A confluence of strings from the trio of Portuguese improvisers Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, performing in Berlin with double bassist Stephan Bleier, the title referring to a gradual ascending progression formed through small changes, an apt analogy for the illusory and shape-shifting approach their 5-part improvisations lead.

Emulating a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse in two evolving improvised chamber works that take the quartet of Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Mariana Carvalho on piano, Joao Valinho on percussion and Ernesto Rodrigues (switching from viola to harp & deploying electronics) through mysterious soundwork that move from darkness to light in detailed and subtle ways.

The French duo of bassoonist Sophie Bernado and sound artist Céline Grangey expand on the rich timbre of Bernado's bassoon, starting solo in beautiful etude improvisations only to have Grangey's sound designs expand around her playing, developing rich environments through electronics, field recording & voice, a beautiful intersection of experimental, composed and improvised music.

The duo of Pierre Tanguay on drums and percussion and Tom Walsh on trombone in a release of minimalist construction that blends composition and improvisation.

Promo copy with line thru bar code. Working inside and out of the piano and sometime evoking wild sounds that seem to have no relationship to the instrument, Polish-born and Amsterdam-based pianist Marta Warelis explores the concepts of realities beyond our perception, and a thought that we are a part of a big organism where everything goes endlessly bigger and smaller in scale of size, time and speed.

Promo copy with line thru bar code. The second album from Argentinian cellist, composer and improviser Violeta Garcia, exploring the amplified, prepared, expanded and extended violoncello through 15 succinct solo expositions in an album that she describes as a "very hyper-sensitive monster", using unconventional, extended and sometimes terrifying technique amidst powerful creative expression.

Promo copy with line thru bar code. An unusual set of electroacoustic improvisations recorded at Firehouse 12 from a New York trio led by trumpeter Forbes Graham, also on laptop and drum machine, Cecelia Lopez on analog synth, and bassist Brandon Lopez, Graham mutating his trumpet through sound processing, complemented by Cecelia Lopez's synthetic punctuations, all grounded by Brandon Lopez' solid bass work.

Promo copy with line thru bar code. Swedish guitar improviser Jon Lipscomb (LOPLOP, Swedish Fix) takes his listeners on a rugged trip across the strings, using distortion, tremolo and rapid-fire technique as he mines territories between free improv, noise and rock, his nimble mind stopping to explore areas of interest then cascading into new, turbulent environments; frightfully powerful.

Promo copy with line thru bar code. An album of raw and emotional "love songs", 17 unique solo violin improvisations and vocal utterance as the New York improviser runs her bow with passionate openness and intimacy through raspy edges, ardent plucking, introspective aching, and moments of beauty, all displayed through immense technique and powerful control over her instrument.

An exceptional album of widely-embracing collective improvisation recorded during Vertical Squirrel's 2019-20 residency at Silence as part of the You Are I Am series, the core quartet of Daniel Fischlin on guitars, monotron, flute & percussion, Ajay Heble on piano, Lewis Melville on bass & percussion and Ted Warren on drums & percussion are joined by cornetist and world instrumentalist Gary Diggins and vocalist & percussionist Dong-Won Kim.

Two large-scale compositions from "Through-Composer of Brutal Classical" Nandor Nevai, scored for 35 brass players and a vocalist, accomplished through 10 layers of Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), 9 of Steve B (tenor trombone), 7 of Ron Stabinsky (bass trombone) and 10 of Nevai himself on tenor trombone & voice; plus "Gospel Power Walls" for a chorus of 5 (bad) people.

The duo of guitarist Killick Hinds on stringed instruments, bells & electronics, and Italian/NY drummer Francesca Remigi on acoustic & electronic drums, percussion, and credited with Delene Porter for performing on "symbiote"; an "eclectic, ecstatic and exploratory duo strives for sonic research and for breaking the barriers of the conventional process of music making."

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The second of two volumes of studio improvisations between Brooklyn trumpeter & flugelhorn player Michael Sarian and keyboardist Matthew Putman, recorded in Sarin's home studio during the 2020 pandemic, allowing freedom in exploration as they sought out cadences, rhythms and melodies, this 2nd volume presenting the most interesting of their investigations.

Three live guitar improvisations from Swedish guitarist Kasper Agnas performing at Stockholm's New Music and Intermedia Art venue Fylkingen, each piece uniquely approached, starting with a lap guitar dulcimer-like approach of rapid rhythmic attacks, to a warm sound world using mallets on the guitar neck, and finally a work of decaying chords that evolve in complexity, strength and skew.

A live concert on a Sunday afternoon in 2017 at Green Mill in Chicago from the lyrically informed post-bop quintet Jimmy Bennington Colour And Sound, led by drummer Bennington with Fred Jackson, Jr. on alto saxophone & soprano saxophone, Artie Black on tenor saxophone, Dustin Laurenzi on tenor saxophone and Mike Harmon on bass.

The first encounter in 2022 between two free improvising guitarists--Guillaume Gargaud, a French composer and improviser playing a 6 string guitar, and Finnish experimental improv guitarist Jukka Kaariainen playing a 12 string--in a 5-part set of dialogs recorded in Helsinki, finding common ground from linear rhythms and high energy playing employing a large dynamical scale.

An exceptional quartet of electroacoustic improvisers captured in concert at MUG Einstein Kultur in Munich, organized by the non-profit Offene Haken e.V. - Freunde der improvisierten Musik (Friends of improvised music), from Markus Eichenberger on clarinet, Carl Ludwig Hubsch on tuba, Philip Zoubek on synthesizer and Etienne Nillesen on extended snare drum.

Wandelweiser founder and composer Antoine Beuguer and French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos in a work for voice (Philippakopoulos) and breath (Beuguer), employing spaces of silence against utterance and sibilant expression, a patiently developing work that floats by in deceptively simple ways, captivating through each articulation that seems perfectly placed.

Following an exploration of the double bass in his 2018 Confront release Basse Seul, Swiss-French composer and saxophonist Bertrand Denzler again jumps into the deep end again with a quartet of accomplished double basssists--Sebastien Beliah, Jon Heilbron, Mike Majkowski, Derek Shirley--for two extended works of encompassing low-register tones.

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The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.

The title referencing police tactics used to subdue a suspect, the 2nd solo album from NY trumpeter Joe Moffett finds the imporoviser approaching the instrument with atypical technique and a sense of sonic power in five engrossing works of technical prowess and creative imagination, producing "mangled, oscillating, chittering noises, a collision of muscle, bone, and metal".

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With a common passion for the jazz guitar, from Jim Hall to Bill Frisell, from Rene Thomas to Brandon Ross, the core duo of Canadian improvisers, guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere and bassist Éric Normand, are joined by drummer Tom Jacques for a set of original compositions plus a Paul Bley piece, one by Gilles Vigneault, and two collective improvisations.

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"Although the primacy of small string ensembles for superior musical expression has been confirmed since at least the 18th Century, th...

Meeting regularly since 2018, these three Luzern, Switzerland improvisers have developed a shared language of collective creative improv, the best known of the three being drummer & percussionist Gerry Hemingway working with two younger generation musicians, acoustic & electric guitarist Florestan Berset and vocalist Vera Baumann, here in their first wonderfully paced album.

Berlin-based songwriter Dean Roberts' first album in 12 years is a collection of dark and melancholic songs, set in unusual formats based around guitar, electronics, strings, with subtle rhythmic elements, performed by Dean's Dark Moth Ensemble, with additional musicians that include Boris Hauf on piano and The Neck's keyboardist Chris Abrahams on harp.

Quebecois guitarist Bernard Falaise of Miriodor, Klaxon Gueule, Papa Boa and Les Projectionnistes fame, continues his solo series with the fifth note of the scale, "Sol (G)", reflected in a series of eight inventive guitar improvisations using timbral effects and looping structures to expand his virtual ensemble as does in his live performances.

Collecting five chamber works from prolific London-based composer Tim Parkinson, written between 1998 and 2017 and performed by the Apartment House ensemble: one piece for solo violin performed by Mira Benjamin, two duos for violin & piano (by Benjamin & Siwan Rhys), a quintet for winds and strings and a septet, both featuring flute and bass clarinet.

Three muscular and inventive solo improvisations on the acoustic upright bass from North Carolina bassist and composer Phil Venable, a member of Tragic Assembly and The Phil Venable - Paul Swest Duo, recorded in the studio in 2022, the three "Basswork" parts are mostly demonstrating his strong walking and plucking skills, at times applying objects to his strings.

Rugged, experimental and avant jazz in the debut album from the SSWAN group of Patrick Shiroishi on saxophones, Chris Williams on trumpet, Jessica Ackerley on electric guitar, Luke Stewart on bass and Jason Nazary on drums, the group focused first on sound and velocity rather than pitch and harmonic information as they carve out a unique space between free jazz and free improv.

A flowing twilight electro-jazz cover of the standard "Stardust" from Japanese guitarist Bun Itakura and vocalist Mishio Ogawa, expanding the melody and Ogawa's phrasing with encompassing electronics and percussion from Takefumi Kobayashi; backed with an experimental "Mystery Making Factory" using paint brush, harmonic tone guitar, and mbira.

German vocalist Birgit Wunsch leads this improvising trio with Edith Steyer on clarinet & saxophone and Alberto Cavenati on guitar, using abstract and atonal melodies in a chamber improvised setting for freely improvised voice, text and sound, crossing a sense of pop music with non-idiomatic improvisation of great technical and creative intent.

Drawing on compositions from black artists who have created something uniquely their own--Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Georgia Anne Muldrow--alto saxophonist Darius Jones pulls from the depths of emotion and vulnerability in five solo tracks recorded in Portland, deeply felt blues reflecting the black experience in America and the pain of isolation.

A unique album of oddly metered yet highly rhythmic jazz from guitarist and composer Mané Fernandes, a member of Pedro Alves Melo Omniae Large Ensemble, but more importantly, part of a scene he refers to as Post-Beat Aesthetics, merging electronic and synthetic elements into jazz form, a serious and diverting direction for creative improv and studio play.

Referencing Thomas Chapin, Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell & Evan Parker, Spanish saxophonist Liba Villavechia's trio with drummer/percussionsit Vasco Trilla and double bassist Alex Reviriego explore the "tentacles that stem from the great Jazz octopus" through five Villavecchia compositions, one collective improv, and Thomas Chapin's "Bypass".

Translating to "Eulogy of the Shadows", the free improvising duo of violinist Carlos Zingaro and percussionist Pedro Carneiro performing on marimba with a damper pedal, structure their work as though emerging out of the dark night, each step subtly increasing the glow of luminescence through intensity of interaction until receding again into obscurity; sublime.

Drawing on genres blurring avant jazz, compositional forms, experimental rock and their uniquely twisted sense of humor, the Portuguese trio of guitarist Andre Silva, bassist Filipe Louro, and drummer Pedro Alves (also credited for screams!) present their sophomore album, a strange and compelling set of delirious improvisations in three Parts organized across 13 tracks.

Essentially written by Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist D. Liedel, who handles most of the parts on this unusual blend of rock, electronics, jazz, pop punk and a number of unlikely genres, presenting strange songs that take sharp turns into twisted realms, neatly layering each piece into a heady brew that's hard to pin down, but a great deal of fun trying.

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Vinyl is brand new from the label. The corners of the jacket are pushed in about 1/4" on all 4 corners due to shipment, but is otherwise in new condition. If you'd like we can email a picture of the jacket, which has been stored in the sleeve the album came in. Basically it's a new copy but lightly damaged in transit.

Bassist Sebastien Beliah leads this French-Polish quartet with Louis Laurain on cornet, Pierre Borel on alto saxophone, and Olga Koziel on voice & percussions, blending free jazz and traditional Polish music & songs with an experimental bent and the flourish of East European folk energy, a passionate mix that entertains and surprises the listener with unexpected twists & turns.

A diverse set of conversations between Austrian improvisers, drummer/percussionist Fredi Pröll (Trio Now!, Lull) and free vocalist Mara Kolibri, recording in the studio for seven concise and far-ranging dialogs, from cantankerous interactions to controlled incoherence of absurdly implied vocalization punctuated with creative percussive reaction, often returning to lyrical jazz-influenced moments.

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Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.

"Patricia Bosshard's compositions performed by ONCEIM and string ensemble CoO Recorded on June 2018 at Saint-Merry church (Paris)To in...

The Hamburg-based performing quartet of Lorena Izquierdo on free improvised voice, Aziz Lewandowski on cello & voice, Kris Kuldkepp on double bass and Felix Mayer on trombone are heard in these eight studio recordings of quietly creepy conversation, generally slow motion and reflectively introspective work that occasionally rises in throttled crescendo.

Active and informed improvisations on acoustic guitar from Jean Claude "JC" Jones, label leader of the Kadima Collective and also known as a double bassist, though his roots are in the guitar, which he has returned to with vigor since 2016, performing on lap-style prepared acoustic and prepared Spanish guitar, heard here in 13 concise pieces titled by single words.

Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.

"The jazz is not always subject to their premises. Even the breaks in their future creative. The jazz in the present century, taking t...

A half composed, half improvised album for solo electric guitar from composer and improviser Justin Lepany, known for his work with musicians like Sven-Ake Johansson and his composition "Ringing Peace" premiered during the 2014 Peace Nobel Prize ceremony: three diverse pieces using effects to create both density and spacious sonic fields.

Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.

Maria da Rocha's name may not be familiar to jazz and improvised music lovers in Portugal, and this is because this violinist and viol...

A live recording without an audience and the start of the Welcome To Silkeborg project between Lisbon improvisers Tiago Varela (Equinox Quartet, Isotope Ensemble) on melodicas & voice, and Monsieur Trinité (Equinox Quartet, IKB, Potlatch, Variable Geometry Orchestra) on percussive objects, their first encounter finding the two in a relaxed dialog of creative conversation.

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A set of lyrical, thoughtful and sometimes whimsical works from the Scottish-based duo of Rob Hall & Chick Lyall (Green Room Trio), who have been developing their musical language since 2003, drawing from a wide range of genres from Baroque chamber music to free jazz and folk idioms, their lack of boundaries lending itself to a uniquely diverse and embraceable music.

German cellist and pianist living in Lisbon, Ulrich Mitzlaff recorded these two solo works titled "transparent — fluorescent sound fibers" #1 & #2 in 2015 and 2020, each voiced for extended and unusual instrumental technique in an interaction with percussive objects, the first from 2015 performing on cello, the second from 2020 performed on piano.

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Isotropy - having a physical property which has the same value when measured in different directions - is the collaboration between the Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Miguel Mira (cello) and Alvaro Rosso (double bass) with Luis Lopes, here on acoustic guitar, in a 2 part extended improvisation recorded live at the 2020 Small Format Materials Festiva.

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An extended improvisation for acoustic instrumentation and voice using unusual and extended techniques, from the Russian trio of Alexey Sysoev on piano, Vladimir Gorlinsky on guitar & voice, and Christian Müller on clarinet, recorded at the Cultural Centre DOM in Moscow in 2019, cycling patiently from quietly expressive sections to chamber-oriented brightly active moments.

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Some of the London free improv scene's finest players, including members of Remote Viewers, Custodians Of The Realm, London Improvisers Orchestra, The Runcible Quintet, &c, met with visiting Berlin double bassist Ulf Mengersen to record this fascinating collective improvisation, using objects, preparations, and a WASP synthesizer for wonderfully unusual results.

The project of Southern Italy's Giovanni Todisco (percussion) and Giuseppe Candiano (synthesizer), since 2015 touring Japan and Europe to perform in festivals and venues, this album presents their experimental improvisation combining classic afrikaans and symphonic percussion with modular synthesis, merging ancient rhythms with modern electronic excitement.

Since 2014 the collective [SNDNG STTNS] has explored theatrical situations between musictheatre, staging and composition with live music, instruments, recordings, samples, speach and live editing, this work featuring cellist Guilherme Rodrigues bridges the art of the brazilian "violeros" with contemporary music, acoustic and electronic composition and improvisation.

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Acoustic and sublime minimal acoustic improvisation with an emphasis on strings from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Almeida on acoustic guitar, Andre Lanca on electric guitar, Bernardo Alvares on double bass, and Felice Furioso on percussion, performing live during the Small Format Materials Festival at Galeria Monumental, in Lisbon.

UK sax and wind player James Arben and cellist Shirley Smart explore the possibilities of chamber-oriented free improvisation through a series of dialogues of harmonic, rhythmic and timbral tension and resolution, created from bold experimental playing techniques and melodic discourse that draws on influences from jazz to Middle Eastern, folk and contemporary music.

A new sub-unit of the Leap of Faith Orchestra showcases the work of David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophones, and a wide array of percussive devices, in a duo with new drummer Michael Knoblach, also on an assortment of percussive devices including antique sheep shears, African circumcision rattles, dan mo, &c, for 5 unique improvisations recorded in the studio.

The third volume in this free improvising series, starting with the collaboration of Polish violinist Patryk Zakrocki and guitarist Marcin Olak, varying the additional players as they explore chamber-oriented free improvisation, here with the impressive vocal improvisation of Anna Gadt and cellist Annemie Osborne, ripping apart the calendar in 14 monthly machinations.

An extended work for 10 improvisers using a composite composition of graphic scores, open notations, and two trio sub-pieces titled "skelf" (electric guitar, double bass and drums) and "antiphon" (violin, viola and double bass), all directed by UK saxophonist Matt London in an ensemble with reeds, winds, brass, strings, electric guitar, and Mark Sanders on drums.

Pianist Mathias Landaeus's trio with Johnny Aman on bass and Chris Montgomery on drums are joined by saxophonist Martin Kuchen (Angles, &c) for a limited edition LP of superb music merging free and lyrical elements for a tremendous modern jazz album.

Pianist Danny Fox's trio with bassist Chris van Voorst van Beest and drummer Max Goldman in an album showing how the tight rapport this touring band has developed on the road, performing Fox's melodic and inventive compositions with a wealth of influences and style.

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Innovative and idiosyncratic Swiss pianist Michel Wintsch in a set of original compositions that combine ambient sound and intentionality, displaying great technical skills and a unique mind that embraces melody and the unexpected aspects of improvisation.

Swiss pianist/composer Luzia von Wyl and her Ensemble of jazz and classical performers presents von Wyl's compositions that borrow from modern and early jazz, chamber music and world sources, in works that draw on her experiences traveling and performing through the world.

The third volume of this excellent German sound magazine and audio CD, 9 artists working in sound art, electroacoustic composition; a "listenable exhibition" of modern compositional approach.

An informed set of creative iprovisations recorded in the studio and drawing clearly from the traditional jazz idiom between German pianist Klaus Treuheit and NY drummer Lou Grassi, performing original 4-part compositions including the "Misterioso", "L'espace Sonore", and "Lament # Pb".

Sardinian pianist Claudio Sanna, versed equally in the classical, jazz, and electroacoustic traditions, in his debut recording of 8 original compositions blending composition and improvisation, revealing an enthusiastic and curious approach to music.