Bringing decades of experience from far-reaching careers as leaders and in collaboration with some of the most luminary improvisers in creative jazz, this first meeting between bassist Mark Helias and pianist Matthew Shipp evokes nine inspired dialogs from two consequentially compatible jazz musicians, beautifully captured in the warmth of the Park West Studios in Brooklyn.

The final collaboration of innovative electronic artist J.A. Deane, working remotely with violinist Jason Kao Hwang who sent Deane improvised solo acoustic violin recordings that Deane edited into 57 gestures, mapping them to a keyboard and creating six tracks of morphed electronics which Hwang improvised over with an electric violin to complete this unique and fascinating album.

Two Chicago improvising cellists--Tomeka Reid & Fred Lonberg-Holm--explore the repertoire for cello music in jazz, presenting works by Fred Katz ("Pluck It"), Sam Jones ("In Walked Ray"), Ron Carter ("Rally") and Harry Babsin ("Monti-Cello"), adding 3 new, original works by Fred Lonberg-Holm and a piece by Tomeka Reid paying homage to bassist Charles Mingus & violinist Billy Bang.

Three albums of three duos between three frequent Boston collaborators and improvisers -- Jeb Bishop on trombone, Pandelis Karayorgis on piano and Damon Smith on double bass -- each CD respectively a combination of trombone & bass, piano & bass and piano & trombone, each recorded during the last year of Jeb Bishop's residency in Boston between 2016-2022.

Leveraging more than a decade of collaboration, New York saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Matt Mitchell present an intimate live concert in Montreal at Club Soda, performing mostly Berne compositions and one by Julius Hemphill ("Number 2") in a thoughtful and innately lyrical set of seemingly telepathic dialogs interpreting Berne's intricate and innovative works.

With masterful technique and remarkable creative drive, the Canadian duo of clarinetist François Houle and Joe Sorbara explore unorthodox sound worlds through microtones, pad percussives, circular breathing to stretch phrasing, Houle taking apart his instrument to affect tone and pitch, and Sorbara using idiosyncratic percussive instruments including "back porch piano guts".

Five works from US composer often based in Amsterdam, Evan Johnson, in solo, duo and trio settings including a triptych titled "L'art de toucher" in three configurations, demonstrating his unique approach to writing using disparate musical influences from modern to Baroque, mated to anarchic experimentalism and a Wandelweiser sensibility; fascinating!

A concert recording from 1977 in Calgary, CA captured during Eugene Chadbourne's time in Canada prior to his move to NYC, from the guitar trio of Duck Baker, Randy Hutton & Eugene Chadbourne, performing on acoustic guitars, using a variety of approaches to improvising in trio, duo and solo configurations, with original work, an Ornette Coleman mashup, and a piece by Charlie Haden.

Electricity and metal trash object meet in a banging and sparking session of minimal improvisation from percussionist Elisabeth Flunger and electronic artist Tomas Tello.

The second album from multi-instrumentalist Frostlake (Jan Todd, also of Orchestra of The Upper Atmosphere), hallucinatory songs of layered vocals accompanied by the creative bass of Terry Todd, for rich atmospheres with warm instrumentation augmented by field recordings; absorbing music that draws its listeners into their beautiful, psychedelic dream states.

Volden and Gronvold are two Oslo-based improvising acoustic tabletop guitarists whose work focuses on textures and timing creating large and impressionistic soundscapes.

An inventive and lyrical set of duos between Chicago tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Keefe Jackson and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, nine concise pieces that blend free improvisation with compositions seamlessly in a really delightful duo.

Guitarist Kim Johannesen and clarinetist Svein Magus Furu in a set of works with interacting tonalities that rely almost completely on texture, tones, scraping, &c..

A quirky and fascinating duo of unusual instrumentation from Ute Wasserman's voice & whistles, and Aleks Kokowski on stroh instrumements (viola, violin), noseflute, bird calls, musical saw, &c..

Kook is the duo of Norweigan guitarists Stian Larsen and Erik Ahlsen creating a series of improvised soundscapes using their guitars and live electronics; absorbing music of unusual tone, texture, and direction.

A state-of-the-art duo recording from two remarkable improvisers bridging New York and Spain - guitarist Joe Morris and pianist Agusti Fernandez - performing "Ambrosia" in 6 parts.

Since 1997 drummer Tim Daisy and saxophonist Dave Rempis have worked together as part of the vital Chicago improvising scene, heard here in these superb duo sessions of great technical, musical, and inventive skills.

Seeded Plain is the duo of Bryan Day and Jay Kreimer, who create homemade instruments and use them to create far-ranging improvisations with a unique set of timbres and percussive elements.

Concert and studio recordings of peace music organised by John Stevens for himself and Trevor Watts with numerous workshop musicians and audience people on saxophones, percussion and voices mostly contributing a flexible drone.

An improvisation for two laptop computers performed by Tim Blechmann and Klaus Filip, recorded live in Vienna at "neue musik in st ruprecht", 2010, contrasting minimal tones with massive bass rumble and frothing frequencies.

Twins of El Dorado is NY trumpeter Joe Moffett (Ad Faunum, Inzinzac) in a duo with jazz vocalist Kristin Slipp (Art Bears Songbook) performing original work and a text setting by composer Wes Matthews.

Part of a series of 100 portraits in sound iniated by Anne James Chaton, a journey into the texts and columns of newspapaper and radio broadcasts of a single journalist.

Chris Watson recorded John Butcher on acoustic & amplified sax and Rhodri Davies on acoustic & electric harp in Routing Lynn in Northumberland, then joined them live at a festival in Gateshead where the duo played alongside Watson's reworked recordings.

Jean-Luc Guionnet and Eric La Casa in a work for the Uninstal Festival interviewing inhabitants of Glasgow in their home spaces, the results organized into compositions blending spoken word, music, improvisation and field recordings; each CD unveils the process of the composition.

The 1st release from Andy Moor & Colin McLean since they disbanded Dog Faced Hermans 13 years ago, 3 years of live improvisations from Amsterdam's OT 301's Music Dance 301 sessions.

Recorded in 1982 during a series of extraordinary free improv concerts by guitarist Derek Bailey and trumpeter Charlie Marrow, performing in configurations from solo to full septet with performers from NY's "New Wilderness" collective: percussionist Glen Velez, saxophonist & sound poet Steve McCaffery, trumpeter Carol E. Tuynman, saxophonist Patricia Burgess and trumpeter Michael Snow.

After the collaboration of Illusion of Safety and Z'EV which culminated in a performance at Enemy in Chicago in 2007, Z'EV approached IOS member Daniel Burke to collaborate on an album, providing Burke with a number of short acoustic recordings which Burke developed into these compositions merging his own field recordings, sampling, electro-acoustics, and Eurorack modular synth.

Expanding on their 1977 FMP album of open-air improvisations by Peter Brotzmann and Han Bennink, recording in the Black Forest of Baden-Wurttemberg using wind instruments & percussion, the ambiance of birds and planes, water, drums from logs, &c.; an idiosyncratic and wonderful album of free possibilities, now paired with a book of photos from their excursion.

The soundtrack to the German film The Painter by director Oliver Hirschbiegel in collaboration with Oliver Hirschbiegel, the first side a diverse set of compositions from electronic musician Gudrun Gut, a one-time member of Einstürzende Neubauten; the second side a set of assertive acoustic improvisations from trumpeter Nate Wooley, alone or in duo with drummer Chris Corsano.

The first meeting of Austrian improviser Christof Kurzmann (The Magic I.D., Schee) and Montreal sound artist Elizabeth Millar (Sound of the Mountain, Ensemble Supermusique) in two tremendous multi-part performances live at the 2019 Suoni Per il Popolo Festival in Montreal, works of mysteriously vibratory backdrop, insinuating narrative voice and unsettling sonic interaction.

Dublin sound inventor Henry Dagg joins soprano saxophonist Evan Parker for a live concert in Canterbury: fourteen vignettes of electro-acoustic interaction using Dagg's "Stage Cage"--valve test-oscillators, ring modulators, frequency shifter, chromatic zither, and a variable tape delay system--to both generate sound and to transform Parker's improvisations in incredible ways.

The incredible first meeting between legendary saxophonist Joe McPhee and double bassist John Edwards is this performance at the 2019 Artacts festival in Austria, a powerfully reflective free jazz concert with McPhee speaking & preaching about the loss of giants John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and James Baldwin, as they stand upon their shoulders through free music.

The third volume in John Zorn's "Olympiad" series is this solo performance in 2007 at the Kompo Cultural Center in Gyungee, Korea by Zorn associate and eccentrically eminent improviser Eugene Chadbourne, performing on electric and acoustic guitars as he interprets 15 compositions for improvisers from John Zorn's seminal 1976 series: The Book of Heads.

A series of extraordinary sound painting from the Swiss duo of trumpeter Marco von Orelli and percussionist Sheldon Suter, von Orelli also performing on cornet, prepared slidetrumpet & little bells while Suter works with drums, cymbals, prepared zithers, gong & singing bowls, creating detailed aural environments that evoke bewitching twilight spaces.

A brooding meeting between free improvising double bassist Joëlle Léandre and Catalonian drummer/percussionist Nuria Andorra (Icarus Ensemble, Barcelona 216, Patchwork Ensemble), two generations of improvisers finding common ground through a simmering boil of intelligent improvisation, imaginative technical skill and passionately assertive playing.

The seventh release on Potlatch for tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and the first for electronic artist Jason Kahn, in an extended electroacoustic improvisation, Denzler performing his instrument in ways Adolphe Sax did not intend intersected by Kahn's bent and crackly emissions, each increasingly assertive through to a engrossing, exhalable end.

Stepping away from the Australian trio The Necks, drummer/percussionist Tony Buck meets pianist Alister Spence in the studio for seven distinct dialogs of "submerged rhythm, oblique extended forms, entwined interplay, and sound for its own sake", Spence at times using preparations on his strings, as both listen and respond deeply through a congenial approach to playing.

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.

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.

An assertive duo of piano and trumpet from Canadian improvisers Marilyn Lerner playing inside and out of the piano, and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud performing with powerful and unusually expressive technique, this the first meeting between the two in a set of seven studio recordings, creative interactions of wide-ranging and cohesive approaches to their dialogs.

Long-time collaborators, German reed & wind player Frank Gratkowski and pianist Simon Nabatov release their third collaboration as a duo, concentrating their playing from large bands including the Simon Nabatov Quartet to the essence of their personal and impressive dialog, here performing at the LOFT, in Cologne for the celebration of Nabatov's birthday.

A relaxed and informed dialog between young generation Portuguese improvisers Tomás Marques on alto saxophone and Afonso Pais on guitar, demonstrating their experience from bands like L.U.M.E. and Joao Hasselberg / Pedro Branco, these five expressive and intuitively melodic improvisations were recorded by the artists in 2022 and are presented without edits.

Developing their language together since childhood, Norwegian brothers Lauritz Heitmann Skeidsvoll on saxophone and Isach Skeidsvoll on piano & melodica converse in a way that only two family members can, using their knowledge of each other's playing as a confident foundation for remarkable flights of technically challenging yet innately lyrical improvisations.

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 immersive and often explosive set of dark compositions from Seth Nehil & Bruno Duplant, blending field recordings, electronics, percussion and percussive objects into a controlled chaos of inexplicably murky and uncategorizable sounds, at times like a surreal firework display, or inserted into a complex machine on the verge of collapse, all imbued with a consistent resonant hue.

Expanding their instruments into sonic sculpture, this first meeting between acclaimed Japanese improvisers Satoko Fujii, performing inside and out of the piano, and electric guitarist Otomo Yoshihide, demonstrates their incredible compatibly as heard in these live recordings at Tokyo's Pit Inn, part of an annual festival organized by Fujii & trumpeter Natsuki Tamura.

The duo of sound sculptor Max Eastley and electric harpist Rhodri Davies in an unedited recording performing live at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, UK.

Planning a duo album since 2019, this was to be pianist Keith Tippett & vocalist Julie Tippett first new studio album in 30 years, but tragically pandemic and Keith Tippett's passing prevented that, Julie instead turning to unreleased live solo piano recordings from 1979 through 1996 to which she added new vocal performances in the studio, creating eight impressive virtual duos.

Recording in a former hospital funeral chapel in Sweden--Stockholm's Kapellet--the drum and sax duo of alto saxophonist Julia Strzalek and drummer Cornelia Nilsson focuses on melody and clear articulation in a dialog that finds their passion in calmly unfolding conversation, consistently illuminating their instrumental and instant-compositional mastery.

In a nod to alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson brings together four exceptional Canadian alto saxophonists with whom he has worked and who motivate his improvisational drive, heard here in four duos: two with Toronto alto saxophonists John Oswald and Karen Ng, and two with Montreal alto saxophonists Jean Derome and Yves Charuest.

Developing their dialog and language during the 90s through mutual work with organizations including King Ubu Orchestra and Chris Burn's Ensemble, the unique approach to free improv between keyboard & electronic artist Matt Hutchinson and trumpeter Chris Burn are heard in these three UK concerts from 2005 & 2006 at Red Rose Club, the White House and The Music Room.

A beautiful and contemplative performance of "Raga Marwa", a a hexatonic Indian raga and the eponymous raga of the "Marva thaat", peformed by Dutch-Czech master vocalist Marianne Svašek, and recorded in Stockholm, with Svašek and Swedish bass player Vilhelm Bromander both performing on the tanpura, a long-necked plucked string instrument used to create a sonic canvas behind the raga.

Bringing to ears a 2003 encounter in Chicago, IL between legendary violin improviser, conceptualist and writer Malcolm Goldstein and exploratory cello improviser Fred Lonberg-Holm, through two extended dialogs weaving their strings around each other and finding unusual intersections and unions, from rapid action to introspective beauty; unsettling and inspired.

Confidently forceful German free improvisation with an eccentric approach, from multi-instrumentalist Udo Schindler on clarinets, cornet & tuba and artist & improviser Etienne Rolin on basset horn, Glissotar (a continuous wind instrument) & a Bansuri flute, as they improvise over Schindler's poem (jetzt/now) from his cycle frequenz schaukelt / frequency swings.

Documenting the continued growth and evolution of the longer than a decade collaboration between American alto saxophonist living in the Philippines Ricky Countryman and Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, performing in the Strawberry Jams studio in Quezon City for thirteen succinct improvisations titled with stellar analogies, from pensive music to excitingly dynamic interplay.

Eight studio compositions recorded in Kingston, London in 2022 between FMR label-leader Trevor Taylor on percussion and electronics, and violinist Philipp Wachsmann, also processing his sound through electronics, the two finding common ground and great compatibility in reserved pacing that seemingly allows each note and gesture to express itself fully.

Electric free improvisation with a caustic edge, stellar burns with titles like "Broken Navigation" or "The Sun is a Ball of Hate", from the North Carolina duo of guitarist Phil Venable (Tragic Assembly) and NY/NC drummer Tommy Jackson, who explore the atmospheric drag on their far-reaching dialogs through propulsive energy burns and moments of dark stellar voids.

Violist Jessica Pavone and double bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause found they shared a similar aesthetic in sound and sonic structure while working together in other ensembles, their debut developed over two seasons of experimentation with string interactions of consonance and dissonance using distinct timbres and textures, heard in four patiently unfolding compositions.

Two vocalists associated with Cecil Taylor's final trio--Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord--join Evil Clown leader David Peck (PEK) on reeds, winds and a large collection of percussive devices, and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic, for an extended work of critical poetry and spoken word, merging truth and abstraction through free improv and pointed expression.

Recording as a new group in the vast network of Evil Clown organizations, label leader David Peck on reeds, winds, percussion and digital works stations collaborates with engineer and live processing artist Joel Simches, who create the "perturbations" on this extended improvised work through a vast array of delays, reverbs, audio warps and rotary ensembles.

Sheltered in place during the pandemic, trombonist Steve Swell occupied his time listening to recordings forgotten or never released, seizing on these excellent studio session from 2007 organized with drummer Ray Sage, performed in duo, trio and quartet configurations with clarinetist Perry Robinson and pianist Borah Bergman, demonstrating that in bad circumstance, good can appear.

Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Black Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Jade Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

A high-intensity free jazz workout from the French duo of tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal, long-time collaborators in their 3rd sax & drum duo album, anticipating each other's gestures to allow them flexibility in creating textural approaches to their dialog, challenging physical limits while subtly progressing their frenzied and arresting playing.

With nine years of work together, the Uruguayan duo of guitarist Santiago Bogacz, aka Matador, and clarinetist Emiliano Aires have developed a near-telepathic dialog of sharp-edged interactions through technically rapid exchanges and plateaus of anxious reserve; exhilarating work heard here in 9 vehement and creatively urgent improvisations.

Two New York improvisers — percussionist Nava Dunkelman and violinst Gabby Fluke-Mogul — sharing a background from Mills College and work with luminaries including Fred Frith, present their extroverted approaches to free improvisation in these eleven assertive dialogs recorded in the studio, their compatibility and love of unusual techniques evident.

With each solo intended for a specific recipient, London saxophonist Magee recorded a series of improvisations during the pandemic isolations, retaining two of the recordings as pure solo Magee, the others virtual duos with: Travis D. Johnson on synth, Tim Green on drums, Joshua Weitze on guitar, A.F. Jones for resampling, Thomas Milovac on bass, and Lance Austin Olsen on guitar.

Steering far from pyrotechnics or histrionics, the drum duo of UK legend Mark Sanders and Norwegian residing in the UK and part of the new direction of Bead Records, Emil Karlsen, present six percussion improvisations that focus on textural interaction, melodic progression, polyrhythms, and sonic excitement through percussive elements; an exceptional duo.

Working with modular synthesizer systems and amplified double bass, the Berlin duo of Ulf Mengersen, a member of Berlin Improvisers Orchestra and Ensemble MIA, and Thomas Rehnert, an experimental musician, sound artist and composer known for rock, theater, radio, visual arts and free improv settings, recorded these 10 electroacoustic improvisations in the studio in 2021.

Each track in this beautiful pairing of strings through cello and electric guitar is named after nature, the title referencing a brown-eared bat, as the Berlin duo of guitarist Olaf Rupp and cellist Ulrike Brand intertwine in an unhurried series of dialog that prioritize natural fluidity, reflecting the confidence that nearly ten years working together has imbued to their improvisations.

Red Trio drummer Gabriel Ferrandini joins alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov for a three-part freely improvised set captured live at Masterskaya Anikushina, in St. Petersberg, Russia, the former workspace of architect Mikhail Anikushin, a large space that creates a unique resonance that the two improvisers take advantage of through insistent yet discerningly constrained dialog.

The 2nd release from the touring duo of Audrey Chen & trombonist Henrik Munkeby, Chen modifying her voice with amplification and performing on analog electronics, while Munkeby amplifies his trombone and also performs on analog electronics, feedback & sound files; often frighteningly intense improvisations that plays to the spectrum of sound in a mix of studio and live recordings.

Eight free improvisations from the German duo of Markus Reineke on contrabass, bass recorder, objects & electronics, and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen on electric guitar, violin, virtual bass clarinet & electronics, creating an unusual language that merges electronics with acoustic instrumentation in quirky yet natural ways, each track named impressionistically.

The working duo of Slovenian violinist Ana Kravanja and Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik present nine dialogs of freely improvised playing that draws on contemporary composition, using their primary instruments along with preparations, objects, frame drums, voice and ringing stones, a mood of tense mystery and wonder pervading their excellent and unusual discourse.

Both members of the Didier Lasserre Trio, French double bassist Jean Rougier and legendary French free free jazz multi-reedist Sylvain Guerineau performing on tenor sax & bass clarinet, distill their work into a duo formation for six innately lyrical free improvisations, a beautiful complement to Guerineau's 2022 duo album with double bassist Fred Marty, Parodies.

Since 2016 pianist Francesco Zago and guitarist & live electronics artist Andrea Bolzoni (The Night Watch, Stormy Six) have collaborated, focused on guitar improvisation, proposing a dialog between lyricism and psychedelic music, here in a 10-part work of fluid & ethereal sounds informed by contemporary music and creative improv, a unique journey presenting a strong narrative sense.

A work for voice, piano and electronics from experimental composer Laurence Crane, working with the closely associated UK ensemble Apartment House, Natural World is in three sections--"Field Guide", "Chorus" and "Seascape"--with vocalist Juliet Fraser and pianist & electronic artist Mark Knoop, Crane's work describing the natural world and portending the fragility of our ecosystems.

Bringing together two noise improvisers and experimenters, Guro Skumsnes Moe from Sult and MoE performing on octabass & electric bass, and Philippe Petit (who has albums on Aural Terrains, Monotype and Bolt) performing on synthesizer and turntables, both also providing vocal utterance, for two thick journeys of twisted, diverse and often deep sonics bridged by an abstract interlude.

After performing together in Canada beginning in 2019, bass clarinetist & electronic artist Philippe Lauzier and NY percussionist Carl Costa remained in contact during the pandemic by exchanging compositional concepts, the 4-part "Sincronica Vaga" and "Soft Routine" the results, the former based on dovetailing motives, the latter on harmonic counterpoint interaction.

Part of a 2022 creative residency at the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-Labre, in Beauce at the invitation of the organization EXEcentrer, this duo recording captures the September concert of two magnificent Montreal sound artists: Érick d'Orion performing on electronics & synthesizers, and Martin Tétreault on turntables, vinyl records & synthesizer.

A collaboration between Montreal saxophnist Aaron Leaney (Ratchet Orchestra, Nebula) with legendary free jazz drummer and founder of Le Nouveau Jazz Libre de Quebec in 1967, Guy Thouin, performing on a wealth of winds, percussions and bells, their music infused with a rich spiritual and natural feeling of world elements, lyrical playing and folkloric rhythms.

The core duo of guitarist & bassist Chris Cochrane (No Safety) and drummer & electronics artist John Thayer dig deep into a bag of aural tricks in eight compelling tracks that blur rock, jazz and experimental approaches to upbeat rhythmic music, assisted on various pieces by an excellent cast including Zeena Parkins, Graham Haynes, Gelsey Bell, and Kato Hideki.