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Jazz Articles about Mats Gustafsson
About Mats Gustafsson
Instrument: Woodwinds
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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 ...
read moreMats 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 ...
read moreBengt "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 ...
read moreBrda 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 ...
read moreSüdtirol 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 ...
read moreThe 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 ...
read moreFire! Orchestra: Echoes
by Chris May
The story of supersized jazz orchestras is not pretty. The scene was set by the bleaching deracination of Paul Whiteman and the elephantine bombast of Stan Kenton, bandleaders whose craving for approval by the music establishment fatally compromised their art. Good taste came later with leaders such as Carla Bley and London's Keith Tippett, who proved that, in the right hands, swing and nuance could co-exist with size and power. Since around 2010, there have been some ...
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