''Ljubljana'' is an album by saxophonist

Mats Gustafsson Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player. Career Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chri ...

and pianist

Craig Taborn Craig Marvin Taborn (; born February 20, 1970) is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was ...

. It was recorded in concert in 2015 and released two years later by

Clean Feed Records Clean Feed Records is a jazz record label founded in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001. The label's roster includes Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Carlos Bica, Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Evans, Scott Fields, Fight the Big Bull, Cha ...

Recording and music

The album was recorded in concert at Cankerjev Dom, Ljubljana, as part of the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, on July 3, 2015. The two tracks, improvised, were credited to the two musicians. On the first track, "The Eyes Moving. Slowly.", Gustafsson employs slap-tonguing and vocalizations.Corroto, Mark (February 6, 2017
"Mats Gustafsson & Craig Taborn: Ljubljana"
AllAboutJazz. "The Ears Facing The Fantasies. Again.", the second track, builds as "Taborn's percussive left hand churns the improvisation as he brings the piece to a boil, pressing Gustafsson to push his accelerator", then has a quieter section.

Release

''Ljubljana'' was released by

in 2017."Ljubljana"
Clean Feed Records. Retrieved May 25, 2017. They released it as an LP and as a digital download.

Reception

In a review for ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'', Mark Corroto wrote: "Congratulations to whomever conceived of this pairing of two improvised music giants... Pairing these seemingly disparate instruments and performers yields an amazing cooperation... The wow factor is quite high for this performance." Martin Selkelsky of ''The Free Jazz Collective'' included the album in his list of 2017's top 10 releases. ''FJC'' reviewer Eyal Hareuveni described the album as "a meeting where some mean blows and kicks were exchanged," and "a muscular wrestling of heavy-weight champions of spontaneous improvisations, both as serious as their lives." He noted that both musicians "correspond immediately to each other's gestures," while at the same time "neither Gustafsson or Taborn feel any need to compromise or blur their distinct, strong-minded personalities." The ''

Downtown Music Gallery Downtown Music Gallery is a long-running, internationally-known record store, mail-order, and performance space located in New York City. It specializes in "Downtown Music", a recognized catchphrase for avant-garde jazz and contemporary composition, ...

s Bruce Lee Gallanter commented: "in what concerns improvisation, if the protagonists are committed explorers of spontaneity anything can happen, even the most extraordinary music... these two fantastic improvisers created music with their differences, entering each other's territory. Who said art is a question of compromise? It isn't. This may well be the jazz album of the year and a landmark on the label." Writing for ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'', Phil Freeman stated that while Gustafsson "pops the valves... screeches, ndbellows from the very bottom of the horn's range," Taborn, "no matter how much he's playing, always comes across unperturbed." He remarked: "The two of them rarely seem to lock in — they're playing simultaneously, rather than together, but the results are still exciting."

Track listing

#"The Eyes Moving. Slowly." – 20:24 #"The Ears Facing the Fantasies. Again." – 17:40

Personnel

*Mats Gustafsson – slide saxophone, baritone saxophone *Craig Taborn – piano

References

{{authority control Clean Feed Records live albums Mats Gustafsson live albums Craig Taborn live albums