"Born 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden.Saxplayer, improviser and composer. Solo artist and international tours and projects with a.o. Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Ken Vandermark and in working groups The Thing, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Fake (the facts). Large ensemble work with Barry Guy New Orchestra,FIRE! Orchestra and the NU - ensemble.over 1800 concerts and over 200 record productions in Europe, Australia, Africa, North & South America and Asia.Collaborations with contemporary dance, theater, art, poetry as well as projects with noise, electronica, contemporary rock and free jazz.Discaholic - running the discaholic corner website.Producer of international festivals and concert tours as well as work with own record labels Slottet, OlofBright Editions and Blue Tower Records."-Mats Gustafsson Website (http://matsgus.com/archives/category/bio)
3/12/2025

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"Billy Roisz. Biography Lives and works in Vienna/Austria.

Specializes in feedback video and video / sound interaction - using monitors, cameras, video mixingdesks, a selfbuilt videosynth, computer, bass guitar and turntables for video and sound generating. Her videoworks are distributed by sixpackfilm. She is co-organizer/programmer of annual REHEAT Festival.

Member a.o. of NotTheSameColor (/w dieb13), AVVA (/w Toshimaru Nakamura), CILANTRO (/w Angélica Castelló), kutin|roisz (/w Peter Kutin) and SKYLLA (/w Silvia Fässler). She has also performed with Burkhard Stangl, Taku Unami, Mario de Vega, Ilpo Väisänen, Sachiko M., Martin Brandlmayr, eRikm, Martin Siewert and Metamkine - a.o.

Int. Film/Music Festivals (selection of screenings and/or live performances): IFF Rotterdam02/03/05/07/09/10/NL, EXIS Seoul 05/07/09/KR, Imageforum Tokyo 03/08/JP, Feedback: Order from Noise UK tour 04/UK, garage Festival Stralsund04/05/DE, UNYAZI 05/ZA, Beyond Innocence Festival 05/JP, SONIC ACTS XI 06/NL, DONAUFESTIVAL 06/09/10/AT, SYNCH FESTIVAL 06/GR, Kill Your Timid Notion 07/UK, The Long Weekend/Tate Modern 07/UK, Relay Seoul 07/10/KR, LMC Festival 07/UK, Next Festival 08/SK, TOKYO<->WIEN MODERN 2010/JP, SIGNAL & NOISE 2010/CA, SUONI PER IL POPOLO 2010/CA, Ultrahang 2010/HU, ...."

-Billy Roisz Website (http://billyroisz.klingt.org/wp-content/uploads/wordpress_uploads_billy//2012/04/BillyRoisz_bio_engl_2011.pdf)
3/12/2025

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"Dieb13 is the performing name of Dieter Kovačič, a Viennese-based avant-garde musician. He has also performed under the names Takeshi Fumimoto, Echelon, Dieter Bohlen, and dieb14. After appearing on several compilations documenting the burgeoning Viennese avant-garde scene of the late 1990s, he released his first solo album in 2000. He has gone on to perform in a number of collaborations with other notable performers, including Burkhard Stangl, erikm, Mats Gustafsson and the John Butcher Group."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieb13)
3/12/2025

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"Sven-Åke Johansson (born 1943 in Mariestad, living in Berlin since 1968) is a Swedish drummer and composer associated with free jazz and free improvisation. He was in the Globe Unity Orchestra and played with German reedist Alfred Harth and Belgian pianist Nicole Van den Plas in E.M.T.."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven-%C3%85ke_Johansson)
3/12/2025

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"Erik Carlsson is an improvising percussionist whose blissful sounds resound throughout the world. Apart from performing solo, he is also heard with musicians and ensembles such as Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, Martin Küchen, Chip Shop Music, Skogen and Mats Gustafsson's Swedish Azz."

-Bon Bax Bom Bax (http://www.bombaxbombax.com/people/erik-carlsson)
3/12/2025

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"Drummer/vibes player Kjell Nordeson, who was born in 1964, currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Nordeson studied classical percussion with Björn Liljeqvist, principal percussionist of the Stockholm Philharmonic. In 1986, Nordeson formed the longstanding AALY Trio with Mats Gustafsson. Nordeson has also collaborated with such musicians as Sten Sandell, Christer Bothén, Peter Söderberg, David Stackenäs, Martin Küchen, and Fredrik Ljunkvist. As a member of the AALY Trio, Low Dynamic Orchestra, Nacka Forum, Katzen Kapell, Firehouse, and Exploding Customer, Nordeson enjoys a healthy high profile in the Swedish music scene.

In North America and Europe, Nordeson has done numerous tours with the AALY Trio and School Days. He has played in collaborations with Peter Brötzmann, Barry Guy, Joe Morris, William Parker, Paul Rutherford, Stephano Scodanibbio, and Ken Vandermark. In 1994, Nordeson founded Co. Alba with choreographer Nathalie Ruiz, which is also a platform for his work as a composer. Together, Ruiz and Nordeson produced a number of dance performances; the latest is the short film Désiré, a commission by Swedish Television. Nordeson has worked in theatre performances in Riksteatern, and The Royal Dramatic Theatre and Stadsteater in Stockholm. With choreographer Philippe Blanchard's ensemble Adekwhat, he toured Germany, Finland, Israel, and Egypt."

-Nuscope (http://nuscope.org/musicians/kjell-nordeson/)
3/12/2025

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"Martin Brandlmayr is an Austrian percussionist, drummer, composer and electronic artist.

He is widely recognized for his work in a variety of so-called "post-rock" bands, namely Radian, Trapist, and Autistic Daughters, among others. Critic Brian Olewnick has called Brandlmayr's work "extraordinarily precise".

Among others, Brandlmayr has recorded or performed with John Tilbury, Fennesz, Chad Taylor, and Otomo Yoshihide.

He was artist in residence 2002 at Podewil, Berlin. He now lives in Vienna, Austria and is an active member of Polwechsel."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Brandlmayr)
3/12/2025

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"Paul Lytton (born 8 March 1947, London) is an English free jazz percussionist.

Lytton began on drums at age 16. He played jazz in London in the late 1960s while taking lessons on the tabla from P.R. Desai. In 1969 he began experimenting with free improvisational music, working in a duo with saxophonist Evan Parker. After adding bassist Barry Guy, the ensemble became the Evan Parker Trio. He and Parker continued to work together into the 2000s; more recent releases include trio releases with Marilyn Crispell in 1996 (Natives and Aliens) and 1999 (After Appleby).

A founding member of the London Musicians Collective, Lytton worked extensively on the London free improvisation scene in the 1970s, and aided Paul Lovens in the foundation of the Aachen Musicians' Cooperative in 1976.

Lytton has toured North America and Japan both solo and with improvisational ensembles. In 1999, he toured with Ken Vandermark and Kent Kessler, and recorded with Vandermark on English Suites. Lytton also collaborated with Jeffrey Morgan (alto & tenor saxophone), with whom he recorded the CD "Terra Incognita" Live in Cologne, Germany.

He played also on White Noise's pioneer electronic pop music album An Electric Storm in 1969."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lytton)
3/12/2025

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"Martin Siewert (born 11 May 1972) is a German guitarist and film composer.

Siewert has been living in Vienna since the age of 10. He studied guitar at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. As a guitarist, he started his public performances in 1995. In his early performances, he played with Herwig Gradischnig, Freier Fall, Franz Hautzinger, and his band Duckbilled Platypus. With this band, he recorded two albums for the label Extraplatte.

He began to separated himself from the jazz idiom and developed an abstract sound on guitar. He became a member of Efzeg with Burkherd Stangl and Hauf and Komfort. He invited Dafeldecker, Hinteregger, Wayne Horvitz and Tony Buck to the group Komfort. In the group Trapist, he played with Joe Williamson and Martin Brandlmayr. On My Kingdom for a Lullably, he played with Christof Kurzmann, Axel Dšrner, and Billy Roisz, the video artist of Efzeg. He was a member of the guitar quartet SSSD with Taku Sugimoto, Werner Dafeldecker, and Burkhard Stangl.

He has worked with Oskar Aichinger, Christian Fennesz, Wolfgang Mitterer, Elliott Sharp, Franz Koglmann, Thomas Lehn, Karlheinz Essl, Ken Vandermark, Michael Sarin, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Georg GrŠwe, Frank Gratkowski, Michael Vatcher, and Klangforum Wien. He has composed music for, ballet, film, theater, remix recordings, and sound art."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Siewert)
3/12/2025

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"Christof Kurzmann (vocals, lloopp, clarinet, alto sax), is an Austrian musician, performer, composer currently living in Buenos Aires. Beginning in 1994 he started his work in the field of experimental electronic music. Since that time Christof has collaborated with some of the most significant artists working in contemporary music and improvisation- including Toto Alvarez, Martin Brandlmayr, John Butcher, Eden Carrasco, Sebi Ciurcina, Werner Dafeldecker, Kai Fagaschinski, Fernanda Farrah, Bernhard Fleischmann, Michaela Grill, Margareth Kammerer, Leonel Kaplan, Bernhard Lang, Andrea Neumann, Fernando Perales, Eva Reiter, Marina Rosenfeld, Ursula Rucked, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Thieke, and Clayton Thomas- in groups such as El Infierno Musical, The Magic I.D., and Schee. During the course of his career, Christof has performed throughout Europe, Japan, North and South Amercia. He has also been a music curator since the mid 1980's, and in 1999 founded the record label, Charhizma, which has released more than 30 cds."

-http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/ (Ken Vandermark Website)
3/12/2025

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"Sofia Jernberg (born 5 July 1983, Ethiopia) is a Swedish experimental singer and composer.

Between 2002 and 2004, Jernberg studied jazz at Fridhems Folk High School. Later she studied for Per Mårtensson and Henrik Strindberg at The Gotland School of Music Composition. In 2008, she received the Royal Swedish Academy of Music's jazz award.

Jernberg is the leader (together with the pianist Cecilia Persson) of the chamber jazz group Paavo. The group received the "jazz group of the year" award from Swedish Radio.

Jernberg is also working on the contemporary classical music scene, in which she serves as both singer and composer. As a singer she has premiered pieces by composers such as Lars Bröndum. She was a soloist with Norrbotten NEO when they performed Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire. Jernberg has composed for several established ensembles such as Duo ego and Norrbotten NEO."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Jernberg)
3/12/2025

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"Andreas Werliin (* 1982 ) is a Swedish drummer of creative jazz and new improvisational music .

Werliin, who grew up in Strömstad , studied at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. There he met his wife, Mariam Wallentin , with whom he formed the duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums . The band presented several albums since 2007 and toured internationally, in 2008 it was awarded the Swedish Jazzact of the Year.

With Mats Gustafsson and Johan Berthling he formed the trio Fire! , Who went to Japantournee with Jim O'Rourke in 2010, and since 2013 for now (2016) four albums to the large format Fire! Orchestra. In 2010, Dan Berglund got him to his Tonbruket project, which then became a collaborative band, which was awarded the Gyllene Skivan in 2012 and the Jazzkattan in 2016."

-Wikipedia translated by Google (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Werliin&prev=search)
3/12/2025

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"Johan Berthling (* 1973 in Stockholm ) is a Swedish jazz and improvisational musician ( contrabass , electric bass , also piano ).

Berthling studied at the Royal Music College in Stockholm from 1996-1998 . Since then, he has worked in the Swedish and international jazz and improvisation scene in various ensembles including David Stackenäs , Raymond Strid , Fredrik Ljungkvist , Sten Sandell , Paal Nilssen-Love , Akira Sakata , Mats Gustafsson , Jonas Kullhammar and the Christer Bothén Acoustic Ensemble. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 23 recording sessions between 1996 and 2014. He also worked with folkmusicist and songwriter Nicolai Dunger ( roasting och herren , 2007)."

-Wikipedia translated by Google (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Berthling)
3/12/2025

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"Agustí Fernández (Palma de Mallorca, 1954), with a perfectly based career and a well-deserved international reputation, is one of the Spanish musicians of major international projection and a world reference in the field of improvised music. Fernández has worked with famous musicians of the free improvisation scene like Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson, Joel Ryan and Peter Evans a.m.o. He is a member of the Blue Shroud Band, Mats Gustafsson NU Ensemble and Barry Guy New Orquestra. Up to the current date he has published more than 80 CD's

He has also worked with the recognised composer of contemporary music Héctor Parra, who composed in collaboration with the pianist FREC, a solo for expanded piano. FREC has been premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013 with the collaboration of the video artist Lucas Caraba. He has conducted various improvised music ensembles like Ad Libitum Ensemble (Varsaw), Free Art Ensemble (Barcelona), Ansambl Studio 6 (Lujbljana) Orquesta FOCO (Madrid), Entenguerengue (Jérez de la Frontera), Impromtu Ensemble (Valencia), etc.

Along his professional life Agustí Fernández has received much recognition. His solo for piano "Mutza" presented in New York in 2007 was distinguished by the New York magazine AllAboutJazz as one of 10 best concerts from that year. The CD "Un llamp que no s'acaba mai" on PSI (Agustí Fernández, John Edwards and Mark Sanders) has been distinguished by Allaboutjazz as one of the best 10 cd's in 2009; the CD "Aurora" on Maya Recordings (Agustí Fernandez, Barry Guy and Ramón López) was selected by Cuadernos de Jazz magazine as the best CD in 2007, by the Jaç magazine as the best fourth disc of the history of the Catalan jazz and it was Disc d'émoi (February, 2007) for the French Jazz Magazine. The "Agustí Fernández Aurora Trio" received the second prize at the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2012 celebrated in Münich, Germany. In 2000 he received the Festival Altaveu Award, Sant Boi de Llobregat (Catalonia). In 2001 he received the FAD - Sebastià Guasch Award, Barcelona (Cataluña) with Andrés Corchero por el or the performance "A modo de esperanza". In 2011 Agustí Fernández was the main character of the documentary film "Los dedos huéspedes" by Lucas Caraba, which has been screened in several international festivals of documentary. In 2014 the Ad Libitum Festival (Warsaw) dedicated a monographic edition to celebrate Fernández's 60th Birthday.

He's professor of improvised music at the Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). He's developing an important teaching activity in the field of improvised music and, among other, he has been teaching in IRCAM in Paris, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre de Tallin, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Holland), the Conservatory in Arhem (Holland), the Taller de Músicos in Gijón (Spain), the Taller de Músics in Barcelona (Spain) and the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca (Spain)."

-Agusti Fernandez Website (http://www.agustifernandez.com/biografia/)
3/12/2025

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"Mariam Karolina Riahi Wallentin (born 28 July 1982 in Örebro, Sweden) is a Swedish musician (vocals, percussion, composer) and voice actress.

Wallentin first sang in the local soulband Carnival, with which she presented an EP in 1999. From 2006 she studied at the Högskolan för scen och musik (Academy of Music and Drama) in Gothenburg. There she met her husband, Andreas Werliin, with whom she formed the duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. The band has presented several albums since 2007 and toured internationally. In 2008 she was named Swedish Jazzact of the Year. Since 2013 she is also on tour with the experimental solo project Mariam the Believer, which released their first album Blood Donation, in the same year. She is also active as a singer with the Fire!Orchestra. She is also a musician on Gothenburg String Theory, David Åhlen, Susanna & The Magical Orchestra, Lykke Li and with Lisa Ullén and Nina de Heney as Nuiversum."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariam_Wallentin)
3/12/2025

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"Anders Nyqvist was born in Sweden in 1977 and started playing the trumpet at the age of 10. After graduating from school in his hometown of Trollhättan, he received a scholarship to the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. There, he studied both trumpet and voice, but soon decided on the trumpet as the instrument of his choice.

After three years in Hong Kong, he was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In 2004 he became a member of Klangforum Wien.

Collaborating with composers, creating new sounds, contributing his experience and participating in the creative process are essential parts of making music for Anders Nyqvist. He performs internationally both as a soloist and as a chamber musician at festivals and concerts. As a soloist, he has performed with ensembles and orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, and Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich.

Since 2009, he has taught trumpet for the Performance Practice in Contemporary Music degree program, at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz; and from 2011 also at the University of Music in Vienna. He also regularly conducts master classes in Europe and Asia.

Numerous pieces have been written especially for him by composers such as Matthias Pintscher, Bernhard Gander, Bernhard Lang, Pierluigi Billone, Nina Šenk, and Roland Freisitzer.

Anders Nyqvist has also participated in a great number of CD, DVD and television productions."

-Klangforum Wien (https://en.klangforum.at/ensemble/anders-nyqvist)
3/12/2025

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"Thomas Lehn was Born in Fröndenberg (Germany) in 1958. Since the early 1980s Thomas Lehn has been working as a author and performer of contemporary music. After studying recording engineering - piano with Prof. Wilfried Kassebaum - at the Music Academy of Detmold in Germany, studies at the Music Academy of Cologne with Peter Degenhardt and Prof. Klaus Oldemeyer (classical piano) and with Frank Wunsch and Francis Coppieters (jazz piano) completed his academical education. In the 80ies he took part on courses of Studio for pianistic interpretation held by Prof. Jürgen Uhde.

As an interpreting pianist he has been playing concerts since 1982 - performing both contemporary new music including numerous first performances and traditional composed music of the classical and romantical period. In 1989 he initiated the chamber ensemble Trio Dario and four years later the Mengano Quartett, performing compositions of the contemporary avant-garde, in particular numerous first performances of comissioned works. Developed parallel to his work as a pianist, since the early 1990s his major and widely reknown work has been performing and producing live-electronic music. Rooted in the experience of a wide spectrum of musical fields based on his background as an interpreting and improvising pianist in classical-, contemporary and jazz-music and having been involved in numerous other projects like music theatre, dance, multi-media, studio pre-/post-production etc., he has been developing an individual 'language' of electronic music.

The electronic equipment he uses consists of analogue synthesizers of the late 1960s, and since 1994 in particular the EMS Synthi A. Besides the substantial sound qualities of its analogue synthesis, the facilities of this modular instrument - for example to modify electronic sounds very directly as well as to combine and to control several parameters of the sound synthesis at the same time - allows him to spontaneously act in close contact with the various structural degrees of the musical process.

In 2000 his solo album Feldstärken had been released on German label Random Acoustics. Up today, his discography enclosures about 80 CD publications. Numerous appearances at major international festivals of contemporary musics and concerts tours in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungaria, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA give evidence of his international profile and recognition.

He has been involved in projects promoted and/or supported by the Goethe-Institutes in Belgrade, Boston, Bratislava, Budapest, Chicago, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Lille, Lissabon, London, Manchester, Marseille, Milano, Montreal, Palermo, Rome, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Wellington and York. His musical activities enclosure long term and newer ensemble collaborations as well as involvements in numerous specific single projects. Long term collaborations are ensembles like KONK PACK, TOOT, THERMAL, FUTCH, MIMEO, SPEAK EASY, 6IX, VARIO-34, as well as the duo works with Marcus Schmickler, Tiziana Bertoncini, Gerry Hemingway, Paul Lovens, Frédéric Blondy Urs Leimgruber and John Butcher. More recently formed ensembles are the duos with Benoît Moreau and with the video artist Kjell Bjørgeengen, trio formations with John Butcher involving pianists John Tilbury and Matthew Shipp.

Further he is pianist and founding member of the ensemble]h[iatus, an ensemble for interpretation and improvisation of contemporary music, whichs members are all experienced interpreters and improvisers. The ensemble compiles concert programs integrating/alternating notated and real-time-created contemporary music. It has been first-performing commissioned works by Vinko Globokar, Peter Jakober, Jennifer Walshe, Anthony Pateras besides performing compositions of the contemporary repertoire. Besides performing his own electronic music, in the recent years Thomas Lehn became more active as a synthesizer interpreter of electronic compositions. The realisation of Boguslav Schaeffer's Electronic Symphony - live performed in 2010 and 2011 - has been documented on the CD PRES Scores on polish label Bolt/Monotype. In 2012 he world premierred OCCAM VI for synthesizer solo by Éliane Radigue at Berghain Berlin during festival Faithful! and - together with KlangForum Wien - dort for synthesizer and 15 piece ensemble by Austrian composer Peter Jakober at musikprotokoll Graz and at Konzerthaus Vienna."

-Thomas Lehn Website (http://www.thomaslehn.com/read/vita_e.html)
3/12/2025

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"Born 1942; trombone, cello, film.

Günter Christmann has been working since 1968 as a free-lance musician specialising in improvised musics - particularly free improvisation - and their links with other art forms. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, he was primarily known for his trombone (and less frequent double bass) playing in a variety of groupings: Rüdiger Carl group (1969-1972); Peter Kowald Quintett (1972-1974); a duo with Detlef Schönenberg (1972-1982) which itself included many collaborations - for example with the electronics player Harald Bojé - as a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra from 1973 onwards; and in duo with Tristan Honsinger (1978-1981). In the mid-1970s Christmann also began exploring the possibilities of solo playing, sometimes including electro-acoustic manipulations and montage techniques. Since 1980 Günter Christmann has played regularly with Paul Lovens - for example, in the excellent (and recorded) trio with Maarten Altena, in duo, and in trio with Mats Gustafsson - in duo with bass player Torsten Müller (generally under the name of their recording, Carte blanche, as a member of King Übü Orchestrü (1987-1994), and in duo with Alexander Frangenheim. He also started to feature cello in his playing, not as a second instrument to trombone but as an equal.

From 1979 Günter Christmann has been interested in working with different combinations of improvisers from an international pool, often combining musicians with dancers, actors and acrobats. These groupings have gone under the generic name of VARIO (now up to VARIO 35), with many combinations having been documented on LP and CD (see list below). VARIO concerts have included: Langenhagen Jazz 1979/1981/1983; Moers 1981/1983; Actual London 1981; Pisa 1982; Osnabrück 1982; Utrecht 1982; a tour of South and Central America in 1983 (Mexico, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil); Zürich 1984; Hannover 1985; Bremen 1985; Paris 1992; Hannover 1993; Den Haag 1994; Stuttgart 1995; Nickelsdorff 1998; Hannover 1998. Artists who have participated in VARIO formations include: Maarten Altena; Regina Baumgart (dancer); Steve Beresford; Udo Blickensdorf (acrobat); Lindsay Cooper; Axel Dörner; Katie Duck; Alexander Frangenheim; Wolfgang Fuchs; Mats Gustafsson; Andy Geer (pantomime); Gerd Gläsmer (drums); Michael Griener (percussion); Ulrich Gumpert; Bernd Halleck (actor); Shelley Hirsch; Tristan Honsinger; Guus Janssen; Sven-Åke Johannson; Theo Joling (clown); Peter Kowald; Gyde Knebusch (harp); Thomas Lehn; Paul Lovens; Rudi Mahall (bass clarinet); Radu Malfatti; Phil Minton; Torsten Müller; Christian Munthe; Maggie Nicols; Evan Parker; Melvyn Poore; Jon Rose; John Russell; Jo Sachse; Wolfgang Schliemdun (percussion); Detlef Schönenberg; Irène Schweizer; Günter Sommer; LaDonna Smith; Mariano Suarez (trumpet); Martin Theurer; Roger Turner; Peter van Bergen; Davey Williams; Stephan Wittwer.

Even outside VARIO, Christmann has longstanding interests in bringing together similar-minded artists from a variety of disciplines. This started in 1974 through a collaboration with dancer/choreographer Pina Bausch and was later continued with Elisabeth Clark and Regina Baumgart. These early experiments led to his interest in film, particularly the relationship between improvising musicians and experimental film-makers; his current work in this area goes under the banner Deja-vu, being a sequence of music-theatre scenes in which live music, acting, films and sound collage are brought together. At its centre is the playing musician who works both with and against the film and whose relationship with the situation on stage in constantly changing. Advantages are taken of the ability of film to snatch up, to double and enlarge, and to fragment what would otherwise be a traditional relationship between action, scenery and person. This results in an interchange and transformation of themes, properties and associations, and movement between illusion and reality. The films are by Günter Christmann, music is provided by Christmann and Michael Griener, and technical assistance is provided by Elke Schipper."

-European Free Improv (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mchrist.html)
3/12/2025

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"Born in Aachen, Germany, 6 June 1949; Drums, percussion, musical saw, etc.

Paul Lovens played the drums as a child. Self-taught, from the age of 14 he played in groups of various jazz styles and popular musics and from 1969 has worked almost exclusively as an improvisor on individually selected instruments. He has worked internationally with most of the leading musicians in free jazz and free improvisation, among whom have included the Globe Unity Orchestra, the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Schlippenbach trio, Quintet Moderne, Company, and a duo with Paul Lytton. He has undertaken concert tours in more than 40 countries, is a founder member of a musician's cooperative and has produced recordings for his own label, Po Torch Records since 1976. He has worked with painter Herbert Bardenheuer. Despite very rare solo performances, and although giving occasional concerts with ad-hoc groups and an involvement in projects with film, dance and actors, Paul Lovens' main interest and work is musical improvisation in fixed small groups. In the mid-1990s these small groups numbered around 16, of which a few were part of a special selection, called 'vermögen'.

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."

-European Free Improv (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mlovens.html)
3/12/2025

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"Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b. 1971, Oppdal) - studied Jazz at the Music Consevatory in Trondheim, Norway (1992-1995) under the tutelage of bassplayer Odd Magne Gridseth.

When one listens to the great bassists in modern jazz history, a striking thing (though it may not be immediately arrived at) is that greatness is reached through open-mindedness and diversity. William Parker, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Peter Kowald, Wilbur Ware, Bertram Turetsky, Buell Neidlinger - all of these bass players have embraced a lifestyle of playing all sorts of music and the breadth of each musicians' technique is a testament to those experiences. Norwegian bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is also a musician whose experience is both geographical and aesthetic. While the fertile Scandinavian new jazz scene offered a vast amount of opportunities to work in different bands with musicians whose concepts are as individual as the grains in a reed, Flaten has found home and on-the-bandstand education in places as far flung as Chicago and his current residence Austin, Texas.

A muscular player whose tone and attack run the gamut from Paul Chambers to Buschi Niebergall, his sense of both openness and control serves ensembles as diverse as The Thing, Free Fall, Atomic, Scorch Trio and the Kornstad/Håker Flaten Duo. In addition to his own Chicago Sextet and Austin-centric Young Mothers, Flaten has also recorded and performed with Frode Gjerstad, Dave Rempis, Bobby Bradford, the AALY Trio, Ken Vandermark, Stephen Gauci, Tony Malaby, Daniel Levin, Dennis Gonzalez and numerous others. Flaten studied at the Conservatory in Trondheim (1992-1995), turning professional shortly afterward, yet his hunger to play in new situations with new musicians - schooled or amateur, frequently recorded or just starting out - puts him in a rare class, that of a truly broad-minded artist. That mettle has served him well, living and developing the music under his own steam and drawing from influences as diverse as Derek Bailey, George Russell, Chris McGregor, filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, contemporary pop melody and gritty punk music as well as everyday sights and sounds.

There is a calmness and self-assuredness that imbues all great artists, in that the diversity of their work comes with very little ego. Flaten's artistry is often in collective, leaderless ensembles and in fact, following a decade of professional musicianship it wasn't until 2004 that his leader-debut was released - Quintet (Jazzland, followed in 2008 by The Year of the Boar, and a Sextet recording is upcoming). This latter fact is partly due to the necessity of a copacetic situation - in an interview in 2010 with the Austinist he noted that "I use people where I'm located. It's inspiring to have your own band to write for, but you have to make sure that people feel free and not limited by the music; the compositions should lead the way to a player's open mind, and that is a challenge." Certainly not every bandleader/composer thinks this way.

In 2011, he formed another ensemble, The Young Mothers, which includes drummers Stefan Gonzalez (Dallas) and Frank Rosaly (Chicago), trumpeter/poet/rapper Jawaad Taylor (New York), saxophonist Jason Jackson (Houston), and Jonathan Horne (Austin) on guitar. It's a group of varying levels and influences and as it grows organically, will be another excellent lens through which to view Flaten's aesthetic, philosophy, and musicianship. The next few years see him in a position where established ensembles can steep and spread their influence, while experimenting with and nurturing a wide range of new relationships."

-Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Website (http://www.ingebrigtflaten.com/about-me/)
3/12/2025

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"Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990's onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Devin Hoff, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Lytton, Andy Moor, Joe Morris, and Nate Wooley). His current activity includes work with Made To Break, The Resonance Ensemble, Side A, Lean Left, Fire Room, the DKV Trio, and duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy; in addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/12/2025

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"Paal Nilssen-Love was born in Molde, Norway, Dec 24. 1974, and raised at a jazz club in Stavanger, run by his parents. It was natural to choose his fathers drums as his instrument and jazz as his work. From 1990 on he took actively part in the jazz milieu in Stavanger and joined bands with established musicians such as trumpeter Didrik Ingvaldsen and saxophonist Frode Gjerstad. In many ways, these collaborations were essential as they pointed out the directions for Paal's later musical development and career. During his studies at the Jazz dept at the University in Trondheim, where the first self initiated bands were established, things developed really fast - and Paal was nationally acknowledged at the age of 20.

The forming of the quartet Element in 1993 in many ways represented the start of a new phase in Paal's musical life. Element musically became a platform for several other groups with bassist Flaten and pianist Wiik, and lead to collaborations with Iain Ballamy and Chris Potter, amongst others. Paal moved to Oslo in 1996, where he joined and/or took part in the forming of bands like Vindaloo, SAN, Håkon Kornstad Tio, The Quintet and Frode Gjerstad Trio. He later on got more into self initiated projects and collaborations with Swedish musicians, such as pianist Sten Sandell and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson.

Paal played his first solo concert in 1999, and since then the solo concept has been an important part of his work: "Everyone should try doing some solo work, just to feel who you really are and what gets you going". His solo album "Sticks and stones" was put out in 2001 on SOFA Rec.

Being active in several bands at the same time has always been Paal's deliberate working method. He is constantly conscious about the projects he is in, as his participation in each and one of them is fully dedicated. Playing is not about getting from start to goal, but rather being in an everlasting process, a continuous movement where each new piece of music performed is a prolongation of the latest. Hence, keeping focused and concentrating all energy around what's happening there and then is of greatest importance - as is the freedom in the music, the ability of being free within the expression.

All bands, although various styles and musical versatility in general, represent important pieces that make up a total, and all bands are formed or joined with a clear vision. Today Paal's portfolio includes Atomic, School Days, The Thing, Frode Gjerstad Trio, Sten Sandell Trio, Scorch Trio, Territory Band, FME, and various duo projects such as with reedmen Ken Vandermark, John Butcher, Mats Gustafsson, organist Nils Henrik Asheim and noise wizard Lasse Marhaug. And not to forget the recently joined Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet."

-Paal Nilssen-Love Website (http://www.paalnilssen-love.com/biography.php)
3/12/2025

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"Drummer/vibes player Kjell Nordeson, who was born in 1964, currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Nordeson studied classical percussion with Björn Liljeqvist, principal percussionist of the Stockholm Philharmonic. In 1986, Nordeson formed the longstanding AALY Trio with Mats Gustafsson. Nordeson has also collaborated with such musicians as Sten Sandell, Christer Bothén, Peter Söderberg, David Stackenäs, Martin Küchen, and Fredrik Ljunkvist. As a member of the AALY Trio, Low Dynamic Orchestra, Nacka Forum, Katzen Kapell, Firehouse, and Exploding Customer, Nordeson enjoys a healthy high profile in the Swedish music scene.

In North America and Europe, Nordeson has done numerous tours with the AALY Trio and School Days. He has played in collaborations with Peter Brötzmann, Barry Guy, Joe Morris, William Parker, Paul Rutherford, Stephano Scodanibbio, and Ken Vandermark. In 1994, Nordeson founded Co. Alba with choreographer Nathalie Ruiz, which is also a platform for his work as a composer. Together, Ruiz and Nordeson produced a number of dance performances; the latest is the short film Désiré, a commission by Swedish Television. Nordeson has worked in theatre performances in Riksteatern, and The Royal Dramatic Theatre and Stadsteater in Stockholm. With choreographer Philippe Blanchard's ensemble Adekwhat, he toured Germany, Finland, Israel, and Egypt."

-Nuscope (http://nuscope.org/musicians/kjell-nordeson/)
3/12/2025

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Anna Högberg is a saxophonist, a member of Dog Life, Fire! Orchestra

-Squidco 3/12/2025

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