Master pianist Stenson, long term bassist Anders Jormin and alertly responsive young drummer Jon Fält have developed a richly detailed sound-world like nothing else in modern jazz – at once an extension of the jazz piano tradition and, with its windows opening onto classical music and world folklore, a force apart from it. Their latest album on ECM is Contra La Indecisión.

The great Swedish trio of Bobo Stenson takes a stand against indecision in a decisively beautiful new album. As ever, the trio draws upon a wide range of source materials. A yearning title song by Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, Bartók’s adaptation of a Slovak folk song, a piece from Mompou’s Cançons I Danses collection, and Erik Satie’s Elégie are integrated into the programme, alongside original compositions by Stenson and Anders Jormin and group improvising.

Bobo Stenson, piano
Anders Jormin, bass
Jon Fält, trommer

 

«On Contra la Indecisión the Bobo Stenson Trio is underway much more relaxed, but also more colorful than on the previous album Indicum, sometimes even brilliantly colorful.» HIGHRESAUDIO

So strong is the group’s character and the musical identity of each of its members that the integration of this material always feels organic and logical. Stenson’s lyrical touch, Jormin’s folk-flavoured arco bass and Jon Fält’s flickering, textural drumming are all well-displayed on Contra la indecision, the trio’s first new recording in six years. Produced by Manfred Eicher, the album was recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI studio in May 2017.

 

Bo Gustav Stenson, better know as Bobo Stenson, the baby of the family, receives his first musical inspiration from his family. His father and mother play, respectively, piano and violin. His two brothers and sister (also respectively) practice the drums, trombone and cello. As a child, Stenson studies classical piano at the home of Werner Wolf Glaser, (a German-born Swedish composer, conductor, pianist, professor, music critic and poet (1910-2006), who becomes his most important teacher and mentor for 15 years.

Anders Jormin is a Swedish jazz bassist and composer and a graduate of the Conservatory of Music in Gothenburg. Jormin has collaborated with prominent Norwegian jazz musicians. Internationally, he has distinguished himself through collaborations with jazz artists such as Elvin Jones and Charles Lloyd, and has been a strong supporting member of the Bobo Stenson Trio for years. Jormin is currently Professor of improvisation at the Music Conservatory in Gothenburg, has an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy and is a part-time bass instructor at The Norwegian Academy of Music.

Jon Fält, from Gävle, a Swedish jazz musician. He grew up in Sandviken, where he began taking lessons by Stefan Bergkvist at the School of the Arts. Jon studied at the jazz School in Gavle, Skurup Folk High School and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He plays with some of Sweden’s foremost jazz groups like Bobo Stenson Trio, Yunkan 5 and 10, Lina Nyberg Pling and The Stoner.