GUSTAFSSON / SANDELL / STRID / WACHSMANN – Gush Wachs (1996)

Label:  Bead Records – BEAD CD002
(Bead Records was a musicians collective label set up in 1974 in London, UK.
Specialised in experimental/improvised sound/electronics.)
Format: CD, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1999
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Recorded at the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation 18 May 1994, in Studio 2 at the Broadcasting House, Stockholm, Sweden.
New Design by ART&JAZZ Studio, by VITKO
Drawing by Geoffrey Winston

1994's GUSHWACHS finds Phillipp Wachsmann engaged in an early round of electro- acoustic improvisation with Gush, the Swedish free-music trio of Mats Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, and Raymond Strid. This outing, which prefigures Evan Parker's well-received Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, is a particularly multiphonic exercise in the extension of instrumentation through live electronic processing. Gush employs such unusual voices as Sandell's prepared piano, harmonium, and analog synthesizer, Gustafsson's shrieking French flageolet and invented fluteophone (a flute played with a saxophone mouthpiece), and Strid's assortment of amplified "instruments and objects."

While Wachsmann's classically inflected viola and violin lines integrate well with the established ensemble, it's his use of electronics to break down and simultaneously reconfigure sounds that makes GUSHWACHS so exhilarating. Gustaffson's excitable brass prattle, often multiplied and amplified by Wachsmann, communes with gurgling oscillations and showers of Strid's tabletop percussion and instrumental scrabbling. Sandell and Wachsmann float delicate phrasing through the commotion of sound. The intricate, multi-tiered strategy of processing and performance liberates the players, sparking spectacularly combustible free improv that pays off in a riot of sonorities both natural and unnatural.



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GUSH: (GUSTAFSSON / SANDELL / STRID) – Norrköping (2005)

Label: Atavistic – ALP161CD
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: Jul 2005
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded on 5 May 2003 at Crescendo, Norrköping (Östergötland), Sweden
Mastered march 2004 at Alibi Studios, Gustafsberg by – Niklas Billström
Design – House Of ATA
New Design (pages 2,3,4,5,6,7) by ART&JAZZ Studio Salvarica
Designer by – VITKO - 2013
Photography By – Cato Lein; Producer – GUSH
Recorded By – Olof Madsen

After more than seventeen years together, the members of the Swedish-based Gush trio now operate as three interlocking parts of one perpetual motion machine. Occupied enough with other projects, the three players—reedist Mats Gustafsson, pianist Sten Sandell and drummer Raymond Strid—bring a complementary desire for melded invention when they unite, as they did in Norrköping in 2003, for this, the band's first-ever domestic release in North America.

Fully in command of all elements of its instruments, the trio elaborates its thoughts over the course of three long selections of about 19, 13, and 26 minutes each. The best known of the three musicians is now Gustafsson, who plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and fluteophone, alto fluteophone and French flageolet here. A veteran of large groups led by Peter Brötzmann and Barry Guy, as well as smaller bands with Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark, Gustafsson is as easily at home in the United States as Europe.

Inventive timekeeper Raymond Strid also works in Guy's large groups, as well as smaller bands. Sandell, not only improvises with Scandinavian players like Fredrik Ljungkvist, but as a graduate of Stockholm's Academy of Music nurtures a fascination for electro-acoustic and contemporary so-called serious music. You can hear this most clearly during the 26 minutes of "Rhomb," as his voicing and touch vibrates from low to high frequencies and all stations in-between.

Affecting the outlines of a fantasia that notwithstanding its freedom mingles comfortably with the others' output, he's the master of low-key—literally—variations, whereas the remaining two use volume to pump up their solos. Starting with strummed piano chords, Sandell sensitively works his way from light plinks, to near toy-piano timbres, than finally to gentling harmonies that pull together Gustafsson's and Strid's strident outbursts. Meanwhile the saxophonist uses flattement, tongue-stopping, snorts and vocalized yelps to make his point— finally escalating to glossolalia.

Midway in vociferousness between the others, the drummer sticks to rim shots and wood- block ratcheting to make his points. Both other tunes function with similar strategy modifications. Gustafsson may unpack his fluteophones for unvarying intense single tones, yet he doesn't miss a chance to alternate near-silences with cat-like screams, bubbling split tones or rolling tongue stops. Sandell introduces lower-case arpeggios, highly syncopated right-handed actions or contrasting dynamics, as one set of fingers creates tremolo patterns and the other a contrapuntal line. Meanwhile Strid shakes his drum tree, fondles his smaller drum tops suggestively or batters them with full force as the occasion demands.

Familiarity has made Gush the perfect three-headed improv machine over the past few years, and Norrköping gives North Americans a chance to catch up with the rest of the free music world.

_ By KEN WAXMAN (March 27, 2006)



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STEN SANDELL & DAVID STACKENÄS with PARKER / GUY / LYTTON – Gubbröra (2004)

 

Label: psi – psi 04.10 

Format: CD, Album; Country: Japan - Released: May 2004 

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded in concert at Freedom Of The City 2004, Conway Hall, London on 3 May 2004.

Photographer: Caroline Forbes

Distributor: Northcountry Distributors

Personnel: Sten Sandell (piano, electronics, voice); David Stackenäs (guitar); Evan Parker (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Barry Guy (double bass); Paul Lytton (percussion)

Sten Sandell

 David Stackenäs

Album Notes:

Recorded live at the 2004 Freedom of the City Festival, this album features the visiting Swedish duo of pianist Sten Sandell and guitarist David Stackenäs, on their own at first, and later joined by the trusty Parker/Guy/Lytton trio. Sandell is a powerful player and a resourceful improviser, resolutely belonging to the expressive camp. His use of preparations and occasional electronics (even his voice at times, although not much in this concert), and his extremely large dynamics palette deserve comparisons with Keith Tippett and Howard Riley. Best known for his tenure in the improv collective No Spaghetti Edition, Stackenäs is less easy to characterize, his playing seemingly borrowing from every meaningful guitarist in classical, jazz and avant-garde history, from Bailey to Segovia and Lussier. As a two-headed unit, Sandell and Stackenäs light sparks, their dialogue often turning into argument. "Jansson's Temptation (Part 1)" is a heated debate, the pianist hammering one point after another before laying a gripping solo consisting of sharply contrasting elements (as if he were now arguing with himself). The second part of this duet cools down and lingers on, Stackenäs' use of a hand-held fan (or other rotating device) on the guitar strings bringing little more than a cliche to the improvisation. The 34-minute quintet piece with Parker, Guy and Lytton is all over the place, ranging from near-chaotic five-way exchanges to an almost silent middle section and a couple of uncomfortable points of hesitation in between. Stackenäs' acoustic guitar often gets buried by the force brut of the English trio (to which Sandell seems more than happy to add), but there are also a few minutes of true group communion. Despite being entertaining and varied, Gubbröra rarely steps beyond that line, making it a rather unessential item. 

~ François Couture

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STEN SANDELL TRIO – Face Of Tokyo (2009)

Label: PNL – PNL004
Format: CD, Album;
Country: Norway Released: 2009
Style: Free Improvisation
Composed By – Berthling, Nilssen-Love, Sandell
Design [Cover] – Lasse Marhaug
Recorded live on February 4, 2008 by Yasuo Fujimua at Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo, Japan.
Mixed and mastered by Joachim Ekermann at Make Wave, Stockholm, Sweden.


Note:

Sten Sandell Trio´s album is out on Paal Nilssen-Love´s record company PNL. "Face of Tokyo" (PNL 004, 2009) is 70 minutes of hot improvisation (2 tracks), recorded in Tokyo in February 2008. The trio is Sandell himself (piano, voice), Johan Berthling (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love drums. Sometimes I think I hear a koto in here, but I guess it´s just Sandell inside the piano. Some guttural singing and samurais on the cover, adds an eastern feel to the album. Play loud, and enjoy.

Review:

"Released on drummer Paal Nilssen-Love's own PNL label, the trio further consists of Sten Sandell on piano and Johan Berthling on bass. Recorded live in Japan in 2008, the album consists of two tracks: "Face Up", and "Face Down", for twice more than half an hour of quite intense musical explorations. The first track is a high energy work-out, the second starts with counter-rhythmic percussion, full of explosive power and creativity, Berthling joins on bass, first plucked, and when Sandell joins he moves to arco, while the pianist plays some eery chords, gradually driving up the tempo and energy level for again a dense improvisation, that suddenly collapses for some minimalist interaction, with all three musicians exploring the more uncommon aspects of their instruments. In stark contrast to some of the other albums below, the album demonstrates that technical mastery and musical vision make it possible to bring depth and emotional drive even with the most common of all jazz line-ups."

- By Stef, (FreeJazz)




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STEN SANDELL TRIO – Oval (2007) [Repost]

Intakt Records, Catalog#: Intakt CD 122
Country: Switzerland; 2007, (Avant-Garde, Free Improvisation, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz)
Design [Graphic] – Jonas Schoder, Painting [Cover Painting] – Terry Nilssen-Love, Photography By – Francesca Pfeffer, Executive-producer – Patrik Landolt, Liner Notes – Ken Vandermark, Mixed By, Mastered By – Göran Stegborn
Recorded on 4 June 2005 at Taktlos Festival, Rote Fabrik, Zürich. Mixed and mastered in Stockholm, May 2006. 

Liner Notes:

“Sten Sandell ’ s playing may be connected to New Music and Improvised Music, and neither of these musical directions would be associated with what is typically considered as Jazz. However, both Paal Nilssen-Love and Johan Berthling have done considerable work with bands more connected to the history of that aesthetic (in Paal ’ s case, most notably with the quintet, ATOMIC; in Johan ’ s, perhaps the trio LSB). The combination of these sets of experience bring considerable force to the range of possibilities in the music played by this group and on this album. Having this music in the air provides important trace of what it means to be alive in our world that would otherwise be missing. I believe that this trio ’ s playing gives us one more reason to live on this planet with optimism for the future. — “ Why Music? ” A very good answer is provided here, through the sounds and ideas of Sten Sandell, Paal Nilssen-Love, and Johann Berthling working together on OVAL.”

— By Ken Vandermark


Review:

Busy Chicago multi-reed man Ken Vandermark suggests in his liner notes of Oval, the third release by the Sten Sandell Trio, that the Swedish pianist and composer may represent the future of the piano in contemporary and improvised music. Like other pianists of his generation, Sandell is influenced by the innovations of Cecil Taylor but brings many more ingredients to his music, such as the theories of John Cage and Morton Feldman, classical musical elements from India and Japan, folk music from Sweden, electronics, voice, and an idiosyncratic approach to the piano that often uses extended percussive timbral capabilities. Sandell often works with free improvising ensembles, most notably with the Swedish trio Gush, (reed player Mats Gustafsson and drummer Raymond Strid) whom he has recorded and performed with since 1988, as well as other notable European improvisers such as Evan Parker and Barry Guy.
Oval was recorded beautifully at the Taktlos Festival in Switzerland in June, 2005, and featured Sandell with fellow Swedish bassist Johan Berthling and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. All three musicians demonstrate the same exemplary high level of communication and creativity that characterized their earlier releases, Standing Wave (Sofa, 2000) and Flat Iron (Sofa, 2002). Throughout this live set they supply a convincing answer to Vandermark ’ s musing as to why one would choose to play non-commercial music in an inconsiderate climate. The trio explores so many fascinating sonic possibilities within this format that Vandermark ’ s question becomes redundant.
The velocity and density of Sandell’s playing at the beginning of the first piece, “Ovala Takter I”, is an obvious continuation of Taylor’s legacy, but Sandell navigates this trio into newer territories, using varied and complex methods such as sustain, concentrated attacks, or adding light vocals. He manages to turn aural textures into deep meditations about the possibilities of the piano, more in common with the ethereal and almost transparent playing of the British free improvisation group AMM ’ s John Tilbury, showing the imaginative interplay between members of the trio. The trio keeps a contemplative dynamic at the beginning of “Ovala Takter II,” trying to find common threads in its timbral explorations, and reconstructing its fragile interplay. At times, Sandell’s percussive piano triggers Nilssen- Love ’ s wise use of the cymbals, creating a resonate sound between the two instruments. Berthling ’ s low-end rumination on the bass opens “Ovala Takter III,” while Nilssen-Love and Sandell color his sound with abstract and slowly forming textures that linger in memory. The short and concluding piece, “Oval Ballad,” suggests a gentler example “I believe that this trio’s playing gives us one more reason to live on this planet with optimism for the future”, concludes Vandermark; and indeed Oval is a remarkable recording.

— By Eyal Hareuveni , All About Jazz, USA, Mai, 2007



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