Norwegian jazz musician, composer and band leader, Tord Gustavsen, is a master of the minimal approach to piano and has several Norwegian Grammy Awards to his name to prove it. Often compared to classical jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, his style combines subtle romantic melodies with funky rhythms.

He’s developed his own approach to piano and at his Beirut concert, organized by Liban Jazz, he’ll be presenting his fifth album released by ECM (Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Anouar Brahem, Enrico Rava). Gustavsen started out in music earlier than most. At the age of 4 he was improvising with his father on piano, but he didn’t naturally start to play jazz until the age of 20, when he began to combine the traditions of jazz into his own compositions.

Prior to studying music, Gustavsen graduated with a degree in psychology, then moving on to study jazz at the Trondheim Conservatory of Music and then went on to study jazz theory at the University of Oslo. He led The Tord Gustavsen trio, releasing three albums with them and touring internationally. Gustavsen is part of a movement of Norwegian jazz musicians that have emerged in the last fifteen years that have offered something unique to jazz, bringing a minimal approach that reflects Norwegian life and captures the mood of the cold, dark climate.

When asked about his approach to jazz by Karim Ghattas (Liban Jazz) he explained: ‘I think that playing jazz is mostly playing with honesty, music that we feel deep inside, music that expresses what words cannot say.’ Gustavsen has become a big name in jazz music around the world and a celebrated Norwegian musician who has worked with a number of big Norwegian singers including Silje Nergaard, Siri Gjaere and Solveig Slettahjell. Since embarking on a solo career he’s toured extensively across the world and brought a unique contemporary voice to jazz music.

Sept 18, Tord Gustavsen performs live at Music Hall.