Mats Gustafsson
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Born 1964 in Umeå, Sweden; all saxophones, fluteophones, flutes, weevil sax, amplified saxophones and live-electronics.
With the noble exception of
Sven-Åke Johansson, the free improvised music scene in Sweden was not thought to exist until the appearance of the double LP,
Sounds: Contemporary Swedish improvised music. This (deliberate) documentation of a three-day festival held in Stockholm in 1989 came from a discussion between the artist Edward Jarvis, Harald Hult and Mats Gustafsson. At that time, the music in Sweden was at a very early stage. Gustafsson had undertaken flute studies in his teens and played in various jazz-rock and punk units in Umeå in the early 1980s, starting to play improvised music with drummer Kjell Nordeson in 1982, beginning the AALY Trio in 1986. Performances/happenings with Edward G. Jarvis began in 1984 and Gustafsson moved to Stockholm in 1985, collaborating with Dror Feiler and Jörgen Adolfsson. The duo of Gustafsson and
Christian Munthe - 'Two slices of electric car' (with latterly the 'electric' being replaced by 'acoustic' - had begun in 1986 and the trio Gush - Gustafsson,
Sten Sandell and
Raymond Strid - had started around 1988. Gustafsson had also been particularly inspired on first hearing
Peter Brötzmann and his playing reflects the obvious energy associated with Brötzmann as well as more textural, timbre-focussed areas associated more with free improvisors. The short essay in Gustafsson, M., Hultberg, E., and Millroth, T. (below) points out that Gustafsson has come to improvised music by way of jazz, without himself actually treading the obvious jazz route (i.e. by following Ayler, Coleman and Coltrane who he was too young to be contemporaneous with).
Mats Gustafsson has since played widely with musicians from freely-improvised and jazz backgrounds, both in his native Sweden and increasingly, in the last fifteen years, abroad. He undertakes an extensive touring schedule having played over 1,500 concerts with music ensembles and solo projects internationally. These associations include duo, trio, quartet and large ensemble work with
Paul Lovens; various combinations with
Paul Lytton, involvement with Günter Christmann's Vario groups and festivals, in duo with
Barry Guy in trio with Guy and Raymond Strid and as a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra since its inception in 2000. He has played in various groups with
Roger Turner (1998 saw a brief tour in the UK of the trio of Gustafsson, Turner and
Pat Thomas) and was a member of
Derek Bailey's Company in 1990 in London. From a first trip in 1988 Mats Gustafsson has been a regular visitor to the US, forming a particular affinity with Chicago-based musicians such as Hamid Drake,
Michael Zerang, Ken Vandermark, David Grubbs and Fred Lonberg holm and being a member of the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet since 1997.
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