance/Song of Yearning/Turning Point/Interlude/Where Breathing Starts/Going Places/Your Eyes/Graceful Touch, Variation/Song of Yearning (solo)
Time: 66:03
Personnel: Tord Gustavsen (p), Harald Johnsen (b), Jarle Vespestad (d)
Recorded: December 2001, June 2002 Oslo, Norway. Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug

Each project has its own time. John Taylor's debut recording for ECM comes after 25 years of appearances on the label as a sideman and as a co-leader, with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler, of Azimuth. His four ECM recordings as the lead voice of drummer Peter Erskine's fine trio have been as close as we've gotten to a trio date from the British pianist, at least for ECM. While he has peridocially waxed his own trio recordings for several other labels over the past thirty years, one for the Munich-based label had yet to materialize. It was well worth the wait, however, as Rosslyn is a darkly sparkling gem, perhaps Taylor's most highly focused recording as a leader.

Part of the difference lies in the pianist's choice of trio-mates. Rather than recording with a European rhythm section Taylor chose to record with his "New York trio," bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron. Baron had appeared as a member of Steve Kuhn's trio on "Remembering Tomorrow" on the label several years back, as unexpected a choice then as he is on this date. Unexpected, maybe, but the drummer is as highly effective with Taylor's trio here as he was pushing Kuhn's music to greater levels of intensity on the earlier disc. What sets him apart from drummers on other ECM sessions, say, the prolific Jon Christensen who has made 50 recordings for the label, or Jack DeJohnette, lies as much in his sound as what he plays. Baron's cymbal sound is much darker and has a totally different kind of resonance than the crisp and trebly sound of many of the label's sessions. It's a difference that sets the sound of this trio apart, and one that Baron works to its greatest effect - in fact it's one of the first things you notice about the sound of Rosslyn.

"The Bowl Song" begins the disc with some of the most ruminative and somber playing of the recording. It's a nice bit of near-deception, nothing that follows is as obsidian-hued and measured. Taylor has recorded "How Deep Is The Ocean" on an earlier trio release - this version begins inside the piano and with a few minutes of thoughtful free interplay. It's several minutes before the tune itself becomes evident, Taylor gives the opening bars a brief sidelong glance in the introduction. Once the melody does appear it quickly shifts into some of the most swinging and forceful music of the date. Joey Baron has always been a wonderfully conversational player and his constant bantering with both the pianist and behind Marc Johnson's fleet bass solo on the lone standard is a consistent pleasure. As a player, Taylor has never been without a wry sense of humor; it's just frequently hidden behind the introspective nature of much of his music. During his final statements of the theme here this humor and joy of interaction with a responsive trio shines through.

Twenty years ago Taylor recorded Kenny Wheeler's "Ma Bel" in duo with the composer on Wheeler's Double, Double You. The two versions couldn't be more different - in the earlier take Wheeler and Taylor deconstruct the tune leaving only the barest references to the melody, all abstraction and careful circling of the tune itself. The version on Rosslyn is downright sunny, and goes for the heart of the tune right away, perhaps Taylor's subtle tribute to Wheeler as one of the most engaging composers of our time. Baron is once again all over the pianist during the head, and you can almost hear them smile at one another. Johnson also has an enjoyable turn and the tune itself reminds one of why there are entire college courses dedicated solely to Kenny Wheeler's writing. A fit little tribute from Taylor, who has been a compatriot of Wheeler's for almost 30 years.

"Tramonto" comes from the pen of guitarist Ralph Towner, who is no slouch at the piano, either. He recorded it in duo with Gary Peacock for ECM ten years ago and again with vocalist Maria Pia DeVito and Taylor himself on DeVito's Verso. It's a beautiful piece that ends with an actual cadence, and Taylor does some crafty reharmonizing of the melody along the way.
Like "Ma Bel," the tune gets perhaps its most literal reading here, showing off nicely Towner's way with an attractive melody.

In the thirty-odd years that John Taylor has been recording as a leader he has kept his circle small. His 1971 Pause, and Think Again featured the whole of Azimuth, along with John Surman, Stan Sulzman, Chris Laurence and others who would remain frequent collaborators through the years. Branching out with Johnson and Baron on Rosslyn is a welcome change, the disc is one whose pleasures renew themselves upon repeated listening and is a high point of John Taylor's already impressive discography.

In contrast, as John Taylor was laying down his first recordings as a leader, the young Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen was just being born. Gustavsen hails from Oslo, a location that has been as much a part of ECM's "sound" throughout the years as the label's home city of Munich. Changing Places, his debut recording as a leader, has already garnered an impressive amount of positive reactions from all over the world.

With Gustavsen, it's all about the melody. Indeed, the lasting impression one is left with by this disc is nothing other than that of the trio playing the pianist's carefully thought out compositions. The writing is more the star here than Gustavsen's playing, and he's the happier for it. He sites Caribbean music and gospel as influences as strong as jazz and it shows in many of the pieces here. Many of the pieces have a tango-esque lilt, and bluesy turns show up at unexpected times. Much of the pianist's experience has been working with vocalists - his duo aire & angels with the singer Siri Gjaere has earned an amount of positive reaction - and his approach to the piano is vocalist-like as well. It's not hard to imagine lyrics being put to many of Gustavsen's pieces here after the fact, much the same way the duo set music to the poetry of Rupert Brooke.

Gustavsen's favored tempo is slow and measured. Indeed this might be the most consistently slow piano trio you'll find. For all the emphasis on the compositions, it's not that there is a lack of improvisation. Bassist Harald Johnsen has a few beguiling solo turns and drummer Jarle Vespestad, of the Norwegian eletro-improv collective Supersilent, engages in some thoughtful conversation with the leader. The leader goes it alone in an effective solo reprise of "Song of Yearning," barely two minutes long and capping the album. No discredit to the others, but this and Gustavsen's short solo intro to "IGN" are several of the discs most engaging moments. This track sports the most sprightly tempo of the disc and has the leader's most impressive solo spot, as well.

Myself, I'm not usually much of a whistler. Browsing in a record store recently I found myself whistling a tune under my breath to break the store's temporary silence. A college-aged guy, a guitarist, looking in the bin across from me looked up, laughed and said, "Hey, I was just learning that tune today, 'Graceful Touch', right?” I smiled, said, "Yeah, I guess so," and chalked up a mark to Tord Gustavsen's power of composing a memorable melody.

Much like other young trios such as E.S.T. and the Bad Plus, Tord Gustavsen's trio debut is earning a lot of press and much positive notice. Changing Places is an impressive debut from a leader and a trio that will be a pleasure to watch develop over the coming years.