As much a composed work as a work of improvisation, pianist and composer Simon Nabatov's String Trio with Garteh Lubbe on viola and Ben Davis perform six Nabatov compositions, chamber jazz works that express in both buyouantly intricate and languourosly beautiful abstraction, each piece leaving room for each player to improvise and express themselves.

Saxophonist Heath Watts' 3rd Leo release is an album of free improvisation with three Montana jazz mavens--Blue Armstrong on double bass, MJ Williams on trombone, piano & melodica, and Nancy Owens on violin--in nine recordings of sophisticated and intelligent interaction that naturally evolves new directions of irrepressibly enjoyable and diverse conversation.

A much-need reissue of saxophone, reed & wind player Roscoe Mitchell's landmark 1966 free jazz album, advancing the concepts of the AACM through improvisation that incorporates texture, space, and interaction in free playing that doesnt't rely on cathartic playing, but instead uses collective exploration of "sound", opening doors to new and still-modern approaches to jazz.

Documenting the meeting of guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, also singing on "If I Were a Bell", with the Edmonton, CA-based Vertrek Ensemble of Ron de Jong on percussion and Vadim Budman on guitars and trumpet, in a city Chadbourne lived in 25 years prior, as he returns for a serious and well recorded album of informed free improv, plus one solo Chad track from a concert during his visit.

A unique sound document originally envisioned as a sound map of Ireland, collecting and composing with live recordings from performances in Doon, Dungarvan, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Singo & Stratford, using song, sound, spoken word, extraneous, ambient recordings and abstract and unidentifiable elements, making for an absolutely fascinating and somewhat bizarre album; recommended.

Two distinct works by Swiss composer and bass clarinetist Jurg Frey: the 1st, recorded in Connecticut, a quintet composition from 2009 for bass clarinet, cello, violin, keyboard and electric guitar, Frey's harmonies creating an open instrumentation for the clarinet and cello; the second a 1997 composition for multitimbral field recordings and bass clarinet.

French composer and guitarist Clara De Asis composed the extended soundwork "Without" for the duo of Erik Carlson (violin) and Greg Stuart (percussion), defining a precise framework for the position and duration of each sound section and silence, with outlines for texture, volume, use of tone or noise, and percussive materials, but leaving space for many of the performers' choices.

Composer & cellist Stefan Thut performs his composition with Ryoko Akama (electronics), Stephen Chase (guitar), Eleanor Cully (piano), Patrick Farmer (metal percussion), and lo wie (tingsha), where half of the group allow single percussive, ringing or electronic sounds to decay, as the other half play high register pitches, in between walking "about" and uttering monosyllabic words.

Drummer/percussionist and electronic artist Weasel Walter's solo album presents 99 tracks that represent 4 large movements of "detailed abstract madness", titled "Curse Against Humanity", "Casting Destruction", "Ode To The Death Of Enemies", and "Cursed in Eternity", each a vicious and intensely captivating set of elusive movement in accord and discord; fascinating.

Uniquely voice free improvisation from the duo of guitarist Sandy Ewen, rejecting effects in favor of extended techniques and non-standard approaches that employ Ewen's simple preparations made with ordinary objects, and Walter's applying unconventional rhythmic strategies and live electronic processing, resulting in 3 detailed and unexpected dialogs.

Drummer Weasel Walter turns to his love of furious metallic music in this intimidating album of chaotic, noisy skronk rock in a solo album played on guitars, drums and electronics accompanied by distorted grunts that add a disturbing layer to the madness; aggressively skillful and demanding, intended to be played LOUD, with a take-no-prisoners, no-apology attitude.

"Poisonous" is an auditory hallucination created with simple tools--acoustic trumpet and drums--from NY free improvisers Peter Evans and Weasel Walter, presenting seven pieces of forceful, modern abstraction, blurring the lines between composition and improvisation in a display of impeccable technical skill, mindboggling energy, and wonderfully twisted inspiration.

A uniquely bizarre and brilliant pairing between drummer Weasel Walter and saxophonist Martin Escalante, Walter an incessantly active drummer, here in absurdly impressive technique on drums and bass pedal in the face of and complementing Escalante's truly extreme use of the sax, at times like a steroidal bird call of savage intent; jaw dropping!

Naples tenor saxophonist Antonio Raia's album of solo saxophone improvisations employs a mix of traditional and unusual techniques in 12 concise pieces that fragment "scraps" of melody into a diverse ruminating streams, recorded at the city's Filangeri Asylum by sound artist Renato Fiorito, using ten microphones to capture the unique qualities of the space.

Drawing from two live performances, one at Salao Brazil in Coimbra, the other at SMUP Parede in Lisbon, from the trio of Norwegian multi-reedist Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (Ballrog), and Portuguese double bassist Hernani Faustino (Red Trio) and drummer/percussionist Nuno Morao (The Selva), for four spontaneous improvisations of great depth and mastery.

Mesophase: matter that is neither liquid or solid, sharing properties of both; pianist and electronic artistZack Clarke's inspired album shares properties of improvisation, experimental/ea and through-composed music, performed with fellow NY-ers Chris Irvine (cello), Charlotte Greve (winds), Nick Dunston (double bass), and Leonid Galaganov (percussion, waterphone & shakuhachi).

Saxophonist Ricardo Toscano's Quartet with Joao Pedro Coelho on piano, Romeu Tristao on bass, and Joao Lopes Pereira on drums, a great example of modern Portuguese mainstream jazz that pays homage to the masters of bop and the Blue Note era, in a lyrical album of Toscano original compositions, alongside a rendering of Herbie Hancock's "The Sorcerer".

The Italian free improv quartet The Assassins (Francesco Cusa, drums; Giulio Stermieri, piano; Flavio Zanuttini, trumpet; Giovanni Benvenuti, sax) joins together with the classical chamber string ensemble, Florence Art Quartet (Daniele Iannaccone, violin; Lorenzo Borneo, violin; Agostino Mattioni, viola; Cristiano Sacchi, cello) in a wonderful hybrid of both approaches.

Italian trumpeter Falvio Zanuttini (Arbe Garbe) leads his bassless trio with Piero Bittolo Bon on alto sax and Marco D'Orlando on drums through 8 Zanuttini compositions, exciting free jazz with a lyrical bent and a playful attitude, the unique orchestration driving the players into post-bop territory with great parallel interaction in the horns and swinging drums - impressive!

An incredibly informed and modern album of free jazz drawing on an Albert Ayler influence from the Norwegian and Swedish septet of Andre Roligheten on tenor saxophone, clarinet, Kristoffer Alberts on alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, Niklas Barno on trumpet, Mats Aleklint on trombone, Mattias Stahl on vibraphone, Ola Hoyer on double bass, and Tollef Ostvang on drums.

Naples tenor saxophonist Antonio Raia's album of solo saxophone improvisations employs a mix of traditional and unusual techniques in 12 concise pieces that fragment "scraps" of melody into a diverse ruminating streams, recorded at the city's Filangeri Asylum by sound artist Renato Fiorito, using ten microphones to capture the unique qualities of the space.

Recording in the Bay Area at the Mills College Chapel in Oakland, the Drone Trio of Fred Frith on electric guitar, Phillip Greenlief using extended techniques on alto & tenor saxophones, and Evelyn Davis on the Chapel's pipe organ, use the natural resonance of the chapel and their masterful skills as improvisors to evolve fervid and powerfully sonorous environments.

Captured at Elastic in Chicago, the free improvising trio of Katherine Young on bassoon & electronics, Michael Zerang on percussion, and Michael Foster on soprano & tenor saxophones, use contrasting timbres and techniques throug wind instruments, percussion and electronics to create unusual and captivating dialog, evolving with great composure, a sense of wonder, and mastery.

Two unconventional and experimenting improvisers--French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot and Swiss percussionist Christian Wolfarth--in a deceptive album of acoustic improvisation that elusively takes on electric qualities in the hands of these two innovators, seducing the listener through unusual twists and turns of perfectly paced interactions.

Resonant and upbeat exploratory free improvisation in the 2nd album from the Portuguese trio of Dead Combo guitarist To Trips, and String Theory members, Adrian Sa on zither, field recordings & reactive software and John Klima on electric fretless bass, in beautifully rambling melodic work with unusual sonic environments and asides, an appealing and absorbing album.

Using material from solo live performances in San Francisco, Berlin, Zurich and London between 2010 and 2015, composer and sound artist Antoine Chessex developed the two compositions of this album, extracting his electroacoustic altered saxophone work and developing them into larger works that bridge extreme and psychoacoustics approaches with great sonic depth.

The 3rd phase of French sound artists Jean-Luc Guionnet & Thomas Tilly's art and research project, recorded at the Center for Contemporary Art at La Synagogue de Delme and joined by percussionist Will Guthrie, bagpiper Claude Grandjean, and violist Cyprien Busolini, creating a remarkably diverse installation of audio frequencies, voices, instrumental sections, rhythms and silence.

Eugene Chadbourne's Contemporary Rock Band is a trio with bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells of Machine Gun fame, electronic harmonica master Steven De Bruyn of El Fish and The Rhythm Junks, and Doc Chad himself on electric & acoustic guitars, banjo and voice, in a well-recorded studio album of covers that range from rock, pop, psych, experimental, blues, and a unique cover of "Monk's Dream".

Doc Chad took his Contemporary Rock Band, here as a quintet with Schroeder on drums, Fisten Titus Waldenfels on fiddle, Jan Fitsen on bass, and Marcello Del Bosco on drums, on a tour of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, here presenting the best of the tour with recordings of Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, plus a solo piece recorded on a vintage acoustic guitar.

A mix of songs and instrumentals, with 11 country classic covers, recorded in the studio and on tour from 2017-2018 in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Bulgaria, and the UK including one track from Cafe Oto, in the company of Titus Waldenfels (guitar), Thilo Kuhn (keys), Schroeder (drums), Gary Cherwonka (pedal steel) and Steven De Bruyn (harmonica).

Completing a year of monthly albums for pianist Satoko Fujii's "kanreki", or 60th birthday, is this impressive and cathartic album written for Fujii's Orchestra Tokyo as a tribute to late tenor saxophonist and 10 year orchestra member Masaya Kimura, with four compositions from Fujii and two from trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, in an album of both profound testimonly and celebratory release.

NY Tuba-driven trio The Gate led by Dan Peck on tuba & effects, with Tom Blancarte on upright electric bass and Brian Osborne on percussion, in a studio album of shorter pieces exploring the dark side of the huge brass instrument and the band's dark, enormous sound, with tongue-in-cheek titles like "Black Bird of Death Spewing Death Puke"; ominously impressive.

The NY based, long-running trio The Gate led by Dan Peck on tuba and effects, with double bassist Tom Blancarte and drummer Brian Osborne, in a cassette culled from live concerts in Hannover and Brussels while on a European tour in November of 2015, "a brutally unfiltered representation of The Gate's special brand of spontaneous composition."

New York trumpeter Joe Moffett (Earth Tongues) in a solo album of absolutely impressive technique and intensely personal playing, at times using amplifiers and computer applications to generate unique sonic environments for the horn or playing beautifully lyrical tone, timbres, grunts and spits; an album of profound, introspective inner dialog.

Eight improvisations over two CDs from Anthony Braxton's trio with frequent collaborator Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, flugelhorn and bass trumpet, and Bob Bresnan on piano, Braxton performing on sopranino, soprano, alto and baritone saxes, as the trio twists bop and free/experimental jazz in insightful and quick-witted way, a sublime addition to Braxton's catalog.

The final issue of the premier Canadian new music magazine Musicworks' 40th anniversary year, with Darcy Spidle on the cover, plus articles on Luke Nickel, Lina Allemano, Andre Cormier, Joseph Shabason, Thanya Iyer, the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, plus a 9 track CD with music from Darcy Spidle, Shabason, Iyer, Luke Nickel & Heather Roche, &c. &c.

Recorded on the last night of 577's Forward Festival 2017 in Brooklyn, the quintet of Daniel Carter (reeds & trumpet), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Matthew Putman (piano), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Federico Ughi (drums) take their audience on three remarkable journeys of almost chamber-oriented collective free jazz, adventurous and not-to-be-missed examples of modern jazz.

Recorded on the last night of 577's Forward Festival 2017 in Brooklyn, the quintet of Daniel Carter (reeds & trumpet), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Matthew Putman (piano), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Federico Ughi (drums) take their audience on three remarkable journeys of almost chamber-oriented collective free jazz, adventurous and not-to-be-missed examples of modern jazz.

Raucous and determined free jazz from Chicago's power-jazz trio Tiger Hatchery of Michael Forbes on saxophones, Andrew Scott Young on basses, and Ben Billington on drums, in their fifth album blending noise-rock and intelligent aggression with traditionally unorthodox approaches, keeping their pieces short and stinging as they find order in controlled cacophony.

A sublime album contrasting the physical acoustics of upright, grand and prepared pianos with elusively slippery electronics, plus some Buchla and Serge synthesizer additions, as New York electroacoustic improviser Ikue Mori and Danish experimenter Christian Ronn meet at the Elektron Musik Studion (EMS) in Stockholm to record this wonderfully hallucinatory album.

"Ke I Te Ki" signifies the sound of an alarm, as frequent collaborators Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda push themselves in a live multi-track recording at the NY Emily Harvey Foundation (former home of Fluxus founder George Maciunas), using field recordings, objects, layers of melody and rhythm, sustained drones, and diverse textures and timbres to create these absorbing recordings.

Listed in Jazz Right Now's "Best Records of 2017", the New York City based quartet of Michael Foster (saxophones), Steve Swell (trombone), Brandon Lopez (bass) and Weasel Walter (drums) presents four collective free jazz improvisations, powerfully dynamic playing using masterful skill and extended techniques to convey the essence of the form.

Having previously worked together with Joe McPhee and Kent Kessler, this album distills the Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and NY drummer/percussionist Chris Corsano to a concentrated sax and drum duo of earnest and edgy playing, bending jazz, free and blues idioms to their will with magnificent technique and power, both clearly elated in their meeting.

Two basses and a lower-end saxophone from the trio of Damon Smith on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass, and Danny Kamins on baritone sax, Durham also adding effects and "Radio Manipulation" to their deep sound, Durham & Kamins the core of CARL with Damon Smith adding extra underpinnings to their slowly developing, sometimes pensive, sometimes cantankerous, profound improvisation.

Recorded live at Silence Sounds in Guelph Canada, the duo of Xavier Charles on clarinet and Eric Normand on electric bass & objects eschew idiom in favor of their unique natural language on their instruments, applying patient development of truly idiosyncratic and fascinating command through a single extended work punctuated in seven diverse passages.

From 2008-16 until drummer Frank Rosaly moved to Amsterdam, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella's Trio was an active part of Chicago's creative jazz scene; in early 2018 Rosaly returned for a visit and Mazzarella composed a suite of 6 new pieces to commemorate the trio's tenth anniversary, the exuberant result this excellent concert recorded at Co-Prosperity Sphere!

Exploring human relationships and self perception through the use of physical objects and their potential sounds, San Antonio drummer Claire Rousay, who has worked with Jacob Wick, Ken Vandermark, Brandon Lopez, &c. recorded these six solo drum performances in the studio, developing each in a way that shows her strong technical skills and narrative voice on the drums.

Portland Oregon composer and sound artist Jeff Lane, co-founder of the Chicago/Portland record label Never Anything, as his alter-ego Tereshkova in a large work of electronic composition, part concrete, part acousmatic, spanning two cassettes with four side-long pieces, each an extended journey in mood, motion, perplexing sources and embrace-ably interesting.

A beautiful solo set of 12 improvisations, Michael Attias performing on alto sax with his left hand and piano with his right, captured in the natural reverberation of La Maison en Bois in Abeville-La-Riviere, France; surprisingly his 1st solo album, developed over 12 years yet played in under an hour with no retakes, a wonderful nuanced reflection in tone, melody & color.

A beautifully hypnotic album of saxophone, accompanied by Pan-Ney, Shruti Box and Organ, recorded in overdubs by composer/wind player Werner Durand in this 2nd chapter of his trilogy focused on the Pan-Ney, a self-built instrument for repetitive foundations, as Durand draws on elements of nature, mythology, dance, religion, literature and folklore.

Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight.

Recording in Toronto, the core trio of drummer Nick Fraser, saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis are joined on four tracks by tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Lina Allemano, in an album of composed and collective improvisation, merging Toronto, NY and European influences in an accomplished album of diverse approaches and orchestrations.

The 5th release from the trio of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Keiji Haino, guitarist Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi on wineglass and percussion is an introspective and beautifully developed set recorded live at their March 2013 concert at SuperDeluxe.

Recorded in the mid-90s, Livebatts! was a project of John White (Cornelius Cardew, Scratch Orchestra) developed to exploit "toy" keyboards of the 80s--cheap battery-driven instruments that hold tremendous potential for "serious" music-making--used here in a playful quartet with vocalist MJ Coldiron, Andrea Rocca (guitar & samples) and Nancy Ruffer (electrified flute).

An excellent first meeting of two guitarists recording on a February afternoon and released in the sequence recorded with no edits or changes, from Jim McAuley on guitar and Scot Ray on lap steel slide guitar with effects, an innately lyrical blending of styles masking the strong technical skills and long histories of these two superlative players.

Quietly lurking as it prepares to attack, this Kobra is the free improvising quaret of Aurora Nealand on accordion, alto saxophone, voice & objects, Steve Marquette on acoustic & electric guitars, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Paul Thibodeaux on drums, captured live at Chicago's Hungry Brain during the Instigation Festival for a mysterious 2-part "New Omens" and some "Telly Attire".

'Spilla' means 'to play' in the language of Neapolitan musicians, and playing here are NY guitarist and composer Elliott Sharp and Italian guitarist Sergio Sorrentino, presenting world premier recordings of 4 works recorded live in Vercelli, Italy: two improvisations and two graphic scores performed on electric guitar with incredible technique and passion.

Stochastic music for percussion and synthesizers from New York avant conceptualist and keyboardist Charlemagne Palestine, here on piano & electronics, with the Italian duo Trrma' of Giovanni Todisco on percussion and Guiseppe Candiano on synth, in two side-long works of irregular rhythm, complexity and dissonance that build and recede in a suspenseful journey.