Proving that some significant innovations in America’s original music come from other continents, the Swedish trio E.S.T. made an impressive debut at the Dakota last week as part of their first US tour. Described as “the more elegant alternative to the Bad Plus…with a more delicate approach” (John Kelman, All About Jazz), E.S.T. (aka, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio) treated Minnesotans to two nights of high tech, melodic musings that jettisoned the best of post bop piano trioism into 21^st century invention.

Leader and pianist Esbjörn Svensson has been frequently compared to Keith Jarrett, largely due to his alternatingly spare and spiraling lines of melody, forays into blues, and cerebral improvisations that move like concentric circles, as well as his penchant for using the piano’s innards as a guitar, harp or drum. The comparison at times seems well founded, at least in considering 70s Jarrett (and Svensson himself cites Jarrett’s Facing You as an early source of inspiration), although Svensson typically is less ruminative and his selective use of computer loops and samples adds another layer to the sonic palette, bringing a more ethereal—and sometimes humorous—texture to the whole, a post bop structure with space-age accents. This quality was in shining evidence on the second night, particularly on “Hands Off,” “In My Garage,” and the rock-infused “Mingle in the Mincing Machine.” Svensson’s classical training surfaces repeatedly, as on the magnificent counterpoint of “When God Created the Coffeebreak” (think, When Bach Meets Mehldau); his early days playing 12-bar blues in Stockholm rock clubs are never far behind, as on “Definition of a Dog” and an unnamed, wild last set encore that incorporated a bouncing stride with breakneck fluency.

Bassist Dan Berglund is a perfect foil for the pianist as well as an equal partner in driving improvisation or melody. Also demonstrating some Jarrett-tinged wanderings on his solo efforts (particularly on the delightful opening tune, “A Picture of Doris Traveling With Boris”), Berglund truly covered the full range of the upright bass, seamlessly shifting from arco to pizzicato in matching Svensson’s counterpoint on “When God Takes a Coffeebreak”; adding glistening glissando and dissonant chords on “Definition of a Dog,” where electronic enhancements gave the plucked strings a seemingly bowed vibrato. His sustain pedal and heavy-handed plucking further added to the illusion of a bass guitar on “Mingle in the Mincing Machine.” Berglund plays acoustic bass with hot-wire zing!

Svensson's childhood pal, drummer Magnus Öström, completes this telepathic threesome. On the aptly titled “Hands Off,” as well as on several other compositions, he eschewed his arsenal of sticks, mallets, and brushes for the myriad tricks of his own hands, turning his traps into congas and creating a wide array of sound effects across the entire kit as best fit the dynamic demands of the moment. At times his eccentric adaptations recalled the Bad Plus’ Dave King (particularly when placing his mouth on the snare skin to create a weird buzz), but generally his approach is more subtle, more in service to the melody than King. He seldom broke loose but was always close at hand, at times pushing the tension upward with a steady, rising pulse, at other times suddenly shifting the dynamic throttle to throw the trio into a frenzy or bring all to a quick stop.

An evening with E.S.T. can be enjoyed as a sensual or intellectual feast. Their flights stimulate the imagination and challenge the listener to follow a looping path, cycling through traditional and futuristic elements. Yet you can also just sit back and let this tantalizing music tweak your ears and curl your toes.

E.S.T.’s recent recording, Seven Days of Falling (215 Music), has been praised for its “delicious banquet of timbres, melodies, harmonies and feels” (John Walters, The Guardian) and is highly recommended as an introduction to their music. It is packaged with a DVD featuring a live performance in Stockholm that provides a close-up perspective of these musicians at work.