Nathan Clevenger Group:
Astrolabe (Queen Bee Records)

Reinventing his compositional voice, Clevenger charts a reflective and lyrical suite for a deep Bay Area ensemble, the writing balancing chamber-like colour and improvisational space as reeds, low flutes, brass, cello, vibes, marimba, drums and bass articulate an expansive journey of personal discovery and renewed purpose. ... Click to View

Ohad Talmor w/Chris Tordini / Eric Mcpherson + Guests:
Back To The Land [2 CDs] (Intakt)

Drawing inspiration from rediscovered 1998 Ornette Coleman rehearsal tapes and the spirit of Dewey Redman, tenor saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor opens a new artistic cycle with his core trio of Chris Tordini and Eric McPherson plus a remarkable array of guests, creating kaleidoscopic variations that merge composed forms, liberated improvisation, and subtly deployed electronics. ... Click to View

Sylvie Courvoisier / Wadada Leo Smith:
Angel Falls (Intakt)

Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and legendary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith meet in a deeply focused duo session, their through-composed material unfolding with stunning restraint, architectural clarity, and a quiet but potent freedom, as each phrase, gesture, and interval feels acutely calibrated in a shared space of mystery, immediacy, and poetic intent. ... Click to View

Fred Frith / Maria Portugal:
Matter (Intakt)

Uniting from different continents and generations, guitarist and vocalist Fred Frith and drummer, percussionist, and vocalist Maria Portugal meet in Cologne for four improvised stretches that blend song form, rhythmic invention, exploratory textures, and creative voice work, revealing a shared musical language that dissolves genre boundaries into a vivid, unpredictable exchange. ... Click to View

Evan Parker / Joelle Leandre:
Long Bright Summer (RogueArt)

Drawing on decades of fearless improvising, saxophonist Evan Parker and bassist Joëlle Léandre engage in an intense and unfiltered acoustic dialogue recorded live in France, their shared language enabling lightning reactions, extended techniques, surges of density and flow, hushed textural intimacy, and moments where Léandre's wordless voice merges seamlessly into their spontaneous interplay. ... Click to View

Insect Life:
Insect Life (577 Records)

Born from weekly sessions in Oakland, this adventurous sextet of winds, cello, drums, and electronics channels old-school improvisational spirit into a modern orchestral sound that feels both cosmic and grounded, as spontaneous grooves, abstract textures, and Zachary James Watkins' remix work expand their collective language into a vibrant, deeply inventive debut. ... Click to View

Webber/Morris Big Band:
Unseparate [VINYL 2 LPs] (Out Of Your Head Records)

Five years after their debut, co-leaders Anna Webber and Angela Morris return with a 19-piece large ensemble recording that showcases their next-level compositional voices, unfolding through the "Just Intonation Etudes for Big Band" suite and a series of richly orchestrated works that balance drones, contrapuntal density, rhythmic blasts, and lyrical themes in an adventurous exploration of sound and structure. ... Click to View

Mary Halvorson Amaryllis:
About Ghosts (Nonesuch)

Expanding her Amaryllis ensemble with the addition of saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles, guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson presents eight new works, balancing spectral beauty and sly unease as vibraphone, layered brass, flexible grooves, and her singular harmonic distortions cohere into a richly orchestrated and restlessly inventive large-ensemble statement. ... Click to View

Donny McCaslin:
Lullaby For The Lost [VINYL] (Editions)

With longtime collaborators Jason Lindner, Ben Monder, Tim Lefebvre, Zach Danziger, Nate Wood, Ryan Dahle, and Jonathan Maron, visionary saxophonist Donny McCaslin channels the raw intensity of improvised jams into a cinematic, high-energy sound world, blending jazz with rock, electronica, and soulful urgency, a fierce and timeless statement. ... Click to View

Don Ellis:
The 1960s Albums [4 CD BOX SET] (Enlightenment)

Collecting eight albums from the early to late '60s, this generous four-CD set surveys the groundbreaking work of trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Don Ellis, tracing his evolution from post-bop experiments with shifting metric structures into large-ensemble innovation infused with global rhythms, expanded instrumentations, and a fiercely exploratory imagination. ... Click to View

Neurodivergent Orchestra:
The Point of Science is Making Things Explode (Evil Clown)

Centred on improvised spoken absurdism about science and monsters, this Boston septet's playful humour drives a sprawling electro-acoustic free improvisation, each player shifting between wild sonorities, noise sources, rubber chickens and synthesised colour as PEK steers the Neurodivergent Orchestra through a gleefully chaotic sonic experiment. ... Click to View

Turbulence Orchestra & Sub-Units:
Crescendo of the Tempest [2 CDs] (Evil Clown)

Conducted by PEK using an expanded system of graphic signs, cue windows and directional frames, this large Turbulence Orchestra realises a continuous narrative of shifting density, guided entrances and exits, and evolving instrumentation, the players responding in real time to PEK's visual triggers to create a vivid, shape-shifting electro-acoustic improvisation. ... Click to View

Leap Of Faith:
Disentangling The Spin (Evil Clown)

Improvised live at Evil Clown HQ in Massachusetts this chamber-sized quartet + live processing version of Leap of Faith spins from airy quietude to dense noise, each multi-instrumentalist shifting timbres and extended techniques through a fluid electro-acoustic soundworld of horns, reeds, percussion, signal processing and inventive instrumental colour. ... Click to View

Don Cherry / Krzysztof Penderecki:
Actions [VINYL 180g] (Intuition)

Recorded live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in 1971, this extraordinary collaboration between Don Cherry, Krzysztof Penderecki, and The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra merges free jazz with avant-garde composition, blending fiery improvisation, unconventional orchestrations and global influences into a powerful experience that challenges traditional genre boundaries. ... Click to View

John Butcher / Ute Wassermann / Martin Blume :
Leaflight: Close Calls (FMR)

In a live Cologne performance the trio of Butcher (reeds), Wassermann (voice & bird-calls) and Blume (drums/percussion) transform ambient impulse and acoustic detail into a series of "close-call" ensemble gestures, where bird-like vocal fragments, saxophone multiphonics and micro-percussion co-here in porous space, yielding an improvised chamber of attentiveness, ecological flux and sonic shadow play. ... Click to View

Paul Dunmall:
A Bad Day At The Office for Charles Ives (FMR)

Uncovering long-shelved recordings from 2006 and 2010, Paul Dunmall reveals a rare side of his artistry at piano and organ, freely improvising with harmonic collisions, lyrical fragments, and bold dynamics that echo the adventurous spirit of Charles Ives, whose humor, vision, and audacity serve as both inspiration and dedication for these spontaneous performances. ... Click to View

Bucher - Countryman:
Phra-se-ol-o-gy (FMR)

Captured live in the Manila studio, the duo of Swiss drummer/percussionist Christian Bucher and alto saxophonist Rick Countryman engage in improvisation built on the idea of musical phrasing as syntax, where saxophone lines, punctuated drums and responsive space converge into a series of sound-sentences in which tone, pause and gesture become elements in a live lexicon of form. ... Click to View

Udo Schindler / Katharina Weber:
Sichtungen & Lichtungen (FMR)

In an incisive Munich set, multi-reedist Udo Schindler and pianist Katharina Weber transform breath, wood and wire into tensile, reductionist improvisations that pivot from hushed, inside-piano timbres to bristling polyphony, their acute listening and timbral agility forging a vivid, moment-to-moment architecture of detail, momentum and quietly luminous intensity. ... Click to View

Udo Schindler / Paul Rogers:
Ephemeral Essences (FMR)

A striking Munich concert from Udo Schindler and Paul Rogers, where reeds, brass and seven-string double bass trace Burnside-inspired titles into supple, slow-burning forms, their precise timbral interplay and dynamic restraint yielding an improvised chamber drama of quiet intensity, eruptive weight, and finely poised, moment-to-moment architecture. ... Click to View

Oakland Reductionist Orchestra:
West And East Baying (Queen Bee Records)

Bringing together a remarkable ensemble of Bay Area experimentalists rooted in the Mills College lineage, this debut by the Oakland Reductionist Orchestra merges live and studio explorations of reductionist improvisation, transforming acoustic sound into richly textured, electronically inflected sonic environments of deep focus and collective restraint. ... Click to View

Impro-Viziok 2.2.:
Anna (The Music Of Szilard Mezei) (FMR)

Recasting theatre music composed by Szilárd Mezei along with a Hungarian folk song arranged by Mezei in an intimate live improvisation from a duo of violin/voice and viola, drawing out folk-tinged motifs and open forms into tensile dialogues, balancing chantlike lines and earthy drones with quicksilver bow work to reveal a spare, luminous chamber language that breathes beyond the stage. ... Click to View

Tim Richards Trio (w/ Alex Keen / Daniel Howard):
Four Aces (FMR)

The fourth piano trio release from veteran UK pianist and composer Tim Richards, joined by bassist Alex Keen and drummer Daniel Howard, drawing on the deep traditions of McCoy Tyner and Thelonious Monk while embracing calypso, Brazilian rhythm and soul-jazz colour, the trio's years of residency shaping fluid interplay, melodic clarity and an unforced balance between swing, lyricism and joyful invention. ... Click to View

Marcello Magliocchi / Adrian Northover / Domenico Saccente :
Over The Edge (FMR)

Live from Padua, Magliocchi (drums/percussion), Northover (soprano sax) and Saccente (prepared accordion) forge an improvisational terrain of lean material and sharp focus, their sparse instrumentation allowing micro-gestures, discreet textures and sudden tonal shifts to articulate an open-ended search for sound, essence and interaction in the spirit of discovery. ... Click to View

Bryan Eubanks:
Songbook [VINYL w/ DOWNLOAD] (Sacred Realism)

A compelling solo work from Bryan Eubanks, recorded in Berlin in early 2021, where soprano saxophone and electronics trace fragile forms and fleeting memories, shifting from intimate acoustic subtleties to fierce circuit-bent resonances in a poetic exploration of sound, presence, and the quiet suspension of time. ... Click to View

Patricia Brennan :
Of The Near And Far (Pyroclastic Records)

A stellar ensemble of strings, piano, guitar, drums and electronics performs Patricia Brennan's constellation-derived compositions, weaving data-mapped harmonies, celestial mythology and improvisation into vivid chamber-jazz textures that balance luminous exploration with introspective depth as each instrument expands its sonic role in the music's cosmic design. ... Click to View

Bucher / Tan / Countryman:
Nonlinear Expressions (FMR)

Recorded in Quezon City, Philippines during Typhoon Crising, the long-running trio of Christian Bucher (drums), Simon Tan (double bass), and Rick Countryman (alto saxophone) capture urgent and agile free improvisation between canceled gigs and storm delays, their 13 years of collaboration driving vibrant exchanges that balance volatility with poised, spontaneous form. ... Click to View

James McKain / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter:
... Seeing the Way The Mole Tunnels... (Balance Point Acoustics / International School of Evidence)

Energetic trio interplay from saxophonist James McKain with Damon Smith and Weasel Walter, recorded in Collinsville, Illinois, where taut lines, volatile textures, and razor-cut dynamics sketch "free jazz by way of the European tradition," six concise pieces whose titles nod to Thomas Bernhard and whose restless momentum — anchored by springy bass and splintered drums — turns spontaneity into vividly shaped form. ... Click to View

Simon Rose / Nicola Hein :
Moon (Confront)

A 2020 Berlin recording uniting British baritone saxophonist Simon Rose and German guitarist/electronic musician Nicola L. Hein in a richly textural duo of sustained microtonal guitar, gravelly saxophone rumbles, layered drones, and shifting intensities, balancing intense and sometimes corrosive abstraction with earthy, lyrical interplay. ... Click to View

Anouck Genthon / Lionel Marchetti:
Suite Blanche [2 CDs] (UnRec)

Exploring the fusion of acoustic presence and electronic projection, violinist Anouck Genthon and electronic musician Lionel Marchetti shape a two-disc journey where the violin's resonance folds into shifting synthetic textures, spatial loudspeaker design guiding evolving sound-forms that radiate like a focused beacon through immersive, exploratory improvisation. ... Click to View

Bertrand Gauguet / Jean-Luc Petit:
Radiesthesie (UnRec)

Leveraging the resonance of a Romanesque chapel, the duo of reedists Bertrand Gauguet and Jean-Luc Petit bring together alto and baritone saxophones with contrabass clarinet and sopranino in five improvisations whose instrument pairings shift from track to track, the changing light and hour colouring breath, multiphonics and resonance into patient spectral dialogues of evolving harmonics. ... Click to View