Gig review: Tord Gustavsen Quartet, Edinburgh

Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen. Picture: Contributed

IT IS now just under a decade since Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen made his debut appearance in Scotland as a star in the making on the European jazz circuit.

Tord Gustavsen Quartet - Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

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In that decade, his reputation has grown considerably, as has his following, the latter demonstrated by a very healthy attendance for this concert.

Just as on his last appearance in this venue, the evening opened with a short set of genre-bending explorations from saxophonist/piper Fraser Fifield and guitarist Graeme Stephen, allowing the Norwegians to perform in their preferred format of a single longer set.

Although touring behind the release of a new recording featuring this stellar unit with saxophonist Tore Brunborg, bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Jarle Vespestad, he included several older compositions, as well as one tune, The Mission, which was freshly minted.

There has been much talk about a distinctive Nordic jazz sound since the 1970s, and Gustavsen could almost serve as a template for that sound.

While there is much subtle variation in the music, his liking for spare, slow moving but hauntingly beautiful melodies that incorporate overt influences from classical and folk music give his work its characteristic stamp. The Gift, the first of the tunes they played from the new album, was typical of their approach in its slow build-up of intensity and dynamics, opening out in increasingly expansive fashion, with an almost cinematic feel and minute focus on every detail of timbre and articulation.

Seen on 07.03.14