BIRDS!

Oct.02, 2012

finnally… after all the years…. a dream came through….

and its name is BIRDS!

 

Mats Gustafsson / John Russell / Raymond Strid
Birds
dEN 008
read the first review / sorry in swedish only…..

Av: Thomas Millroth

Först måste jag erkänna följande: för ett par år sedan arrangerade jag på bageriet KIN i Östra Vemmerlöv en mycket uppskattad konsert, som jag drömt om, där Raymond Strid spelade nerbantat slagverk och Mats Gustafsson sopransax. Önskekonsert. Brittiskt.

Här är nu herrarna tillsammans med en äkta britt, den diskret fåtonige gitarristen John Russell. Ibland närmast en ikonoklast. Han är här laddsladd till den energi som slagverkaren John Stevens skapade på Little Theatre i London. Det kan inte vara bättre. Det kan inte vara mer brittiskt. Musik med stiff upper lip. Våta tweedkavajer, busväder, elände men ändå total behärskning och inte ett uttryck för mycket, inte en oöverlagd gest. Det är nästan så man tänker på Johan Hakelius. Skämt åsido.

Russell är lika strålande i sin tvekan om att släppa loss toner som då jag hörde honom för mycket länge sedan som ung man med friformsträvan. Enstaka toner, som av misstag. Ljud från strängarna, han prövar några lågmälda figurer. En svirrande klunga ljud med distinkta knäppar på strängarna. Litet disträ, som om han glömde bort återhållsamheten. Strax pressar han ner ljuden, eller om det är Mats saxofon som käkar upp dem. Det där tuggande, gurglande, sprittande, strypta ljudet pratar så väl med Russell, som blir riktigt yster, gungar tonerna milt i ett oväntat anfall av eufori.

Det är sällan så här renskalad impro hörs numera. Den som har det mest i märgen är Raymond Strid. Dessa små ljud, plötsliga attacker, väl avsmakade klanger. Han är en gourmet också då han serverar de minsta rätterna, som här. Alltigenom ojämförbart spel av honom. Tillsammans med John Russell hörs hans nakna mästerlighet. Det hörs hur han trivs.

Det hörs också hur Mats slappnar av, lyssnar, njuter, då han spelar. Medan den litet oberäknelige Russell liksom ligger och lurar, för att rätt som det är nappa tag i minsta skärande tonen eller nypa någon av de andra herrarna i tonflödet, då det verkar närma sig melodi. Så gnider de tonerna mot varandra tills elektricitet uppstår, små gnistor yr. Det finns i slutet av det första stycket en ettrighet, som börjar med att Strid och Gustafsson tillrar ljud med varandra i ett lätt crescendo, och då passar Russel på att trassla in sig.

Musiken blir tät som en äkta tweedkavaj. Upplösningen på denna korta förtätning är ett litet längre inpass av John Russell, ett mästerverk med klart aforistiska kvaliteter. Särskilt då kamraterna ansluter. Gustafsson ristar slingor som i glas och Strid prickar med hela sin intuition in accenter, som styr musiken i en annan riktning. Vilset, sökande nya former att lösa upp. Då är varje ljud, varje enskild bit i flödet som en utsökt reflex av själva begreppet Musik, det som en gång var motivationen på Little Theatre, och som gjorde dessa musikers hållning så uttalat revolutionär. Allvaret, det frätande, krävande, moraliska. Sök minsta gemensamma nämnare för de kategorierna. Där finns en annan slags skönhet, en annan ordning om man så vill; dit tränger de sig. Samlar sig ivrigt kring instrumentens kärvaste vackraste mest levande ljud. Ibland litet stapplande, för tvivel är viktigt, se sig om, inte vara så tvärsäker.

Då en dryg halvtimme gått rinner allt ut i sanden för ett ögonblick och Russell bestämmer sig för att undersöka den plötsliga tystnaden, han ser ängeln som gick genom rummet på ryggen. Aktsammare musik finns knappt. Strax skapar trion de ljud som kanske kallas tystnad. Och via Gustafssons barytonsax mäts ljud och rum upp.

Russell gnider gitarren mot de andra, som om han gned med ett kattskinn på tiden, den tid som bor i hela hans erfarenhet. Och allt han valt och kryssat förbi. Plötsligt sprakar det diskret i musiken. Det känns som om de backar in i klangrummet, trevar och snurrar runt och blir litet yra. De manövrerar bort sina muskelminnen. Misstror sig själva, men inte varandra. Till slut är musiken tunnare än det nötta sidenfodret på insidan av tweeden. Tunna trådar sticker ut, stadgan är där i en anad form, men sakta brister allting, tills det inte finns något längre att hålla i. I det läget är Gustafssons barytonsaxofon kroppsvarm av innerlighet. Också de andra instrumenten känns taktila. De berör.

Så samlar de ihop sig till litet kärleksgnabb, låter det som, och så finns plötsligt inget mer att säga, och då tystnar de. Över 40 minuter har gått av ”The Earth As The Sun And The Ravens Are Watching” och jag har just varit med om ett av de märkligaste spåren av improviserad musik. Det är en utdragen väntan, där jag till sist inser att det jag väntat på just ägt rum.

Det avslutande stycket känns med sina dryga fyra minuter som en koncentrerad tvårading; en kortis med kraftiga konturer. Mästerlig exakt klangkänsla av Raymond Strid. För att inte tala om John Russell. Eller Mats Gustafsson, som släpper in några toners reverens att tråckla med. Ett stycke som känns kort som några sekunder, en ristning på baksidan av det första långa stycket – ett litet p.s., en fotnot, ett förtydligande – att så här kan man också spela

Jag spelade Birds om och om igen. Slutligen bestämde jag mig för att den inte är särskilt brittisk. Den har för länge sedan passerat den sortens kategoriseringar. Musik rätt och slätt. Ungefär som Bengt Nordström skulle ha tyckt. Eller Mats B: Shoot man! I de antikategoriernas rum rör sig denna trio. They do not come heavier than this!

Thomas Millroth, soundofmusic, oct 2012

http://www.soundofmusic.nu/



preorder BENGT!!!

May.02, 2012

soon out  !!! —- the new solo LP ” BENGT! on Utech records

WHITE limited edition vinyl!

Artist: Mats Gustafsson
Title: Bengt
Price: $19
Format: LP (White) + CDaaEdition: 500
Length: 39’aaTrx: 2
Catalogue Number: URLP072
Released: May 19, 2012

Side A
1.Bengt A
Side B
1.Bengt B

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 sax player Bengt was truly inventive. Bengt was playing solo sax improvisation already in 1962 (!!!) Nordström mentored Swedish reedman Mats Gustafsson in addition to playing in a quartet with drummer Peter Uuskyla, bassist Bjorn Ålke, and violinist Lars Svantesson. Nordström died in 2000 at age 63. Bengt is a celebration of the music and the man behind it.
From the liner notes by Swedish author Thomas Millroth- On this record you might not hear the Gustafsson you are used to, but I assure you this is the real Mats, this is the nucleus in his playing. These solo pieces are a wholeness, together forming a sounding essay about the Me in his music. The Me in Me that is Me in You – as did Ekelöf write in a poem.
Limited to 500 copies on white vinyl. LP includes cd version of the album.

make a preorder here:


http://www.utechrecords.com/Releases3.html


new 7″ releases april 2012

Apr.27, 2012

3 new releases…. all on 7″… limited… all good smelling…

limited 7″  flexi by Swedish azz ! playing “Toots & Quincy” —  only released in this form…

soon to be ordered from Catalytic sound:

http://catalytic-sound.com/home.php

and Not Two:

http://www.nottwo.com/

or at Andra Jazz in Stockholm – 0046 8 310707

 

 

 

limited 7″ vinyl with Fake The Facts and Birgit Uhler

order from:

http://www.soundofmusic.nu/

email to:

red@soundofmusic.nu

 

 

limited 7″ vinyl with Mats Gustafsson solo & Vandermark/ Nilssen – Love / Baars Trio live from Ethiopia!

order from Terp Records:

http://www.terprecords.nl/

 

 

7″ vinyls…. all you need….all you need….

 


solo sax ethiopia!!!

Mar.27, 2012

NEW 7 ” vinyl on TERP records.

 

recorded in addis abeba, Ethiopia in feb 2011 during an insane project w The EX and Paal Nilssen- Love, working with local musicians, circus and artists!

one side solo….with Mats Gustafsson

one side a trio….. with Ab Baars and Ken Vandermark on clarinets and Paal Nilssen- Love on drums!

 

order it NOW from TERP:
http://www.terprecords.nl/

 

 


barrel fire w Gord Grdina Trio

Apr.20, 2011

the new CD w Gord Grdina Trio + Mats Gustafsson” Barrel Fire” has got shitloads of reviews lately…and a short canadian tour is coming up in june…

it will be something else….

 

 

Gord Grdina Trio with Mats Gustafsson, “Barrel Fire”

April 18, 2011

By Mike Griffin

“Barrel Fire” was recorded live in 2009 in Vancouver, a document of a fiery collaboration between the Gord Grdina Trio and Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson.  Grdina’s trio consists of guitar, bass, and drums, but in this live set their music mixes elements from jazz and no wave, with a little bit of punk rock for energy and a little bit of ancient folk music tossed in for unexpectedly sharp seasoning.

Gustafsson’s acrobatic screech and bluster fit in perfectly with the Grdina Trio’s cascading and furious sounds.  On “F.W.R.” Grdina’s guitar possesses a stinging, nasty tone, mixing a great, unadorned Telecaster sound with fluid, dissonant, and spectacularly fast runs.  Gustafsson matches Grdina step for step, while drummer Kenton Loewen pushes the tempo relentlessly.  Grdina is no mere chop-tastic player; noise and distortion lurk at the margins of his precise riffing in a way that I have not often heard among jazz guitar players.  His amazing intro to “Burning Bright” segues into a headpart that owes as much to Captain Beefheart as it does to Ornette Coleman, and then Grdina yields the floor to Gustafsson for another crisp and intelligent solo.  When Grdina rejoins the fray Gustafsson blazes away next to him, while bassist Tommy Babin circles around the two soloists like a wary innocent bystander hoping to avoid carnage before taking a solo of his own.  It’s stirring stuff, and the band’s ability to infuse jazz with this sort of manic skronk is not something I’ve encountered much beyond bands like Ultralyd, Universal Congress of, or John Zorn during his Naked City and Painkiller era.  Grdina’s willingness to hammer away on one note in true primitivist fashion is rare in a guitarist who has such deep technique, but it lends a simple and effective explosiveness to the end of “Burning Bright” that would be lost under a cloud of notes if it were played otherwise.

“229? brings sonic heat as well; drummer Loewen is given a spot to display some skill before the band launches into an idiosyncratic take on a more traditional piece.  Gustafsson leads things off again with another effective solo, flying around Loewen and Babin’s sped-up walk before Grdina takes his turn after a return to the song’s head.  The engines speed up, picks are shredded, fingernails torn, and the trio rides the piece to its outro in heavy fashion, before Babin gently ends things with a solo bass part.  “En Shakoota” is the gem here for me, as Grdina exchanges his electric guitar for an oud, and lays down a lengthy, dust-swept, and lonesome-sounding intro.  The contrast between the oud’s delicate tones to the round and spiky Telecaster is dramatic and welcome, but there is no loss in intensity here, as Grdina’s oud playing is skillful and dramatic.  When the rhythm section kicks in, the effect is tremendous; it nearly forces me out of my chair still on my twentieth listen…murmured vocals, mystic and unintelligible, add to the asskicking exotic feel of it all before Gustafsson’s sax swoops overhead, majestic and suitably mournful.  Title track “Barrel Fire” rocks all over the place, evoking a Minutemen-versus-King Crimson mood, complete with staggering no-wave breakdown in the middle.  Impeccably recorded too – all instruments come through well in the mix, clear and representative of what must’ve gone down that night in Vancouver.  All the musicians shine on this release, and I feel that I must check out more of the Grdina Trio’s work after this one.

 

9/10

check it out: http://www.dripaudio.com/


Barrel Fire
is The Gordon Grdina Trios’ most brutally driving, raw, dynamic record to date.  The collaboration between GG3 and Mats Gustafsson at the 2009 Vancouver International Jazz Festival was recorded and Barrel Fire is the first set from that night. There are few edits in order to retain the natural raw power of the original concert. The band expands and explodes through the melodic sketches with inherent  interest in the raw dynamic energy of group improvisation. The group sounds at times like a freight train screaming down the tracks in the dark recesses of your city but as the Oud takes the fore ground we are reminded of the sensitive and delicate reflection in this darkness. There are moments of silence and individual exploration filled with the intensity of the search. The search to let go to what will become. The band owes as much of a debt to the energy of bands like The EX, and The Dead Kennedys as it does to the primal melodic sensibility of Albert Ayler and the sophistication of Ornette Coleman.  This music is engaging and gripping, an onslaught.

The Gord Grdina Trio is based out of Vancouver, BC and has been a working touring ensemble since 2005.  The Trio consists of Gord Grdina (guitar, oud), Kenton Loewen (drums) and Tommy Babin (bass). They have collaborated with many of the world’s top improviser’s such as Fredrik Ljungkvist, Eric Boeren, Wilbert De Joode, Michael Moore, Jerry Granelli, Michael Blake, Jeb Bishop, Kent Kessler, Mark Helias, Ingebrigt Haker- Flaten and Fred Longberg-Holm.  They have toured throughout North America and Europe regularly since 2005.

Gordon Grdina is a guitar/oud player that is constantly reinventing himself while retaining an individual voice. Aside from the GG3 he leads  the East Van Strings, Haram, and Sangha. He also records and performs regularly with Dan Mangan and The Crackling.

Kenton Loewen has been a seminal member of the Vancouver improvising and rock communities performing in such wide ranging groups as the anarchist punk band Submission Hold, art pop group Mother Mother, The Now Orchestra, Tanya Tagaq, and the Coat Cooke Trio. He is currently with Dan Mangan and is the leader/songwriter for The Crackling.

Tommy Babin started his career in Montreal playing with Jorane, Thomas Hellman, and Les Projectionnistes before moving to Vancouver in 2005.  He has played with great jazz and world musicians like Daniele D’Agaro, Hamid Drake, Joel Miller, Ramachandra Borcar, and Paul Plimley.  He currently leads Benzene, and Sendero Luminoso.

Mats Gustafson was born 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden. He is a saxplayer, improviser and composer. Mats works as a solo artist and tours internationally with Peter Brötzmann, Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi and in working groups The Thing, Sonore, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Nash Kontroll. Mats is a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and the NU – ensemble. Mats has done over 1600 concerts and has appeared on at least 150 records in Europe, North America and Asia.

Press:

“…this is a stunner.” – The Province

“There is so much power behind the drum hits, so much pent-up frustration in the guitar entanglements and as usual, Gustafsson makes the sax sound like a rabid beast rather than a musical instrument. Seek this recording out.” – Beat Route

“Grdina’s guitar and oud playing acts as a good foil to Gustafsson, with Babin and drummer Kenton Loewen supplying just the high-octane rhythm section required. Thrilling stuff.” – All About Jazz

“After its initial impact, relentless fury soon becomes one-dimensional, but Grdina and his rhythm section leaven Gustafsson’s bluster and he responds, making this music for repeated listening as well as catharsis.” – The Wire

“Fast-paced heads, smoking improvisations, and a high level of interaction between everyone.” – Monsieur Délire

“…the resulting sound is as violent as the cover art.” – Pop Matters

“Free, yet focused, intense and over-the-top, this is one of heaviest discs I’ve recently reckoned with.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery)

“Egged on by a worshipful audience, the band rips through five pieces like a rabid dog on the attack, the musicians’ sound at times reminiscent of Naked City in intensity and of Ornette Coleman’s (original) Prime Time in harmolodic approach.” – Textura

“…from acid-toned string-tickling skitter to boring-down relentlessness…” – Paris Transatlantic Magazine

“There is freshness and vitality to the performance, tight ensemble playing, power, subtlety – what’s not to like?” – Hour


NEW RELEASE of recycled recycling

Dec.06, 2009

new release on Doubt Music:
Otomo Yoshihide, Mats Gustafsson and Mikito Ozeki – With Records

Mats Gustafsson´s solo LP on Tyfuus “It´s all about” has been sent in 10 copies to Japan and the visual artist Mikiti Ozeki. The vinyl has then been transformed into 10 visual pieces and thereafter been displayed at a gallery in Tokyo and played on 10 seperate turntables as part of the Yoshihide / Ozeki exhibition in sep/ oct 2009.

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Otomo Yoshihide has then recorded the 10 vinyls onto a CD, that now is available from Doubt Music in a limited numbered edition!!!

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http://www.doubtmusic.com/

check Mikito´s GREAT visuals out at his page:

http://www.mikito.jp/


NEW MATS GUSTAFSSON DUO BOX SET

Dec.03, 2009

after many years now… its finally out:
MATS GUSTAFSSON DUO BOX SET

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limited 7 ” box set. 3 EP´s in a special made card board box with inlay.

99 copies only. Numbered with a special numbered sheet, printed by Leif Elggren.

mats gustafsson — reeds and live electronics….duos with Fred Lonberg -Holm, Luca Mai and with Leif Elggren.

The Elggren 7″ is preciously unreleased, the other two were preiously relaesed seperatly on Kning Disk.

released as we speak… go to the following adress to order:
http://www.idealrecordings.com/

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Mats G plays Ayler

Sep.13, 2009

new one sided vinyl out soon…. Mats G plays Ayler!

On the great italian Qbico label. watch out for release date and further info on this site!

strictly limited edition: 125 copies….

qbico_lamdba


first review of Barry Guy & Mats Gustafsson LP

Jul.04, 2009

the very first review of Barry Guy & Mats Gustafsson´s limited edition LP: SINNERS , RATHER THAN SAINTS

http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/search?q=barry+guy+gustafsson+sinners

on the great No Business label in Vilnius, Lithuania.

order it NOW:

http://nobusinessrecords.com/