Pianist Tord Gustavsen is a typical exponent of the school of Norwegian jazz musicians who draw as readily from jazz history as from modern composed music and Norwegian folk music. With his trio he made three albums for ECM in which silence and musical tension play more important roles than virtuosity and groove. On Restored, Returned, Gustavsen goes one step further by expanding his company with
… saxophonist Tore Brunborg and singer Kristin Asbjørnsen. In the instrumental passages, the ensemble still builds up its music from silence in which not one note is played too much. When Asbjørnsen starts to sing with her jagged and somewhat stiff voice, the instrumentation also gets more started to assist her in a kind of European blues or funeral music. Music and lyrics are based on the works of the English / American poet WH Auden. (MR)more
