'The Well' made All About Jazz' John Kellman's list of top 15 albums 2012. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43549#.UNoFHL-9Kc1 His review of the album is worth reading..
Major Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet voted Tord Gustavsen Quartet's The Well best Norwegian jazz album in 2012 - read the full story.
2013 preview - Washington DC and Los Angeles:
The Tord Gustavsen Ensemble will
perform in the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC
March 3, 2013 and the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles March 5.
The DC concert is a part of the festival called 'Nordic Cool',
presenting the finest music, dance, literature, culinary arts, visual arts etc.
from the Nordic countries. Web presentation:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=XNINO
Here's a link to a presentation of th LA concert:
http://dacamera.org/concert_info.php?products_id=224&osCsid=d70690de69f61091761ae15985b3ff79
2013 will also see concerts in Norway, St. Petersburg and other places.. Stay tuned for more updates..
Festival bookings keep updating. We just confirmed a concert at the main Norwegian Jazz Festival in Molde, where ECM Records will also be 'Label in Residence' this year.
Furthermore, there will be probably be a concert in Calabria, Italy August 19, supplementing the one already confirmed in Venice / Venezia August 2.
Tord Gustavsen Quartet's 'The Well' received great reviews in the May 2012 issues of US magazines DownBeat and JazzTimes.
The new album is now available in high quality 24BIT as well as full CD quality flac sound files from GubeMusic.
Is streaming the future of music distribution? Or is it a way of legally ripping off artists, composers and record labels while at the same time offering inferior sound quality? Probably a bit of both. Anyway, ECM Records has decided to draw the entire catalogue from all streaming services for now. We have not been on Spotify for quite a while -- and now we are also not on WiMP.
Like it or not - this is how it is for now, and it gives me the chance to once again promote the great download service GubeMusic, where our our albums are available in full sound quality. The music may also be purchased in iTunes, in compressed format. The physical album remains ECM's highest priority and main concern, though. And holding a record with proper cover art etc. is still something special -- I highly recommend it.. To purchase the physical CDs, turn to your record store if you are lucky enough to live near a good one, or go online to your branch of Amazon (amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.fr / amazon.de) -- they will send it out quickly. In Norway, Platekompaniet is also an efficient and good site for ordering physical albums.
A big and warm thank you to all the great audiences around our 10 days' tour of the UK March 2012. We really enjoyed the tour and the inspiring venues. Also, some really good reviews have appeared:
"masterpiece of the understated" (John Fordham, The Guardian - read the entire review)
"The melodies ... were rich and their slow-motion groove was deep. It was as if the band had stumbled upon some very strong and mildly intoxicating tranquillisers. If so, I wish they’d tell us where." (Jack Massarik, London Evening Standard)
".. a set that was quietly but profoundly gripping." (Rob Adams, The Herald - read the entire review)
Jazz Journal: http://www.jazzjournal.co.uk/jazz-latest-news/397/review-tord-gustavsen-london
The Jazz Breakfast: http://thejazzbreakfast.com/2012/03/24/concert-review-tord-gustavsen-quartet/
The Scotsman: http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/gig-review-tord-gustavsen-edinburgh-queen-s-hall-1-2196401
We will be back in the UK for the Bath festival June 4th.
The Montreal Jazz Festival has invited Tord Gustavsen to do a "By Invitation" residency series of four concerts with different line-ups at their 33rd edition of the festival. Tord will perform with the following projects:
July 4th: Tord Gustavsen Quartet -- "Music From the Well"
July 5th: Gustavsen / Kornstad / Vespestad project -- "Symphonies in Our
Heads"
featuring Håkon Kornstad on sax, flutonette, loops and voice
July 6th: Tord Gustavsen Solo
July 7th: Solveig Slettahjell / Tord Gustavsen Duo -- "Sacred Lullabies"
More info from the Montreal press release:
press release
Tickets and festival web site's presentation:
Festival International de Jazz de Montréal July 2012
The Tord Gustavsen Ensemble will perform in the Kennedy Center in Washington DC March 3, 2013. The concert is a part of the festival called 'Nordic Cool', presenting the finest music, dance, literature, culinary arts, visual arts etc. from the Nordic countries. Stay tuned for more info on this and on connecting concerts in the US. Web presentation: http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/nordic_cool.html
'The Well' entered as no. 7 after release. In its second week it climbed to no. 4 on the official Norwegian album charts.
The release concert for 'The Well' in Oslo February 19th in the Oslo Opera
House Scene 2, is now more or less sold out.
More info..: Oslo release concert sold out
"The Well" is CD de Monats in both leading German Hi-Fi magazines -- "selten hat Musik eine solche physische Präsenz" (Tilman Urbach, Fono Forum)
Topp score (Terningkast 6) in
Dagbladet (Norway) and Choc award in Jazz Magazine (France)
Read the first
reviews of the new album
The new album is now available for full CD quality download at the brilliant GubeMusic web store.
Tord and the band appearing on national Norwegian TV (NRK) - all in
Norwegian:
Førkveld (interview plus live music), and
Dagsrevyen (National prime time news - interview with some music)
The new album "The Well" is now available. Amazon will send physical CDs quickly and efficiently when ordered, and you may also be lucky enough to live near a good CD store.. For full CD quality online download, I recommend using the brilliant GubeMusic web store - the album will be available there shortly.
The first version of our 2012 concert listing is out - concerts in France, Norway, Germany and the UK. Click Live to view.
The full 10 days' UK tour March 16-25 is out with links to venue presentation and ticket bookings. Tickets are already selling well for the Lonon concert March 18th in Queen Elizabeth Hall -- so it may be time to start booking yours..
In 2012, Tord Gustavsen Ensemble in quartet format will present a new album on ECM Records. The release is scheduled for January/February 2012 in most countries. The album will be followed by touring in the UK, France, Germany, Norway and other European countries in spring. Most probably, the US and other territories will follow autumn 2012. Tickets are already selling well for the Lonon concert March 18th in Queen Elizabeth Hall -- stay tuned for concert listings and more touring info shortly.
It has been a while since the Tord Gustavsen Trio played with TrondheimSolistene chamber orchestra. Now, a new project 'with strings' is coming up: Tord Gustavsen Ensemble with the Arctic Chamber Orchestra in Tromsø, Norway November 17th. The performance is part of the Barentsjazz Festival. This concert will present new arrangements and fresh angles to some of Tord Gustavsen's well known repertoire from the trio and ensemble periods, as well as previews from the upcoming 2012 album release. There will also be new compositions written especially for this cooperation.
The Tord Gustavsen Ensemble concert at the piano festival at La Roque d'Anthéron in France July 2011 (what a beautiful venue..!) is edited and posted on Arte Live Web at the following link: http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Tord_Gustavsen_Ensemble_la_Roque_d_Antheron/
The release concert for "Restored, Returned" in Oslo October 2009 is now available in HD on YouTube. It is posted as 14 separate videos as well as a playlist with the following link: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=34D52E4D589583D3
The Norwegian 'popular' composer's association NOPA has granted Tord Gustavsen an award for best composition in 2010 -- for the work "Intuition". This piece has not yet been recorded and released, but has been performed on a number of ensemble concerts from March through November 2010, mainly in Germany, Canada, and Norway. We hope to include it on our next album -- which hopefully won't be too far away...
Click to read more info about the award in Norwegian.
The Tord Gustavsen Trio album "The Ground" from 2005 has just reached an impressive sale of 15,000 copies in Germany alone. The album has also sold to gold status with more than 20,000 copies in Norway.
Brilliant radio journalist Guttorm Andreasen is hosting a monthly English language web cast on Norwegian music called "99 minutes". The latest edition of the program features a lengthy interview with Tord Gustavsen. You can tune in with the following link: http://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2010081612422029193408
http://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2010081612422029193408 The Tord Gustavsen Ensemble in quartet format has just concluded a Canadian tour of the Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal jazz festivals. A big thank you to all the people in the very appreciative audiences -- looking forward to next time in Canada. French Arte TV has published an web interview with concert excerpts from the Montreal concert on the following link: http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/arte-journal/montreal/3299772,CmC=3306394.html
The recent album by Tord Gustavsen Ensemble "Restored, Returned" has won the Norweigan Grammy award (Spellemannsprisen) for 2009. A big thank you to the ensemble for contributing so brilliantly on the recording and in concerts. Thanks also to ECM Records for releasing the album world-wide; and to the Norwegian ECM distributor Grappa for excellent work and reliability. Lastly, thanks to all the people who listen to us; and those who still believe in the album format as a musical journey -- who sit down and listen with contemplation in a world of so much multi-tasking.
An eight minute video with selected moments from the release concert of "Restored, Returned" in Oslo, Norway November 2009 is published on the Internet on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPd_exqcFh0
An almost complete listing of concerts January through May 2010 is published on the "Live" section. The semester brings touring in Norway, Portugal, USA and Germany - plus one-offs in Bulgaria and Belgium. Summer 2010 will see a tour of Canadian festivals. More concerts for summer and second half of 2010 will follow shortly.
Following the pre-release and tours in Norway and the UK, fresh album and live reviews are quoted and linked in the critics section.
A new Tord Gustavsen album is ready for release. The long awaited session "Restored, Returned" with Tord's extended ensemble will be in stores world-wide early 2010. And a pre-release is scheduled mid-October 2009 for UK and Norway to coincide with touring (cf. Live). There will be a full scale UK tour in October; release concerts in Norway in November, and a main performance at the London Jazz Festival November.
Then, a brief preview of touring plans spring 2010:
... more details to follow shortly
In 2008, Tord Gustavsen works with somewhat more flexible line-ups - in duo, trio and quartet settings. He presented a commissioned work for the Vossajazz Festivel in Norway March 2008 that became the starting point for his new Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, featuring Tore Brunborg on saxophones, Mats Eilertsen on bass and Jarle Vespestad on drums. For the full version of the commissioned work, the ensemble also includes Kristin Asbjørnsen on sung vocals and Cecilie Jørstad on read poetry.
Autumn 2008, Tord will perform with Tore Brunborg, Mats Eilertsen, Svante Henryson, Jarle Vespestad and Rune Arnesen in different settings in Poland, Belgium, Spain, UK (cf. Live). He will do duo concerts with singer Solveig Slettahjell and with clarinetist Carl Petter Opsahl in Norway, and play with bass clarinetist Ulrich Drechsler and drummer Jörg Nichola in Austria.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will play at Melbourne Jazz Festival May 3, 2008. On our way down under we will also do a showcase concert in Singapore April 29th at the Norwegian Embassy residence.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will perform in Vancouver (Canada) February 13; in San Diego (California) February 14; and at the Portland Jazz Festival (Oregon) February 16th - cf. Live.
Tord Gustavsen Trio's 2007 album 'Being There' is voted the jazz critics' album of the year in the UK magazine 'Jazz Review'.
Tord Gustavsen Trio's 2005 relese 'The Ground' has recently reached 'gold' sales figures in Norway - 20.000 copies. This is very unusual for an instrumental album, indeed for jazz in general.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will do a full scale tour of Northern Norway late November / early December 2007. The tour will include Vadsø, Tromsø, Bodø and three more cities. The Live calendar will be updated with full details shortly.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will return to Istanbul for two concerts, September 3rd and 4th (cf. Live), marking the Turkish release of 'Being There'. The concert at the AKBank Jazz Festival in Istanbul in 2005 was a great experience, and we're really looking forward to this project.
Tord Gustavsen Trio is invited to the jazz festival in Cluny, Burgund - France August 24 for the second (and last) concert in France this year.
Several additional reviews of the new album are now quoted on the 'Critics' pages -- both in English, French and German, including high praises from the US Billboard Magazine.
"Being There" got a great review and was featured as CD of the week in Irish Times. Click to read more UK & Ireland reviews..
"Being There" has received the "CHOC" critical award in the leading French jazz magazine Jazzman. Click to read more French reviews..
Tord Gustavsen Trio will perform under the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2007; July 2nd in the beautiful venue called Gesù.
Really good reviews of the new album have appeared in major UK newspapers The Guardian and Independent on Sunday, with the latter describing the completed trilogy of albums as possibly 'the most essential jazz document of the last ten year'. See the Critics section for more quotes and links.
The new release "Being There" received great reviews in Norwegian press following the pre-release in this country. Dagbladet gave a maximum 6 star review, and several main newspapers have printed extensive interviews with Tord in connection with the release. See the Critics section for more quotes and links.
Tord Gustavsen Trio is releasing its third CD on ECM Records, called "Being There" spring 2007. Norway gets a pre-release April 10th. The rest of Europe will follow in April or early May, and the US release is set to June 5th.
In Norway, there will be an official release concert in Oslo, Norway at Cosmopolite Saturday, April 14th. There will also be a concert in Trondheim May 2nd (Olavshallen), and then the trio will do a full scale tour of Germany May 3-10, ending with a festival appearance at Bury / St. Edmunds, UK. Turn to the Live section for specifics on dates and places.
Autumn of 2007 will also see touring in the UK and the USA. More one-offs at fesivals during the summer will be announced shortly.
Vocal ensemble Trio Mediæval will be featured as the main ensemble-in-residence under "Festspillene" in Bergen, Norway 2007. One of their perforamnces will be with us -- a new take on the material performed by the two trios together for the first time summer 2006 in Harstad. The project is built on compositions by Tord Gustavsen with lyrics from the writings of 13th Century Sufi mystic Jelaluddin Rumi. The two trios enter into a highly original dialogue between striking vocal 'miniatures', instrumental pieces, and improvisations. Rumi's poems shine with ancient longing and subtle passion; fuelled by a desire for true love and unification.
The concert will take place in "Grieghallen", Bergen - Norway, May 29th 2007.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will release its third CD on ECM Records April 2007. The album was recorded late December 2006, following a year of extensive touring. There will be an official release concert in Oslo, Norway at Cosmopolite Saturday, April 14th. (Mark that the previous date of March 28th announced earlier has been postponed!) There will be a concert in Trondheim May 2nd (Olavshallen), and then the trio will do a full scale tour of Germany May 3-10. Autumn of 2007 will also see touring in the UK and the USA. More one-offs at fesivals during the summer will be announced shortly, cf. the Live section.
An intense week in Poland is over -- a big thank you to all the people who came the our concerts. The tour was a very inspiring event; with full houses and great venues in five different cities. Hope to be back... Click to view pictures from the Warsaw concerts.
On short notice, the trio flew to Timisoara in Romania December 1st to perform at the Jazz Banat Festival. First time ever in Romania, this was a very inspiring encounter with an enthusiastic audience in a beatifully restored opera and theater house.
The Warsaw concert November 26 at 20:00 is now sold out. However, the promoters are organizing a second concert at 17:00, so it is still possible to get tickets in the capital city. Here's the strategic info for ordering tickets: Fabryka Trzciny, ul. Otwocka 14, ticket line: +48-22-818-60-39, 692-14-30.
We're between tours of the US this year. 2005 brought us over for 8 concerts including LA, NYC, San Francisco, DC and the Spoleto Charleston Festival. 2007 will probably see a new major US tour. This year, while focusing primarily on Europe and Australia, we'll still fly over for one exclusive performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC December 7th (cf. the Live section). This concert is organized in cooperation with the Norwegian Embassy to the US, and forms a part of their Christmas cultural program series. It is still a normal concert open to the public, and in a superb venue. So -- to all followers in the DC area -- you are very welcome, and bring your friends!
Tord Gustavsen Trio will be touring in Poland in November, with concerts in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Bielsko, Chorzów, and Kalisz. The dates and places are mostly set, cf. the Live section -- although a few minor changes may occur.
Tord Gustavsen Trio's release "The Ground" won the Australian Jazz Award for best international album of the year. More info: http://www.jazz.org.au/features/95
Tord Gustavsen Trio will perform with the three sopranos of Trio Mediaeval in a world premiere collaboration concert in Harstad, Northern Norway, June 28.
Back home from an inspiring encounter with Australian and Korean audiences January 2006, we are very pleased to find some really moving reviews following our concerts. Several quotes are presented in the Critics section (live reviews are placed at the bottom of the page, cd reviews at the top). Or: click to read the full-length piece from Melbourne daily The Age by journalist Jessica Nicholas.
Tord Gustavsen Trio and internationally acclaimed string orchestra TrondheimSolistene (Trondheim Soloists) will perform together for the second time in Stavanger, Norway, February 22nd 2006, at Stavanger Konserthus. The collaboration was initiated at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival September 2005, with all new arrangements by Tord Gustavsen. We're really looking forward to doing it again..
--> Click to read a presentation of the project in Norwegian.
After playing an almost packed Oslo Concert House main hall November 2005, we are pleasantly surprised that another major Oslo venue has invited us to perform already in February 2006: The trio will perform at "Rockefeller" February 21. Full listing of confirmed concert dates for spring 2006 will be available very soon...
Tord Gustavsen Trio and internationally acclaimed string orchestra TrondheimSolistene (Trondheim Soloists) played together for the first time at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival September 2005, using arrangements and compositions by Tord Gustavsen. Both the trio and the orchestra are eager to repeat this project -- and we are open for bookings. Scandinavian bookings are made through Musikkprofil -- world wide bookings through the appropriate booking agent for your territory or directly via Tord Gustavsen Music (cf. Contact Info).
--> Click to read a presentation of the project in Norwegian.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will be back in Australia January 2006 for concerts in Sydney and Melbourne. Our first encounter with Australian audiences at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz in 2004 was really great -- hope to see some of you again!
We will play in City Recital Hall for the Sydney Festival January 15, and in the Melba Hall in Melbourne January 17. On our way home we will probably also play in Seoul and Tokyo. More information about concerts in 2006 will be published soon on the "Live" section of this web site.
Tord Gustavsen Trio will do its first performance ever with a string orchestra at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival in Norway September 28th 2005. The Trondheim Soloists (TrondheimSolistene) is among the finest chamber ensembles in Norway; we're really looking forward to hearing their sound with our music. Arrangements will be by Tord Gustavsen.
The trio's concert at the Lichfield festival (UK) July 2005 received an exellent review in The Independant.
Tord Gustavsen Trio is scheduled to play the main philharmonic Concert Hall in Oslo, Norway (Konserthuset) November 7th 2005. Numbered seats; be sure to order in advance -- tickets are already available.
The Tord Gustavsen Trio can be experienced live at a number of European festival 2005, along with the Spoleto USA festival in Charleston, SC June 4th. Among the European performances are Istanbul (Turkey); Vienna (Austria), Manchester, Brecon, Snape and Lichfield (UK); Kongsberg, Bodø, Bergen and Lillehammer (Norway). Turn to the Live section for details.
Several new album reviews in English, French, and German have been posted on the web site today -- cf. Critics. The Ground has been really well received in publications like Süddeutsche Zeiting, New York Times, Time Out New York, Oxford Times, Jazzman France, Stereophile USA, JazzTimes, Billboard Magazine, etc.. -- and slaughtered in the Danish Jazz Speciel..
The trio will celebrate the French release of 'The Ground' with a Paris concert at the 'Café de la Danse' May 26. This is the only scheduled France concert this year, so don't miss it! Click for more info and reservations.
The Ground entered no. 8 and climbed to no. 7 on the US Billboard Traditional Jazz Charts in its second week; very rare for a European cd..
The May 2005 issue of JazzTimes presents Tord Gustavsen in an in-depth feature article. Click to read an excerpt.. The magazine also gave a very favourable review of 'The Ground' (cf. Critics)
Following release concerts in Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, the trio now sets off for two gigs in Japan and a ten days' tour of the USA in April. Several major cities are included in the tour schedules, among them New York City, San Francisco and Tokyo -- you'll find the concert nearest to you if you consult the Live section.
The new trio album has received overwhelming reviews in several major German magazines and newspapers. Piano News writes: "Mit The Ground, dem zweiten Werk dieses formidablen Trios, wird der 35-jährige Pianist Gustavsen den Ruf als eines der hoffnungsvollsten und eigenständigsten Jazztalente seiner Generation weiter festigen können, so viel scheint sicher." Click to read more German reviews..
The new trio album receives an excellent review in the major UK magazine JazzWise. Stuart Nicholson writes: "Somehow this group draws you into its music, and each piece is a musical journey within the totality of the album itself. When the album is over you realize the extent to which this group has probed into the very heart of musical meaning. .. There really is not a piano trio in the whole of jazz that sounds like Gustavsen’s." The record has also received praise in The Observer, The Guardian, The Wire, The Indepandant, and several other UK publications. Click to read more English reviews..
As did also the debut "Changing Places", the new trio album "The Ground" has received the "CHOC" critical award in the leading French jazz magazine Jazzman. Click to read more French reviews..
In its second week, the new trio album "The Ground" climbed to no. 1 on the official Norwegian album sales charts (VG-lista). Quite overwhelming; and very unusual for an instrumental cd.. Great reviews have appeared in major Norwegian newspapers, and now we're also seeing the first reviews from French and British press (cf. Critics).
The trio has recorded its second album for ECM Records, called "The Ground". Even though the session was done early in 2004, release is not happening until 2005. Dates are set between late January and early February in the different territories; in Norway we have January 24th. Great reviews have appeared in major Norwegian newspapers this week (cf. Critics).
The release will be followed by concerts in Norway, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, Bulgaria and USA during the spring; and in the UK in July and October (cf. Live)
Tord Gustavsen Trio will do two concerts in Japan in April; one in Tokyo at the jazz club Pit Inn, and one at the Expo Ground in Nagoya (cf. Live). For tickets and more updates about the Japanese concerts, use the following contact info.
Following up the release of the second trio album "The Ground", we will be touring the US from April 20 until around April 30th. New York City is already confirmed for April 21 (Merkin Hall), and we'll probably end the tour in San Francisco. We'll visit Washington DC, Baltimore, Seattle and LA, too (cf. Live). Additional dates dates may still enter the list -- promoters interested in negotiating any remaining dates may address ECM's New York office, attention Sarah Humphries, e-mail: sarah.humphries@umusic.com
Tord Gustavsen Trio was invited to play at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz outside Melbourne, Australia October 2004. The trio did three concerts; October 29th, 30th and 31st; with great crowds every night. Really responsive audiencess -- thank you all!
Coinciding with these performances, our distributors in Australia and New Zealand offered an exclusive pre-release of the trio's second ECM album "The Ground" (cf. above). The rest of the world will have to wait until January/February 2005 -- maybe even a little later for the UK and the USA.
Following up the 14 gig tour in February 2004 visiting Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria, the trio toured the UK with 9 concerts in April and May, including a concert in London recorded by BBC Radio 3. Several sold out houses, great audiences, and good vibes… Reviews are found on the ’Critics’ section.
Now, our UK agent Olwen Richards is already making plans for a second tour, scheduled for October 2005. The time slot is already starting to fill up, but there may still be available dates -- use the info in the 'Contact Us' section to approach the booking agency.