BOBO STENSON
Goodbye
ECM
Scandanavia has long been fertile land for
jazz listeners and musicians alike. In the 1960s musicians
like Mezz Mezzrow, Bud Freeman, Johnny Griffin, and Dexter
Gordon found their way to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. In
the ‘70s there was an explosion of Scandanavian players,
including Bobo Stenson, Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielssen,
Terge Rypdal, Jon Christensen, Arild Anderson. More recently,
the Tord Gustavsen Trio has taken up the Scandanavian jazz
mantle.
Bobo Stenson has an extensive discography
and many years of work with musicians as varied as Jan Garbarek,
Charles Lloyd, and Tomasz Stanko. His work shows influences
as diverse as classical, straight ahead jazz, atonal composition,
Indian music, and minimalist composition. His playing is
sensitive and lyrical, inviting inevitable comparisons with
Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and others. Yet he has carved
out his own niche with his expressive style.
Goodbye finds Stenson working in
the familiar trio format that has been his stock in trade
for many years. Bassist Anders Jormin is once again on hand,
providing wonderfully sparse yet expressive bass work that
makes Stenson sound as good as possible. Stenson’s
usual drummer, Jon Christenson, is replaced this time out
by Paul Motian, who at this point might as well be declared
official ECM house drummer, so ubiquitous has he become.
Stenson and company open this new disc with
a performance of Sondheim’s warhorse “Send In
the Clowns.” The song has, of course, been the subject
of many parodies, jokes, and outright horrible performances,
but Stenson demonstrates what a truly unique pianist he
is by creating a version that is sublimely beautiful and
completely lacking in unnecessary drama. Motian keeps a
constant, low hum of kinetic energy going while Jormin’s
bass creates a cushion over which Stenson’s piano
seems to float serenely but not without direction. In fact,
if there is a way to sum up Stenson’s piano playing
here it would have to take in both his Jarrett-esque sense
of lyricism and melody while allowing for a much more minimalist
style. If Ahmad Jamal left spaces in his work, Stenson allows
for entire universes of silence. But he’s not merely
erudite—listen to his playing on the Gordon Jenkins
tune “Goodbye,” where he spins off a series
of beautifully realized phrases, many bristling with blues
feeling, and you’ll realize that for all his Nordic
minimalism, he can swing, even though this trio seldom does
so overtly.
All three musicians contribute compositions,
though Stenson offers only one, entitled “Queer Street.”
Both Motian and Jormin offer a number of pieces, and Jormin
also offers arrangements of three pieces by classical composers:
Argentina’s Ariel Ramirez, Russia’s Vladimir
Vysotsky, and England’s Henry Purcell. It’s
amazing how well the adaptations of these pieces fit into
the flow of the program, demonstrating that Stenson, Jormin,
and Motian have the ability to adapt to any musical situation.
In fact, Goodbye is a very cohesive recording,
tighter than his previous ECM outing, 2000’s Serenity,
which was a two-disc set. While there’s not a great
deal less music here (70 minutes vs. a little over 90 minutes),
one feels that it is a sublimely well-constructed statement
by a group of musicians who are not inclined to waste energy
or sound on non-essential utterances.
