Being There is the third album by the Tord Gustavsen Trio on ECM, released in April 2007. The Norwegian pianist saw it as the last part of a trilogy begun with Changing Places and continued with The Ground. The title comes from a tune on The Ground, a deliberate signal of continuity. Gustavsen described its working idea as being acutely present and focused in the fullness of the moment. The record keeps the slow, hymn-like restraint of the earlier two while giving the rhythm section more room.
Gustavsen plays piano, Harald Johnsen double bass and Jarle Vespestad drums. The thirteen pieces were recorded in December 2006 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Jan Erik Kongshaug engineering and Manfred Eicher producing. Twelve are by Gustavsen. The tango-tinged Karmosin, the only piece by another hand, is by Johnsen. Gustavsen spoke of restraint as a discipline inspired by a love of spaces, about trying to play what you would actually like to hear.
The opener At Home is quiet and impressionistic, a melody unfolded with great patience. Blessed Feet is the closest the album comes to a groove, a light funk pulse under gospel-style harmonies, and Gustavsen has linked it to the Keith Jarrett quartet of Belonging. Still There is one of several slow hymns, almost motionless, where the interplay sits between abstraction and gospel roots. Throughout, Vespestad's drums have drifted towards the centre of the sound, something the trio had already been doing live and which is clearer here than before.
The British press was warm. In the Independent on Sunday, Phil Johnson suggested the trilogy could be the most essential jazz document of the previous ten years. He called this album "the chill-out as a state of grace". John Fordham in The Guardian found the tunes "hypnotically strong" and the integration of bass and drums "total". Not everyone agreed. Writing in PopMatters in 2007, Will Layman admired the beauty of the playing but found the trilogy too uniform, saying the music "moves like a glacier". In France it was a Choc du mois in Jazzman.
This is the CD edition, ECM 2017, first released in 2007.
