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As many of you will have heard by now, Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson was tragically killed in a scuba diving accident on Saturday June 14th.

Esbjörn’s band e.s.t. were hugely influential in bringing jazz to a wider audience and his untimely death has sent shock waves through the music world. We had the great pleasure of working with him on a number of albums and we will be working on the band’s 12th and now final album Leucocyte, which is due for release in the autumn.

Esbjörn was both a wonderful musician and person who we are proud to have known. We’ll miss him greatly.

ACT Records have set up an online book of condolances which you can view and contribute to here:

http://www.actmusic.com/esbjorn.php

ACT STATEMENT

Esbjörn Svensson dies in diving accident on June 14, 2008

Swedish pianist and composer Esbjörn Svensson died in a diving accident on Saturday June 14, 2008 aged 44. Our thoughts are with his mourning wife and children and his long time musical associates Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström.

Esbjörn Svensson was one of the most influential jazz artists in recent history and his band e.s.t. were considered one of the most successful jazz groups in Europe and beyond.

e.s.t. became famous for their innovative mix of jazz, contemporary rock and elements of classical music which drew both young and adult audiences to their concerts all over the world. Their albums regularly entered the jazz and the pop charts achieving numerous awards.

Esbjörn Svensson was born on April 16, 1964 in Västeras, Sweden. His mother played classical piano, his father loved Ellington, and Svensson listened to the latest pop hits on the radio. In high school, Esbjörn played in his first bands, along with taking piano lessons for three years. There followed four years of musical studies at the University in Stockholm where Svensson developed the necessary technical craft to fully articulate his intuitive self-taught concepts. Thus, Svensson's carefree, youthful musical exuberance could mature into a creative self-awareness.

In 1993 Svensson founded e.s.t. together with his childhood friend Magnus Öström on drums and bassist Dan Berglund and from that point on concentrated completely on his work with this trio.

They had just finished working on their 12th and now final album “LEUCOCYTE”…

We are mourning for a great artist, a wonderful person and a good friend.

Siggi Loch & the ACT family