There are, and were, a lot of great Euro jazz bands. IMO EST started a certain commercial approach that caught on, but no one I knew considered them worth paying all that much attention to. They had a sound...but I guess I'd prefer the Bad Plus. And Ted, to say that ACT was on the cutting edge of euro jazz is...strange. They put out my 2…
There are, and were, a lot of great Euro jazz bands. IMO EST started a certain commercial approach that caught on, but no one I knew considered them worth paying all that much attention to. They had a sound...but I guess I'd prefer the Bad Plus. And Ted, to say that ACT was on the cutting edge of euro jazz is...strange. They put out my 2 Free Country records when EST was at its ascendancy. I knew their catalogue, and most of it was tepid. And still is. In my estimation the one example of a truly ground-breaking euro jazz artist from ACT is Nguyen Le. He is at least as responsible as EST for putting ACT on the map long-term, and is a phenomenal artist. The truth is the Europeans hardly need us anymore. Some of their artists are more compelling than ours by a long shot. None of what I am saying should be construed to demean Esbjorn. I recognize he was a fine artist and his death was tragic as he had way more music in him. I literally owe ACT my European career. I have a deep respect for their longevity and dedication. But I don't listen to their catalogue.
There are, and were, a lot of great Euro jazz bands. IMO EST started a certain commercial approach that caught on, but no one I knew considered them worth paying all that much attention to. They had a sound...but I guess I'd prefer the Bad Plus. And Ted, to say that ACT was on the cutting edge of euro jazz is...strange. They put out my 2 Free Country records when EST was at its ascendancy. I knew their catalogue, and most of it was tepid. And still is. In my estimation the one example of a truly ground-breaking euro jazz artist from ACT is Nguyen Le. He is at least as responsible as EST for putting ACT on the map long-term, and is a phenomenal artist. The truth is the Europeans hardly need us anymore. Some of their artists are more compelling than ours by a long shot. None of what I am saying should be construed to demean Esbjorn. I recognize he was a fine artist and his death was tragic as he had way more music in him. I literally owe ACT my European career. I have a deep respect for their longevity and dedication. But I don't listen to their catalogue.