Day 8 - Ottawa International Jazz Festival, June 29, 2006

John Kelman

Senior Editor since 2004

With the realization that there will always be more music coming at him than he can keep up with, John wonders why anyone would think that jazz is dead or dying.

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Svensson is an equally fine pianist who may have originally come from Keith Jarrett filtered through a more pop-like and occasionally song-like approach. It's clear that EST—just like TBP who's individual playing on projects outside the band prove their breadth and ability—has skill and a sound that's become more distinctive with each new record. But they also need to evolve as a group in ways that won't pigeon-hole them, and it seems that their current idea for growth is to make electronics a more dominant part of the process. If that's to be the trio's direction, that's fine; but they're going to have to find better ways to use the electronics so that they feel better integrated, or return to the more subtle use that was so appealing about them in the first place.

Still, the show attracted an extremely appreciative full house—an audience where gray (or no) hair was not in the majority. Along with the equally well-received Wibutee earlier in the week and tomorrow night's show with Norwegian Nu Jazz icon, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, it's clear that the festival organizers are taking the issue of attracting a younger demographic more seriously, and that bodes well for future years.

Visit Rez Abbasi, EST and the TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival on the web.

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John Kelman

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