Over the years the gnarly, impolite improvising trio called the Thing (saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love) has performed and recorded with many guest musicians: Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O’Rourke, Neneh Cherry, and Barry Guy among others). The hard-hitting group have proven an ability to accommodate a wide array of approaches, perpetually modulating their rough-and-tumble sound to the needs of a given context. They proved it yet again with a late-2014 release made with former Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore on Live (The Thing/Trost). As an improviser Moore relies on a noisy, texture-oriented sound that has its limitations, but not only does it fit nicely with the Thing at their most aggressive, but the trio deftly shows that they create a simpatico setting for such raw expression.
Eve Egoyan, 5 by Ann Southam (Centredisques)Seiichi Nakamura/Takeo Moriyama, Ke no Haeta Kenju (Solid, Japan)Uwe Oberg, Christof Thewes and Michael Griener, Lacy Pool (Hatology)Duke Ellington, Piano in the Background (Columbia/Legacy)Art Farmer, Art (Argo, Japan)
