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John Sharpe's Best Releases of 2015
by John Sharpe
Here in no special order are ten new releases, reviewed in All About Jazz, which stood out among those I heard this year. Mats Gustafsson Hidros 6 Knockin' (Not Two Records) An avant-garde jazz composition based on the songs of '50s rocker Little Richard. Really? Yep, that's the premise behind Swedish reedman Mats Gustafsson's large scale work recorded at the Krakow Jazz Autumn in 2013. A significant part of the achievement is down ...
Continue ReadingMats Gustafsson & Nu Ensemble: Hidros 6: Knockin'
by John Sharpe
An avant-garde jazz composition based on the songs of '50s rocker Little Richard. Really? Yep, that's the premise behind Swedish reedman Mats Gustafsson's large scale work recorded at the Krakow Jazz Autumn in 2013. Although best known for his small group output with The Thing and Fire!, Gustafsson has regularly assembled bigger groupings during his career, most recently his Fire! Orchestra. Through a festival commission, Gustafsson was granted the opportunity to convene the 12-strong all star Nu Ensemble which rehearsed ...
Continue ReadingMats Gustafsson/dieb13/Martin Siewert: Fake The Facts: Soundtrack
by Mark Corroto
Stripped to its core, music is communication. It is the accompaniment to life's movie. The first fabulists, our cavemen ancestors probably invented music by imitating the sounds of nature, such as bird calls, wolf howls, and the patter of rain on the cave's entrance. The pleasure delivered by that experience caused several members of the cavemen's tribe to give up hunting-and-gathering for a steady gig as musicians. Fast forward twenty thousand years and with noted music in place, our Bird, ...
Continue ReadingSave the Date - Marzo
by Luca Canini
Sito nuovo, nuova rubrica. Inauguriamo oggi uno spazio segnalazioni che diventerà un appuntamento mensile. Una sorta di breve guida al meglio del meglio di quel che offrono i palchi italiani e non, i concerti e i festival che a nostro giudizio (a nostro insindacabile e inoppugnabile giudizio) meritano di essere raccomandati. Nulla di ragionato o di scientifico, semplicemente un prontuario con dritte, consigli, itinerari. Allacciate le cinture: si parte. 14 Marzo--Padova: Prima tappa il Cinema Lux di ...
Continue ReadingMats Gustafsson: Shift
by John Sharpe
Having co-opted reed iconoclast Mats Gustafsson to pen the enthusiastic liners for their prosaically-named Two Nights in April (Ayler Records, 2010), young Swedish trio Correction goes one better on Shift by persuading their countryman to actually participate in the session. Over its five year existence, the threesome of pianist Sebastian Bergström, bassist Joacim Nyberg and drummer Emil Astrand-Melin has forged a cohesive group identity, built on freedom within a recognizably modern jazz idiom. Gustafsson convinces as the perfect guest, adding ...
Continue ReadingFire! Orchestra: Exit!
by John Kelman
Sometimes it's best not to predict. If the idea of expanding Fire!'s core trio of saxophonist/electric pianist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werlin into Fire! Orchestra's massive, 28-piece behemoth was based on the trio's extant discography-- You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (Rune Grammofon, 2009), Unreleased (Rune Grammofon, 2011), and In the Mouth of a Hand Rune Grammofon, 2012)--then a relentless album of high energy and high volume density would be expected. Which makes Exit! a complete ...
Continue ReadingMats Gustafsson: Stones
by John Eyles
Stones is a recording of the very first meeting of two remarkable saxophonists--legendary Swedish baritone and tenor player Mats Gustafsson and Montreal-based American Colin Stetson, a member of Arcade Fire's touring band as well as bass saxophonist of choice for an impressive list of musicians including Laurie Anderson, David Byrne and Tom Waits. The album's four tracks--some thirty-five minutes of music--were recorded live onstage at the Vancouver Jazz Festival in 2011 and feature the two saxophonists alone together.
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