CMG is proud to present THE THING:

Mats Gustafsson – tenor and baritone saxophone
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – bass
Paal Nilssen-Love – drums

Mixing jazz with noise, avant-rock and punk, the music of The Thing has been described as ‘garage-freejazz’ and ‘improv-punk’.
The band was established in 1999 when the three musicians met to play their interpretation of Don Cherry tunes. Since then The Thing has grown into one of the most successful and hardest working free jazz trio’s around, traveling all over the world. They have performed with guests like Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O’Rourke, Thurston Moore, Peter Evans and Neneh Cherry.

One of the most appealing facets of The Thing is the visceral experience of seeing them play live. Huddled closely on stage, wearing matching Ruby’s BBQ of Austin t-shirts, dripping with sweat and manhandling their instruments, the trio is one of the modern wonders of avant-garde jazz (Andrey Henkin, AAJ)

Opening Act: The Crenshaw

Expanded from a solo performance project in 2014,The Crenshaw is Andrew Jones on upright bass, vocals and electronics and Christopher Johnedis on drums and triggers. They play Jones’ original songs – which draw from such disparate musical worlds as Chicago footwork, “free jazz”, contemporary classical, and pop music – marrying improvisation and textural explorations with tight rhythmic loops, haunting harmony and often self-effacing abstract lyrical content. They plan to release their first recording in 2015. (https://soundcloud.com/thecrenshaw)