Concentrating their work from the Pulverize the Sound trio, trumpeter Peter Evans and drummer Mike Pride reveal a ferocity that pushes free improvisation to its extremes, balancing explosive virtuosity with kaleidoscopic percussive interaction through dense sound clusters, fractured grooves, unexpected silences, and wild exploration, in seven high-risk dialogs tempered by moments of striking clarity.

Recorded at Nevessa Studio in New York, Camila Nebbia joins Marilyn Crispell and Lesley Mok in a fiercely intuitive trio session blending open scores and full improvisation, where elastic group interplay, textural sensitivity, and eruptive momentum allow the music to breathe as a single organism while leaving space for sharply defined individual voices to emerge.

Marking the closing of Mills College and the end of Zeena Parkins' long association with its experimental community, this solo release presents three commissioned works alongside the ongoing acoustic piece berlin bedroom, unfolding a deeply reflective exploration of harp and electronics that honors artistic lineage, collective devotion, and the Bay Area's enduring spirit of experimental music-making.

This self-titled debut from the Berlin-based duo of Danish alto saxophonist Mia Dyberg and Argentine drummer Axel Filip explores freely improvised jazz through spontaneous structures and shifting sonic playgrounds, with a sharp focus on timbral nuance, textural interplay, and an upbeat creative immediacy that unfolds into vivid, evolving sound narratives rooted in exploratory expression.

This duo release pairs bassist Kelsey Mines and saxophonist Erin Rogers in a deeply interactive exploration of free improvisation, where resonant low-end textures and expressive reeds weave concise, atmospheric vignettes shaped by bold contrasts, emotional clarity, and an immersive sense of motion that balances raw energy with carefully sculpted space.

Distilling their work from the Chamber Quintet, this intimate duo recording pairs Vinny Golia's varied woodwinds with Kelsey Mines' resonant bass and subtle vocalizations, unfolding a carefully balanced exchange of gentle and sharp gestures shaped by classical-leaning abstractions, where attentive interplay allows fluid musical forms to emerge with clarity inside open improvisational space.

Asked to rethink the solo sax format, Adia Vanheerentals transforms this release into a series of site-responsive improvisations, engaging the soprano sax in active dialogue with surrounding environments — echoing spaces, incidental sounds, and ambient noise — using extended techniques, breath & texture to shape concise statements where location is a partner in an open improvisational framework.

A ferocious meeting of three seasoned innovators, this live set from Charles Hayward (drums, vocals), Guy Segers (bass), and Kawabata Makoto (guitar) channels decades of rock, punk, psychedelia, and free improvisation into an explosive power trio performance, where raw energy, shifting polyrhythms, and searing intensity collide in a fiercely immediate and unfiltered sonic assault captured on stage in Brighton in 2013.

An intimate, immersive duo recording in which Tom Jackson's finely articulated clarinet and Daniel Thompson's responsive, highly attuned guitar create a richly expressive terrain of spontaneous sound, channeling the spirit of free improvisation's pioneers in a deeply communicative exchange of timbre, space, and dynamic nuance.

A deeply immersive duo performance from saxophonist Don Malfon and percussionist Vasco Trilla, this exploratory session unfolds as a richly textured dialogue of breath, resonance, and rhythm, where haunting tones, shifting densities, and subtle dynamics blur the lines between experimental jazz, ambient improvisation, and abstract sound sculpture, revealing a finely balanced interplay of intensity and restraint.

Recording at the historic Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum, Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt performs twelve solo piano works spanning more than three decades of Swiss composer Jürg Frey's output, revealing an evolving yet remarkably consistent compositional voice through performances of great restraint, sensitivity, and quiet intensity, balancing fragility, warmth, and crystalline clarity.

A bristling electro-acoustic duo encounter in which Ilia Belorukov's restless modular synthesis collides and intertwines with Alex Riva's recorder work and effects, generating playful yet volatile improvisations that shift between lo-fi textures, glassy winds, and surging electronic fragments, as tension, friction, and timbral curiosity drive the music through constantly mutating sonic terrain.

An historic world-premiere recording of Éliane Radigue's earliest surviving work, performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where a stellar ensemble realizes her flexible "sonic proposition" through evolving textures, mathematical spirals and dynamic transformations that foreshadow her later visionary soundworld.

A densely layered electro-acoustic ensemble improvisation in which expanded electronics, tightly integrated horns, and richly colored percussion generate a constantly evolving sonic field, balancing muscular collective energy with intricate textural detail as shifting instrumental roles and deep ensemble cohesion drive a forward-moving exploration of sound and form.

A lively sampler of Evil Clown's expansive improvisational universe, this collection assembles fourteen concise, high-energy performances drawn from livestream sessions across multiple ensembles, where shifting instrumental combinations, dense textures, and spontaneous interaction distil the label's long-form aesthetic into sharply focused bursts of collective invention.

A tightly focused and interactive trio session pairing spoken word with expansive instrumental color,bringing Jane's incisive poetry into close dialogue with Albey onBass's grounded sonorities and David Peck's wide-ranging reeds, electronics, and resonant objects, revealing an articulated improvisational language where text, texture, and collective intuition lock together.

Jakob Ullmann's Solo I and Solo IV are realised together as two ultra-quiet, long-form works in which graphic notation, fixed pitch sequences, and subtle performance choices guide quarter-tone flute and double bass through slowly shifting regions of colour and resonance, blending live sound with tailored playback to create a fragile, immersive acoustic environment.

Three chamber works from Canadian composer Eldritch Priest trace his distinctive blend of lyric drifting and restless detail, from a fragile, noise-tinged string quartet to a reflective solo piano piece and a shifting, daydream-like ensemble work, each drawing on his interest in improvisation, ambiguity, and melodies that wander with deliberate aimlessness.

Acoustic ensemble realizations of two electroacoustic works by Marja Ahti, in which members of the Italian ensemble Blutwurst translate her drifting textures, elemental timbres, and spatial sensibilities into slow, finely detailed instrumental environments, expanding the original works into patient, resonant soundworlds shaped by pitch nuance, breath, and sustained collective focus.

A refined collaboration between pianist Melaine Dalibert and David Sylvian, transforming Dalibert's algorithmic piano works through subtle, impressionistic electronic treatments that deepen their harmonic resonance, creating a luminous and contemplative soundworld shaped by spectral motion and quiet atmospheric detail.

Compositions from Éric La Casa and Jérôme Noetinger built from site recordings made while exploring buildings emptied of their activities, crossing spaces abandoned by their occupants and drifting through the ghostly traces of vanished presence, revealing a mysterious electroacoustic force that lingers within the shifting textures of these emptied environments.

Guitarist-composer Fredrik Rasten joins the Berlin quartet Asterales to explore slowly shifting just-intonation harmonies in four movements where quarter-tone bass flute, synthesizer, double bass, and fretless electric guitar weave sustained microtonal textures into a resonant, deeply attentive study of modulation, timbre, and collective harmonic precision.

Three works from American composer Kory Reeder's Grid Series bring piano and two violas into sparse, quietly shifting environments where structured pitch fields, performer agency, and subtle repetition form reflective sound spaces that balance structure and spontaneity, inviting deep listening through poised restraint and the poetic tension between silence and tone.

Three intimate chamber works from composer-cellist Laura Cetilia unfold in finely sculpted layers of cello, voice, violin, and vibraphone, blending delicate harmonics, quiet resonance, and attentive presence into a spacious, quietly immersive soundworld that bridges classical lineage with exploratory clarity and luminous restraint.

A debut solo album of eight songs for voice and guitar from Japanese singer-songwriter Shoko Numao, blending poetic introspection, translucent vocal timbres, and quietly expressive melodies shaped through years of performance, as she crafts intimate, subtly shifting pieces that balance lyrical clarity with a gentle, atmospheric sense of stillness.

A rich all-vocal rendering of the Bible's sensual Song of Solomon, featuring five distinguished female voices with narration by Barbara Hannigan and Mathieu Amalric, and guided by Jeremy Fogel's new translation, this lush limited-edition CD book highlights one of Zorn's most evocative and beautifully realized creations in a single extended work.

Exploring the tradition of night music with subtle, dreamlike elegance, Zorn's latest piano-trio work — the fourth in his series with Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith after Suite for Piano, Ballades, and Impromptus — unfolds as a lyrical and expressive creation performed with seemingly telepathic, virtuosic, and finely nuanced interplay.

Blending Arabic maqam with jazz-inflected improvisation, ElSaffar's new quartet — joined by Tania Giannouli, Ole Mathisen, and Tomas Fujiwara — delivers an intense and expressive live performance whose spontaneous, newly composed material unfolds with lyrical depth, microtonal color, and dynamic interplay, captured at Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal with additional alternate takes.

Blending Arabic maqam with jazz-inflected improvisation, ElSaffar's new quartet — joined by Tania Giannouli, Ole Mathisen, and Tomas Fujiwara — delivers an intense and expressive live performance whose spontaneous, newly composed material unfolds with lyrical depth, microtonal color, and dynamic interplay, captured at Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal with additional alternate takes.

Recorded live at the Bimhuis, Ziv Taubenfeld's Full Sun gathers Michael Moore, Joost Buis, Yung-Tuan Ku, Nico Chientaroli, Rozemarie Heggen, and Onno Govaert for a slow-unfolding suite steeped in polyphonic colors, lyrical interplay, and spirited homage to Jimmy Lyons, Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, and Misha Mengelberg, shaping a warm, exploratory, and deeply communal sonic journey.

Recorded in two powerful live sets at Café OTO, Sophie Agnel's first solo LP channels her post-recovery reinvention into a fiercely physical language for prepared piano, unleashing dense sound masses, interior textures, and sudden moments of clarity as she reshapes the instrument into a raw, personal terrain of gesture, resonance, and fearless exploration.

Long delayed but bursting with life, guitarist Amanda Monaco's freebopping quartet — Michael Attias, Sean Conly, and Satoshi Takeishi — delivers a sharp, melodic, and mischievously adventurous set, blending playful grooves, quick-turn interplay, and Monaco's distinctive compositional voice into a vibrant, high-spirited vinyl debut from her Deathblow project.

A brooding work for ten musicians, Jürg Frey's crepuscular score intertwines Japanese haiku and poems by Anne Perrier through hushed voices, fragile instrumental colors, and suspended textures, inviting ensemble]h[iatus, led by Le Quan Ninh and Martine Altenburger, into a slowly unfolding landscape where uncertainty, breath, and quiet tension shape a haunting world on the edge of darkness.

Blending acoustic trio writing, subtle electronics, and everyday vocal gestures, Argentine composer Santiago Diez Fischer's decade-spanning set of five works for Gyre Ensemble shapes a raw, sculptural, and "punk-poetic" sound world where baritone sax, accordion, and percussion merge with the composer's vocal and electronic interventions to reveal music poised deliberately between rough material and refined form.

Two fiercely intuitive trio sessions drawn from concerts in Chicago and Milwaukee by Dave Rempis, Jason Adasiewicz, and Chris Corsano, capturing the group's Chicago-forged, ego-free interplay as they shift effortlessly between surging, full-throttle improvisation and finely detailed, pointillistic exploration, always prioritizing collective motion over individual display.

MusicWork's Fall 2025 publication is wide-ranging issue exploring contemporary experimental practice through profiles of artists including Lisa Conway, Kalun Leung, Susie Ibarra, Mali Obomsawin, and Marek Tyler, alongside features on MontrealÕs late-night listening scene and reviews spanning new music, improvisation, electronic sound, and interdisciplinary performance.

Elliott Sharp unites six electric guitarists in a powerful, overtone-rich work built from droning harmonies, graphic scores, shifting rhythms, and open improvisation, transforming his long-running compositional ideas into a vibrant, resonant soundscape that channels the tension of our present moment into bold, electrifying musical energy.

Harnessing extreme tenor-sax techniques, Yong Yandsen - known for his collaborations with Christian Meaas Svendsen, Paal Nilssen-Love, Rick Countryman, Sabu Toyozumi, &c. - delivers a solo album that immerses listeners in wet, murky textures and grainy, pressure-driven timbres, shaping breath, multiphonics, and noise into an uncompromising sound world that deepens his distinctive improvisational voice.

Japanese alto-saxophonist Naoko Saito living in Tokyo presents a full solo effort, shaping airy subtones, soft breath, and tentative melodic fragments into a ghostly, introspective soundscape - a contemplative and quietly expressive improvisational voice that marks her emergence as a distinctive new presence on the Deathrash Armageddon roster.

A four-part work for two pianos, clarinets, bass clarinets, violas, cello, and double bass, unfolding through quietly repeated dyads, chance-shaped harmonies, and sparse, non-directional gestures, as Reinhard's ensemble traces near-silent textures that accumulate, recede, and hover in a state of delicate, slowly evolving stillness.

Blending freely improvised spoken-word banter from Evil Clown leader David Peck, with a wildly diverse mix of winds, strings, electronics, percussion, and humorous auxiliary instruments, as veteran Evil Clown players and newer voices shape an energetic, narrative-driven performance where playful text, shifting sonorities, and spontaneous interaction collide.

Boston's Leap of Faith Orchestra unleashes a sprawling large-ensemble improvisation as longtime Evil Clown collaborators sculpt shifting sonorities from an enormous array of winds, strings, percussion, electronics, and auxiliary instruments, creating dramatic transformations through deeply attuned, high-intensity collective interplay.

A richly textural electro-acoustic improvisation from a seven-member Expanse lineup, unfolding through shifting combinations of horns, synthesizers, fretless bass, and a wide array of percussion and auxiliary instruments, all shaped by real-time processing into a vivid and dramatically evolving sonic landscape.

The Expanse ensemble navigates an electronics-leaning improvisation as horns, bass, percussion, and a wide array of auxiliary acoustic and electronic instruments merge into a continuously shifting sonic palette, with long-time Evil Clown collaborators shaping vivid transformations through deft doubling, real-time processing, and deeply seasoned interplay.

Reimagining and transforming Ahmed Abdul-Malik's Jazz Sahara in their first studio session, the [Ahmed] quartet of Pat Thomas, Joel Grip, Antonin Gerbal, and Seymour Wright ignite four compact, single-take explorations that fuse percussive intensity, kaleidoscopic group interplay, and a fearless reshaping of tradition into dizzying, future-leaning improvisation.

A vibrant 2014 large-ensemble performance recorded live in Nijmegen and Moers, with Fred Frith leading an extraordinary lineup including Marie Abe, Kasey Knudsen, Aaron Novik, Lisa Mezzacappa, Ava Mendoza, William Winant, Dominique Leone, Wobbly, Kaethe Hofstetter, and Jordan Glenn in dynamic, genre-blurring interpretations of his Gravity-era compositions.

The fourth solo piano album from British improviser Pat Thomas on Otoroku, recorded at London's Fish Factory and drawing from his Sufi faith and the legacy of Arabic scientific innovation, as Thomas explores cosmic motion and spiritual resonance through dynamic inside-piano techniques, harmonic clusters, and deeply personal, rhythmically charged improvisations.

Alone with his newly acquired 1947 Steinway Model M, Downtown New York pianist Anthony Coleman crafts an intimate set of solo explorations that probe touch, resonance, and the piano's physical poetry, transforming his long-fraught relationship with the instrument into a deeply personal study of sound, nuance, and the possibilities revealed by playing at home.

A powerful 1972 duo performance from alto saxophonist Mike Osborne and pianist Stan Tracey, and the 2nd release on Cadillac Records, recorded live at Surrey Hall and unfolding as a nearly 47-minute continuous improvisation, blending OsborneÕs fierce, vocal intensity with TraceyÕs harmonically adventurous, percussive drive in a richly inventive and compelling exchange.

Recorded across two sessions eight years apart, Nels Cline and Elliott Sharp forge a vivid acoustic-guitar dialogue that blends crisp articulation, percussive attack, spectral overtones, and patient, boundary-pushing interplay, creating a set of inventive, empathetic improvisations that expand the guitar-duo tradition with wit, texture, and fearless curiosity.

An extended work for piano by Sarah Hennies, SOVT (Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract) transforms the instrument through putty-muted strings and resonant sympathetic vibrations, performed with rhythmic precision by Richard Valitutto in a hybrid piano-percussion sound world inspired by vocal-tract exercises and Hennies' exploration of voice, identity, and embodied resonance.

Capturing their first UK appearance since 2016, the duo of Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai unleash two blistering sets of "hard noise" at Cafe Oto, forging scorched-earth tape loops, feedback vortices, and pedal-chain eruptions into a ferocious, fire-music-level onslaught that channels pure chaos into a gripping, cathartic sonic upheaval.

Duo music from Robert Evans and Laurie Scott Baker for crwth, tambura, lyre, fiddle, double and electric bass and metal percussion, four slowly evolving pieces rooted in the harmonic series and Pythagorean tuning, weaving airy but focused textures of resonant strings and shimmering overtones into quietly luminous, immersive soundscapes.

Continuing their ever-evolving duo series, tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley expand their intuitive, exploratory language with a bold new dimension, including the duo's first-ever use of overdubbing to create layered, prismatic improvisations that push their Polarity collaboration into strikingly multidirectional terrain.

A vinyl-only sampler spanning 1970-2007, showcasing Joe McPhee's fiercely inventive spirit through funk-driven grooves, spiritual jazz depth, fiery collaborations with Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing, and intimate duo interplay with Paal Nilssen-Love - a defiant, time-jumping portrait of one of improvised music's most dynamic voices.

Through 64 succinct works, the trio of Sergio Armaroli (vibraphone), Steve Piccolo (electric bass, voices, electronics), and Elliott Sharp (guitars, soprano saxophone) unravels and reimagines the jazz tradition in fascinating fragments where familiar melodies, riffs, and harmonic cues flicker through an inventive, experimental interplay that blurs memory, abstraction, and improvisational wit.

Drawing on a cross-continental journey of change and discovery, drummer and composer Jacobo Vega-Albela debuts with an expressive set of trio, quartet, and quintet pieces blending contemporary jazz with post-bop, rock, Latin, and modern classical influences, offering a vivid and deeply personal statement shaped by close collaborators and heartfelt narrative drive.

An inventive and lyrical contemporary piano trio session from Dan Banks (piano), Trevor Taylor (drums) and José Canha (bass), where agile post-bop themes unravel into spacious free improvisations, balancing lyrical reflection with muscular rhythmic drive as the group twist melodies, textures and momentum through constantly shifting perspectives.

A compelling and distinctive live solo recording from cellist Daniel Levin at Firehouse 12 in 2015, using extended bowing, percussive techniques, and resonant microtonal detail to explore the cello's outer limits, presented in Smeraldina-Rima's distinctive packaging with a handmade screen-printed fold-out poster and heavy-duty printed sleeve.

Longtime collaborators Daniel Carter, Patrick Holmes, Matthew Putman, Hilliard Greene, and Federico Ughi deepen their singular "telepathic" language in extended, impressionistic improvisations that merge chamber-like clarity, eerie lyricism, and freely shifting rhythms, creating one of the ensemble's darkest and most atmospheric explorations to date.

Founded in 2001 and reunited after their last album in 2007, the quartet of Satoko Fujii (piano), Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Hayakawa Takeharu (bass), and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums) unleashes a high-energy blend of avant jazz-rock, shifting from atmospheric fragments to dense, electric-edged turbulence, driven by sharp contrasts, ferocious rhythms, and the group's volatile, genre-bending interaction.

Exploring a vivid spectrum of sound, the duo of Ayako Kanda (voice) and Elliott Sharp (baritone guitar, electronics) pairs Kanda's kaleidoscopic shifts between linguistic and nonverbal expression with Sharp's baritone guitar textures and electronic detail in an improvisational dialogue that moves fluidly between abstraction, color, and visceral intensity.

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.

A profoundly personal solo recording from Ken Vandermark on tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinets, captured live at Corbett vs. Dempsey in Chicago in March 2025, performing a suite dedicated to Joe McPhee that interlaces composed and freely improvised works — each named for symbolic flowers — into a deeply expressive tribute of melody, emotion, and inventive clarity.

An extraordinary solo piano album from UK pianist Pat Thomas, recorded at London's Fish Factory Studio, presenting eight deeply focused improvisations and compositions reflecting Thomas's lifelong engagement with Sufism and spiritual expression through sound; a luminous, exploratory work that unites the traditions of jazz and mysticism into a transcendent, profoundly human statement.

An extraordinary solo piano album from UK pianist Pat Thomas, recorded at London's Fish Factory Studio, presenting eight deeply focused improvisations and compositions reflecting Thomas's lifelong engagement with Sufism and spiritual expression through sound; a luminous, exploratory work that unites the traditions of jazz and mysticism into a transcendent, profoundly human statement.

A powerhouse debut from the improvising trio of drummer JT Lewis, guitarist & reed player Elliott Sharp, and guitarist Marco Cappelli, blending spontaneous composition with structured narrative in an inventive interplay of amplified classical, electric, and bass guitars, clarinet, electronics, and percussion that spans modern jazz, experimental, and avant-garde sound worlds.

A fascinating double album uniting guitarist Gene Torchia on amplified classical guitar and John Stowell on electric guitar, recorded in the studio between 2023 and 2025, blending composed works written for modern classical guitar and flute with Stowell's improvisations to create a rich and stylistically diverse dialogue spanning blues, Latin, Irish, baroque, and avant-garde forms.

Returning to its core quartet, Natural Information Society — Joshua Abrams, Lisa Alvarado, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Jason Stein — unfolds a single continuous composition of hypnotic polyrhythms and evolving textures, merging minimalism, modal jazz, and dub-inspired production into a richly layered soundfield that pulses with meditative intensity, collective focus, and transcendent rhythmic flow.

Joined by bassist Mark Helias and drummer Eric McPherson, pianist Russ Lossing presents a deeply intuitive trio performance that balances structure and freedom, unfolding through intricate yet unforced improvisations that reveal profound emotional depth, rhythmic sensitivity, and melodic imagination, affirming his mastery of spontaneous musical dialogue and expressive subtlety.

Reimagining sounds from his past collaborations with Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Terry Riley, and Michael Wimberly, Thollem transforms their performances into new sonic landscapes through real-time improvisation using samples from their improvisations, blending organic and electronic textures into a kaleidoscopic exploration of memory, transformation, and infinite creative possibility.

Featuring David Peck, John Fugarino, Bob Moores, Eric Woods, and Mike Gruen, this edition of Metal Chaos Ensemble merges horns, electronics, and metallic percussion in a dense improvisational landscape where shifting textures, resonant drones, and abstract rhythmic interplay create an evolving sound world of raw intensity, shimmering atmosphere, and inventive sonic dialogue.

An eight-piece horn and electronics ensemble featuring David Peck, Hilary Noble, Cliff White, Dennis Livingston, John Fugarino, Bob Moores, Eric Dahlman, and Duane Reed, creating a vividly shifting chamber improvisation where reeds and brass intertwine with auxiliary percussion and electronics, generating dynamic waves of color, density, and resonance in a constantly evolving acoustic spectrum.

An extraordinary collective improvisation uniting David Peck, Michael Caglianone, John Fugarino, Robin Amos, Jonathan LaMaster, and Michael Knoblach, merging woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion, and electronic instruments in a fluid and intricately balanced dialogue that juxtaposes turbulence and calm, unfolding with expansive textures, measured intensity, and vivid sonic interplay.

Elliott Sharp's impressive series "Never Metaguitar" with releases on Clean Feed and Klanggalerie continues in this 6th volume of 18 remarkable and diverse approaches to the stringed instrument, effected and not, with contributors including Dougie Bowne, Wendy Eisenberg, Charles K. Noyes, AndrŽ Cholmondele, Toto Alvarez, Zona Zanjeros, David Torn, &c. &c.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.