Born Bror Frederik Svensson in Skultuna, Sweden on April 16, 1964, Esbjörn Svensson was a jazz pianist best known as the leader of his own Esbjörn Svensson Trio, also known as E.S.T. Interested in classical music and jazz at a young age, he drifted towards rock as a teen and performed in garage bands until he drifted back to jazz music and began to take piano lessons when he was 16. He then spent four years studying the instrument at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. In the 1980s, he integrated himself into the Swedish and Danish jazz scenes and served as a popular sideman before collaborating with percussionist and longtime friend Magnus Öström in a jazz combo in 1990. Three years later, Esbjörn Svensson and Öström met double bassist Dan Berglund and formed the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, who became one of the greatest jazz trios of their time. E.S.T.’s repertoire covered everything from baroque music to electronica. They released their debut album, When Everyone Has Gone, in 1993 and followed it with E.S.T. Live – Mr. and Mrs. Handkerchief (1995), E.S.T. Plays Monk (1996), and Winter in Venice (1997). Esbjörn Svensson and his bandmates also spent time accompanying artists such as Lasse Lindgren, Lina Nyberg, Viktoria Tolstoy, and Nils Landgren. E.S.T.’s popularity increased with releases such as Good Morning Susie Soho (2000), Strange Place for Snow (2002), Seven Days of Falling (2003), Viaticum (2005), and Tuesday Wonderland (2006). After completing the recording sessions for his album Leucocyte, Esbjörn Svensson died in a scuba diving accident on June 14, 2008. Leucocyte was released posthumously in September 2008 and was followed in 2012 by 301, an album of recordings from the same sessions as Leucocyte. In 2022, Home.s - a collection of unreleased solo recordings taped just before his death – was released and reached Number 17 in Germany.
