Reflections

EWAN SVENSSON QUARTET
Reflections
(Dragon)
The Swedish guitarist Ewan Svensson showed on his previous album, Present Directions, that he belongs to the elite of Swedish jazz soloists.
Ewan Svensson has played a lot abroad over the years, including a band with the well-known Polish saxophonist Zbigniew Namyslowski. Maybe there is also a relationship with Polish jazz in Svensson’s music. The slightly harsh lyrics and the strong emphasis on sound. On the whole, you can probably compare with American guitarist John Scofield and Pat Metheny. But I find that Ewan’s attitude to music is more humble; his play is not only about shining soloistically, but fits into the whole ensemble. Everything seems to be well worked out, the music homogeneous.
Ewan’s guitar playing has balance and form. All but two are his compositions. Some seemingly simple, but the features are many. For example, the exquisite interaction between Ewan and the guest soloist, pianist Harald Svensson in Boat Trip and the lyrical duet with tenor Ove Ingemarsson in Piece 2 (on the previous record Piece appeared as a guitar solo). Early Meeting also belongs to the more successful numbers.
As a whole, this is an almost four-star album with great contributions by bassist Matz Nilsson, drummer Magnus Gran and not least Ove Ingemarsson.
Ewan Svensson is also on an excellent duo LP, String, where he plays with instrumentalist Kjell Ringström.
Lennart Blomberg / GP