A double CD of pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, the first in duo with saxophonist Fred Anderson, and the second with trombonist George Lewis, also on laptop, celebrating Abram's 80th birthday!

Arrive, formed in 2001, is Aram Shelton's Chicago band with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tim Daisy, a remarkable album of structured free playing.

Four generations of Chicago saxophonists--Dave Rempis, Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, and Nick Mazzarella--come together in an interactive saxophone quartet with each player providing 2 compositions of well-developed, powerful, engaging free and lyrical jazz.

Drummer Eisenstadt in a NY based African influenced quintet with trumpeters Taylor Ho Bynum and Nate Wooley, Mark Taylor on French Horn and Josh Sinton on baritone sax.

Matthew White's collective Fight the Big Bull nonet utilizes the history of jazz in compsitions that refer to Blind Willie Johnson, Charles Mingus, Art Ensemble, &c. &c.

The inimitable Frode Gjerstad in a trio with some of Chicago's finest, bassist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Michael Zerang performing live at Milwaukee's Sugar Maple, 2009.

Insanely great improvisation in the 3rd recorded outing for this amazing trio, bringing Free Europe and New York Downtown players together for 3 extended compositions.

Ranging from trio to septet, Herculaneum incorporates a chamber aesthetic into modern improvisational aesthetic with graceful expressiveness and compositional power.

A live recording made in April 2014 at Mike Reed's Constellation in Chicago of pianist Karayorgis Quintet with Dave Rempis (sax), Keefe Jackson (reeds), Nate McBride (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums), bridging post-bop and avant jazz in sophisticated and lyrical ways.

Three bassists converged on WNUR Studios, in Evanston, Illinois in 1998 to record these tracks, finally released after 16 years: 5 freely improvised trio sessions, 6 miniatures suggested by Kowald and performed by the trio, and 6 duos between Kowald and Lonberg-Holm.

Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes with NY bassist Adam Lane and Israeli drummer Igal Fonis, emotional, raw music, with lots of feedback and distortion and astonishing solos!

The electroacoustic quartet of Christof Kurzmann (electronics), Devin Hoff (bass), Ken Vandermark (reeds) and Tim Daisy (drums) performing live in Lisbon, an innovative and significant band developing new languages for improvisation.

Chicago cornetist/composer Rob Mazurek leads his Exploding Star Orchestra featuring Roscoe Mitchell with Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Steve Swell, Matt Bauder, Jason Adasiewica, &c. through a colossal 8 part work, and also provides a single CD of cosmic electronics.

An emotional solo concert performed at Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery, an ode to Mazurek's mother a few months after her passing, on cornet, flutes, bells, books, maracas, apples, and little electronics, in a touching and beautiful celebration of her life.

Chicago cellist and composer Tomeka Reid was commissioned to create original music for the first documentary of the Imagists, mid 60's Chicago post-surrealists artists who exhibited together; Reid reworked the music into a fully realized suite for this CD release.

A 2-CD set of live concert recordings from this brilliant improvising quartet headed by Dave Rempis (sax) with prominent members Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass), Tim Daisy (drums), and Frank Rosaly (drums).

The music of bassist Jason Roebke and his trio of guitarist Matthew Schneider and drummer Marcus Evan is rooted in the leader's solid bass work and the tasteful and informed lyrical freedom of his sidemen, as heard in this live performace Chicago's Hungry Brain.

Free and unusual improvisation with the strange vocal stylings of Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, bassist Demey, and percussion and bicycle pump player Vanderstraeten.

The duo of Bryan Day (Eloine, Shelf Life) and instrument builder Jay Kreimer in what they describe as "confrontational gamelan theatre", a form of amplified metal/object-based improvisation.

In 2000, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and curator John Corbett organized a 16-piece free music big-band featuring key members of the Chicago and Swedish scenes, recording these two impressive, ecstatic, and explosive works.

Following their 2011 album on the Norwegian Hispid label, the quartet of clarinetist Frode Gjerstad, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, drummer Stale Liavik Solberg and vocalist Stine Janvin Motland perform two excellent extended improvisations at Galleri Sult in Stavanger.

The quartet of Cosottini, Melano, Pisani, Miano (EAQuartet Electroacoustic) in compositions referring to the 4 cardinal map points using graphic scores, games, open readings, &c.

Chicago saxophonist Keefe Jacksonand Swiss pianist Hans-Peter Pfammatter in a contemplative and expressive duo album demonstrating powerful technique and subtle restraint through nine improvisations.

Composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler presents three solo pieces, one for accordion (Teodoro Anzellotti) one for piano (Marianne Schroeder) and the third for organ (Huub Ten Hacken).

Guitarist Luis Jose Martins and pianist Joana Sa, known from their Shhpuma release "Almost a Song" and a release on Creative Sources, join again with harpist Eduardo Raon, with two Shhpuma releases, for a delicately complex, effervescent, and sometimes turbulent release.

Chicago's 2012 Marshmallow Festival brought together improvising drummer Frank Rosaly with New York guitarist Thurston Moore for a thick 35 minute improvisation that builds in intensity as Moore's drive and Rosaly's vehement interaction take the listener on a monumental journey.

New York drummer Tyshawn Sorey's impressive work for double trio is an ambitious chamber jazz composition using multiple harmonic, formal, rhythmic, and modal vocabularies in an exploratory and improvisational framework, inspired by the work of Lawrence D. Butch Morris.

The debut album of this focused and intrepid Chicago trio led by saxophonist Dave Rempis with young stalwarts Ryan Packard on percussion and electronics, and Netherlands transplant Albert Wildeman, for three extended improvisations recorded live and in the studio.

Chicago-based pianist Paul Giallorenzo trio with fellow Chicago drummer Tim Daisy and Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten performing a set of Giallorenzo compositions that balance melodic and free moments with authoritative playing.

A live recording at 28 rue Dunois, in Paris, France in 1984 from the trio of Daunik Lazro on alto sax, Joelle Leandre on double bass and voice, and George Lewis on trombone, a trans-Atlantic enounter of creative inventiveness and innovative vision, a great document of three persistent masters captured early in their incredible careers.

A lyrical outing from the Chicago working trio of Nick Mazzarella on alto saxophone, Matt Ulery on doublebass, and Jeremy Cunningham on drums, performing live at the Whistler in Chicago, Illinois in 2016, recorded for this debut album of Mazzarella compositions, flexible pieces that balance jazz traditions with avant options for the players.

Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus named "Clinamen" the unpredictable (in time and space) swerve of atoms falling in the void, which aptly describes the unexpected directions taken in subtle free improvisation from this French trio, led by bassist Louis-Michel Marion, with Jacques Di Donato on clarinet, and Philippe Berger on viola.

Portuguese electric guitarist Luis Lopes met Chicago free improvising cellist and electronic artist Fred Lonberg-Holm in the studio in Lisbon to record these five improvisations, both using innovative approaches to effect processing to expand their sound into unusual sonic environments, balancing beauty and abrasive sound.

1 Incidental Projections 25:28

A live recording from Kongsberg Jazzfestival in 2017 between frequent collaborators, Norwegian improviser Frode Gjerstad on reeds and Chicago improviser Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics, their second FMR album as a duo, alongside their work in the Cello Quartet and VCDC, showing the progression of their dynamic and fascinating dialog.

Bringing together two live shows from 2017 of the trio of Chicago luminaries, Dave Rempis on saxophones, Tim Daisy on drums, and Matt Piet on piano, in an exhilarating album of free jazz that shows the excitement of all three in what are only their 3rd and 4th live gigs together, each driving the other to enthusiastic heights amidst contemplative and playful moments.

Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark is fascinated with the visual arts, and was drawn in the 60s to Toronto visual artist, director of the "New York Eye And Ear" film, and most notably here, pianist, Michael Snow; in 2015 they performed together for the first time, this startlingly explosive and informed album the complete recording of that event.

Unexpected directions in this meeting between Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Chicago vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, in an introspective album of beautiful tonal conversations, relaxed and sophisticated dialogs that mostly eschews the more aggressive side of both musicians in deference to a thoughtful, reflective and elegant set of tunes.

Quintet and sextet recordings from the Polyorchard group of Jeb Bishop on trombone, Chris Eubank on cello, Bill McConaghy on trumpet, David Menestres on double bass, David Morris on tuba, Dan Ruccia on viola, Jeb Bishop on trombone, and Jacob Wick on trumpet, recording at "The Store" in Raleigh, NC, for sublime and complex and collective free improvisation.

After releasing "An Ayler Xmas: The Music of Albert Ayler & Songs of Christmas" on Chicago saxophonist Mars Williams' Soul What? Label, ESP approached him for a 2nd volume, resulting in this joyful and quirky holiday record with contributions from Josh Berman, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Jeb Bishop, Christof Kurzmann, Didi Kern, Thomas Berghammer, Steve Hunt, Jim Baker and Hermann Stangassinger.

Tomeka Reid is a Chicago based cellist, composer and free improviser, versed in classical and jazz contexts, here in a duo with Italian drummer Filippo Monaco recording in his studio in Milano, a lively conversation of extended acoustic improvisation using diverse techniques and approaches with an arsenal of percussive instruments; impressive and engaging.

Referencing the poem "Star-splitter" by Robert Frost, Italian improviser Gabriele Mitelli on cornet, soprano sax & alto flugelhorn, and Chicago improviser Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, both using electronics, object & voice, create a spiritually rich and warm series, "gazing" at four planets through immersive, unique and authoritative performance; exceptional.

Recordings from the 4-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, of Rob Mazurek's work using recordings of electric eels from National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil, combined with analog/digital synthesis to create environments of beautiful undulating and radiant sonic textures.

An assertive album of free improv bringing together players from New York (drummer Weasel Walters), London (clarinetist & electric guitarist Alex Ward), and Chicago (trombonist Jeb Bishop), their previous shared projects and cross-genre intentions in rock, hardcore jazz and other experimental forms leading to this wonderfully quirky and masterful album of excoriating free jazz.

The 2nd release from the trio of Chicago cornetist Josh Berman, UK drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton and Chicago bassist Jason Roebke, featuring material recorded during the trio's April 2018 European tour, in two extended side-long improvisations from Padova, Italy and Trondheim, Norway, in sets of profound technique and creative prowess; exceptional.

Examining the music of Puerto Rico through a very personal relationship, drummer Frank Rosaly assembled a group of percussionists along with trombonists Jeb Bishop & Nick Broste, bassist Nate McBride, pianist Ben Boye wind player Cameron Pfiffner, and Dutch avant-free vocalist Jaap Blonk, all using electronics and voice as they push the boundary of genre and concept.

Two trombones free improvising in the studio in Koln from the Duo of Chicago's Jeb Bishop and Cologne's Matthias Muche, both members of the trombone trio Bone-Crusher with Matthias Muller, this album recorded in the studio in Koln just before Bone-Crusher's "Konzert Fur Hannes" (NotTwo), elucidating this facet of the trio in 10 insightful dialogs of awesome technique and wit.

The ever-shifting lineup of jazz/no-wave/avant/aberrant improvisers The Flying Luttenbachers, anchored by drummer Weasel Walters, brings multi-reedist Matt Nelson, two guitarists (Brandon Seabrook & Henry Kaiser), bassist Tim Dahl and Brad Laner on synth for an aggressively informed and excitingly unpredictable album of superb playing and possibly bad intention; recommended!

The 3rd volume of saxophonist Mars Williams' Albert Ayler-infused holiday records, bring free jazz to the holidays in a unique holiday mash-up of songs with titles like "Noel Omega - Twas The Night Before The Frosty Island Harvest Xmas", in a quintet with Jaimie Branch (trumpet), Knox Chandler (electric guitar), Mark Tokar (bass) and Klaus Kugel (drums).

Recorded during Ken Vandermark's residency titled "The Unexpectable", in Krakow in 2017 at Klub Alchemia, plus concerts at Hevre and Black Box in Germany, with duos, trios and quartets in a variety of configurations with artists including Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Ikue Mori, John Butcher, Kent Kessler, Steve Noble, Mette Rasmussen, Eddie Prevost, Joe McPhee &c.

First in a series of themed LP dedicated to improv / experimental / & noise music, this LP including Talibam!, Fessenden, Mialessot w/ Daniel Carter, &c.

Chicago percussionist Frank Rosaly relocated to Amsterdam in 2016, but his 20+ year collaboration & friendship with Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis continues, as evidenced in this live performance at Elastic Arts in 2018 during Rosaly's visit back to the Windy City, rewarding listeners with 2 CDs experiencing the two reacquaint through beautifully paced, adventurous dialog.

A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).

Not Two Records celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a festival in Wlen, Poland, inviting 13 of the finest European & US improvisers--Guy, Leandre, Mazur, Nilssen-Love, Kaucic, Fernandez, Gustafsson, Vandermark, Trzaska, Brotzmann, Swell, Holmlander, & Homburg--performing in configurations from duo to quintet, released in a limited 5-CD wooden box set.

Recording in Graz, Austria in 2019 at the club Tube's, Chicago alto saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Michael Zerang, frequent collaborators with Ken Vandermark and The Resonance Ensemble, joined with Austrian improvising and classical pianist Elisabeth Harnik to record three exuberant and incredibly informed improvisations: "Triple Tube" I through III.

The Stirrup trio of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri (bass), and Charles Rumback (drums) is merged with improvisers from Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra project--Keefe Jackson & Mars Williams on reeds, guitarist Peter Maunu, violist Jen Clare Paulson, trumpeter Russ Johnson & Zoots Houston on electronics -for this compelling structured performance at Elastic Arts.

Recorded over 2 days in a Chicago studio in configurations from duos to an octet, drummer Quin Kirchner provides the compositions on this double CD for 11 pieces, alongside works by Frank Foster, Phil Cohran, Sun Ra & Carla Bley, presented as a story or a journey of differing styles and forms, made cohesive by Kirchner's remarkable drumming and coherently diverse interests.

A soulful and lyrically passionate album of modern jazz from Chicago drummer Charles Rumback in a trio with pianist Jim Baker and bassist John Tate, their third album together, with all three bringing compositions to the session, yielding a sensitive, understated yet impeccable balance of melodic music that reveals great strength at its center.

A dynamic encounter between Chicago improvising cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Red Trio pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, and Creative Sources label leader, violist Ernesto Rodrigues, performing live during the CreativeFest XIII at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal, in one extended improvisation and a relatively concise coda; powerful and assertive, masterful work.

After a tour through upstate New York State with Chicago cellist and electronic artist Fred Lonberg-Holm, saxophonist Frode Gjerstad headed to New York City for a planned trio recording which evolved into this informed quartet with Steve Swell on trombone and William Parker on bass, tuba, cornet & flutes, an outstanding example of Transatlanic collective improvisation.

Recorded over 2 days in a Chicago studio in configurations from duos to an octet, drummer Quin Kirchner provides the compositions on this double LP for 11 pieces, alongside works by Frank Foster, Phil Cohran, Sun Ra & Carla Bley, presented as a story or a journey of differing styles and forms, made cohesive by Kirchner's remarkable drumming and coherently diverse interests.

New York and Chicago string improvisers combine for an album of dense abstractions through individual lines that weave between the two players, briefly combining then moving off to independent methods, as guitarist Joe Morris and cellist Tomeka Reid meet in a Brooklyn studio to record ten improvisations, including one each dedicated to their home cities.

The first album as a bandleader from Chicago tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher in a full quintet of well-known Chicago improvisers -- cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, bassist Katie Ernst, and drummer Julian Kirshner -- in an album that would fit well in the ESP/Ayler free-jazz mode, tipped off by a cover of Charles Tyler's "Man Alone".

Chicago saxophonist and Kettle Hole label leader Gerrit Hatcher joins with West Coast saxophonists Rob Magill (Weird Cry Records, Dreamcolour) and Japanese saxophonist based in Los Angeles Patrick Shiroishi, for five collective free improvisations of informed saxophone interaction; three approaches to the horn that complement and contrast in fascinating ways.

The Chicago collective trio of tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, Lebanese bassist Eli Namay and drummer/percussionist Bill Harris are captured live at Chicago's The Whistler in the summer of 2019 for two extended and exploratory improvisations, showing both technical mastery and a curiosity for new modes of expression through inspired and intuitive conversation.

A truly unique duo album of sax and drums from Chicago reedist Mars Williams and Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla, using their immense technical skills to pivot reflective and meditative playing around exuberant free jazz spirit, maintaining a sense of journey and sonic introspection through unusual and extended technique; a beautifully balanced album.

Drummer Tomas Fujiwara composed these compositions specifically for his trio with Patricia Brennan (vibraphone) and Tomeka Reid (cello), beautifully orchestrated for the unique combination of instruments and the extraordinary technique of each player, resulting in lyrical improvisation performed with a clarity appropriate for each piece's dedication.

The 10th album from The Rempis Percussion Quartet, the dual-drumming free improvising collective quartet of Dave Rempis on alto & tenor saxophones, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, and Tim Daisy & Frank Rosaly on drums, celebrating their 15th anniversary as a working band through this exhilarating concert captured during their 2019 European Tour at AMR in Geneva, Switzerland.

A live concert of collective free improvisation captured at Elastic Arts in Chicago in 2018 between Rob Magill on tenor & soprano saxophones, Gerrit Hatcher on tenor saxophone, Charlie Kirchen on bass, and Julian Kirshner on drums, an energetic and diverse concert in three conversations that allow for great discourse and extended soloing; numbered edition of 150 copies.

Reminding of Downtown NY bands in the vein of No Safety or Curlew, this Chicago/NY 7-piece blurs rock, jazz and funk forms with intelligent and often satirical lyrics, upbeat and joyful music that defies categorization through groove-based songs that playfully critique while keeping it all danceable and fun, in a wonderfully talented and enjoyable album.

Two Chicago compatriots--established drummer/percussionist Adam Shead and newcomer to the Chicago improvised scene, saxophonist and multi-reedist Chris Moore, in an expressive album of sax & drum interaction, thoughtful interactions in twelve succinct dialogs that focuses on the depth of their conversation through clear expression and response.

Touring the South and Midwest US just before the pandemic lockdown, the assertive Chicago trio Kuzu of Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, Tashi Dorji on guitar and Tyler Damon on drums, processed and echoed the sense of uncertainty they encountered, capturing it in depth during two concerts and reflecting it in this powerful, almost ritualistic free jazz album.

A trio of younger generation Chicago free improvisers from Gerrit Hatcher on tenor saxophone, Peter Maunu on guitar, violin & mandolin and Julian Kirshner on drums, performing at The Beat Kitchen as part of the Live at Splice Series, in two recordings from contemplative and darkly spacious to kinetically energetic, released in a limited edition CD.

With virtually the same lineup as their Feeding Tube album Ourania, the Chicago-based duo of Mako Sica--Brent Fuscaldo (electric bass, voice, harmonica & percussion) and Przemyslaw Krys Drazek (electric trumpet, electric guitar & mandolin)--again join with Tatsu Aoki on bass & shamisen and Thymme Jones on keyboards, trumpet, balloon & voice, subbing drummer Jacob Fawcett.

The Indiana collective Crazy Doberman in a 15-performer configuration including core members Tim Gick and Drew Davis, merging jazz and indescribable approaches to free improvisation with a mix of acoustic & electronic instruments, building their pieces from mysteriously cantankerous rumination to ecstatic grooves and much in-between.

The Nick Mazzarella Trio, here configured as Mazzarella on alto saxophone & bells, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass and Avreeayl Ra on drums, are heard live at Constellation in Chicago in 2019, bringing together two generations of Chicago improvisers with Norwegian/US drummer Haker-Flaten for seven pieces espousing both tradition and innovative creative approaches.