Esbjorn Svensson Trio/Germany 2024 Complete & more

Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the formation of E.S.T., and the 30th anniversary concert of E.S.T., which was held with the late Esbjorn Svensson’s successor Joel Lyusaridis and others, was a huge success. Taking this opportunity, this year’s special performance, which has been further enhanced, is now available in a 2-disc set that captures the live performance in the highest quality sound, as well as an early live performance by the Nordic singer Victoria Tolstoy, whose great-grandfather was the literary giant Tolstoy, whose new work has also been well received, with early E.S.T. as the backing. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of E.S.T., Magnus Ostrum and Dan Berglund have recorded a live performance at Jazz Baltica, Germany’s most prestigious jazz festival, on June 30, 2024, in full, including two encores, on a superb high-quality stereo soundboard that has been carefully mastered by the label itself! They performed the timeless E.S.T. repertoire in a way that has never been heard before! They also included the newly joined trumpeter Matthias Eick, who was not present last year but has been releasing a series of amazing works on ECM in recent years, and Nils Rundgren, who is truly E.S.T.’s mentor, who brought E.S.T. to the ACT label and set the stage for them to become world famous. The live performance was recorded in full for one and a half hours, including two encores, on a superb high-quality stereo soundboard that has been carefully mastered by the label itself! They performed the timeless E.S.T. repertoire in a way that has never been heard before! The 6+1 musicians, each an international artist, approached the original melodies of these songs with tenderness and affection. As the musicians respond to each other and the audience listens to the music in silence and finally erupts in uninhibited applause, emotions descend from the heavens. From the complete silence and weightlessness of space in the opener “From Gagarin’s Point Of View” to the two encores “Believe, Beleft, Below” and “Dodge The Dodo”, “E.S.T. 30” zooms in from wide panoramas to close-ups!! As a bonus, a rare live performance in Stockholm, Sweden on March 21, 1998, featuring Victoria Tolstoy, a jazz singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice comparable to Rickie Lee Jones and Norah Jones, born in Scandinavia, and backed by Esbjorn Svensson Trio, has been added on a superb high-quality stereo soundboard with careful mastering by the label! In particular, the exchange between Esbjorn Svensson and Victoria Tolstoy on “My Funny Valentine” is a masterpiece filled with beauty that surpasses that of Bill Evans and Monica Zetterlund!