SMALLTOWN SUPERJAZZZ PRESENTS THE THING [Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love & Ingebrigt Håker Flaten] + SPLATTER [Mats Gustafsson & Paal Nilssen-Love]

Be sure to check out the Rune Grammofon expo that runs from 1 December to 31 December in the AB Café/Resto (Steenstraat 23) and also in La Vitrine (Ou)verte (Steenstraat 26).

“Is Jazz Dead? (or has it moved to a new address)” wondered jazz journalist Stuart Nicholson (also author of acclaimed biographies about Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday) in ‘05 in his book of the same name. His argument: jazz in its land of origin (USA) is completely retro while the real renewal - something that should be inherent to the genre - takes place in Europe. Nicholson specifically refers to what he calls the ‘Nordic Tone’ or rather: the completely unique identity of Scandinavian jazz. He also regularly refers to ECM (an originally German label but with a strong focus on Scandinavian jazz) and Rune Grammofon. A label that certainly fits his theory is undoubtedly Smalltown Superjazzz…

Smalltown Superjazzz
2005 saw the establishment of Smalltown Superjazzz (yep, 3rd time 'Z' is lucky) – sister-label to Smalltown Supersound and Smalltown Supernoise – which completely focuses on (free) jazz, avant garde and improv and is now already 30 releases further. Their examples? The free jazz labels from the 60's, ESP-Disk and BYG Records annex the punk DIY labels SST and Touch & Go. The label is established around central duo Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (whose projects like The Thing, Lean Left and Offonoff reside on the label). Thurston Moore and Jim O’ Rourke find an outlet there too, for projects like Original Silence and Diskaholics Anonymous. Peter Brötzmann and Ken Vandermark complete the impressive list. A musical introduction is to be found in the compilation ‘The Blasting Concept’. The majority of Smalltown Superjazzz album covers are sober black & white and created by reputed Norwegian graphic designer Rune Mortensen.

8:00 pm - Splatter [Mats Gustafsson & Paal Nilssen-Love]
Bands that provide their own support-act: you don't come across them very often. Mats Gustafsson and Paal Nilsen-Love - 2/3 of trio The Thing – do do it … due to their irrepressible playing pleasure. The duo Splatter came into being when main-label Smalltown Supersound celebrated its 10 year anniversary in Oslo (that resulted in an EP recording from ’04 that will be re-released at the end of this year). The worldwide web on the subject: “’Splatter’ is raw power that brings to mind the the wild and beautiful days of Albert Ayler and Peter Brotzmann's ‘Machine Gun’." So it's freer than free music.

9:00 pm - The Thing [Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love & Ingebrigt Håker Flaten]

"The Thing convert nouveau punk and vintage garage-rock into a roaring scream-up, but the sheer energy and love of the music keep gimmickery at bay." (Uncut)
"The sheer power they generate from wood, metal, breath and muscle is stunning." (BBC)

Smalltown Superjazz's in-house band is of course The Thing, established in 2000. In the beginning their repertoire consisted primarily of free jazz standards by David Murray, Frank Lowe and Norman Howard. But these days the band presents equally explosive covers of PJ Harvey (‘To Bring You My Love’), The Sonics (‘Have Love Will Travel’), The White Stripes (‘Aluminium’) or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (‘Art Star’). The line-up? Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson is one of the biggest names in the contemporary free-music scene, while Norwegian tandem Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (contrabass) and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love are often referred to as ‘Norway`s heaviest rhythm-section’. In the past they've also collaborated smoothly with Steve Albini and electronica man Four Tet.