The Ground (ECM)
Two years ago Tord Gustavsen became an unlikely success. His debut album, Changing Places, sold 60,000 copies which, for an unknown Norwegian playing low-key acoustic piano, was going some. No hype, no hip-hop beats, just music of spare beauty.
The good news is that after two years of international touring, The Ground is better still — more focused, more melodically memorable, less abstract, and, in places, more funky. Gustavsen’s band does all the things you would expect an ECM label trio to do — pellucid, contemplative melodies ebb and flow over shimmering cymbals and brushed drums — but they do more besides. There are hints of gospel, the blues and those warm folksy melodies that Keith Jarrett wrote around the time of My Song. The trio also inject a subtle funk groove into Curtains Aside and Edges of Happiness. This year has already brought strong piano albums from EST and Lynne Arriale and the venerable Jarrett has a solo double ready; Gustavsen is up there with them.
John Bungey