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Sabu Toyozumi / Mats Gustafsson: Hokusai
by Mark Corroto
This tantalizing duo between Mats Gustafsson and Sabu Toyozumi was recorded at two live concerts in Chiba, Japan in 2018. Probably most listeners are familiar with the Swedish saxophonist from his avant--garage trio The Thing with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love and dozens of other ensembles including Fire! Orchestra, The End, and Cuts with Masami Akita aka Merzbow, and Balazs Pandí, to name but a few. This recording may be an introduction to Japanese drummer/percussionist Toyozumi. He ...
Continue ReadingThe Thing with Joe McPhee: She Knows...
by Mark Corroto
After nearly three dozen releases over seventeen years, it was announced in 2019 that the trio The Thing would be on a hiatus from touring and recording. This garage punk jazz trio has carried the flame of Black Flag's get-in-the-van philosophy, traveling and recording with the likes of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Otomo Yoshihide, Neneh Cherry, Barry Guy, Ken Vandermark, and the Norwegian rockers Cato Salsa Experience. This release is a reissue of the band's second recording which followed their ...
Continue ReadingDUX Orchestra: Duck Walks Dog (With Mixed Results)
by John Sharpe
The cover of the 1994 archival recording Duck Walks Dog (With Mixed Results) by the DUX Orchestra presents an intriguing line up which combines American free jazzers with Swedish baritone saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. Even within the New York City contingent there is diversity, as veteran stickman Walter Perkins (who played with Sonny Rollins, Roland Kirk and Charles Mingus among many others) rubs shoulders with young drummer Susie Ibarra (in her pre-David S. Ware days), stalwart reedmen Dave Sewelson and Will ...
Continue ReadingMoers Festival Interviews: Anguish
by Martin Longley
Anguish are born to be in Moers. This supergroup of the underbelly bleeds together from varying times, diverse sonic areas and different lands. Alternative New Jersey hip-hop roams into the realms of vintage Krautrock, causing distress during an inbreeding feast with the masters of free-Viking jazz. Two pairs of players apiece from Dälek and Fire! meet a founding Faust-father. Then they record for one of the finest jazz-adventuring labels, RareNoise, run by Italians in London. Anguish made an ...
Continue ReadingFire!: The Hands
by Sammy Stein
Rune Grammofon unleashed something special with the great music it has released over the past 20 years, and with The Hands it has surpassed itself. The Fire! trio, which consists of reedman Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werlin, makes music which defies labels and classification. Now, going into a resting phase after ten years of making great music together, Fire! remains a force in jazz. Anything with Mats Gustafsson at the helm is likely to contain music ...
Continue ReadingThe End: Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen
by Vitalijus Gailius
The End emerge as a massive collaboration among Norwegian baritone saxophonist Kjetil Møster, Swedish baritone sax hooligan Mats Gustafsson, Norwegian noise-jazz guitarist Anders Hana, the San Francisco-based avant-rock band Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier and miraculous singer Sofia Jernberg. The quintet's debut “Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen" manages to grasp several musical traditions. It sounds like a child that was born from extramarital affairs of New York no-wave, noise rock and free/avant-garde jazz. Such a collision between the aforementioned ...
Continue ReadingAltoadige Jazz Festival 2018
by Libero Farnè
Varie Sedi Provincia di Bolzano 29.06--08.07.2018 Da alcuni anni il sottotitolo di questo festival potrebbe essere “Young European Jazz Festival," visto che il suo curatore Klaus Widmann evita accuratamente di invitare gruppi americani o nomi europei già troppo noti. Il suo obiettivo è invece quello di sondare le giovani tendenze nelle diverse aree europee, favorendo fra l'altro scambi di esperienze, incontri inediti e produzioni originali. Quest'anno lo sguardo si è posato in particolar modo ...
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