Static session

Music, it often has been noted, is both sounds and silences. It’s a logical thought, but one that has eluded many musicians in every imaginable genre, with jazz having a substantial share of players who aren’t content for a second to pass without some sort of aural activity.

All of which helps to explain the high expectations for the performance by the trio of Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday. Gustavsen’s albums, including the new ECM CD “The Ground,” reveal a quietly dynamic approach to jazz that suggests an appealing new piano trio modality.

In performance, however, the message came across considerably skewed. Music may indeed be both sounds and silences, but it also is about content. And if it’s jazz, it’s also about improvisational invention, rhythmic lift and a range of emotions.

Some of those qualities are evident in the recordings, but Gustavsen and his partners -- bassist Harald Johnsen and drummer Jarle Vespestad -- displayed precious little of any in their performance.

The opening piece, a new, unrecorded number titled “At Home,” initially held considerable promise. Gustavsen opened with gentle meditative sounds, Vespestad added subtle, sometimes almost inaudible brush strokes on his drums, and Johnsen played an occasionally significant low note.

Sadly, it was a pattern that neither changed nor developed in any meaningful way for the balance of the set. Pieces from the new album -- “Twins,” “Sentiment,” “Reach Out and Touch It” -- blended into one another, lacking content, lacking individual identity, a floating melange of sound and space in which nothing of consequence ever seemed to happen.