Östergren Strömkvist Trio - Liam's Labyrinth (2020)

Martin Östergren and Dan Strömkvist are experienced musicians and they are full-blooded professionals, who have competed with other greats both on tours and in studios. Now they leave all safety lines and all rooms of comfort and embark on their own adventures. The result is a debut album with twelve tracks, which can be genre-defined as jazz with Nordic tones and influences from the American jazz tradition.

The set is classic, Martin Östergren on piano, Dan Strömkvist on drums and Josef Kallerdahl on bass, thus a jazz piano trio format. The group is responsible for all compositions.

After various stages of preparation, exchange of ideas and rehearsals, the song was born, which became the credo for the recording - a day, a room and a plate. Everything would be born and redeemed in the moment, on the spot and with the support of each other. No eternal retakes, no filing and rasping, no adjustments to reach the unattainable perfection.

Thus, there were many pre-orders, with no orders afterwards. To do this requires a responsiveness to one another, an attentive attention to what others are doing, a belief in themselves and the group's shared strength. That energy and dynamism is felt on many of the tracks, it also rests with ease and intuitive playfulness over most.