Having introduced elements including saxophone and voice into his music over recent years, Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen celebrates his tenth release for ECM with an emphatic, if typically concise, endorsement of the piano, bass and drums format. Gustavsen has never been one to overplay, preferring to distil his ideas into spare phrases that often draw deeply from church music, and any trio of his is never going to fly like, say, McCoy Tyner’s.

There is, however, a lot of music in Seeing’s ten pieces. All of them stay close to the song form, whether that be in a Bach chorale, a Lutheran hymn that somehow manages to convey both the atmosphere inside a 16th-century church and a jazz concert, or in Gustavsen’s own ‘Extended Circle’ with its gradual progression into a quietly uplifting melody that might have Tom Jobim as its inspiration.

Joined by long-time colleague, the brilliantly understated drummer Jarle Vespestad and the wonderfully woody tone of bassist Steinar Raknes, Gustavsen allows drums and bowed bass to usher in the opening ‘Jesus Gjor Meg Stille’. A simple initial melody broadens out into somewhere between a Middle Eastern meditation and a Scottish folk song with Gustavsen improvising expressively. The mood overall is devotional as the leader incorporates ‘Nearer My God To Thee’ as well as developing a soundcheck jam, ‘Seattle Song’, over Raknes’ reaching, octave-spanning double-bass phrase into a finale that has the crucial ingredient of calling the listener back.

Tord Gustavsen Trio: Seeing, released on Friday 4 October on ECM Records; main picture: Sam Harfouche.