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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A 26-member, non-hierarchical improvising ensemble recorded live over three days in Le Volcan in April 2021, where individual instrumental voices — from saxophone and guitar to rotating surfaces and electronics — merge into a shifting mass of acoustic and electric event, preserving each performer's singular identity even as the group spins into turbulent collective invention.

Intertwining alto saxophone and percussion in an intimate recording made at BAFF Studio in Montreuil, Bertrand Gauguet and Didier Lasserre craft four spacious improvisations rooted in attentive silence, where breath, multiphonics, resonant impacts and subtle frictions converge into quiet tensions and delicate textures that reveal a profoundly sensitive musical conversation.

An epic collaboration between saxophone and real-time electronics recorded at La Muse en Circuit in France, where Bertrand Gauguet's breath, multiphonics, and shifting overtones are continuously transformed by Kasper T. Toeplitz into evolving timbral landscapes that erode instrumental identity and build an expansive, immersive sound-mass through slow, majestic transformation.

A formidable first meeting between keyboardist Craig Taborn, guitarist Nels Cline, and drummer Marcus Gilmore, where three singular voices of modern creative music converge in assertive, Downtown-NY-steeped, genre-defying interplay — originals, reimagined works, and spontaneous improvisations blooming into a vibrant, exploratory dialogue of texture, rhythm, and imagination.

A deeply personal collaboration between pianists Eri Yamamoto and Matthew Shipp, recorded live in the studio with Yamamoto in the left channel and Shipp in the right, as Yamamoto marks thirty years in New York with a set of original compositions for this occasion, their distinctive voices intertwining in an elegant, searching, and harmonically rich conversation of friendship, individuality, and creative life.

Recorded live at IBeam in Brooklyn, the trio of María Valencia (alto saxophone, Bb clarinet), Matt Moran (vibraphone), and Brandon Lopez (bass, percussion) weave a richly textured improvisation of lyric tension and resonant space, where breath, metal, and wood converge in shifting layers of sound, balancing volatility with quiet reflection in an atmosphere of deep, intuitive dialogue.

Harnessing Zeena Parkins's electric and acoustic harps and ebow-piano alongside Cecilia Lopez's custom-built RED speaker-wire instrument and electronics, this live Brooklyn set fashions a singular sonic architecture where plucked strings, feedback networks and sustained fields fold into one expansive, sculptural conversation of improvisation and invention.

Recorded in their first meeting, percussionist Sofia Borges and saxophonist Ada Rave forge a vivid, intuitive dialogue of fire and reflection, blending spontaneous storytelling with fierce lyricism and dynamic restraint; their improvisations unfold like ritual acts of empathy and resistance, where every strike, breath, and silence reveals an unspoken pact between sound and spirit.

Recorded live at Les Instants Chavirés in Montreuil, France, across two sessions in 2023 and 2024, alto saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet's second solo release on Potlatch captures his intensely physical exploration of breath, resonance, and spatial acoustics, rendering sound as an emotional and architectural phenomenon where perception, geometry, and air intertwine in a vivid study of "the thickness of the air."

Recorded live in Tainan, Taiwan, the ever-inventive Jason Kahn strips his sound to acoustic guitar, harmonium, and voice, weaving fragile melodies and raw textures into an intimate, exploratory performance that bridges his electroacoustic sensibility with an unvarnished eccentric vocal presence of remarkable immediacy and tension, at times invoking a Basho-like spirit.

A contemplative meeting of Pierre Favre, Sergio Armaroli, Andrea Centazzo, and Francesca Gemmo, exploring percussion, vibraphone, and piano in spacious improvised forms that privilege resonance over rhythm, weaving subtle dynamics and reflective timbres into an existential soundscape where silence, decay, and shimmering overtones converge in quietly radical dialogue.

A fierce live collision of Jaap Blonk's phonetic vocal and electronic inventions and Jasper Stadhouders' raw guitar improvisation, forging a surreal language of sputtered syllables, scraped strings, and disruptive humor, where meaning dissolves into texture and every gesture feels simultaneously unhinged and meticulously alive.

A visionary solo exploration from tubist Ben Stapp, merging extreme extended techniques, circular breathing, and multiphonics with a science fiction narrative of consciousness and transformation, unfolding ten pieces that traverse volatile timbres, subterranean drones, and vocal-inflected abstractions in a deeply personal act of world-building beyond mere instrumental prowess.

Blending incisive lyricism with modern chamber-jazz intensity, vocalist Laura Ann Singh leads a quintet with Scott Clark, Adam Hopkins, John Lilley, and Bob Miller through richly composed pieces that move from fragile introspection to assertive rhythmic drive, intertwining trumpet and saxophone lines with atmospheric bass and percussion in a deeply emotive, genre-fluid statement.

A profound statement of non-idiomatic improvisation from cellist Daniel Levin, exploring the full tactile and sonic range of his instrument through shifting timbres, raw textures, and lyrical abstraction, forging spontaneous form in real time as intuition replaces memory and each gesture navigates vulnerability, intensity, and the transformative pursuit of musical freedom.

An intimate and exploratory duo encounter between saxophonist Laurent Estoppey and cellist Daniel Levin, born from the Sanctuary Series in Durham, where mutual trust fuels a fearless dive into the unknown, weaving shifting timbres, extended techniques, and raw dialogue into a deeply personal improvisational terrain defined by risk, resonance, and discovery.

Recorded at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn in 2025, this first document of Peter Evans (trumpet), Joe Morris (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) captures four expansive improvisations where Evans's quicksilver trumpet, Sorey's architecturally detailed drumming, and Morris's tensile bass cohere into a lucid, high-energy trio language that balances raw edge with striking clarity.

The first documented meeting of bassist John Edwards, trumpeter Luís Vicente, and percussionist Vasco Trilla channels the duo rapport of Vicente/Trilla into a volatile trio language, where tensile bass arcs, quicksilver trumpet figures, and textured percussion intertwine from hush to rupture across four expansive studio improvisations captured in Portugal — forcefully fractured.

Drawn from three 2024 concerts in Berlin, St. Johann, and Cormons, drummer Joe Hertenstein's touring trio with Michael Moore (reeds) and Michael Formanek (bass) welcomes trombonist Ray Anderson, the quartet forging strong themes and free-form interplay where Anderson's ebullience, Moore's lyricism, Formanek's foundational lines, and Hertenstein's flexible drive spark constantly evolving momentum.

Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trombonist Ray Anderson distill their proven chemistry heard in the quartet album Molten Gold (FSR 03|2023), here in twelve concise, alchemy-titled improvisations, Perelman's elastic lines and altissimo edge intertwining with Anderson's plunger color, slide glissandi, and buoyant phrasing to forge vividly conversational miniatures of texture, tension, and release.

A seasoned quartet of trombonist Robert Morgenthaler, vibraphonist Christopher Dell, bassist Fridolin Blumer, and percussionist Heinz Geisser recorded in Zurich, exploring the essence of free improvisation through deep listening and spontaneous structure, where interplay and attentiveness replace convention, revealing the magic that happens in the space between the rules.

Inspired by Gertrude Stein's experimental poem Yet Dish, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio leads an ensemble with vocalist Sonia Loenne, bassist Vito Cadonau, and percussionist Flo Hufschmid in a nuanced exploration of language and sound, transforming Stein's rhythmic abstractions into vivid musical dialogues where wit, structure, and spontaneity intertwine with poetic precision.

Recorded in Verona, Italy, pianists Francesca Gemmo and Magda Mayas engage in an intricate dialogue between piano and prepared piano, blending Gemmo's contemplative lyricism and impressionist echoes with Mayas's inventive explorations of touch, timbre, and texture, creating a vivid and unpredictable sonic landscape of tension, nuance, and resonance.

Marking their 39th year together, pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck, and bassist Lloyd Swanton expand their immersive approach to improv across three discs of evolving intensity, recording in the studio in Australia, where four long-form pieces unfold with hypnotic patience, microscopic detail, and The Necks' hallmark balance of restraint, texture, and boundless improvisational discovery.

Reuniting pianist Pandelis Karayorgis with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Randy Peterson, and featuring composer-pianist Eric Moe, this microtonal project bridges jazz and contemporary composition through Werntz's Capricious Nocturnal Variations, as Karayorgis' trio expands its themes with richly textured interplay and fluid explorations of the uniquely tuned Werntz Nocturne Scale.

Led by alto saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra, BLINK embraces collective improvisation over solo display, blending microtonal tuning, layered rhythmic cycles, and ensemble interplay inspired by insect swarms, African High Life, and minimalist rock, resulting in an inventive, off-balance sound that thrives on tension, texture, and spontaneous cohesion.

The duo of Roscoe Mitchell on bass and sopranino saxophones with percussion, and Michele Rabbia on percussion and electronics, engage in a meticulous and expressive dialogue where the smallest breath or strike is amplified into vivid detail, redefining improvisation as an inclusive and responsive art of conversation that balances order, disorder, and creative transformation.

Reuniting after a decade, guitarist George Draguns and percussionist Robert Cozzolino revive their duo Flying Sutra at Metropolitan Sound in Brooklyn with saxophonist Ayumi Ishito, their telepathic interplay and raw intensity yielding four vividly improvised tracks that expand their textural range and transcend genre through fearless, high-energy experimentation.

A solo journey of striking imagination, Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser channels the modernist spirit of Blaise Cendrars in eighteen original works recorded in Berlin, blending sculptural sound, melodic exploration, and poetic abstraction into a deeply personal meditation that bridges contemporary jazz, literature, and sonic art.

In a fully improvised solo recording, pianist Matthew Shipp channels a lifetime of discipline and influence into an expansive and deeply personal work whose shifting architectures, sly dissonances, and luminous pacing unfold with the gravity of composed modern classical music while retaining the spontaneous intensity of free jazz, reframing his sound in a broader, genre-fluid context.

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.

New York pianist Eva Novoa joins bassist Drew Gress and drummer Devin Gray for their second trio release on 577 Records, weaving melodic themes with swing and groove as Novoa expands the palette with Chinese gongs and whistling, Gress layers in modular synth textures, and the ensemble explores freedom, interplay, and evocative electronic landscapes.

Recorded live at the 2022 Vision Festival in Brooklyn, Jason Kao Hwang conducts a remarkable ensemble of strings, guitars, bass, and percussion in a work that blends notated passages with conduction-driven improvisation, forging a powerful and fluid language that transcends cultural and stylistic boundaries while illuminating collective individuality and truth.

For their third studio release, bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten leads his (Exit) Knarr septet through graphic scores that blend visual art, mythology, electronics, and free jazz into a vivid collective process, the ensemble — now including Amalie Dahl and Marta Warelis — shaping long and short forms alike into explosive, texturally rich works of improvisational energy and imagination.

For their third studio release, bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten leads his (Exit) Knarr septet through graphic scores that blend visual art, mythology, electronics, and free jazz into a vivid collective process, the ensemble — now including Amalie Dahl and Marta Warelis — shaping long and short forms alike into explosive, texturally rich works of improvisational energy and imagination.

The ninth set from Evil Clown's Perturbations project brings together reed players David Peck and Michael Caglianone with brass player John Fugarino, each expanding their roles through percussion, electronics, and objects, while Joel Simches provides real-time processing, creating a vivid and continuously transforming improvisation of shifting sonorities and electro-acoustic textures.

Expanding to a nine-piece ensemble, Leap of Faith Orchestra with PEK and Glynis Lomon joined by John Fugarino, Eric Dahlman, Michael Caglianone, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, Dennis Warren, and Joel Simches, transforms through broad palette improvisations where horns, strings, guitar, bass, percussion, electronics, and real-time processing converge into a richly layered orchestral improvisation.

With PEK and Glynis Lomon joined by John Fugarino, Eric Dahlman, Michael Caglianone, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, Scott Samenfeld, Cliff White, and Joel Simches, Leap of Faith expands into a richly textured septet where strings and horns form the core dynamic, augmented by percussion, electronics, and processing in an improvisation that evolves through a vast range of sonorities.

The duo Senso di Voce, with Esin Gunduz on voice and Paul J. Ferington on oboe, create an immersive chamber work of voice, oboe, and electronics whose movements balance the ancient and the contemporary, weaving resonances, silence, and philosophical imagery into a meditative and exploratory sound world that rewards repeated listening with new layers of detail and emotional depth.

Composer Henry Threadgill conducts a suite for six acoustic guitars and two pianos, bringing together Bill Frisell, Miles Okazaki, Brandon Ross, Gregg Belisle-Chi, Jerome Harris, Stomu Takeishi, Maya Keren, and Rahul Carlberg in an intricately orchestrated work whose intervallic syntax and meticulous counterpoint entwine with unexpected timbres to reveal his singular and sublime vision.

Seventeen years after their last recording, the New York trio of Steve Lehman (alto saxophone), Vijay Iyer (piano, Rhodes), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) reunite with dense, high-impact compositions and fearless interplay, blending complexity with groove as they reaffirm their status as one of the most vital ensembles in contemporary improvised music.

Drummer and composer Dan Weiss brings together Peter Evans (trumpet), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), and Miles Okazaki (guitar) in a set of compositions written for their distinct voices, shifting from meditative calm to intense peaks, weaving intricate contrapuntal textures and improvisations into a mysterious and transcendent collective sound.

Brooklyn pianist Eva Novoa joins saxophonist Daniel Carter and drummer Francisco Mela for the second volume of The Freedom Suite, a set of twelve pieces blending piano, Rhodes, harpsichord, gongs, and vocals with Carter's multi-reed brilliance and Mela's Cuban-inflected drumming, creating an urgent, intimate, and fluidly improvised dialogue of words, sound, and fearless imagination.

After a six-year hiatus, The Young Mothers return with their third album as Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Jawwaad Taylor, Jason Jackson, Stefan Gonzalez, Jonathan F. Horne, and Frank Rosaly merge jazz, hip-hop, experimental rock, electronics, and free improvisation into a restless and unpredictable collective statement, balancing cinematic flair with raw immediacy in their most dynamic release to date.

After a six-year hiatus, The Young Mothers return with their third album as Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Jawwaad Taylor, Jason Jackson, Stefan Gonzalez, Jonathan F. Horne, and Frank Rosaly merge jazz, hip-hop, experimental rock, electronics, and free improvisation into a restless and unpredictable collective statement, balancing cinematic flair with raw immediacy in their most dynamic release to date.

Bringing together his Knarr ensemble for a second recording, bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten leads Mette Rasmussen, Karl Hjalmar Nyberg, Erik Kimestad Pedersen, Oscar Grönberg, Jonathan F. Horne, Olaf Moses Olsen, Oddrun Lilja Jónsdóttir, and Joakim Rainer Petersen in an exuberant homage to Jaimie Branch, weaving spirited improvisation, textured arrangements, and collective joy into a vibrant and heartfelt statement.

The debut of Sydney-based quartet Believe-Peter Farrar (alto saxophone), Novak Manojlovic (piano), Clayton Thomas (double bass), and Laurence Pike (drums)-unleashes three expansive improvisations of visceral energy and nuanced intimacy, blending extended techniques, shifting textures, and percussive interplay into a powerful free jazz statement that feels as natural as wind and waves.

In a live set at Amsterdam's club & workspace Splendor, Argentinian tenor/sopranino explorer Ada Rave and Polish pianist Marta Warelis shape an intimate but volatile dialogue, fusing air, resonance, clusters, and melody into patient arcs that bloom from microscopic detail to surging release, a great example of the city's improvising community at their most attentive and fearless.

Recorded at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, drummer and composer Tomas Fujiwara introduces his Percussion Quartet with Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, Tim Keiper on African strings and percussion, and Kaoru Watanabe on Japanese drums and flute, blending global traditions into vivid, imaginative works that traverse groove, texture, and color with striking originality and depth.

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.

Brooklyn trumpeter Adam O'Farrill leads a superb octet — Mary Halvorson (guitar), Patricia Brennan (vibes), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), and others — through dramatically inventive compositions inspired by the literature and arts of the 1930s, balancing angular rhythmic intensity, rich melodic lyricism, and expressive improvisational depth with adventurous sophistication.

Blending lush harmonies, rhythmic twists, and inspired interplay, alto saxophonist and composer Beth Schenck leads a Bay Area quintet of Cory Wright, Matt Wrobel, Lisa Mezzacappa, and Jordan Glenn in a set of fiercely original compositions that traverse ethereal soundscapes and propulsive forms, reflecting deep musical relationships, artistic nuance, and a richly personal voice.

Celebrating guitarist Joe Morris's 70th, this trio with Brad Barrett on cello and Beth Ann Jones on bass unfolds with deliberate restraint and deep listening, Morris layering textures around Barrett's lyrical and percussive bowing while Jones anchors with sculptural, propulsive bass, the group seamlessly shifting between spacious intimacy and taut collective momentum in an immersive improv dialogue.

Recorded in the extraordinary resonance of Paris's Saint-Merry Church, this double album captures soprano and sopranino saxophonist Michel Doneda in duo with pianist Frédéric Blondy, their improvisations unfolding in deep dialogue with the architecture itself, as tones and textures expand into the vast acoustics, creating immersive, luminous soundscapes of remarkable depth and presence.

Spanning a decade of collaborations, this double LP and CD set presents Phillip Schulze's electro-acoustic responsive instrument in dialogue with Anthony Braxton, Christian Jendreiko, Andrew Raffo Dewar, and Detlef Weinrich, each duo exploring transidiomatic communication through improvisations that merge analog and digital realities, resulting in vivid encounters of texture, gesture, and sonic imagination.

Documenting Anthony Braxton's 1985 UK tour with his classic quartet, Forces in Motion combines travel diary, interviews, and essays to present both the warmth of Braxton's personality and the depth of his visionary musical and philosophical project, offering an essential introduction to his art and a profound exploration of sound, creativity, and spirit.

The transatlantic quartet of Elisabeth Harnik (piano), Dave Rempis (saxophones), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), and Tim Daisy (drums) in their second album, recorded live at the North St. Cabaret in Madison, WI, weaving surges of energy with passages of lyricism, deep timbral exploration, and spacious formal development, balancing ferocity and subtlety in a richly detailed and dynamic collective architecture.

A captivating solo recording from multi-reedist Ned Rothenberg on alto sax, clarinets, and shakuhachi, showcasing his extraordinary mastery of circular breathing, overtones, and multiphonics in works of rhythmic intensity, lyrical sensitivity, and soulful depth, culminating in a graceful rendering of Monk's "'Round Midnight" as an aural refuge of beauty and resolve.

The formidable trio of Larry Stabbins (saxophones, flute), Keith Tippett (piano, voice), and Louis Moholo-Moholo (drums, voice, bass) ignite with ferocious intensity and explosive interplay, unleashing torrents of fiery improvisation that surge with wit, lyricism, and raw power, captured live in Foggia, Italy in 1985 when each was at the peak of their artistry.

A collaborative project by Éric Normand, Dur Temps Pour les Rouges (Hard Times for the Reds.) combines recordings from 2020-2025 by a large ensemble of voices, horns, strings, guitars, drums, synths, and electronics to realize a textured and emotionally rich sound world: intimate and expansive, lyrical and experimental, a striking and immersive listening experience.

A 46-page French-language book with download code from bassist Éric Normand, combining text, illustrations by Robert Marcel Lepage, and partial scores with recordings of duo improvisations made between 2020 and 2022 with Sarah Albu, Philippe Lemoine, Xavier Garcia, Rémy Bélanger de Beauport, Tom Malmendier, Lori Freedman, and Jean-Sébastien Mariage; inventive and exploratory.

A solo double bass album from Colombian-born, Montreal-based improviser Pablo Jiménez, recorded at the Conservatory of Music in Montreal in 2024, where his imaginative use of extended techniques and deep engagement with improvisation reveal a distinctive personal language that merges avant and contemporary traditions into a striking and sensitive exploration of the instrument.

Seminal figures in the evolution of free or nonidiomatic improvisation, guitarist Derek Bailey and percussionist/pocket trumpeter John Stevens are heard in a 1989 London performance vividly captured by Michael Gerzon at The Duke of Wellington, their restless and enthusiastic interplay shifting from angular invention to lyrical reflection in a compelling document of their remarkable rapport.

Delivering his sixth Discus Music release in two years, saxophonist Paul Dunmall leads a dynamic nonet drawn largely from Birmingham's thriving scene, joined by guests Martin Archer, Corey Mwamba, and John Ball, their first-take performances balancing sharply honed compositions with spontaneous invention in a powerful suite that shifts between bluesy themes, lyrical reflection, and collective fire.

The trio of Rachel Musson on tenor saxophone, Pat Thomas on piano, and Mark Sanders on drums perform as Shifa, their 46-minute improvisation moving through fiery intensity and spacious reflection in a cohesive journey shaped by deep trust, attentive listening, and fearless exploration, captured live at London's Café Oto in 2023.

Bringing together two major figures of UK improvisation, saxophonist Larry Stabbins - long associated with innovators like Mike Westbrook, Keith Tippett, and Robert Wyatt - and percussionist Mark Sanders (Paul Dunmall, John Butcher, Veryan Weston, &c) in 2024 Bristol sessions captured with stunning clarity, their 1st-take performances unfolding as thoughtful, exploratory dialogs of texture, rhythm, and timbre.

Breaking away from their acoustic trio Bleyschool, the long-standing partnership of Pat Thomas, Dominic Lash, and Tony Orrell reconfigure as Lifeline, trading piano, bass, and drums for keyboards, electroacoustic percussion, and electric guitar in a spontaneous studio performance that channels noise, dance, and rock energy into electrified free improv brimming with risk, tension, and surprise.

The tenth duo recording from pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura presents eight compositions of slow, lyrical beauty-seven by Tamura and one by Fujii-crafted with exquisite restraint and intimacy, as the long-time collaborators sustain a dignified atmosphere of quiet intensity and emotional depth, shaping silence and subtle detail into music of profound elegance.

An extraordinary 1996 Mixtery Studio encounter between pianist Borah Bergman, Anthony Braxton on a wide range of reeds, and Peter Brötzmann on saxophones, clarinet, and tárogató, balancing ferocious torrents of free jazz interplay with moments of surprising lyricism and abstraction, as three titans of improvisation push their individual voices into a thrilling collective dialogue.

Meeting for the first time at Café OTO in 2024, soprano saxophonist Evan Parker and guitarist Bill Nace on electric taishogoto create an extraordinary improvised duo, Parker's circular-breathed torrents entwining with Nace's drone-soaked dynamism, from raw intensity to transcendent stillness in a performance of unbounded spirit, deep resonance, and ecstatic liberation.

The fifth collaboration between composer-performers Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke, reshaping material from their 2023 European tour into a vivid electroacoustic dialogue, layering live improvisations, acoustic fragments, and evolving digital textures into a kaleidoscopic sound world of subtle juxtapositions and fluid, unpredictable structures of color, resonance, and playfully reimagined form.

Guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin return for their third ghost, expanding their collective language with looser and more immediate performances, their intricate focus and rhythmic precision balanced by playful excursions through ambient neo-jazz, post-kraut, minimal funk, and prog-like energy through an ever-evolving sonic architecture.