From Gagarin's Point of View, Esbjörn Svensson

Esbjörn Svensson (1964-2008) paved the way for a more modern trio sound. On the 1999 album From Gagarin's Point of View the trio explores sounds and moods, just as much as it explores harmony and melody. Very inspiring stuff.

The song itself refers to Yuri Gagarin, the first person to orbit the earth,

His Point of View, I think, refers to the first point of view on earth from space. It must have moved Gagarin so much that he uttered the unforgettable words:

Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!

He said that in the midst of the Arms Race between the US and the USSR...

Anyways, the song has one of the most beautiful melodies in jazz, I think. Yes, it's a bad idea to say that, because people come up with Naima, A Love Supreme, 3 views of a Secret, Jarrett's tunes on the "Country" album... but still, it is very beautiful.

For me, it shows how poor jazz would be if we stopped listening in the sixties. And the other way around: how rich jazz is if we take the time to listen to everything made after Parker and Coltrane.

Harmonically, it's got this strong Dm Aeolian feel going on. Even though, as is common practice in jazz, Esbjörn uses a lot of Dorian colours too.

Here you can find the file (mgu file) for the tune. Remember, the file wants to play a Jazzstylezz style. If you don't have styles from Jazzstylezz, you can use another style that you like.

Style is in the Ballads Pack 1

Njoy!