When you think of Scandinavian jazz, blues and gospel are not the first things that pop into your mind. Yet, Tord Gustavsen brought his Quartet to the Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club and delivered a 90 minute concert that showed that blues can be from the deep crevasse of a glacier, and gospel music can come from a gentle Norwegian hymnal.
Teamed up with the empathetic Tore Brunborg/ts-ss, Mats Eilertsen/b and Jarle Vespestad/dr, Gustavsen’s piano and interactive band performed songs like “Tears Transforming” and “Still There” that delivered musical journeys into the icy stillness of a meditative walk on a full mooned walk. A sense of reflection in a quiet church with morning light penetrating through a stained glass window on these pieces segued into a “Suite” that had Vespestad and Ellersten creating turbulent and brooding waters that Brunborg’s long drones sailed over like a gull over white caps. Back to the church, and “Communion” featured a flutelike tenor ethereally hovering with somber and eerie meditative chords and notes, as if Gustavsen’s fingers were on a spiritual pilgrimage, finally resolving as in a unification man and God, while “Sani” featured Vestepad’s rumbling and gurgling drum intro that lead to Gustavsen’s creating steps of boots walking on a frozen tundra of chilled notes, slowly building up to a gusty sleet storm with Brunborg’s soprano piercing through the torrent like a wanderer returning home from the outdoors.
Norwegian hymns and folk tunes were never far away, with “I Know A Castle In Heaven” having the leader making declarations with his ivories by creating various moods not unlike one feels when wrestling with and finally submitting to God in prayer. The closing “Draw Near” and encore “Radiant Release” felt almost like a benediction, with the tranquil yet fervent quartet lead by Gustavsen’s gentle chords bidding us a gracious goodbye. With music like this, it’s easy to get caught up in the Lent season!
www.tordgustavsen.com