... from the Chicago and.

Friday, July 7, 2000 — North Shore Nows ~- 17

Organizing sound from the beautiful chaos

Sweden’s Mats Gustafsson
building musical connections

John John Goodman

This \ Week Editor
sJgoodman@nsnews.com

saxophone player. “They have
an annual! jazz festival which
is still the best in Sweden and
a jazz club once a week that is
really terntic. The thing with
them is they mix good bebop
with free jazz and improvised
niusi¢ — good quality in dif-
ferent styles, | somehow got
spoiled with this great jazz
club, Skharinska Villan,
because later when F moved
down to Stockholm I could-
n't find one as good.”
Nordeson and Gustafsson
moved south and continued
their affiliation with the
AALY Trio as well as forging
new alliances. Over the vears
they’ve played with different
bass players and have estab-
lished Chicago reedman Ken
Vandermark a permanent
addition. “We may cail our-
selves AALY in the future —
~it seems to be very confusing
with the AALY Trio and four

SWEDISH improviser
Mats Gustafsson blew
through Vancouver in
June performing with
two explosive ensembles
at the jazz festival.

members. This is the group of

AALY — finally the right set-
ting — it only took us 16
years!”

Vandermark brings a
_ heady mixture of skills to the
group — a recent recipient of
the MacArthur “genius”
award ($285,000) he is a
mainstay.on Chicago's cutting
edge jazz scene as a member
of several ongoing ensembles.

His AALY Trio with Ken. |
Vandermark is celebrating its
20th anniversary this year
while the Peter Brétzmann
Tentet has risen out of the
new jazz energy emanating

Stockholm scenes.
Gustafsson hooked up.

Coastal Jazz and Blues Society |

MATS Gustafsson (far right) with the rest of the Peter Brdtzmann Tentet (left to right): Br6tzmann, Mars
Williams, Fred Loneberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bistiop, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang
and Kent Kessler. The bend added more musicians for their current tour which ends this week in Chicago...

ter,” says Gustafsson, “but it’s
also so much more. For me
Albert Ayler was maybe the
most important musician ever
— this is very subjective of
course — but that music has
everything. He’s always a very
important reference for me
whatever context ’'m playing
in. Even if it’s very soft

to take off in to improvisa-
tonal territory. The nwo
frontmen play in unison at
times (like modern day ver-
sions of Wardell Gray and
Dexter Gordon) before veer-
ing off into parallel worlds of
free-flowing energy. For most
pieces Gustafsson stays on his
ancients, battered baritone sax-

“with his friend drummer Kjell
Nordeson in 1986 to dedicate
~ their energics to playing the.
= radical re repertoire of Albert
Aue and other like-minded
. pris In Umea, northern
-- Sweden of al places — which
“chasa very healthy attitude | |
towards jazz, according to the

ophone while Vandermark has
his say on a spit-polished,
shiny tenor sax. AALY’s con-

The AALY show at the

Vancouver East Cultural

. Centre (opening for Marilyn
Crispell) displayed the quar-
tet’s fast-paced approach
which combines free improvi-
sation with written passages.
“Energy is a crucial parame-

dynamically it has to have an
inner-energy of that kind of
music to move me anywhere.
Ayler’s always with us some-
how.” .
Vandermark and
Gustafsson use compositional
structures as a starting point

reservations ¢:ll 900-4355
108 gen it Bivd.,'N
See Chicago Page Ps 3 oe °

‘You and your family are
cordially invited to join
us for another spectacular

Grand Reopening!
Celebration! —

| - BrewFest 2000! ©
‘Saturday, July 8, 4pm - midnight.

Come down & check out our newly
renovated & expanded establishment!
e Hagar’'s Brewing Co. Beer Sampling.
® Free Appetizers! © -
e Free Pool
© Prizes! Prizes! Prizes!
__° Disco dancing with DJ

’ Darrell Meyers Band
oo (aka Sugar Mountain Way)

*: "Darrell has always loved fistening to and performing covey .
+ < gousic. but in 1990 he ventured into songwriting. His audiences
“Sand fans foved fis original songs, so Darrell decided to head to -

the west coast of Canada and settled in Vancouver. !t didn’t take

- long for Darvell’s singing and songyeiting talents to be noticed

by the west coast music industry. Currently Darrell and his band

. Sugar Mountain Way are performing in 2 variety ef dubs around
the Vancouver and Western Canadian circuit.

Michael. Weterings

Michael Weterings Band is a Vancouver based all-oviginals group
with a distinct African slant to their tsiopy pop sounds. Fronted
by singer/song writer Hike Weterigs, HWB has been playing the
Vancouver scene for three years. In an increasingly global cufture
this band reflects the possibility of poly-regional music.

‘Summer Pops Youth
Orchestra —
In 1986, an unknown musical group was awarded a plum gig —
Expo 86. Since that auspicious beginaing the Summer Pops Youth
Orchestra has never looked back. Blending both traditional band
and orchestra instruments, the ordiestra has become world-
renowned {or their upbeat pops music.

235 West 1st Street
North Vancouver

984-3087