Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen has built a huge and enthusiastic worldwide following through his ECM discs and touring, and 'Restored, Returned' will broaden that popularity still further.

After a trilogy of trio recordings - 'Changing Places', 'The Ground', and 'Being There' - which explored a clearly-demarcated melodic terrain, here is a strikingly different album from Tord Gustavsen at the head of a reconfigured band. Into the group come two Norwegian improvisers familiar to ECM listeners, bassist Mats Eilertsen and saxophonist Tore Brunborg. Inside the ensemble new aspects of interactive possibility open up as duo, trio and quartet instrumental combinations explore the space inside Tord's compositions - his gospel-inflected hymns and lullabies and ballads and his pulsing, almost minimalistic grooves. Six tracks include also the voice of Kristin Asbjørnsen. She wraps her bluesy phrasing huskily around the poetry of WH Auden on "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love", "Restored, Returned", "Wrapped in a Yielding Air" and "O Stand, Stand At The Window", and vocalizes wordlessly on three takes of Gustavsen's "Left Over Lullaby", threaded through the album as a structural element.

Tord's 2004 'The Ground' reached No 1 in the Norwegian pop charts, an unprecedented achievement for an instrumental album ("This album will make your life better", promised The Independent on Sunday). Being There was Album of the Year in Jazz Review - indeed each of his previous recordings has topped jazz charts around the world.