Anthony Braxton (w/ Nels Cline, Greg Saunier, Taylor Ho Bynum): Quartet (New Haven) 2014 [4 CDs] (Firehouse 12 Records)
A 4-CD box set documenting the meeting of a quartet featuring saxophonist and composer and conceptualist Anthony Braxton alongside improvising guitarist and Wilco star Nels Cline, drummer and Deerhoof founder Greg Saunier, and trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, each CD an hour-long, wide-ranging set leaving behind genre imitations as they perform Braxton's colorful graphic score. ... Click to View
Line Hook & Sinker (Tristan Honsinger / Antonio Borghini / Axel Dorner / Tobias Delius): Fishy Business (Relative Pitch)
A truly unique album of free improvisation and unusual narrative from the Berlin-based quartet of Tristan Honsinger on cello, Antonio Borghini on double bass, Axel Dorner on trumpet, and Tobias Delius on tenor saxophone, clarinet, a mix of Honsinger compositions and collective improv, since 2010 a working band combining music, movement and theater; masterfully idiosyncratic. ... Click to View
Michel Doneda / Le Quan Ninh: Thirty Ways To Avoid Talking (Relative Pitch)
French free improvising soprano saxophonist Michel Doneda, using profoundly unusual techniques on the reed instrument, meets percussionist Le Quan Ninh, performing on "surrounded bass drum", a large drum affected by various objects across the skin, for 5 dialogs at Montreuil-sous-Bois, France, and then joined by noh theater drummer Shunichiro Hisada in Tokyo's Shushinkan Hall. ... Click to View
Zeena Parkins / Wobbly: Triplicates (Relative Pitch)
Recording in electric harpist Zeena Parkin's office at Mills College in Oakland with Jon Leideker, aka Wobbly, performing on mobile phones, tablets, booper, and mixer, their output run through a series of simple listening devices, machines designed to sing along with the melodies they believe themselves to be hearing, though they are often wrong; singular and surprising! ... Click to View
ISM (Pat Thomas / Joel Grip / Antonin Gerbal): Metaphor (Umlaut Records)
Performing at Knuttel House, in Tokyo, Japan in 2018, the wonderfully complex and trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Joel Grip on double bass, and Antonin Gerbal on drums, bridging traditional jazz piano trio with contemporary forms, in the first of a 2-part installment, each track named for a flower as they balance dense highly active playing with abstract lyricism. ... Click to View
Hannes Lingens: Pieces For Percussion [VINYL] (Umlaut Records)
Compositions for percussion from Berlin drummer and accordionist Hannes Lingens (Musaeum Clausum, Antoine Beuger, Lucio Capece, &c), composed over six years, each using a restricted set of materials, instrument or instrument type, Lingens performing solo, and as a duo and quartet using overdubs, using microphone techniques for detail and ambiance. ... Click to View
Hans Koch / Jacques Demierre: Incunabulum (Herbal International)
A unique pairing of reeds, piano and spinit captured live at Le Singe Club in Biel, Switzerland in 2018 between multi-reedist Hans Koch and keyboardist Jacques Demierre, a wild ride from frenetic interaction to introspective experimental, both using unusual techniques and Demierre playing inside his keyboards, a truly excellent and thrilling concert. ... Click to View
Bertrand Denzler : Arc (Potlatch)
Created by Felicie Bazelaire, CoO is a string ensemble drawn from the French new music ensemble ONCEIM; CoO develops new repertoire for strings, collaborating with composers like Bertrand Denzler, who wrote this innovative composition "Arc" in two parts, a work applying unusual techniques to bowed strings, particularly lower bass tones, for fascinating results. ... Click to View
Electric Bird Noise: Hearn-Roberts-Strong-Watts (Silber)
Guitarist Electric Bird Noise, aka Brian Lea McKenzie, continues his string of slightly off-center rock albums, primarily instrumental work, this album including a muscular quartet with Jason Hearn on drums, Bradley Wayne Roberts on bass, Steve Strong on drums, plus an Alan Watts sample; 8 dramatic tracks using loops, effects, backward tracking and other aural trickery. ... Click to View
ICP Tentet: Tetterettet (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
10 years after drummer Han Bennink, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and saxophonist Willem Breuker formed the ICP co-op, Bennink & Mengelberg formed this 10-piece "Tetterettet", an all-star international group including Peter Brotzmann, Tristan Honsinger, John Tchicai, this their first incredible and far-ranging album, remastered and available on CD for the first time. ... Click to View
Dudu Pukwana / Misha Mengelberg / Han Bennink: Yi Yole (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Recorded at the ICP Jubileum festival in Uithoorn, Holland, in 1978, this concert brings together the core of the Instant Composers Pool--pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink--with legendary South African alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana (Blue Notes), Bennink also playing trombone, clarinet, and viola, in a lyrical and unpredictable set filled with humor and astounding playing. ... Click to View
Torbjorn Zetterberg & The Great Question: Live (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Caught live at Jazzklubb Fasching in his home of Stockholm, Swedish bassist Torbjorn Zetterberg's The Great Question band with Susana Santos Silva on trumpet, Mats Aleklint on trombone, Jonas Kullhammar on saxophone & flute, Alberto Pinton on reeds, and Jon Falt on drums, perform 6 inventive compositions in an amazing concert of modern, upbeat, innovative jazz. ... Click to View
Various Artists: Option 1 [2 CDs] (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Since 2015 Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio has hosted a series of concert followed by a discussion with the artist, with funding for the series assisted by Corbett vs. Dempsey; this CD collects recordings from the last year, including Susan Alcorn, Gerry Hemingway, Greg Kelley, Kris Davis, Wayne Horvitz, Ingrid Laubrock, LaDonna Smith, Sandy Ewen, Douglas Ewart, &c &c. ... Click to View
Matt Mitchell : Phalanx Ambassadors (Pi Recordings)
The sophisticated compositions of New York pianist Matt Mitchell on piano, also performing on synthesizer, are heard in this quintet with Miles Okazaki on electric & acoustic guitars, Patricia Brennan on vibraphone & marimba, Kim Cass on bass, and Kate Gentile on drums & percussion, a challenging album that rewards through intensity and incredible detail. ... Click to View
Art Ensemble of Chicago, The : We are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration [2 CDS] (Pi Recordings)
Marking 50 years for Chicago's most important and innovative ensembles, formed in 1969 to advance creative musicians as part of the AACM, is this tribute to and based on music written by late members Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and Joseph Jarman, performed by 15 innovative musicians young and old, and presented in 2 CDs: one in the studio and one live at the 2018 Edgefest. ... Click to View
Anna Webber: Clockwise (Pi Recordings)
Wind player and composer Anna Weber pays homage to 20th Century composers' works for percussion, using Xenakis, Feldman, Varese, Stockhausen, Babbitt & Cage as influences in compositions leaving room for improvisation from her septet of Jeremy Viner (sax & clarinet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Matt Mitchell (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), and Ches Smith (drums). ... Click to View
David Virelles: Igbo Alakorin (The Singer's Grove) Vol. I & II (Pi Recordings)
Cuban born NY pianist David Virelles documents the musicians of his birthplace, Santiago de Cuba, home to musical styles such as son, changui, nengon, and conga, in two distinct projects: Volume I, where Virelles introduces Orquesta Luz de Oriente tracing the roots of the Cuban big band tradition; and Volume II, reinterpreting the piano music of iconic pianist Antonio Maria Romeu. ... Click to View
Toshiya Tsunoda : Extract From Field Recording Archive [5 CD Box Set] (erstwhile)
Recording sound comes naturally to Japanese audio explorer Toshiya Tsunoda, capturing and cataloging the audio world he encountered since childhood; in the 90s he set out to observe vibrations from optimum perspectives, using small and contact microphones, and compiling 3 albums of Field Recording Archives, collected here with 2 CDs of previously unpublished recordings. ... Click to View
Remote Viewers Trio, The (Petts / Northover / Edwards): Notes Lost In A Field (Remote Viewers)
A working subset of the UK saxophone-heavy band crossing composition with improvisation, The Remote Viewers led by David Petts, here as a trio with Adrian Northover on alto sax, Petts on tenor sax, and John Edwards on acoustic bass, present 15 new compositions, 10 penned by Petts and 5 collective improvisations, a mix of ferocious timbre and exciting interaction. ... Click to View
Chester Hawkins : K516156/91044 [33 1/3 7-inch VINYL] (Intangible Arts)
A 33 rpm 7" from Washington, DC sound artist Chester Hawkins, which "contains highly concentrated extracts" of two remixes of live recordings at Logan Fringe Arts Space and Red Onion Records, from his limited-edition USB release "Cops Need Serial Numbers"; mesmerizing and hypnotic electronics from a masterful performer and kosmiche explorer. ... Click to View
Mariska Baars / Rutger Zuydervelt: Eau (Not On Label (Machinefabriek Self-released) )
Collaborating previously in Piiptsjilling and their duo "Drawn", Mariska Baars (Soccer Committee) and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) come together again for this exquisite album, the title translating to "water", a beautiful combination of electronic timbres and voice that weave together and drift, ebbing and flowing like a mysteriously elegant stream. ... Click to View
Daniel Carter / Stelios Mihas / Irma Nejando / Federico Ughi: Radical Invisibility (577)
Debut of this group named by NY multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, with Stelios Mihas on guitar, Federico Ughi on drums, and (mysterious) Irma Nejando on bass, presenting this studio album of free, well-matched and interactive collective improvisations of acoustic and electric instrumentation, each track dedicated to artists who inspired the members of the quartet. ... Click to View
G. Weston Calvin: The Phoenix Orchestra - Dust and Ash [VINYL] (577)
An excellent example of modern fusion as drummer G. Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman, James Blood Ulmer), also on pocket trumpet, joins the Phoenix Orchestra, a Philadelphia-based string & electric octet, for a funk driven album of spectacular playing with melodic force and compelling rhythm, showing shades of Cobham or Mahavishnu but with its feet fully in the present. ... Click to View
Christian Svendsen Meaas: New Rituals [3 CDS] (Nakama Records)
Ritual and unveiling of Buddhist philosophy in a 3-CD exploration of the relationship between form and freedom, between modern Western culture and traditional Eastern culture, and between written and open musical material, from composer and bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen presented in 3 parts: (1) ensemble and a chant-choir, (2) ensemble, and (3) solo bass. ... Click to View
Kasper Vaernes Skullerud / Andreas Wildhagen: Troposgrafien (Nakama Records)
The long-running duo of Norwegian saxophonist Kasper Skullerud Vaernes and drummer Andreas Wildhagen, who also work together in Nakama's KNYST! trio with bassist and Nakama founder Christian Meaas Svendsen, and the Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, in an album of five freely improvised dialogs of great technical skill, intent listening and exchange, and dynamic energy. ... Click to View
Kasper Vaernes Skullerud / Andreas Wildhagen: Troposgrafien [VINYL] (Nakama Records)
The long-running duo of Norwegian saxophonist Kasper Skullerud Vaernes and drummer Andreas Wildhagen, who also work together in Nakama's KNYST! trio with bassist and Nakama founder Christian Meaas Svendsen, and the Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, in an album of five freely improvised dialogs of great technical skill, intent listening and exchange, and dynamic energy. ... Click to View
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit: April Is The Cruellest Month [VINYL] (Blank Forms)
Culled from 1975 sessions by the New Direction Unit intended for but never issued on the ESP label, this insanely intense and interactive example of Japanese Free Jazz is finally unleashed, from the late legendary guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and his quartet with wind and reed improviser Kengi Mori, percussionist Hiroshi Yamazaki, and bassist Nobuyoshi Ino. ... Click to View
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit: April Is The Cruellest Month (Blank Forms)
Culled from 1975 sessions by the New Direction Unit intended for but never issued on the ESP label, this insanely intense and interactive example of Japanese Free Jazz is finally unleashed, from the late legendary guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and his quartet with wind and reed improviser Kengi Mori, percussionist Hiroshi Yamazaki, and bassist Nobuyoshi Ino. ... Click to View
Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi: [CD] (Trost Records)
Producer & bassist Marc Urselli devised this first meeting between himself and Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, filmaker/guitarist Jim Jarmusch, and drummer Balazs Pandi's, recording in Urselli's NY studio to capture these live analog recordings of improvisations using no overdubs, a twilight set of evolving and absorbing explorations merging rock & experimental approaches. ... Click to View
Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi: [VINYL] (Trost Records)
Producer & bassist Marc Urselli devised this first meeting between himself and Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, filmaker/guitarist Jim Jarmusch, and drummer Balazs Pandi's, recording in Urselli's NY studio to capture these live analog recordings of improvisations using no overdubs, a twilight set of evolving and absorbing explorations merging rock & experimental approaches. ... Click to View
