February 26, 2026:
I always expect to pull together a blog entry each week, but some weeks are more challenging than others. Last week was diverted to the sale we ran in reaction to the historic winter weather the previous week that shut the city down for three days, along with a number of rescheduled appointments. Then, to make the current week more interesting, as I write this the second car in one month has died completely and is now in the shop having its engine replaced under warranty due to a defect that left me stranded on a Wilmington street waiting for a tow truck and deleting the weekend I expected to spend getting ahead.
That didn't stop some excellent music from coming in the door, though it did push back the release date for the outstanding solo album from Daniel Levin on our own digital label, Squid Note Records. Next week I'll have much more to say about that.
The cherry on the cake is the reissue and expansion of the excellent 2019 4-CD box set on Fou Records, now in collaboration with RogueArt: Derek Bailey, Han Bennink & Evan Parker (aka Company) — Topographie Parisienne (Dunois, April 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 1981). This time around the box set includes a second insert explaining that what was originally attributed to a one-day concert was actually spread over three days, leading to a reorganization of the tracks.
 Bailey, Derek / Han Bennink / Evan Parker: Topographie Parisienne (Dunois, April 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 1981) [4 CDs] (Fou Records)
The second edition of this essential box set corrects the recording dates and resequences the performances, as the trio of guitarist Derek Bailey, saxophonist Evan Parker, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink are heard across an amazing series of performances at 28 rue Dunois in Paris, France, in duo and trio configurations, exploring material similar to Parker's Topography of the Lungs.
We also worked on completing the cataloging of the set of Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Słuchaj!) albums that we received the previous week, particularly the latest trio album from John Butcher, John Edwards, and Marc Sanders, aka Last Dream of the Morning — Sharp Illusion. The collective album from Agustí Fernández, Artur Majewski, Albert Cirera, and Ramon Prats, Som-hi!, is also a Squidco Pick, as is the superb new album from Remedy (Thomas Heberer / Joe Fonda / Joe Hertenstein) with pianist Aki Takase.
 Fernandez, Agusti / Artur Majewski / Albert Cirera / Ramon Prats: Som-hi! (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Słuchaj!))
Uniting pianist Agustí Fernández, cornetist Artur Majewski, saxophonist Albert Cirera, and drummer Ramon Prats, this fully free studio session unfolds across ten connected improvisations, weaving piano, brass, reeds, and percussion into a responsive dialogue of shifting textures and momentum, from deep-listening introspection to ecstatic interaction, balancing risk and cohesion as compelling spontaneous composition.
We were surprised by Tyshawn Sorey's Morton Feldman-influenced album on DaCamera Editions, Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), a massive work that shows the flexibility and breadth of his artistic vision. Sorey also conducted this recording of the work, recorded at DACAMERA in Houston, TX. I wasn't previously familiar with the organization and venue, but was impressed by their mission, described on their website as "DACAMERA is internationally recognized as a leading producer and presenter of chamber music and jazz, committed to bringing its audiences transformative musical experiences. Presenting an annual subscription series in Houston's downtown Theater District and at The Menil Collection, DACAMERA brings the world's leading artists to Houston, and continually evolves new and meaningful ways of presenting music."
 Sorey, Tyshawn: Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (DaCamera Editions)
Composed and conducted by Tyshawn Sorey, this expansive work presents a luminous, long-form meditation inspired by Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, blending voice, strings, keyboards, and percussion into a deeply contemplative soundscape of spiritual fragments, sustained tonal color, and quiet emotional intensity, realized by soloists Davóne Tines, Kim Kashkashian, Sarah Rothenberg, Steven Schick, and the Houston Chamber Choir.
We also finished work on the great set from NoBusiness, particularly the next Rivbea Live! album from Oliver Lake. This series continues to illuminate the essential New York City loft scene and the players who influenced the next generation, here with Fred Hopkins, Phillip Wilson, Baikida Carroll, and Michael Gregory Jackson. Also issued from the past, this 1985 album from the Bobby Naughton Trio with Joe Fonda and Randy Kaye, performing in Cambridge, MA, reveals the leader's compositional voice alongside works from Anthony Braxton and Carla Bley.
Looking to modern times, I was incredibly impressed with percussionist Arkady Gotesman's Music For An Imaginary Ballet, drawing from multiple performances in Lithuania with artists Nate Wooley, Charles Gayle, Mark Sanders, Liudas Mockunas, Martin Kuchen, and Ned Rothenberg. Also issued is the wonderfully exploratory collective trio from Portugal of reedist Ziv Taubenfeld, cellist Helena Espvall and drummer Joao Sousa, all names well-known from Clean Feed and related labels. Rounding out the set is the duo of Chinese wind & reed player Lao Dan with Portuguese percussionst Vasco Trilla for an album both meditative and breath-taking.
 Lake, Oliver / Fred Hopkins / Phillip Wilson / Baikida Carroll / Michael Gregory Jackson: Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 4 (NoBusiness)
Recorded during the mid-1970s loft-jazz flowering at Studio Rivbea in New York City, this live session finds Oliver Lake leading a volatile ensemble with Baikida Carroll, Michael Gregory Jackson, Fred Hopkins, and drummers Phillip Wilson and Jerome Cooper, blending post-BAG urgency, searching improvisation, and sharp ensemble interplay into a raw, idealistic document of creative rebirth.
 Taubenfeld, Ziv / Helena Espvall / Joao Sousa: You, Full Of Sources And Night (NoBusiness)
Bringing together Ziv Taubenfeld on bass clarinet and gongs, Helena Espvall on cello, and João Sousa on drums, this trio release weaves restless plucked figures, plaintive bowing, and propulsive percussion into searching improvisations that move from hushed lyricism to surging intensity, evoking dreamlike visions, winged melodies, and the fragile beauty of a song discovered in the act of becoming.
 Dan, Lao / Vasco Trilla: New Species (NoBusiness)
Classically trained yet bound by neither jazz nor tradition, Lao Dan joins master percussionist Vasco Trilla at Old Heaven Books in Shenzhen, China for a fiercely attuned duo where tenor saxophone, DIY and Chinese flutes meet textured drums and percussion in seven spontaneous explorations that shift from meditative restraint to high-energy abstraction in a uniquely expressive statement of free improvisation.
Two albums on Tzadik caught our ear: the first from a 2012 recording of John Zorn's early game piece, Curling, performed by the Rova Sax Quartet, and then a modern interpretation from the William Winant Percussion Group in 2025. [Editorial note: last week's Squidco mailing listed the album incorrectly - humorously recorded in 2021 and mixed in 2013!] The other is the 5th volume from Zorn's The Bagatelles series, here in a smoking quartet from pianist Kris Davis, guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Kenny Wollesen.
Three new albums from Lisa Mezzacappa's Bay Area label Queen Bee Records also stand out this week, particularly Mezzacappa's own album othrwrldly with guest Fred Frith. Her duo with drummer Jason Levis, duo B., expands on their previous albums in a wonderfully structured set of modular compositions yielding great duo recordings. Guitarist David James's album with his group GPS, Mission Rebel No. 1, is a socially conscious exploration of the work of the 1960s Mission Rebels youth movement founded by his father, Rev. Jesse James.
 Mezzacappa, Lisa 5(ish) : othrwrldly (Queen Bee Records)
Bassist and composer Lisa Mezzacappa leads her Bay Area 5(ish) ensemble — with Aaron Bennett, Kyle Bruckmann, Mark Clifford, Brett Carson, Jordan Glenn, and guest Fred Frith — through a meticulously structured yet explosively improvisational suite blending Braxtonian processional lines, chamber-textured atmospheres, and surging free interplay into a dynamic, "tight-loose" exploration of contemporary creative jazz.
 duo B. (Lisa Mezzacappa / Jason Levis): Incomplete, Open (Queen Bee Records)
Inspired by Sol LeWitt's Incomplete Open Cubes, Bay Area duo B. — bassist Lisa Mezzacappa and drummer Jason Levis — translate the artist's serial logic into a system of modular compositions and improvisations, shaping asymmetrical grooves, bowed-bass textures, and expanded drumset sonorities into a dynamic drums-and-bass dialogue that balances structural rigor with spontaneous interplay.
 James, David GPS: Mission Rebel No. 1 (Queen Bee Records)
Inspired by the 1960s Mission Rebels youth movement founded by his father, Rev. Jesse James, Bay Area guitarist David James leads an ensemble of trombone, clarinet, viola, bass, drums, and voices in a socially resonant instrumental and song suite that blends chamber textures and improvisation into a reflective, community-rooted work of memory and tribute.
For cassette fans, Evan Lindorff-Ellery's Notice Recordings added a new sub-label — Disseminated Light and Sound Recordings — with three albums: a solo from Lindorff-Ellery himself, a duo between Lindorff-Ellery and Naomi Juniper, and an ecstatic drum album from the Wild Fire Clay Percussion Group.
 Lindorff-Ellery, Evan: Light Sound Falling [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Disseminated Light and Sound Recordings)
Evan Lindorff-Ellery's cassette-length solo sessions, the inaugural release from Disseminated Light and Sound Recordings, blend cymbals, electric guitar, digital piano, snare drum, and activated objects into patient, textural improvisations that emphasize resonance, tactile surface, and gradual transformation, masterfully shaped into an immersive study of sustained tone and subtle sonic decay.
The last highlight of the previous two weeks comes in two wild duo albums on the Utech label, from whom we hadn't heard in quite awhile. For me, the Mats Gustafsson & Delphine Joussein (both on flutes & electronics) album is a wild, swirling psychedelic affair. For Carl, the Frank Rosaly & Tony Lugano (both on electrified percussion) release is an awe-inspiring album of intense and fascinating rhythm. Really, they're both spectacular!
 Flojter (Mats Gustafsson / Delphine Joussein): Paris Blow (Utech Records)
The debut from the duo Flöjter brings together Mats Gustafsson and Delphine Joussein, both collaborators in Fire! Orchestra and Nout, in a wild live encounter expanding the sonic possibilities of the flute, weaving extended techniques, electronics, organ, harmonica, and voice into a volatile, exploratory dialogue that moves between raw texture, rhythmic drive, and spacious abstraction.
 Lugano, Tony / Frank Rosaly: Pistas (Utech Records)
Rooted in Afro-Caribbean rhythmic traditions yet intent on dismantling them, Tony Lugano and Frank Rosaly engage drums and electronics in a dense, dialogic exploration where traditional Caribbean patterns are fragmented into indiscernible matrices and charged sonic fields, transforming percussion into an act of cultural remembrance, resistance, and deeply physical free improvisation.
Squidco Publishing Roundup:
You can view our latest fully cataloged albums in the Recently Section.
You can also browse new titles as they enter our Just In Stock Section — meaning we physically have the album and can ship it, though we may still be updating additional information about the release.
To see restocks of previously listed titles, visit our Recently Restocked page.
And if you're interested in a future release, you can ask us to notify you by email via our Upcoming Releases page — no obligation necessary.
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Jean-Luc Guionnet:
Laura Cetilia:
Pierre Favre / Sergio Armaroli / Andrea Centazzo / Francesca Gemmo:
Jung-Jae Kim (Kim / Lee / Song / Kim):
Angles 11:
Larry Stabbins / Keith Tippett / Louis Moholo-Moholo:
Camila Nebbia / Kit Downes / Andrew Lisle:
Henry Threadgilll:
Natsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii:
Remergency (Hirsh / Hollenberg / Sewelson):
Remedy + Aki Takase (w/ Thomas Heberer / Joe Fonda / Joe Hertenstein): Remedy + Aki Takase (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Słuchaj!))
Last Dream of the Morning (John Butcher / John Edwards / Marc Sanders): Sharp Illusion (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Słuchaj!))
Naughton, Bobby Trio (w/ Joe Fonda / Randy Kaye): Housatonic Rumble (Live At Charlie's Tap) (NoBusiness)
Gotesman, Arkady (w/ Nate Wooley / Charles Gayle / Mark Sanders / Liudas Mockunas / Martin Kuchen / Ned Rothenberg): Music For An Imaginary Ballet (NoBusiness)
Zorn, John (Adams / Raskin / Ackley / Ochs / Glenn / Lopez / Siler / Winant): John Zorn's Olympiad - VOL. 4 - Curling (Tzadik)
Zorn, John (Davis / Halvorson / Gress / Wollesen): The Bagatelles Vol. 5 - Kris Davis Quartet (Tzadik)
Lindorff-Ellery, Evan / Naomi Juniper: Studio, Creek [CASSETTE W/ DOWNLOAD] (Disseminated Light And Sound Recordings)
Koyoltzintli and Friends: Wild Fire Clay Percussion Group [CASSETTE W/ DOWNLOAD] (Disseminated Light and Sound Recordings)
