Moments Passed

Ewan Svensson Trio

Ewan Svensson – Yasuhito Mori – Magnus Gran

Recorded at Studio Lynga, Falkenberg, Sweden, February 18, 19, 2009
Recording, mix and mastering: Lars Hillerström
Photo: ESM-Prod. Graphic design: Sofia Berry/Berry Produktion
Produced by Ewan Svensson. Executive Producer: Dragon Records

Ewan Svensson Trio
“Moments Passed”
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Falkenberg guitarist Ewan Svensson’s first album with only standards was made in Studio Lynga and rhythmically it is more straight-ahead, conventional jazz where space for solos is taken to full advantage. This is one hour’s high-class, modern trio jazz that is both tight and floating and ends with some marvellous solo-guitar playing on “Have You Met Miss Jones?” The ballad “Peace” and “Come Rain Or Come Shine” as a jazz-waltz has been previously recorded by Ewan with Janne Carlsson’s group and I would have appreciated even more successful new interpretations – as for instance when “My Favourite Things” and Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” are given new life in a free Latin style. Long-time associate, drummer Magnus Gran, is presently a teaching colleague of Ewan’s in Falkenberg and he impresses all the way through with the highpoint being the fast “My Shining Hour”.
Martin Erlandsson/HN

Ewan Svensson Trio
“Moments Passed”
Ewan Svensson is a guitarist who impresses more and more with each new project. This time, with an excellent rhythm section comprised of Yasuhito Mori on bass and Magnus Gran on drums, he has chosen to interpret eleven more-or-less modern standards and the result is a completely fantastic album. If someone had said to me that this was a CD with Pat Metheny I would have naturally believed it to be true. Not that Ewan Svensson is an imitator but he is of the same high standard as any American superstar you care to mention. Had he been born a little more west than Halland he would without doubt have been a world name.
Magnus Nilsson/ Smålandsposten

Tasteful mosaic with beautiful-sounding guitar
Ewan Svensson Trio
Moments Passed
* * * * 
Ewan Svensson has long been one of Sweden’s most personal guitarists. With bassist Yasuhito Mori and drummer Magnus Gran he can be heard in eleven jazz classics that are mixed into a tasteful mosaic where his beautiful-sounding guitar gives the music intimate warmth and melodic richness. The album is notable for the homogeneity of the group and mutual awareness between each musician, which gives one a feeling of wanting to hear more.
The arrangements have been written by Ewan. He plays completely solo impressively well in “Have You Met Miss Jones?” Otherwise it is the trio all the way where Mori’s reliable bass and Magnus’s imaginative drumming give inspiring assistance. Mori is featured as soloist in, among others, Horace Silver’s “Peace”.
“Come Rain Or Come Shine” is one the album’s highpoints where Ewan demonstrates the high class of his playing after Mori’s well- constructed bass solo. In “I Hear a Rhapsody” the flexibility of the musicians is well to the fore and Ewan’s guitar produces a note-cascade of distinction. Magnus also contributes an outstanding solo. Among the other standards that are given fresh interpretations are “Infant Eyes” and “Moment’s Notice” – another highspot in the programme. The spiritual playing in “Summer Night” and “Dolphin Dance” is also on a high plane. In the super-fast “My Shining Hour” the trio pulls out all the stops.
If you want to enjoy jazz in a relaxed manner then Moments Passed is a good choice.
Göran Olsson/DIG Music Magazine

Ewan Svensson Trio
Moments Passed
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Ewan Svensson’s name is unfortunately sometimes forgotten but he belongs quite definitely to Sweden’s foremost guitar players; technically brilliant and with the enviable capability of being able to deliver solos rich in imagination. He has demonstrated this in, among others, Janne “Loffe” Carlsson’s admirable quartet. And he also demonstrates this in “Moments Passed”, the seventh Dragon CD in his own name, if I have counted correctly.
The CD is an excellent object for studying how to make jazz standards sound up to date and fresh. Svensson can be heard here in a tasteful and close collaboration with Yasuhito Mori, bass, and Magnus Gran, drums. For me personally I particularly like to hear jazz guitar with a slight – but only slight – flavour of rock influence and with tendencies of an aggressive attack. Ewan Svensson leans more towards the traditional approach to the guitar and plays with a mild, rounded tone. That does not prevent him of course from also being capable of lighting a fire – as he does in “I Hear a Rhapsody” and “My Shining Hour”. Moments Passed is concluded with the leader completely solo in a brilliant version of “Have you Met Miss Jones?”
Joe Pass could not have done it better.
Jörgen Östberg/ OJ