The transnational ensemble of acoustic improvisers Nathaniel Catchpole on tenor saxophone, Elk calls, Jamie Coleman on trumpet, Alex James on piano, Ross Lambert on guitar, pocket trumpet, preparations, John Lely on piano, Sebastian Lexer on piano, Marianthi Papalexandri on moving objects, Eddie Prevost on percussion, and Seymour Wright on alto saxophone.

Saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc takes his masterful NY quartet of pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Hilliard Green, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker to perform live at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in 2016, capturing four remarkable improvisations of Moondoc compositions including an extended rendering of "Cosmic Nickelodeon", the band balancing lyricism with intensely creative playing.

Two contrasting works composed for the tape label Dauw by Rutger Zuydervelt, exercises in creating an auditory space or sphere rather than sculpting a structured composition; "Dwaal" presents orchestral washes amidst a barrage of radio static and erratic noise; "Wold" is a dream-like work of pianos, subtle hiss and field recordings; plus remixes of each.

Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek, in a 7" release of two tracks developed for a piece commissioned by Marta Alstadsaeter and Kim-Jomi Fischer for their dance piece "as much as it is worth" in 2017, the first an edited version of the final music used for the piece, a complex yet upbeat and bouncy work, the second side expanding and darkening the music.

An incredible concert at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee from the Chicago trio of Hamid Drake on drums, Kent Kessler on bass, and Ken Vandermark on reeds, a working trio of intense free jazz that formed in the 90s and has developed an almost telepathic rapport through energetic and cathartic collective playing, one of the exceptional examples of Chicago jazz.

The first release on pianist Anthony Pateras' new label OffCompass intended to explore a more diverse set of projects, is from the North Of North trio of Anthony Pateras on piano, Scott Tinkler on trumpet, and Erkki Veltheim on electric violin, using improvisation, Carnatic music, 20th and 21st century compositional strategies, mathematical theories and open forms of jazz.

The sixth set performed during an 8-day tour of Japan in 2018 by Australian drummer / percussionist Will Guthrie (Ames Room, The Sommes Ensemble) took place at 0g in Osaka, captured here as a 32 minute set of vigorous playing tempered with introspective passages, using powerful technique and unorthodox approaches to his kit; cathartic and captivating.

After several years of Brass Unbound, Getatchew Mekuria, festivals and countless side projects, The Ex return to The Ex, a 4-piece led by the trio of guitars from Andy Moor, Terrie Hessels and Arnold de Boer driven by drummer Katherina Bornefeld, de Boer acerbic and insightful on this seriously great rock record; plus a 36-page photo book from Andy Moor.

After several years of Brass Unbound, Getatchew Mekuria, festivals and countless side projects, The Ex return to The Ex, a 4-piece led by the trio of guitars from Andy Moor, Terrie Hessels and Arnold de Boer driven by drummer Katherina Bornefeld, de Boer acerbic and insightful on this seriously great rock record; plus a 36-page photo book from Andy Moor.

Always open to new approaches, NY guitarist Mary Halvorson takes her trio with drummer Tomas Fujiwara and bassist Michael Formanek, adds trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and, in a twist of the thumbscrew, vocalist Amirtha Kidambi, for a mix of song and instrumental pieces that balance jazz and rock sensibilities with lyricism, intricate lines, and creative spirit.

Two like-minded musicians with a history in compositional and improvised music, pianist and prepared pianist Elisabeth Harnik and double bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre met at WIST, in Graz, Austria in 2016 to perform and record this live album of insightful and compelling dialog between two masterful musicians full of creativity and virtuosic skill.

Drummer Moholo-Moholo, a member of Blue Notes, Elton Dean's Ninesene, Foxes Fox, London Improvisers Orchestra, a sideman for Brotzmann, Keith Tippets sideman and drummer and most importantly, band leader in a rich, lyrical and spiritual album recorded live at Cafe Oto in 2017 with Alexander Hawkins (piano), John Edwards (bass), Shabaka Hutchings (sax) and Jason Yard (sax).

Captured live, the excitingly assertive improvisation of Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and Bhutan electric guitarist Tashi Dorji on the stage at Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec in 2016, and at La Sala Rosa, each pushing the limits on their instruments while retaining control of their conversation, a taut balancing act of extraordinary playing.

The Thing "again" as Gustafsson on saxophones, Haker Flaten on electric and acoustic bass, and Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion present 3 extended blues-based, Ayler-inflected free jazz pieces, with Gustafsson's powerfully emotional playing over Haker-Flaten and Nilssen-Love's powerful polyrhythmic foundations; Joe McPhee joins for one track taking on a Frank Lowe piece.

The Thing "again" as Gustafsson on saxophones, Haker Flaten on electric and acoustic bass, and Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion present 3 extended blues-based, Ayler-inflected free jazz pieces, with Gustafsson's powerfully emotional playing over Haker-Flaten and Nilssen-Love's powerful polyrhythmic foundations; Joe McPhee joins for one track taking on a Frank Lowe piece.

The first vinyl edition of the 2004 collaboration of Italian power trio Zu of Luca Tommaso Mai on baritone sax, Massimo Pupillo on bass, and Jacopo Battaglia on drums, with Swedish baritone sax phenomenon Mats Gustafsson, what Atavistic calls a "hypno-skronk implosion" of dueling baritones sax over wonderfully intense and skronky free improvisation; a classic!

The very first album from Portugal's impressive Clean Feed Records is this live album at Auditorio do Forum Cultural do Seixal from the trio of Steve Swell on trombone, Ken Filiano on bass and Lou Grassi on drums, joined by Paulo Curado on alto sax and Rodrigo Amado on baritone sax, a significant concert merging free players from two nations with profound influence on jazz music.

The history of bassist Sean Conly's collaborations and releases shows a strong love of the jazz tradition and a perceptive writing style that references that tradition, heard here in free and lyrical original Conly compositions performed in the studio in a trio setting with fellow New York musicians Satoshi Takeishi on drums and Michael Attias on alto saxophone.

Multi-reedist and wind player Alberto Pinton's quartet Noi Siamo ("We Are") with Niklas Barno on trumpet, Torbjorn Zetterberg on bass and Konrad Agnas on drums, are caught at the Swedish Glenn Miller Cafe in Stockholm for this exciting album of knowledgable and passionate free jazz, a dynamic concert referencing Eric Dolphy, Freddy Hubbard, and Ornette Coleman.

A wicked hybrid of jazz, avant rock and cinematic elements, bassist Caterina Palazzi's quintet Sudoku Killer takes on the music of Disney in a suite where each track is dedicated to an antagonist from movies like "Snow White" or "Sleeping Beauty", performed with Giacomo Ancillotto (guitar), Maurizio Chiavaro (drums), Sergio Pomante (sax) and Antonio Raia (sax).

Performing together since 2004 between Tokyo and Amsterdam, Dutch vocal improviser, innovator and electronicist Jaap Blonk meets Japanese vocal improviser and fellow electronics artist Tomomi Adachi at Lettretage in Berlin in 2017, recording this, the 5th in Kontrans' Electronic Improvisation, for two extended and energetic dialogs of unique creative interplay.

As he delves further into electronics, Netherlands vocal improviser and experimental artists Jaap Blonk finds an ever-increasing array of approaches to modify his voice and set it into alien and astounding environments, here in 16 tracks of musique concrete, sound poetry, pulse based electronics, soundscapes, and inexplicable hybrids of the same.

4 essential albums from the trio of Frode Gjerstad on saxophones and reeds, William Parker on double bass, and Hamid Drake on drums; CD 1 presents "Ultima" originally released in 1997 on Cadence Jazz; CD 2 presents "Remember To Forget" from 1998 on Circulasione Totale; CD 3 "The Other Side" from 2006 on Ayler Records; and CD 4 "On Reade Street" from 2008 on FMR.

An absolutely fitting and exceptional tribute to late trumpeter & trombonist Clifford Thornton from a quartet of NY and European free jazz musicians, particularly Joe McPhee who recorded with Thornton and cites him as an influence, plus Daunik Lazro (sax), Makoto Sato (drums) and Jean-Marc Foussate (synth), recorded live at Nickelsdorf's Konfrontationen Festival 2017.

A thorough overview of bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre's recent work in a boxed set of 8 CDs and a 16 page booklet of essays, photos and credits, each CD bringing a unique grouping from Les Diaboliques to duos with Mat Maneri, Fred Frith, Lauren Newton, & Jean-Luc Cappozzo, plus one solo disc and a quartet with Zlatko Kaucic, Evan Parker and Augusti Fernandez; magnificent.

Serbian violinist and composer Szilard Mezei's septet in a recording for KCNS Novi Sad from 2015, three tracks of contemporarily orchestrated free improvisation performing three extended Mezei compositions, sophisticated works with effortlessly elaborate structures affording his septet opportunity in group interplay and well-developed soloing, a great achievement.

A significant release from the history of the Detail trio of Frode Gjerstad on reeds, John Stevens on drums, and Johnny Dyani on bass, recorded at the Red Seahouses in Norway in 1938 during Detail's first trio tour, a smoking set of free jazz showing the power of these innovative players around the time of their first album, "Backwards and Forwards".

Long-time collaborators, saxophonist Paul Dunmall and guitar Philip Gibbs are joined by Neil Metcalfe on flute and Ashley-John Long on bass for a concert at the Victoria Rooms, in Bristol, England in 2017, six collective improvisation of spectacular technique and inventive playing, often at very fast tempos, but always resolving to an inner calm and beauty.

Live recordings at Hexagon Theatre in Birmingham in 2018 from the UK free improvising quartet of Paul Dunmall on tenor saxophone, John O'Gallagher on alto saxophone, John Edwards on bass, and Mark Sanders on drums, the two saxophonists bringing distinct approaches together as they weave and parry over the powerhouse rhythm duo of Edwards and Sanders.

A beautiful trio album bringing together New York saxophonist Tony Malaby and Australian saxophonist Robert Burke with NY bassist Mark Helias for sophisticated and organic collective improvisations with a chamber jazz sensibility, which the musicians describe as an immersive journey bringing together each player's experiences, expertise and egos.

A live performance at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon from the Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Alvaro Rosso on contrabass, joined in this concert by Creative Sources frequenct collaborator Eduardo Chagas (Variable Geometry Orchestra, IKB, Suspensao, &c), a large work of microscopically detailed and concentrative acoustic improv.

The Spanish free improvising quartet Colectivo maDam of Ruben Gutierrez on electronics, objects, Tomas Gris on acoustic guitar, Guillermo Torres on fluguelhorn, and David Area on electronics are joined by Lisbon improvisers Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Miguel Mira on cello for this 3-part work, the first recorded live at Espacio B, Madrid, the 2nd & 3rd recorded in the studio.

Guitarist Henk Zwerver, bassist Raoul van der Weide and percussionist George Hadow, frequent collaborators in the Amsterdam free improv scene, join with Berlin saxophonist & clarinetist Edith Steyer to make up the Bertch Quartet, their debut album a great and embraceable example of subtle, collective free improvisations that merge traditional and non-idiomatic forms.

Large scale improvisation of the most subtle nature from Portugal's Isotope Ensemble led by Ernesto Rodrigues, 17 musicians slowly unfolding this beautiful work of consonance and dissonance dedicated to element atomic number 56, recording live at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon with instrumentation including acoustic reeds, strings, brass, percussion, and electronics.

Dedicating his album to Paul Burwell and Z'ev, Spanish percussionist Paolo Sanna demonstrates his many years of research in sound, silence, noise, experimentation, musical research and deconstruction through standard percussive devices and found objects, giving his playing a distinctive and personal palette which he plays with superb technique and timing.

Recording in the studio in Lisbon, Portugal, the free improvising lowercase/subtle momentum quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Luis Lopes on electric guitar, and Vasco Trilla on percussion, demonstrate intense control and remarkable concentration through the five parts of "{ Lithos }".

Dedicated to the late free jazz legend Cecil Taylor, this Lisbon sextet of Paulo Alexandre Jorge on tenor saxophone, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Eduardo Chagas on trombone, Manuel Guimaraes on piano, Miguel Mira on cello, and Pedro Santo on drums performs four energetic and well-balanced collective improvisations, respecting and evoking the incredible legacy Taylor left behind.

Dynamic and compelling improvisations from the Oslo-based international guitar trio of Brinicle, an improvising trio comprised of Norwegian Hakon Norby Bjorgo on upright bass, Canadian Mike McCormick on electric guitar and Michaela Antalova on drum kit, who met in 2015 to join their interestes in the intersection of avant improvisation and post-rock.

Cellist Cecilia Quinteros formed this free jazz quartet with Christoph Gallio on soprano and alto saxophones, Alex Elgier on piano and Marcelo Von Schultz on drums, recording in Buenos Aires, Argentina for four spectacular improvisations with idiosyncratic language on their instruments and unbridled enthusiasm in their playing, even in introspective moments.

The New York free improvising jazz trio Thumbscrew with long-time collaborators guitarist Mary Halvorson, double bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara in the 1st of 2 albums on the reborn Cuneiform label, here presenting creative original compositions from each of the three musicians in 9 virtuosic, sometimes quirky, and always warmly adventurous tunes.

The second of two albums from the reborn Cuneiform label by New York free improvising jazz trio Thumbscrew with long-time collaborators guitarist Mary Halvorson, double bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, here presenting compositions from jazz greats Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Nichols, Stanley Cowell, Misha Mengelberg, &c.

Australia's performing trio Omelette of Jordan Murray on trombone, Ronny Fereller on drums, and Luke Howard on piano follow up their 2014 album on Jazzhead with this live album, the trio joined by Chilean percussionist working in Melbourne Javier Fredes, for a lyrical and rhythmically rich live performance at Melbourne's JazzLab in 2017.

Hungarian composer, improviser and multi-reedist Jasna Jovicevic in an album researching sound vibrations and their direct impact on our body, energy, and creativity, performed with her contemporary chamber jazz sextet of bassoon, percussion, viola, violin and violincello, lyrical and joyful music "divided according to psychic centers in the human body".

It would be an understatement to call the Canadian trio of Francois Carrier (alto saxophone), Michel Lambert (drums) and Rafal Mazur (acoustic bass guitar) a working trio, as the band seems constantly on the go, performing their complex avant jazz live in Romania in 2016 at Aethernativ, for four extended, intricate and cathartic free dialogs.

A West Coast trio of electric and acoustic jazz from Patrick Shiroishi on alto & soprano saxophones, Dylan Fujioka on drums, and Paco Casanova on keyboards and electric piano, performing live at The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA in 2017 for an extended journey, at times psychedelic and others contemporary but always serious, revelatory and commanding.

A large band project from UK composer, arranger and conductor Giles Thornton, directing 29 musicians through original works and reinterpretations of ballads like Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You", in a blend of acoustic and electronic musicians that avoids overt fusion overtones while keeping the music melodic with the occasional exotica flair.

The amalgamation of the names of Chicago mainstays, saxophonist Keefe Jackson, drummer Julian Kirshner and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, tenor guitar and electronics, J@K@L are captured live the Hungry Brain in Chicago in a concert of intricate, dynamic, fast-paced and expressive free improvisation with a unique palette and extraordinarily strong communication.

Quintet and sextet recordings from the Polyorchard group of Jeb Bishop on trombone, Chris Eubank on cello, Bill McConaghy on trumpet, David Menestres on double bass, David Morris on tuba, Dan Ruccia on viola, Jeb Bishop on trombone, and Jacob Wick on trumpet, recording at "The Store" in Raleigh, NC, for sublime and complex and collective free improvisation.

Two fascinating experimental concepts executed by Roger Turner, Henry Kaiser, Martin Kuchen, Damon Smith, Jeff Coffin, Ed Pettersen, Tania Chen, & Jordan Muscatello; Disc 1, each musician improvised alone to NASA recordings from the Voyager spacecraft, the results mixed together over the Voyager track; Disc 2, three improvisers play together in response to Voyager tracks.

Performing in Toledo, Ohio, the trio of Keefe Jackson on tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, Christoph Erb on tenor saxophone & bass clarinet, and Tomeka Reid on cello are caught live at the Robinwood Concert House for a rugged set of collective improvisation, the two horns intertwining in extreme technique as Reid bows, scrapes and provides counterpoint to their volleys.

The 2nd release from the trio of Oren Ambarchi, Kassel Jaeger, and James Rushford in two side-long pieces, simmering stews of electronic smears, pitched-down animal moans, and mysteriously emotive microtonal organ chords, crossed with elements twisted from dub and techno alongside unusually treated percussive elements; chilling and disturbed music.

Long out of print on both the Incus label where it was released in 1975, and on Evan Parker's psi imprint, this is a much needed reissue of the original configuration of this legendary album of UK free improvising guitarist Derek Bailey in concert with saxophonist Evan Parker on tenor and soprano, performing live at Wigmore Hall in London on 14 February 1975; essential.

Seeking to extend the guitar trio into new and unique territory, the Quebec trio of Eric Normand on electric bass, Louis Beaudoin-de-la-Sablonniere on electric guitar, and Louis-Vincent Hamel on drums, reference performers like Jim Hall, Sonny Sharrock, John Abercrombie, & Bill Frisell while focusing on harmolodic force and unusual melodic lines.

An unusual mix of instruments from the Montreal trio of percussionist Michel Bonneau on congas & balafon, John Heward on drums, and Scott Thomson on trombone, all members of Ratchet Orchestra and Heward's Murray Street Band, in an album of active and uniquely layered confident rhythmic floors over which Thomson freely plays with remarkable technique.

2018 Reissue: A much-needed vinyl reissue of the seminal London & European Free Improv trio release from 1970, an amazing album showing the relationships between established jazz forms and the emerging modern language.

Tenor and baritone saxophones in an exchange of spectral interactions that emphasize harmonic overtones and intersections, unusual emanations from both instruments in a perfectly paced improvisations, each of the 12 dialogs named aptly for locations and crossing in Englad and France, adding a sense of journey to these mysterious and wonderful expeditions.

New York improvising guitarist Bill Frisell recording with Dutch/Belgian chanteuse Chantal Acda (Sleepingdog) at the 2017 Jazz Middelheim Fest, in Antwerp, Belgium, which they agreed to do based on mutual satisfaction of their collaboration on Acda's studio album "Bounce Back" that year, resulting in a wonderfully compatible concert of rich and beautiful music.

Unreleased pieces from David Behrman focused on his '70s work with microcomputers: "Interspecies Smalltalk" commissioned by John Cage and Merce Cunningham, performed with Takehisa Kosugi (violin) & David Behrman (electronics); an early version of "Leapday Night", here performed with Werner Durand on saxophone; plus "All Thumbs" for 2 electrified mbiras.

Six recordings from Luc Ferrari's Atelier De Liberation De La Musique, a collective he created together with Martin Davorin Jagodic (electric piano), Philippe Besombes (synthesizer), and Alain Petit (sax, clarinet & flute) in 1975 for a series of performances at the Galliera Museum in Paris to take place within an audio-visual labyrinth.

A reissue of Merzbow's 1994 CD originally released on The Releasing Eskimo, a high point in Merzbow's discography of wild energy through high-speed loops, roving automotive bass, and cacophonic drum machines, together with the surprising inclusion of a Merzbow's own voice, in a very limited vinyl release with paintings and collages of Masami from the original sessions.