There is no shortage of live Mats Gustafsson on Bandcamp at the moment. That’s a good thing as anyone who has heard The Thing actually live at a gig will know. Live albums or EPs are as near as you’ll get if you’re still waiting to see him play. This one caught my ear recorded in 2009 the year before Steve Reid’s death.

The Swedish saxist is also playing here with electronica star Four Tet, or strictly speaking Kieran Hebden on jazz projects, who lobs in wave upon wave of bespoke computer generated murmurings, fades and lifts, the three operating as one, drummer Reid’s hymning cymbals and little bell-like rhymes and powerful multi-directional rhythms a veritable song. 

In the 1960s Reid worked on Motown sessions and at the Apollo theatre in New York before becoming a part of the loft scene in the 70s, starting his own label Mustevic many of whose releases are collectors’ items prized for both their music and their artwork. He had a loose, infectious style, lost in the music and the spell of performance, and you can hear it all here completely faithful to his beautiful spirit and huge talent alongside a kindred communality of endeavour. Gustafsson is an Albert Ayler for today. For that and much more we should be very grateful.