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GoldLyrics.com - Leucocyte
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $13.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 7% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Emarcy / Pgd
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0602517803749
Label: Emarcy / Pgd
Manufacturer: Emarcy / Pgd
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Emarcy / Pgd
Release Date: 2008-09-30
Studio: Emarcy / Pgd
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Editorial Reviews:
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The new album from the international jazz trio e.s.t (the Esbjorn Svensson Trio) serves as their ultimate legacy after the sudden accidental death of the Swedish jazz pianist and composer Esbjorn Svensson while scuba diving near Stockholm at the age of 44. Leucocyte, pays tribute and carries on the memory of one of the most innovative jazz trios of this era.
The name of the album Leucocyte comes from the literal definition- white blood cells, part of the human immune system that protects the body against foreign pathogens and infections. They must periodically renew themselves to continue their work and for e.s.t., spontaneous jam sessions were precisely their way to renew and rejuvenate. In between gigs the trio often rented studio rehearsal space for a couple of days during tours to jam without any pre-composed material. The musicians the freedom of improvising and the free exchange of idea in order to explore new musical regions, or as Esbjörn Svensson always formulated it, "to follow the music". By using this method they were able to fuse traditional jazz, funk and rock to create a tapestry of genres.
The threesome- Esbjörn Svensson (piano), Dan Berglund (double bass) and Magnus Öström (drums)- have always blended an eclectic mix of classical, melodic jazz and electronics coupled with an energetic rock element; but Leuocyte shows e.s.t. taking it to the next level with their most daring, innovative and ground breaking performance. The recording was a the result of one of the aforementioned two day jams sessions that took place at the famed "Studios 301" in Sydney during the band's Australian tour in 2007.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Out With A Bang
Comment: Earlier this year, I was saddened to read that Esbjorn Svensson, one of the most innovative keyboardists in modern jazz, had drowned. It was only in the last several years that I have really gotten into his trio and I eagerly looked forward to every release. Now it appears that Leucocyte will be the final one unless the remaining members dig up some unreleased out-takes or even some fully realized compositions that somehow never made the cut. With the release of Leucocyte, Svensson's trio goes out with a bang.
Some reviewers have found this a little too avant-garde and experimental for their tastes. E.S.T. has experimented previously with ambient background noises to augment the core of the music. On Leucocyte, they take this experimentation to a new level! Listen to this in the dark, and you will begin to imagine that some funny things are going on in your house. At one point, I thought I heard my tea-kettle whistling until I realized that I hadn't put the water on yet!
Though the music may take some getting used to for those who expected a reprise of past E.S.T. outings, several listens without other distractions should eventually bring most of those folks around to appreciate what a fine piece of work this is overall. My favorites by far are Premonition (dig the machine gun intensity of Magnus Ostrom's percussion!) and Jazz. If you want something slower and more peaceful, Still offers nearly ten minutes worth of meditative relaxation. Leucocyte, the sprawling four part composition that closes the album, has its ups and downs but forces the listener to hear E.S.T. in a whole new and often discordant light.
Leucocyte is not my favorite E.S.T. release, but its certainly one I will play with some regularity. Listen to it with an open mind and see if you don't come to enjoy it as I have. Now let's have those out-takes and the other half of this session alluded to in another review!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Leucocyte
Comment: Éste fue el último trabajo discográfico de E.S.T. Se llama Leucocyte y más allá de que el deceso del gran Esbjörn Svensson le haya dado a su lanzamiento una resonancia extraña y hasta fantasmagórica, estamos ante una obra maestra, ante uno de esos discos que llevan al jazz y a toda la música a un territorio nuevo donde se mezclan el jazz, lo modal, la electrónica y el rock duro, duro de verdad.
La música que contiene Leucocythe da miedo, conmueve y te hace sentir algo muy muy muy raro que es fácil identificar con la muerte de Esbjörn Svensson que se produjo en junio de este año. No faltará quien diga que las piezas aquí reunidas (sobre todo la suite final) constituyen una premonición de esa tragedia que nos dejó sin uno de los monstruos del jazz y de la música contemporánea.
Magnus Öström y Dan Berglund (baterista y contrabajista de E.S.T., respectivamente) han dicho que el disco fue grabado y mezclado antes de la muerte del pianista. Así que si les suena premonitorio, piensen que es una casualidad o que los sonidos que hasta este disco eran inéditos para nosotros, son muy cercanos a los del más allá.
Leucocyte es grande y nunca sabremos qué otros sonidos podía encontrar el Esbjörn Svensson Trio si seguía por este camino artístico y musical.
Customer Rating:
Summary: E.S.T. Reinvents itself with mixed bag of electronica rock and jazz
Comment: Overview:
In Leucocyte E.S.T. reinvents itself by pushing farther into electronica, rock, and ambient noise than it has ever ventured before. At times some of the tracks border on heavy metal and at other times they sound like something from an ambient noise CD. The influences of fellow Rune Gramofon artists such as ambient noise/jazz/rock outfit Supersilent are unmistakable. The end result is a somewhat uneven album. There are highs where they are on fire, and there are some moments when you will wonder what were they thinking. If inconsistency is the type of thing that bothers you, then you will likely disagree with my 5 star rating. There is one track of complete silence, and another track that rambles on with gurgling electronic effects. However, these shortcomings are more than made up for with some of the epic soundscapes and rocking explorations. E.S.T. pushes the envelope with this CD, took some chances, and created something interesting and new. For anyone whose a fan the their song "Black Water", this is a must have album.
Song Highlights:
Premonition: I. Earth - Opens with Dan Berglund bass line with light percussion and occasional chords in the background. The piano gradually builds up into a killer Svensson solo. The pressure and momentum continues to build and build until at the end there is a machine gun fire sounding drum line and everyone is rocking out.
Leucocyte I. Ab Initio - This is a romping fusion of jazz and hard rock/heavy metal. It is very reminiscent of E.S.T.'s "Black Water". Berglund rocks out on the electric distorted bass, Svensson plays some dark piano lines & chords, and Ostrum pounds away on the drums.
Jazz - This song opens with some electronic effects, but quickly segues into a tradional jazz piano trio song. After the intro it sounds like something you might have heard on E.S.T. Live '95.
Still - This song will make you think of Supersilent. It is an ambient noise piece with a floating bass line, sporadic electronics, and some acoustic piano over the top.
This CD is a mixed bag. Some E.S.T. fans are going to love this, and some are going to hate it. Anyone into Supersilent, Arve Hendrickson, etc. should definitely check this out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What Were They Thinking?
Comment: This CD was recorded over a two day jam session at a recording studio in Sydney, Australia. Sometimes, jam session records produce great results (we all remember MMW's "Shack Man" CD!). Other times, the product is a wandering lull of tones and sounds in search of a form. Unfortunately, Leucocyte belongs to the latter category.
While I understand that artists often feel the need to reinvent themselves, I think this is a case where the reinvention was either hasty, not thought through, or just a bad choice. While EST always varied their sound, they always won fans over with their melodicism and sensitive playing (sometimes soft, sometimes agressive, but always appropriate). Leucocyte sounds like a group deliberately trying to be quirky, dissonant, and incomprehensible. Yes, they succeeded.
The first few tracks are the best. But even here, the first three tracks are little more than jams that have no discernible melody and just seem to 'hang there,' with no direction. I have listened to the latter part of the disc (particularly the three "Leucocyte" songs with the 60 second track of silence in between), and tried to understand why the group felt the need to release these tracks. (One of which, "Ad Mortem" is simply 13 minutes of sound effects, sparse piano, and an occasional 3 note bass riff).
As a long time fan of EST I regret to say that I feel I've wasted some money on this CD. While I sort of like two of the tracks (the "Premonition" tracks), and can tolerate a few others ("Jazz" and the two 60 second piano clips), I don't care to listen to the majority of these tracks and will probably not.
I only hope they release the second part of the jam session in Australia and that it yielded better - more record-ready - results.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It shows a band that were confident enough to really experiment.
Comment: Leucocytes are white corpuscles, the immune-system blood cells that undergo regular renewal to remain capable of working. So too, declared Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson, must his trio through jamming.
Tragically, Svensson's shocking death in a scuba-diving accident this summer has silenced his big-selling group. His final legacy is this typically Scandinavian panorama, brooding soundscapes with mild electronica and unabashed repetition, redeemed by Svensson's dreamlike and uniquely sensitive keyboard touch.
When Esbjorn Svensson died , the popular Swedish jazz trio e.s.t. (Esbjorn Svensson and remaining members, bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Ostrom) had perhaps already reached their peak.
But this last studio set, completed prior to Svensson's death proves that the group still had plenty left to say, and were beginning to find a new, more experimental way to say it.
The material, worked up from jam sessions, is both jazzier and rockier than before, and more consciously electro-acoustic in approach, with the opening tracks - contrapuntal piano solo leading into dark and funky groove - as good as anything they've done.
"The Leucocyte suite" (the word refers to white blood cells that fight infection) which follows - and which appears to include one minute of silence - is less perfectly realised, but it's clear that e.s.t. were far from finished.
"Leucocyte, EST's final album, is another leap forward for the trio. Whereas their releases up until this point relied on tightly composed melodies and structures, "Leucocyte" is a bold, fully improvised set, recorded in just two days in a studio in Australia. It is a hint of how EST were pushing themselves into further, more exploratory territories".- Jamie Cullum
Svensson's unique trio - who had been playing together since 1992, until his untimely death this year - show how to conjure up a masterpiece from thin air on the impulse of the moment. Profound and intense, they had reached a level of interaction most bands can only dream of.
"Leucocyte is far from a perfect album, and that's why it's so heartbreakingly good. It's unsure in parts, and occasionally too wilfully rough. But it's a pointer to a future that's been cruelly denied us. We can only dream of what might have happened next. But thank goodness we have this to remember Svensson by. It's a testament to an artist whose life was always a work in progress".-Chris Jones
Svensson's loss goes deep.
They will be greatly missed.
Album Highlight: "Premonition".
Tuesday Wonderland
Viaticum
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