EST and Free-Jazz

Up until a few months ago, I couldn't stand free-jazz. The thought of noise rather than music put me off trying it properly. However, I recently attended the gig of a famous free-jazz musician, though I cannot remember his name, that's not particularly important anyway. I am using the term 'gig' loosely, as this was held in the back room of his rather nice house, maximum seating capacity 12. When the band, consisting of the musician mentioned above, a drummer and a pianist began to play, I was scared. Scared for the safety of my ears. The trombone, played by said musician, was played with such ferocity that saliva was flying everywhere, and I mean everywhere. What came out of the trombone, noise-wise, was just noise. Very, very loud noise. However, when my mind stopped thinking thoughts like "My ears hurt, my ears hurt, my ears hurt", or "Why is the drummer using his head to repeatedly knock cymbals off drums?", I found that I was caught up in the energy of the whole experience. The rising and falling tension, the new and unexplored territories of sound. Granted you won't get the full force and energy of the music on a recording, but believe me when I say it is worth a try.

Now, onto EST. Short for the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, this band is not only great in its own right, but it serves well as listening for anyone who is new to free-jazz. You can make up your own mind when you hear EST as to whether they are truly a free-jazz band, but a couple of tracks that I recommend are: From Gagarin's Point Of View, from the album with the same name, and Dodge The Dodo. The studio version of Dodge The Dodo is good, by all accounts, but I recommend the live version, from the album E.S.T. LIVE. Both tracks give a good feel as to what EST are like, and aren't too experimental for anyone new to the free-jazz genre.

Thanks for reading, and please direct any suggestions to jazzphilosophybiscuits@sky.com. Feel free to comment, and stay tuned for more updates.