E.S.T. - Live in Hamburg

JAZZ

This double CD from an ecstatically received set in Hamburg on the Tuesday Wonderland tour in 2006 provides an authentic record of the band on a good night. When they are on song, E.S.T. (the Esbjörn Svensson Trio) are arguably the most exciting unit working on the current European jazz scene, but the Swedish trio are equally capable of turning any given set into a repetitious plod.

Both sides of the band are in evidence here, but with the positive outweighing the negative. The bulk of the set is drawn from Tuesday Wonderland, augmented by extended jams on earlier favourites ‘The Rube Thing’, ‘Definition of a Dog’ and ‘Behind the Yashmak’. The live setting does encourage the band to reveal their self-indulgent side at times, but also emphasises the rock-influenced energy and creative interplay that has brought them a following well beyond the usual jazz audience.