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Mats Gustafsson

Member of: DUX Orchestra

Mats Gustafsson, born in Umeå in 1964, is a Swedish saxophonist, improviser and composer whose baritone and tenor playing has the force of a rock band. He leads or co-leads The Thing, Fire!, Gush, Sonore, Swedish Azz and the NU Ensemble, has played in Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet and Barry Guy's New Orchestra, and has worked with Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O'Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi and Ken Vandermark.

Watching A Dog Smilling (LP)
2024 album on NoBusiness in an edition of 300 copies by two of the best contemporary free reed instruments players.
But A Cry Of Pain Rolls Up A Mountain (7")
Reeds and fiddle duo by two eminent Swedish improvisers released by Ideal in 2005 in an edition of 300 hand-numbered copies.
Two Balls Are Enough
The debut album from the duo of Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen and Swedish reedist Mats Gustafsson - both musicians have routinely blown past the rules of the traditions from which first emerged—folk and free jazz, respectively—to explore consta…
Vindögæ
*2026 stock* Reed players Mats Gustafsson and Andreas Røysum bonded over common understandings of the physical and political dimensions of music. Across generations and other accountant-like statistics (zzz...), they decided in 2021 to start playing …
Cuts Cut
Merzbow, Mats Gustafsson and Balázs Pándi, recorded at Victoriaville in 2018 and completed with new recordings in 2025: electronics, bass and baritone saxophones and drums in brutal noise and free jazz.
Traces
*2026 stock* Cosmic Ear is a new group bringing together Christer Bothén, Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Kansan Zetterberg and Juan Romero. Their debut album Traces is released by We Jazz Records on 23rd of May, 2025. Including 6 deep cuts, Traces is…
Ifaname
*300 copies limited edition* Mats Gustafsson meets Jan St. Werner in 2019 when they both perform with Peter Brötzmann and a group of prolific improvisers for three days at Flutgraben in Berlin. Mats and Jan notice their mutual passion for performing …
(Fake) The Facts
Special session in january 2013 for Recordstoreday 2013. Recorded at Martin Siewert‘s studio Garnison 7 in Vienna. First and final pressing of 400.
Backengrillen
”Music and art without definite labels is a necessity for a better living - create your own individual genres and open up for more death-jazz-core-noise-metal-poetry to enter your world of destroying the local and global stupidities around us” - Mats…
Now Jazz Now 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80 (Book)
277 pages. 196 x 268 mm. Open NOW JAZZ NOW and you're not just looking at a book - you're entering the minds of three lifelong obsessives. Byron Coley (music writer and critic), Mats Gustafsson (saxophonist, The Thing, Fire!), and Thurston Moore (Son…
Sustain
"In the quarter century since the members of AALY Trio were last in the studio together there have been countless performances and albums made by the core members of the band. The remarkable parallels that existed between the improvised music scenes …
Baro 101
"Baro 101" unites Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, and Masele Asmamaw for an electrifying fusion of Scandinavian free jazz and Ethiopian traditions. The album’s two expansive tracks showcase intense improvisation, with Asmamaw’s krar injecting uni…
Pivot
"The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe -- Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom a…
Live At The South Bank
2025 stock ** "On South Bank - the most vital and essential document of Reid and Hebden's five-year partnership-- it feels clear that, at least onstage, they were finally able to go the distance. The invocation "Morning Prayer" opens slowly, circling…
Tarfala
*2025 stock* "Listening to the tapes of this live concert from Culturen Västerås, persuaded me that certain attributes of the playing of Mats Gustafsson and Raymond Strid are indeed bound with “Terroir”. There is probably a useful Swedish word descri…
Falling And Five Other Failings
2025 stock Mats Gustafsson plays slide, tenor, baritone, bass saxophones. Christof Kurzmann uses special ppooll software and voice, live processing. Recorded, mixed & mastered at Garnison 7, Vienna by Martin Siewert. Artwork by Jimmy Draht. Liner not…
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Abet?! አቤት?!
Specially released for Record Store Day 2012, April 21th. Recorded during two 'Saxophone' projects of The Ex in Ethiopia. Trio-side December 28 2009 in the Bateau Ivre, Kazanchis, Addis Abeba. Solo-side Februari 22 2011 at Yared Music School, Sidist …
Split
*200 copies limited edition* John Duncan's "SAXMIX" is one massive piece of contemporary experimental music, which lets noise collide with free jazz and extreme minimalism. Duncan is a master when it comes to these things, and he is an artists consta…
Jag Dricker, Jag Dricker, Alltså Finns Jag
*200 copies limited edition* Gustafsson and Lindsjö had collaborated in the mid-eighties in the Swedish-American group The Bad Quartet. Playing local gigs in both New York and Lund. Lindsjö later moved back from New York City to reunite with Gustafss…
DEG
A live recording of a great performance from Kevin Drumm, Mats Gustaffson and Leif Elggren. Recorded live at Fylkingen Oct 10, 2001 on the Blue Tower Sound System.
Gush 30 Kraków 2018
3-CDs box-set documents Gush residency at Alchemia club in Krakow in November 2018 celebrating band's 30th aniversary. Gush performs precisely as one might anticipate from a trio of seasoned musicians who have collaborated for three decades. Gustafss…
Live Album
Flute, harp, drums: a rare combination that this trio turns upside down. In the wake of John Zorn's experiences on the borders of jazz and noise, the collaboration between Delphine Joussein, Rafaëlle Rinaudo and Blanche Lafuente aims at pushing their…
Fonstret N.3 - Edition Festival For Other Music (Magazine)
Fonstret is a project of Stockholm’s Edition Festival for Other Music focused on publishing new works and surfacing material from the festival’s archives. Book sewn with open spine. 170 x 239mm. 192pp. 1+1 Pantone 546C, 120 gsm offset paper inside, 3…
Watching A Dog. Smiling
*300 copies limited edition*New release on NoBusiness from two of the best reed instruments' veterans. Mats Gustafsson – slide flute, flute, baritone sax and live electronicsLiudas Mockūnas – sopranino, soprano, reedless soprano, overtone, bass sax …
Afro Blue
Saxophonist Mats Gustafsson is notorious for his prolific nature and constantly expanding circle of collaborators, but few of his partnerships have been as powerful and profound as Gush, the Swedish trio which formed way back in 1988 and celebrates i…
Exhale- Volume 2
Tip!  *200 copies limited edition*Erwan Keravec - bagpipes,Mats Gustafsson - piano mate and slide saxophoneRecorded September 13 and 14, 2017 by Martin Siewert, ViennaMastered by Martin Siewert, ViennaCover design/illustration: Lasse MarhaugPhotos by…
Their Power Reached Across Space and Time - To Defy Them Was Death - Or Worse
World-renowned horn player Mats Gustafsson teams up with Joachim Nordwall to create Their Power Reached Across Space Ana Time- To Defy Them Was Death- Or Worse- an avant-garde masterpiece. Gustafsson and Nordwall push their instruments to the limit, …
Hidros 9 - Mirrors
Conducted by Mats Gustafsson for two 9 piece chamber ensembles, 4 soloists, tape machine, turntable. Recorded at the Avant Art festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2022. The monumental composition for 27 musicians by Swedish saxophonist, improviser and composer…
Opus One
'The initial idea behind Ensemble E was to combine traditions of Contemporary Music, Noise, Improvised music, Free Jazz and other experimental music fields and traditions with the deeper music traditions. This is deeper research of traditional and no…
Why Do You Mourn
The End is near - after two albums on the now defunct UK label Rare Noise, the powerful project of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Møster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (barit…
Mouth Eating Trees And Related Activities
*2023 stock* "Swedish multi-reed artist Mats Gustafsson was just beginning to come into his own at the time of this recording. The oddly titled Mouth Eating Trees and Related Activities catches him at the cusp when his prodigious technical abilities …
One To (Two)...............
*2023 stock* These 18 short duets between cellist/trombonist Gunter Christmann and Swedish new music provocateur and saxophonist Mats Gustaffson eschew all melodic pretension, leading to some very difficult, though rewarding listening. Christmann per…
Off-Road
Tip! *2022 stock. In process of stocking* Their second duo recording, the follow-up to 1999's Apertura. Off-Road finds the two of them forsaking their earlier, glacially meditative m.o. for a shower of digitally recomposed slivers, the metal-on-metal…
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Naja
*In process of stocking* Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson might have a separate discography for his solo records. He's investigated the possibilities of unaccompanied reed music from almost every angle. Presented with the opportunity to make a new…
Hidros 8 Heal
Tip! For the 8th edition of Mats Gustafsson's NU Ensemble, Gustafsson focused on the current state of the world, „Hidros 8 Heal" is an attempt to rise and find the questions about the state of things. there is an extreme unbalance on local and global…
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Prosperity
*In process of stocking.* Next Festival Records is thrilled to announce that the new album 'Prosperity' from Mats Gustafsson & Christof Kurzmann, has been added to the catalogue. Mats Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player, composer, and improviser…
Vertical
Tip! Written, performed, and produced by Mats Gustafsson (STIM/N©B) & Tony Lugo. Mats Gustafsson: Alto, Tenor, Baritone and Bass Saxophones, FluteTony Lugo: Drums, ElectronicsMats Gustafsson & Tony Lugo: Concatenative Synthesis & Machine Listening Al…
Contra Songs
Tip!  *In process of stocking* ‘Alone at night. Large church room. Lots of air. Stone. Wood. Glass. Quietness. Stillness. The dead and the alive. Surroundedness. ‘Existentialistic matters spinning. Peaceful state of mind. The dialectic equilibrium of…
Xylophonen Virtuosen
A collection of improvised duets with guitarist Jim O’Rourke and reedist Mats Gustafsson. All of the material has been newly remastered for release on 2xLP & digital and marks the first ever vinyl pressing with previously unreleased tracks. Tracks A1…
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Volume 1. "Inhale"
“The debut record of Luft (the duo comprised of Mats Gustafsson and Erwan Keravec) - is a two volume album of exceptional explorations within the bagpipe and reed universe ——unknown music of poetic beauty and high energy cascades. Fast moving changes…