Mouth Eating Trees and Related Activities

Mats Gustafsson / Barry Guy / Paul Lovens

1 Part I 4:24
2 Part II 12:30
3 Part III 6:45
4 Part IV 27:14
5 Part V 3:49

"Talk about powerhouse trios! Take the fastest rising saxophone star in improvised music, put him together with the most innovative bassist in Europe and the most inventive percussionist in the world, and what do you get? ...a magnificent meeting of minds recorded in the studio during a broadcast on Swedish radio in 1992. The distinct elements: Gustafsson's lightning-quick soprano, tenor, baritone and fluteophone (his own invention), Guy's gonzo technique and unreal preparations (scrub brushes, sticks, mallets, slides and multiple bows) and Lovens' precision timing, volcanic energy and brilliant use of timbre and texture...a trio more exciting and combustible (if that's possible) than the sum of its parts."

Available as 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC  

Tracklisting:

1. Part I - 4:25
2. Part II - 12:25
3. Part III - 6:40
4. Part IV - 27:15
5. Part V - 3:45

Mats Gustafsson

Hailing from Umeå in Northern Sweden, Gustafsson is a saxophonist/composer/improviser working across noise, electronics, contemporary rock and free jazz as well as contemporary dance, theater and art projects. He has performed both as a solo artist and toured internationally with Peter Brötzmann, Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Ken Vandermark and in working groups The Thing, Sonore, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Nash Kontroll. He also participates in the large ensembles Barry Guy New Orchestra, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and the NU – ensemble. 

Paul Lovens

Paul Lovens plays drums, percussion, singing saw and various selected and unselected cymbals. Since the early 1970's then he has played with musicians such as Cecil Taylor, Harri Sjöström, Günther Christmann, Eugene Chadbourne, Peter Brötzmann, Teppo Hauta-Aho, Mats Gustafsson, Thomas Lehn, Phil Wachsmann, and Joëlle Léandre. He also played with Florian Schneider and Ebehard Kranemann in an early incarnation of Kraftwerk. Lovens has run the record label Po Torch with Paul Lytton since 1976.

“Paul Lovens somehow epitomises the free drummer/percussionist who is not there to lay down the beat and kick everyone else into action but to listen, colour, contribute, guide, and occasionally direct, the overall cooperative sound. In concert one cannot fail to be moved by his intensity and concentration and there is an overiding feeling that even the most random events are somehow planned in time. In this respect, there is a nice irony that on the Nothing to read CD with Mats Gustafsson, Lovens describes his kit as consisting of 'selected and unselected drums and cymbals'. Miking seems to be a problem at times with some recordings giving him undue prominence and others insufficient. Good recordings are Elf Bagatellen, Nothing To Read, Pakistani Pomade, and Stranger Than Love.” – EFI

Barry Guy

Barry Guy is an innovative bass player and composer whose creative diversity in the fields of jazz improvisation, chamber and orchestral performance and solo recitals is the outcome both of an unusually varied training and a zest for experimentation, underpinned by a dedication to the double bass and the ideal of musical communication.

He is founder and Artistic Director of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the BGNO (Barry Guy New Orchestra) for which he has written several extended works. His concert works for chamber orchestras, chamber groups and soloists have been widely performed and his skilful and inventive writing has resulted in an exceptional series of compositions.

Barry Guy continues to give solo recitals throughout Europe as well as continuing associations with colleagues involved in improvised, baroque and contemporary music. His current regular ensembles are the Homburger/Guy duo, the Parker/Guy duo, piano trios with Marilyn Crispell and Paul Lytton, Jaques Demierre and Lucas Niggli and a recently formed trio with Agusti Fernandez and Ramon Lopez. He continues the longstanding trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lytton as well as projects with Mats Gustafsson.