Disk of 2023

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Esbjörn Svensson - HOME.S

When the world loses an artist, what's left is his work in a format that we can keep, rejoice in it indefinitely and perpetuating it. However, there is still a glimmer of hope that the artist might have left some unpublished piece somewhere on a shelf or in a drawer, some recorded piece that would complement his collection and ease the avid admirer's desire for limitless possibilities. Posthumous albums can be either mercantile blends or real treasures revealed at the right time. In the second category fits the pianist meditation of a quiet pianist, who created the Esbjorn Svensson Trio phenomenon, a group which has opened doors and minds and has brought improvised music to the great stages, by combining jazz, musicality, classical depth and rock intensity. It's tragic disappearance has left a solid discography, as well as some posthumous works from concerts. Home.S was released in 2022, a unique set of piano pieces recorded at home, shortly before the scuba diving accident, and which were found by his wife, Eva, who archived them under Greek letters in order to serve as a reminder of her husband's passion for history and mythology. Some of them seem to have been written for personal use, later to be developed by the trio, but the ensemble is wonderful, intimate, harmoniously made, with treadle, counterpoints and phrases. The appearance of this material gives great joy to listeners and brings closer the newcomers. You can feel Keith Jarrett's influence, but the musicality, the buoyancy, emotional whims and melodical resources belong completely to Esbjorn Svensson. To such a degree that we rejoice and remember his uniqueness and the loss that the contemporary world of music has suffered.