Contributions to releases by groups like the Silje Nergaard Band, the Ulrich Drechsler Quartet, and others had already helped to establish him as one of Norway's top players. In 2003, signed to ECM, Gustavsen, along with drummer Jarle Vespestad and bassist Harald Johnsen, released Changing Places, which was followed in 2005 with Ground. Two years later, Being There, what Gustavsen called the completion of the trilogy, hit shelves. In 2010, Gustavsen delivered Restored, Returned on ECM, featuring vocalist Kristin Asbjørnsen. He issued his first quartet recording, Well, in 2012, and his second, Extended Circle, in January of 2014. After touring internatrionally on both the festival and club circuits, Gustavsen and his trio (with Simin Tander in place of Johnsen in the bass chair) re-entered the studio and recorded What Was Said; it was released by ECM in early 2016. ~ Marisa Brown