Tord Gustavsen - Changing Places (ECM Luminessence Series) [2 LP]

Introducing a new piano trio from Norway, Tord Gustavsen's young group - already making waves in the Far North where "Changing Places" has soared into the pop charts - is telling new stories within the framework of the jazz tradition. This is music that sings, at once gentle and robust. The songs Gustavsen writes sound like standards-in-the-making. Lyrical, immediately memorable, they are songs of an appealing freshness yet sophisticated in their involvement with the melodic line. And the trio improvises, with flair and originality, inside their structures.