Mats Olof Gustafsson (born on 29 October 1964 in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedish saxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising.
He first came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Christmann's Vario project and the band Gush (started in 1988). He has later played widely with musicians such as Gunter Christmann, Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Paul Lovens, Barry Guy, Yoshimi P-We, Derek Bailey, Magnus Broo, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O'Rourke, Thomas Lehn, Evan Parker, Misha Mengelberg, Zu, The Ex and Sonic Youth.
Since the early 1990s Gustafsson has been a regular visitor to the United States, forming a particular affinity with Chicago musicians such as Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang and Ken Vandermark and recording for the city's OkkaDisk label. This resulted in a more traditional "free jazz" style in contrast to his innovative early work with European improvising musicians.
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