Representative Albums: "Windows: The Music of Steve Lacy," "Hidros One," "Frogging"
Representative Songs: "A, B, C," "Part I," "A Tiny Bit More"
Biography
Swedish reeds player and improviser Mats Gustafsson's extended saxophone techniques draw equally from the fiery free jazz blowing tradition and the European microtonal schools. Born in 1964 in the culturally rich area of Umeå, he was exposed at a young age to various Swedish improvisers such as saxophonist Lars Göran Ulander and pianist Per Henrik Wallin. His first instrument was the flute, but by his early teens, Gustafsson was playing saxophone as well. Around the age of 14, he put his saxophone mouthpiece on his flute to bring an instrument along on a trip, and since then has played this creation, the fluteophone, in addition to other, more standard reed instruments. His first improvisations were with drummer Kjell Nordeson, who would later form the AALY Trio with Gustafsson. Mats Gustafsson moved to Stockholm in the mid-'80s, and there met musicians such as Sten Sandell and Raymond Strid. The three formed Gush in 1988, two years after Gustafsson's duo with Christian Munthe, Two Slices of Acoustic Car, began. He also worked with Berlin-based Sven-Åke Johansson during this time, thus becoming acquainted with the German scene. In 1990, Gustafsson performed in Derek Bailey's Company in London. He also began visiting the U.S. regularly, becoming a regular in the Chicago improvising community as the '90s progressed, working extensively with Hamid Drake and Ken Vandermark, among others. Gustafsson has also performed and recorded with Barry Guy, Paul Lovens, Georg Graewe, Jaap Blonk, and as a member of Peter Brotzmann's all-star Chicago Octet/Tentet. Gustafsson has collaborated with artists in other media as well, including dance, theater, poetry, and painting. Among his many ongoing projects is the AALY Trio, with Nordeson and bassist Peter Janson, whose third album, Live at the Glen Miller Cafe, came out on the Wobbly Rail label in 1999. In 2000, he issued a new solo album on the Drag City subsidiary, Blue Chopsticks, a Steve Lacy tribute entitled Windows. Hidros One followed in early 2001. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
Mats Olof Gustafsson (born on 29 October 1964 in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedishsaxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavianfree jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising.
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.
Mats Gustafsson presently lives in Gärsnäs, Skåne, Sweden.
Mats has also been curating the Perspectives festivals since 2004 in Västerås, Sweden. An improvisation festival that has accumulated lots of positive notice for its cross-genre character and creative atmosphere among musicians. Perspectives has been held 2004 and 2007. A new festival 2009 is going to be launched in March 2009[1]. The festival slogan for 2004 was "Fight Global Stupidity", 2007 "Fight Local Stupidity" and for 2009 it became "Fight (y)our stupidity".
Bibliography
T. Millroth: “Aaly Trio,” Orkester journalen, lvi/4 (1988), 11 .
M. Chaloin: “Mats Gustafsson,” Improjazz, no.19 (1995), 6.
W. Montgomery: “Mats Gustafsson: Flow Motion,” Wire, no.164 (1997), 18.
J. Hale: “Mats Gustafsson,” Coda, no.288 (1999), 17.
