This week was a short one, as we don't staff on postal holidays. However, our Harvest Sale kept the rest of the week extremely busy, with a large number of orders to process and customer messages to address. We scrambled to get as many new albums up on our site as possible, but you'll notice that our "Just In" section is relatively bare-unusual for us. A significant number of albums are on their way, with new releases from ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Ltd., NoBusiness, Tzadik, and Matchless anticipated very soon.

Highlights for the week include the latest Thumbscrew album (their 8th!); the 3rd duo release from Ivo Perelman and Nate Wooley, which we picked up along with the 2nd album that we somehow missed when it was initially released; Tyshawn Sorey's sophisticated album, featuring arrangements of some of his favorite works by other composers and pop bands; and Pat Thomas's fully electronic venture, "Trick Step." On the more unusual side, the Bay Area band Pet The Tiger delivers a fascinating collective album of primarily invented instruments on Public Eyesore, which also releases the latest Tungu album of strangely wonderful duos.

One last thing: next week, we're going to run one of our Friends of Squid sales — private mailings to Squidco customers who are on our mailing list. This sale will feature vinyl at cost + $2.00, as we clear out some older inventory to make way for new arrivals. If you're not on our mailing list, now might be a good time to join. We understand that many people are hesitant to subscribe to mailing lists, so I want to assure anyone considering joining that we are extremely respectful to our subscribers, sending out a minimal number of messages, and absolutely, positively never sharing email addresses with anyone or any other business.

Thumbscrew (Halvorson / Fujiwara / Formanek: Wingbeats (Cuneiform)

The eighth album from the Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibraphone, Michael Formanek on double bass and Mary Halvorson on guitar, developed during the trio's three-week residency in Pittsburgh for the community-based City of Asylum project, each member contributing three compositions, along with Charles Mingus' "Orange was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk".

Thomas, Pat: This is Trick Step (577 Records)

UK improviser and keyboard artist Pat Thomas makes his 577 debut with a solo album of abstract and active electronic experimentation with an urban edge, blending texture, depth, and 'mental stimulation' in unexpected, densely packed ways, with Thomas describing the album as the product of an alternative universe where JDilla and Morton Feldman collaborate.

Sun Ra: Berkeley Lecture, 1971 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

In 1971 as Sun Ra's deal with ABC Impulse! introduced him and his Arkestra to a wider audience, Sun Ra, aka Herman Poole Blount, accepted a lectureship at University of California, Berkeley, teaching a class titled "The Black Man and the Cosmos" heard in this half hour lecture with a solo piano rendering of "Love in Outer Space," and a 16 minute wild Moog solo.

Sorey, Tyshawn (w/ Diehl / Ragahavan): The Susceptible Now (Pi Recordings)

Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard.

Shipp, Matthew / Whit Dickey: Reels (Burning Ambulance Music)

An intimate and warmly recorded studio session between long-time collaborators and masterful improvisers — pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey — the album opens with a beautifully placid dialog, evolving into a well-balanced collection of expressive, energetic, and startlingly exciting exchanges, from "Moon Garden" to the intensely forceful title track.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 2 (Burning Ambulance Music)

The second installment from New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates the strong affinity between the two players, highlighting their impressive mastery of their instruments with a creative drive and quick responsiveness that sparks unique dialogs, full of powerful and sometimes unconventional technique and expression; a truly gratifying and remarkable set of improvisations.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 3 (Burning Ambulance Music)

Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary.

Kira Kira (Fujii / Tamura / Spence / Yoshida): Kira Kira Live (Alister Spence Music)

Picking up from their 2018 album Bright Force, the quartet of Libra label leaders Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, with Australian improviser Alister Spence on Fender Rhodes electric piano, and now with Magaibutsu/Ruins legend Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, are heard in two wildly powerful 2024 concerts at Koendori Classics in Tokyo and at Jazz Inn Lovely, Nagoya, with compositions from each member.

Tungu: Successful Utilization of Elements (Public Eyesore)

A series of 19 wide-ranging duets between Sergey Senchuk, aka Tungu, who performs on voice, acoustic bass, field recording & sampling, and an impressive set of international improvisers, including Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Jaap Blonk (voice), Gunda Gottschalk (violin), Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Sainkho Namtchylak (voice), Xavier Charles (clarinet & processing), &c.

Pet The Tiger: Hail The Traveler (Public Eyesore)

Bay Area instrument inventor David Samas leads Pet The Tiger, a collective ensemble primarily of instrument inventors, augmented with original ceramic flutes and occasionally Samas' voice, the unique quality of their sound recalling Harry Partch or Harry Bertoia, here in four major works of multiple parts performed in a mixture of composed and improvised approaches; fascinating.

Collective, Instant, Spontaneous, Free... Jazz?

I've been reflecting on the categories we use at Squidco, which, over the past twenty-one years, have evolved, overlapped, and become somewhat inconsistent. These categories aim to help our customers understand the approaches musicians use in their recordings and discover music that aligns with their interests in different forms of improvisation.

The evolution of jazz improvisation began in the early 20th century, most notably with the transition from Dixieland, which featured structured compositions but relied heavily on simultaneous group improvisation. In Dixieland, multiple musicians would improvise together, creating a polyphonic texture. This approach contrasted with big band and swing, which employed more elaborate arrangements and moved improvisation primarily to the soloist, with the orchestration supporting rather than intertwining with the soloist's line. In this sense, Dixieland emphasized collective interplay, while swing emphasized individual expression within a structured framework.

As jazz continued to evolve, bop and hard bop emerged from the big band tradition. These styles retained composed structures and placed improvisation in the hands of the soloist, but with more intricate harmonic frameworks and faster tempos. Chordal structures and fixed melodies defined much of this music, shaped by decades of established jazz tradition. However, some musicians began to feel restricted by these forms, leading to the development of free jazz in the late 1950s and 1960s. This new approach expanded the harmonic field beyond traditional chords, using modes, scales, or entirely atonal techniques to create melodic lines that prioritized expression, texture, and interaction over adherence to a harmonic framework.

As free jazz spread, European musicians adopted and adapted these styles, developing their own approaches, often referred to as spontaneous improvisation or non-idiomatic playing. They sought inspiration outside the established jazz, blues, or classical vocabulary, aiming to develop unique and personal languages of expression. As transatlantic exchanges between musicians increased, these approaches began to influence American playing, leading to new forms of free playing and unusual structures that appeared with increasing frequency.

The evolution of electronic instruments and sound sources further expanded the possibilities of improvisation, giving rise to electroacoustic improvisation (ea-improv). This genre borrows from earlier improvisational approaches while incorporating electronic sound manipulation, field recordings, and real-time processing.

Categorizing these diverse practices is both challenging and fascinating. There is significant overlap in modern improvisational music, with many bands incorporating multiple approaches on the same album or within a single concert. Collective improvisation has expanded its definition, experiencing a resurgence reminiscent of early jazz but now informed by the developments of the past century. Many contemporary ensembles blend composed forms with collective interaction, crafting structures that would seem bewilderingly complex to early swing or big band musicians.

Over the past year, we've added new categories to our store, and I've spent considerable time reclassifying albums to better reflect these distinctions. Below is our current list of essential improv categories, with more categories on the way. I welcome any feedback on other possible additions for our catalog.

Below are some recent albums that fit into the general approaches to improvisation mentioned above.

Collective Jazz

Sentient Beings (O'Gallagher / Brackenbury / Pope / Bianco): Truth Is Not The Enemy (Discus)

Four singular improvisors from the US and UK -- Faith Heleene Brackenbury on violin, John O'Gallagher on alto sax, Anthony Bianco on drums, and John Pope on bass -- are heard in this live performance of spiritually rich, intellectually deep and powerfully articulate collective free jazz, captured live in 2024 at The Vortex, in London, UK in two extended conversations.

Reid / Kitamura / Bynum / Morris: Geometry of Phenomena (Relative Pitch)

The next angle from the collective Geometry group of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar, exploring their "Geometry" first of "Caves", then "Distance", "Trees", and now "Phenomena", through highly attuned exploration of sonic complexities and intersecting approaches to their respective instruments.

Fictional Souvenirs (Thomas / Butcher / Solberg): Volatile Object (Trost Records)

Following their 2019 Astral Spirits album Fictional Souvenirs , the trio of Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, John Butcher on saxophones and Stale Liavik Solberg on drums take that album's title as their trio's moniker, releasing this exceptional second album of four insightful collective conversations captured live at Cafe Oto, in London in 2023.

Arashi With Takeo Moriyama: Tokuzo (Trost Records)

The trio of Japanese saxophone legend Akira Sakata with the Scandinavian rhythm section of Johan Berthling on double bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, plus a second drummer with Takeo Moriyama (Yosuke Yamashita Trio), perform six wildly exciting improvisations, Sakata's vocalizations at times pushing the band as they are heard live in this 2019 recording at Tokuzo in Nagoya, Japan.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 3 (Burning Ambulance Music)

Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary.

SORBD (Steyer / Dyberg / Okuda / Robler / Borges): Wild Peacock In Transit (Relative Pitch)

Each of the 5 members of this band bring a composition to this 2022 live recording at Kuhlspot Social Club in Berlin, along with four collective improvisations, in the impressive debut of the acronym-named band SORBD, signifying Edith Steyer on Bb clarinet, Mia Dyberg on alto saxophone, Rieko Okuda on piano, Isabel Rossler on bass, and Sofia Borges on drums & percussion.

Shipp, Matthew / Whit Dickey: Reels (Burning Ambulance Music)

An intimate and warmly recorded studio session between long-time collaborators and masterful improvisers — pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey — the album opens with a beautifully placid dialog, evolving into a well-balanced collection of expressive, energetic, and startlingly exciting exchanges, from "Moon Garden" to the intensely forceful title track.

Gates / Hirsh / Carter: Phosphene (Mahakala Music)

Emerging from a series of improv gigs and sessions, the trio of Sally Gates on guitar, Steve Hirsh on drums, and Daniel Carter on saxophones, flute, and trumpet present five studio recordings of spontaneous composition, weaving together a diverse range of sounds with intricate detail and complexity, transitioning seamlessly from fluid, flowing passages to sharp, jagged explorations.

Free Improvsation

Lytton, Paul / Georg Wissel : Loose Connections (Confront)

An unusual and engrossing concert of free dialog using tightly controlled technique between two legendary free jazz improvisers: percussionist Paul Lytton performing on tabletop percussion and "bits and pieces", and saxophonist Georg Wissel performing on augmented alto saxophone and tenor saxophone, from reserved intricate detail to forcefully passionate expression.

Fite, Niklas / Gunter Christmann: Insisting (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Two string improvisers in an insistent dialog of quick-witted playing using every inch of their instruments under impressive technique, between Polish-born German cellist Günter Christmann, whose legacy hails from early European Free Jazz groups including Rudiger Carl Inc, and younger generation Finnish guitarist Niklas Fite, whose playing reminds of John Russell or Derek Bailey.

Rose, Jon / Mark Dresser: Band Width (Relative Pitch)

Two phenomenal string players improvising remotely across two continents using SonoBus real-time streaming software: former Downtown NY pioneering double bassist Mark Dresser, now located in San Diego, and Australian violinist Jon Rose positioned between the Australian deserts at Alice Springs, presenting eight recordings from their animated and inspired intertwining.

Nebbia, Camila / Angelica Sanchez: In Another Land, Another Dream (Relative Pitch)

An intimate duo at Brooklyn's IBeam performance venue in November 2023 between visiting Argentine-born, Berlin-based tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia and New York pianist Angelica Sanchez, performing six freely improvised and sophisticated dialogs that highlight the implicit lyricism of each player and the finesse of their virtuosic skills in subtle expression.

Sakata, Akira / Rie Nakajima: Roughly Random (Ftarri)

Legendary Japanese free jazz saxophonist Akira Sakata joins with frequent collaborator, younger generation sound and installation artist Rie Nakajima, for a live concert at Ftarri's Tokyo venue in 2023, Sakata performing on alto sax, clarinet, bells, singing bowl and vocals, Nakajima on objects and motor, capturing two sets of unique detail and expressive restraint.

Berne, Tim / Michael Formanek: Parlour Games (Relative Pitch)

With an extensive discography of collaboration together in a wealth of groupings, New York bassist Formanek and alto saxophonist Tim Berne are heard in this 1991 live duo performance at The Parlour in Providence, Rhode Island, a powerfully confident concert of informed dialogs captured seven years before their only other duo album from 1998, Ornery People.

Jurd, Laura / Paul Dunmall: Fanfares And Freedom (Discus)

Paul Dunmall brings his quartet of Liam Noble (piano), Caius Williams (bass) and Miles Levi (drums) together with Laura Jurd's brass quintet of Jurd (trumpet), Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Alex Paxton (trombone), Raphael Clarkson (trombone) and Oren Marshall (tuba) for a live performance at The Vortex in London, written by Jurd as a commission from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 2 (Burning Ambulance Music)

The second installment from New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates the strong affinity between the two players, highlighting their impressive mastery of their instruments with a creative drive and quick responsiveness that sparks unique dialogs, full of powerful and sometimes unconventional technique and expression; a truly gratifying and remarkable set of improvisations.