Page 99 - Jazz

On Physiognomies, or the Anatomy of Ecstasy

Thousands of photographs. Wide stages. Close-ups. From the distance the colours of the stage, golden

obscurities, haloes of light from the spotlight, the lightning-brief reflection of rays .The characters on the stage. The
way they move between the instruments, the positions in which they unite themselves with the instruments, every
touch, the pauses between pieces, the sound of their expressions during the development and the sound of their
physiognomies towards the climax and the sound of their physiognomies after a burst of applause. Montreal Jazz
Fest 2006. Esbjörn Svensson Trio.
Then a section of jazz-rock fusion at Madrid. (Jazz Centro Cultural Villa) and a superb piano solo in
the piece called Masquerade. A group of jazz giants – Pat Metheny (guitar), Michael Brecker (saxophone), Nils
Landgren (vocals and trombone), Lars Danielsson (bass) and Wolfgang Haffner (percussion) – at Baltic Jazz, a
new gallery of representations of faces from which emanate luminous rays, as they are looked at from different
angles. Then Dan Berglund with his bass solo (Behind the Yashmak), concert in France at the Jazz at Juan-les-Pins
festival. The movement of the head in a plane and the rhythm second. Esbjörn seated at the piano, on his feet
and then seated again, hands mirrored, the reflection of his face in the polished black of the piano, close to the
keyboard, almost lying on the keyboard with a unique movement of tenderness. Carcrash, filming angles, a niche
in time in which Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström can be seen, their shining in the memory.
Sublime.
Then Genoa, 31.07.2007. The eruption of positive energies and the breaking-out of the wild spirit and its
melting into a kind of suffering of ecstasy. I was speaking with Ioachim about that extroversion of creative spirits

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