Pianist And Composer Esbjorn Svensson Has Passed Away

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Sbme Special Mkts. Records) - The pianist and composer Esbjorn Svensson passed on last Saturday, June 14th, after a diving accident on the island of Ingaro. His trio e.s.t, with the bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Ostrom had since its inception in 1993 developed into one of the most successful groups in Europe, with long tours across the globe and several acclaimed recordings. Esbjorn Svensson was 44 years old.

Esbjorn Svensson was born on April 16, 1964 in Skultuna outside of Vasteras, where his closest neighbor and playmate was Magnus Ostrom. Esbjorn's home had both a piano and his father's large collection of jazz records, so music was an important part of his life from the start. Together with Magnus, he also began creating his own music at an early age. In high school he began taking piano lessons, and also started his first band. After this he spent four years at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm. During this period he was also a frequent participant in the jazz life of Stockholm; one of his first steady gigs was in the drummer Fredrik Noren's band. After among other things appearing as a duo along with his childhood friend Magnus Ostrom, Esbjorn started the trio with the bassist Dan Berglund, which since then continually developed its own, fresh music that not least managed to reach the younger music generation. With a combination of hard work and a highly personal music, that was built almost entirely on Esbjorn's compositions, the trio also managed to create an international jazz career that even made waves in the American jazz world. One sign of this was when the trio was the first European group to make the cover of the American magazine Down Beat. Especially in England, the music of Esbjorn and the trio was well/received, and they were the cover story in the British magazine Jazzwise on several occasions. In the book Handful of Keys (from 2004), Esbjorn is one of the pianists interviewed by Alyn Shipton. Some of the others were Dave Brubeck, Carla Bley, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and Oscar Peterson.

Esbjorn and the trio had also during their career received many Swedish and international prizes, among which were four Grammies and two Golden Records. That his compositions also work outside of the trio was shown by the guitarist Ulf Wakenius when he recently released the CD Love is Real, where he "plays the Music of Esbjorn Svensson". Esbjorn also released a so-called Real Book, with 30 of his compositions collected in the e.s.t. songbook. The latest trio recording was the double CD e.s.t. live in Hamburg (ACT). They had just finished work on their 12th and now final album, titled "Leucocyte". Esbjorn Svensson was not only a strong musical personality but also an extremely warm and generous person offstage.