Label: Smalltown Superjazzz
Catalog #: STSJ106CD
Format: 3xCD, Limited Edition, Box + DVD
Country: Norway
Released: 2008
Genre: Jazz
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

CD1: Gustafsson, Flaten, Nilssen-Love - The Thing (2000) (50:09)
1. Awake Nu - 5:06
2. Mopti - 11:35
3. Cherryco - 8:45
4. Ode To Don - 3:37
5. The Art Of Steve Roney - Smilin' - 2:38
6. Trans-Love Airways - 19:17

Mats Gustafsson: alto and tenor saxophones
Igebrigt Håker Flaten: double bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums and percussion

Recorded and mixed at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, February 10 & 11, 2000.
Engineered by Janne Hansson.
Mastered by Christofer "Hoffe" Stannow at Cosmos Studios in Stockholm.
Produced by Christian Falk & Mats Gustafsson.

This recording was originally released in 2000 on Crazy Wisdom 001, Universal Music 159 073-2

CD2: The Thing With Joe McPhee - She Knows… (2001) (49:03)
1. To Bring You My Love - 7:53
2. The Thing - 8:51
3. Baby Talk - 7:56
4. Going Home - 5:51
5. For Real - 10:28
6. Old Eyes - 7:56

Mats Gustafsson: alto and tenor saxophones
Igebrigt Håker Flaten: double bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums
Joe McPhee: pocket trumpet and tenor saxophone

Recorded and mixed at Nord Studios in Stockholm, February 21 & 22, 2001.
Engineered by Leif Allanson.
Mastered by Christofer "Hoffe" Stannow at Cosmos Studios in Stockholm.
Produced by Christian Falk & Mats Gustafsson.

This recording was originally released in 2001 on Crazy Wisdom 006, Universal Music 014 756-2

DVD: The Thing With Thurston Moore - Live At Øya (2005) (35:06)
1. Art Star
2. The Witch
3. Aluminum / Have Love Will Travel
4. No Crowd Surfing

Mats Gustafsson: tenor and baritone saxophones
Igebrigt Håker Flaten: double bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums and percussion
Thurston Moore: electric guitar

Recorded live at Øyafestivalen 2005, Oslo Norway.

CD3: The Thing - Gluttony (2007) (44:52)
1. Gluttony, Part 1 - 17:58
2. Gluttony, Part 2 - 12:43
3. Gluttony, Part 3 - 13:27

Mats Gustafsson: Grafton plastic alto, baritone and slide saxophones
Igebrigt Håker Flaten: double bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums and percussion

Recorded December 20th, 2005 by Janne Hansson at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm.
Mixed February 9th, 2006 by Mats Gustafsson and Janne Hansson at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm.
Produced by The Thing.

(c)(p) Smalltown Superjazzz 2007
STSJ106CD

A superbly packaged four-disc boxset retrospective of The Thing, the acclaimed free-jazz supergroup comprising Mats Gustafsson (saxophones), Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (double bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). There are three CDs bringing together the trio's earliest, out of print albums and previously unheard material: their eponymous debut (2000), She Knows (with Joe McPhee, from 2001) and a never-released forty-four-minute improv suite named Gluttony, recorded at the legendary Stockholm studio, Atlantis in 2005. As an extra treat, the combo's live appearance at Oslo's Oya festival in 2005 is included on DVD, featuring a notable set-closing collaboration with Thurston Moore. This is such a brilliant collection, and as if all that music wasn't enough (and it surely is) there's an extra treat for you: Eagle Eye Cherry (remember him, one hit wonder fans?) provides the liner notes. That's not quite as absurd as it initially sounds though: Eagle Eye is Don Cherry's son, and Don's music seems to be a recurring port of call for The Thing, with their eponymous debut album largely focused on the work of the legendary trumpeter. A massive recommendedation.
~ boomkat