Espen Eriksen Trio: You Had Me at Goodbye

Espen Eriksen Trio
You Had Me at Goodbye
Rune Grammofon
2010-03-08

Having played with such prominent names in modern jazz as John Scofield, Nels Petter Molvaer, Joshua Redman and Norwegian greats Bendik Hofseth, Mats Eilertsen and Thomas Strønen, the members of the Espen Eriksen Trio are fully cognizant of the varying degrees of bop. However, in the context of this beguiling group debut, the threesome of pianist Eriksen, bassist Lars Tormod Jenset and drummer Andreas Bye craft beautiful lyrical and complex melodic modal tones more in the tradition of Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans at his most somber and Money Jungle-era Duke Ellington. You Had Me at Goodbye is a most arresting collection of songs that should appeal to any fan of piano jazz.

RATING 8 / 10