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Mats Gustafsson
He first came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe in 1986 and the band Gush. He has later played widely with musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Paul Lovens, Barry Guy and Derek Bailey. Since the early 1990s, Mats Gustafsson has been a regular visitor to the U.S., forming a particular affinity with Chicago musicians such as Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang and Ken Vandermark and recording for the city’s OkkaDisk label.
In addition to projects with musicians, Mats Gustafsson has worked extensively with artists from the worlds of dance, theatre, poetry and painting.
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Gush: Afro Blue
by John Sharpe
Time brings perspective. The three members of the Swedish band Gush--pianist Sten Sandell, drummer Raymond Strid and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson--were amazed at the quality of the music on this archive tape when they heard it again a quarter century after it was recorded, having forgotten about it completely in the interim. And they are right to be taken aback. The recording, from a concert in Stockholm in December 1998, is simply magnificent. This is unsurprising in retrospect, as all three ...
Continue ReadingFire!: Testament
by Chris May
Recorded and then played back at reduced speed, even a seemingly simple two-note bird call reveals elaborate complexity and detail. It is worth hanging on to that thought when approaching the deceptively straightforward Testament. On a cursory listening, most of the album--an amalgam of Mats Gustafsson's slow-and-deliberate long-held low-end baritone notes and Johan Berthling and Andreas Werlin's matching bass ostinatos and drum patterns--sounds primordial. The recipe goes reductio ad absurdum on track two, “The Dark Inside Of A ...
Continue ReadingMats Gustafsson: Hidros 9 Mirrors
by Mark Corroto
For saxophonist, composer, conductor Mats Gustafsson, the motto “go big, or go home" has always applied to his music. Whether it is blowing his baritone saxophone in the avant garage band The Thing or battling the Japanese noise artist Merzbow, Gustafsson is constantly expanding concepts of composed and improvised music. Through various ensembles such as Gush, Fire! Orchestra, Swedish azz, Fake The Facts, AALY Trio, Sonore, and his duos with everyone from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, to Steve Swell, Christian ...
Continue ReadingBengt "Frippe" Nordström: Vinyl Box
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes an artist can tilt the axis of a genre. Tilt it by just a degree or two. The effects might not be felt as such in the moment, but after decades their imprint is profound. Peter Brötzmann was one example, as was Derek Bailey. Add to that list, the Swedish saxophonist Bengt “Frippe" Nordström (1936 to 2000). As a musician born into a family with wealth, he was spared the necessity of playing gigs to earn his livelihood. In ...
Continue ReadingBrda Contemporary Music Festival 2023
by Neri Pollastri
Medana, Slovenia Brda Contemporary Music Festival Sala Cinematografica Medana 14-16.9.2023 Giunto alla sua tredicesima edizione, il Brda Contemporary Music Festival ha, se pur di poco, cambiato sede --dal pittoresco borgo di Smartno al vicinissimo paesino di Medana, sempre su una delle meravigliose alture del Collio sloveno --ma ha conservato lo spirito e il clima, che ne fanno una rassegna a dir poco unica nell'attuale panorama musicale. Anche quest'anno, infatti, il festival voluto e diretto ...
Continue ReadingSüdtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige 2023
by Libero Farnè
Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige 2023 Bolzano e provincia Varie sedi 30.06--09.07.2023 Superati i quarant'anni di vita, il festival bolzanino è giunto ad un nuovo giro di boa. Dopo una casuale anteprima nel 1982 su un'idea di Nicola Ciardi, con un memorabile concerto del trio Codona all'interno di Bolzano Estate, fu l'anno successivo che partì “Jazz Summer," il festival vero e proprio sempre sotto la direzione artistica di Ciardi. Gli anni 2000 portarono alla denominazione “Jazz ...
Continue ReadingThe End: Why Do You Mourn
by Mark Corroto
Why Do You Mourn is the third release by the Swedish/Norwegian group The End. Ethiopian-born Swedish vocalist Sofia Jernberg is backed by the double reedists Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Fire! and Fire! Orchestra) and Kjetil Møster (Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, Møster!, and Zanussi Five), plus guitarist Anders Hana (Circulasione Totale Orchestra) and drummer Børge Fjordheim. It follows two releases on the RareNoise Records label, Allt Är Intet (2020) and Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen (2018). The sounds resemble ...
Continue ReadingMerzbow / Pandi / Gustafsson Join Forces With Guitarist Thurston Moore For Mind-blowing Second Cuts Project On RareNoiseRecords
Source:
hubtone PR
How did renowned Japanese noisemaker Merzbow (aka Masami Akita), Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi follow up their majorly intense statement made on their tumultuous debut album, Cuts, which was released in 2013? By adding another ingredient to the volatile mix, in the person of skronking guitar hero and Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore they’ve taken things up a notch or two on the Richter scale on their RareNoiseRecords follow-up recording. With Gustaffson’s roaring baritone sax blending ...
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Mats Gustafsson Releases "Bengt" On Utech Records - Available May 19th
Source:
Keith Utech
Bengt is the new solo recording by Mats Gustafsson and is dedicated to Bengt Nordström. Mats Gustafsson plays a plastic alto sax. A classic Grafton sax. The type of sax that was used by Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman and Bengt Nordström. Nordström is best known having produced Albert Ayler's first recording Something Different on his Bird Note imprint. It is in his own role as a saxophonist that Nordström was truly inventive. Bengt Nordström was playing solo sax improvisation already ...
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Steve Reid, Kieran Hebden and Mats Gustafsson - Live at the South Bank (Smalltown Superjazz, 2011)
Source:
Music and More by Tim Niland
The great drummer Steve Reid enjoyed a fantastic career, playing with everyone from R&B singers to free jazz musicians. He recorded two wonderful albums in the 1970's, Novaand Rhythmatismbefore keeping a lower profile the remainder of the decade. In the 2000's he had a career renaissance, teaming up with the electronic musician Kieran Hebden to produce a number of albums that blurred the boundaries of jazz and electronic music. The two reunite here, joined by Swedish free-jazz saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, ...
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Tarfala Trio, "Syzygy": Live in Belgium, 2009
Source:
Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
The Tarfala Trio is a hot avant trio commodity. It's Mats Gustafsson, tenor and alto fluteophone (?), Barry Guy, acoustic bass, and Raymond Strid on drums. You might well know Matt via his association with Brotzmann's Chicago Tentet. He is a blazing gamer and has big ears to shout or whisper as needed. Barry Guy is one of the premier new jazz bassists, of course, and can solo or play ensemble with his very own sound and inventive genius. Raymond ...
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Tarfala Trio - Syzygy (NoBusiness Records, 2011)
Source:
Music and More by Tim Niland
Drawing on the legacy of Albert Ayler's extraordinary trio LP Spiritual Unity, The Tarfala Trio, consisting of Mats Gustafsson on saxophones, Barry Guy on bass and Raymond Strid on drums and percussion take the notion of open-ended free jazz and make an impassioned statement that would certainly have made Ayler proud. Opening with “Broken by Fire," the band sets the stage for their opening improvisation by probing at the edges of the music, before Gustafsson finds a path with ecstatic ...
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