Dialogs on the lowest of reed instruments from the Ann Arbor, Michigan duo of Jason Alder and Piotr Michalowski, using Leblanc paperclip contrabass clarinets and Selmer rosewood contrabass and contra-alto clarinets, as they apply diverse approaches to avant improvisation of deep interaction, from active grumblings to beautiful tonal stretches.

Taking their name from plants whose seeds are distributed by wind, violist Frantz Loriot and bassist Daniel Studer formed Anemochore in 2016 to purse different playing techniques and preparations in their search for unique forms of improvisation, here with drummer Benjamin Brodbeck and saxophonist & bass clarinetist Sebastian Strinning, recorded by Jean-Marc Foussat.

The Barcelona trio of Gorka Benitez on tenor saxophone & flute, Guillermo Celano on electric guitar, and Marcos Baggiani on drums, play a lyrical and bluesy brand of instrumental rock music which they describe as an eclectic approach to rock emphasizing pure energy and fun, in nine upbeat and groove-oriented tunes of tight and enthusiastic playing.

Portuguese guitarist and experiementer Abdul Moimeme, once a student of US free jazz saxophonist Patrick Brennan, now joins him as Moimeme employs two electroacoustically altered guitars played simultaneously with objects, Brennan performing on sax and cornet, as they create unusual and assertive abstract sonic environments, intensely detailed and gripping.

Swedish improvisers, saxophonist Per Gardin--known for his work with Rodrigo Pinheiro & Pedro Lopes and Oblique (Trio)--joins fellow Swede Lars Brondum, whose work focuses on modern composers like Cardew, Ligeti, and Riley, here on modular synth and theremin, as the two focus on the star Adhara in the Canis Major constellation through 6 stellar object-named ea-improvisations.

Turning the piano trio concept onto its sonic side, the Swedish trio of Nina de Heney on double bass, Karin Johansson on piano, and Henrik Wartel on drums owe more to AMM than jazz tradition, as they use extended techniques and a sound-oriented approach to improvisation, presenting three live recordings at Elementstudion, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Clarinetist Tom Jackson, guitarist Daniel Thompson and drummer Vid Drasler met in 2016 as part of the CRAM Records residency at FriForma in Ljubljana, at which time they performed and recorded as a trio, vowing to collaborate again; this album of open-minded free improvisation is the result: "Nauportus" in 5 parts, ebbing and flowing from near silence to animated interaction.

Joing Portuguese and Spanish improvisers for four recordings in Bilbao, Spain, this sextet presents sound works using unusual orchestration--piano harp, viola, guitar, metals, electric organ, paper, contact mics, and electronics--balancing spacious exploration with assertive moments of percussive and caustic sound, evolving bold sonic and timbral combinations.

Recording at the 12th CreativeFest at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal, the IKB ensemble is represented by 20 musicians for this performance, merging acoustic and electronic instruments including strings, brass, winds, self-made instruments, and percussion in a concert of intense constraint & patience, seething with detail and replete with consummate skill.

A fascinating confluence of improvisation and contemporary compositional approaches from this Spanish ensemble led by composer and drummer Nasim Lopez Palacios, using 5 reeds, trumpet, flute, piano, electric guitar, harp, double bass, drums and electronics in an extended work exploring space, tension and motion, with a beautiful build to catharsis.

The Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Alvaro Rosso on contrabass continue their recent string of collaborations with a fourth player, Portuguese tuba player Gil Goncalves joining to addd a unique complement to their strings, as Goncalves adds bass, blats, growls and unique timbres of upper register low brass.

Recording in New York at the Omi International Arts Center in 2018, the duo of German trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser and Brazilian bassist Carlos Eduardo Quebrada Vasquez, Quebrada expanding his bass through electronics, capture an inventive and active set of dialogs, rich in technical skill and continually surprising through twists and turns; action-packed and inspired.

Far ranging free improvisation from the Sao Paulo, Brazil quartet of Jorge Nuno on guitar, Romulo Alexis on trumpet, Vitor Vieira Branco on vibraphone, and Rafael Cab on drums, in ethnically rich and spiritual playing that incorporates beautiful atmospheric work, ruminating assertive playing, and idiosyncratic interaction with unusual technique and percussive instruments.

"Ecorchure" translates to a skin wound produced by a violent friction that removes or tears the superficial layers; here the French trio of Jean-Luc Petit on saxophones, Jeremy Baysse on electric guitar & gadgets, and Fabrice Favriou on drums, tear through three excoriating improvisations during a 2019 live concert at Ateliers Musicaux Syrinx, in Poitiers France.

Schwarm, or "Swarm", 13 is a German ensemble performing instant compositions, directed by clarinetist Rudi Debrunner and saxophonist Max Stehle, who also provides conceptions for the band, which is comprised of reeds, guitar, violin, viola, cello, piano, percussion, double bass, and voice, presenting (appropriately) 13 improvisations captured live at Studioboerne45.

The Portuguese large improvising ensemble String Theory is heard live during the CreativeFest#12, at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018, in an extended improvisation of incredible layering and restraint, making an amalgam of mostly acoustic string sources sound electronic and hallucinatory, an incredible achievement in string sonics.

Smalltown Supersound's sublabel Actions for Free Jazz presents this live concert at Oslo's St. Edmund's Church from the duo of frequent collaborators Joe McPhee on pocket trumpet & tenor saxophone, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and percussion, featuring compositions by James Weldon Johnson, Thelonious Monk and Joe McPhee plus two by McPhee and Nilssen-Love.

The second "Lacy Pool" directed by pianist Uwe Oberg and with drummer Michael Griener the common element, invites Rudi Mahall on clarinets as they interpret, or as Oberg describes it, "unlock" the music of Steve Lacy, in 9 compositions including "Trickles", "Cliches", "Ladies", &c., plus two Oberg compositions that fit into his pool of Lacy interpretations.

Following their 2016 album "I Am Three, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus", the German trio of Silke Eberhard on alto saxophone, Nikolaus Neuser on trumpet, and Christian Marien on drums invited British improvising vocalist Maggie Nicols to further explore the works of jazz legend Charles Mingus in song and spoken word in a thoroughly enjoyable and worthy tribute to his work.

Born from the duo of Chicago flutist Nicole Mitchell and French bassist Joelle Leandre ("Sisters Where") and brought together by Myra Melford, this is the 2nd album from their Tiger Trio formation, joining profound skill, unusual creative intent, ferociously authoritative conversation, shrewd wit, and an innate sense of balance to 11 succinct collective improvisations.

A diverse set of compositions from and performed by French composer Melaine Dalibert in his third solo piano album, presenting active rhythmic to introspective work, exploring harmonics and chord evolution; artwork by David Sylvian, and one piece composed for Sylvian, alongside pieces for elsewhere label leader Yuko Zama, Peter Garland and pianist Reinier van Houdt.

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.

A formidable meeting of three powerhouses of modern creative improvisation of diverse backgrounds -- Filipina-American drummer/percussionist Susie Ibarra, legendary New York bassist William Parker, and Spanish pianist Agusti Fernandez, in a spirited, masterful and stunning live performance at the Joan Miro Foundation in Barcelona recorded in 1998.

Bringing separate collaborations together as a trio, Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen (Angles), who has worked separately with Catalan drummer Vascto Trilli and Polish guitarist Rafal Mazur, come together as Nobject, recording at Lodz-Art Inkubator during the sixth Musica Privata festival in Lodz, Poland, for 2 sets of fully free, sinuous and assertive improvisation.

Three astonishing concerts on 3 consecutive nights at the Ad Libitum Festival 2017 in Warsaw, Poland from British bassist Barry Guy in 3 configurations: 1st in a duo with Spanish pianist Agusti Fernandez; 2nd in a trio with US pianist Marilyn Crispell and British drummer Paul Lytton; and 3rd in a double bass duo with French bassist Joelle Leandre.

Three concerts from 2016 & 2017 of different string duos anchored by Leandre's double bass, starting at rue Victor Masse 75009 in Paris in a double bass duo with Bernard Santacruz; then a bass and cello duo at Le Triton Les Lilas, France with Gaspar Claus; and completing the set, a performances at DZIK, in Warszaw, Poland with violinist and violist Theo Ceccaldi.

Recorded at the 2014 Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw, pianist and composer Agusti Fernandez was invited to perform four concerts in celebration of his 60th birthday, choosing his working trio Aurora for once concert, a solo performance of "El Laberint de la Memoria", his electroacoustic Thunder trio, and a large ensemble conduction: "River, Tiger Fire".

The fourth of a collection dedicated to the French Musique Action Festival, here in a tribute to Tom Cora recorded in 1998 with Catherine Jauniaux, Phil Minton, Zeena Parkins, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Veryan Weston, &c. &c.

His first solo album in a career spanning back to 1976, Chicago percussionist Michael Zerang presents a diverse set of improvisations demonstrating the wealth of approaches he has developed over the year, including the use of vibrating drumhead surfaces, expressive friction passages, multiple timbre percussion, and straight up trap-set drumming; absolutely impressive.

The UK/Europe trio of Albert Cirera on saxophones, Rafal Mazur on bass guitar, and Nicolas Field on drums, in five ordinal improvisations recorded at Alchemia Club in 2018, for a concert of vigorously assertive playing and seething interactive layers, laying back at times to build their progressions, ending the concert with an explorative "Fifth" improvisation.

The working trio of New York trumpeter & saxophonist Joe McPhee, London double bassist John Edwards, and German drummer Klaus Kugel, actively touring through Europe since 2017, are heard live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in 2018, for four monumental examples of free improvisation in superlative playing with intense rhythmic interaction and deeply expressive soloing.

Part of Evan Parker's 70th birthday in 2014, this album captures the super-charged quartet of Evan Parker on tenor saxophone, Mikolaj Trzaska on alto sax, bass clarinet, John Edwards on double bass, and Mark Sanders on drums, in two sets for two extended improvisations of both power playing and powerful communication, along with one shorter final statement.

Three saxophonists -- Evan Parker, Lotte Anker, and Torben Snekkestad -- all on soprano sax plus Anker on tenor and Snekkestad on trumpet, in a primarily reed trio performing live in in Copenhagen, Denmark at KoncertKirken Blagards Plads, in two highly interactive improvisations that explore harmonic interaction, interference, and tonal intersections; fascinating!

Using the natural resonance of the St. Martin's Church, in Smartno, Slovenia, percussionist Zlatko Kaucic leads the quintet of Michael Moore on alto sax & clarinet, Marco Colonna on clarinet & bass clarinet, Albert Cirera on tenor sax, and Silvia Bolognesi on Double Bass, in ten conversations from cinematic conversation to commandingly interactive.

An exhilarating duo between Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen on alto sax and French electric guitarist Julien Desprez using a variety of effects, recording in France for seven approach-ably twisted dialogs using spectacular technique and a diversity of approaches, from full force playing to introspective textural work, a marvel of spontaneity.

Quartet, trio and duo sessions between Paul Medley on alto saxophone & bass clarinet, Trevor Taylor on percussion & electronics, Matthew Hutchinson on piano, and Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics; improv and ea-improv that uses space and patient pacing, merging approaches from Circuit Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with an overall acoustic chamber feel--beautiful.

Bringing diverse experience to collective improvisation, including various associations with Paul Dunmall, the quartet of guitarist Philip Gibbs, flutist Neil Metcalfe, saxophonist Adrian Northover on alto and tenor, and drummer Marcello Magliocchi, are heard in six passionately restrained and technically superb improvisations beautifully recorded in the studio.

A free jazz project from the trio of Portuguese alto saxophonist Jose Lencastre, French double bassist Raoul Van der Weide, and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert, performing at Amsterdam's Zaal 100 in 2018 for a concert of collective improvisation, intelligent discourse of coherently creative progressions and energetic but never overblown playing; exemplary.

Udo Schindler marks his 80th Salon fur Klang+Kunst in Munich as his first duo recording with a drummer, in a first-time meeting with long-time acquaintance, drummer/percussionist Eric Zwang Eriksson, joining him as they find inspired common ground with Schindler on alto sax, bass clarinet, cornet and euphonium and Eriksson using all aspects of his drums and percussive devices.

An album of alien soundscape and un-anticipatable rhythm with seductive brass sonority floating above, from the Swiss trio of trumpeter Tom Arthurs, Isambard Khroustaliov on electronics, and Julian Sartorious on drums & percussion, contrasting complex and strangely aberrant sonic and rhythmic environments with lyrically virtuosic trumpet work.

Two decades of duets recorded from New York City to The Netherlands between eccentric free country improviser and vocalist Euguene Chadbourne on guitar and banjo, with free improv masters John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Volcmar Verkerk, and Charles Tyler.

Massimo Pupillo (ZU, Laniakea), electronic artist Luciano Lamanna and string instrument virtuoso Roberto Zanisi combine to form Creta, creating sonic works that blend sci-fi ambient atmospheres with dark bass pulses and languid Mediterranean string instruments, an unusual yet surprisingly complementary set of approaches yielding a darkly lyrical album.

12 compositions from bassist Dahlgren in a quintet including Gebhard Ullman performing works using a compositional matrix system and narrative from critiques written against Bela Bartok.

Double bassist and balafonist Enrico Fazio leads this 9-piece band, here in their 3rd Leo release, demonstrating his unique approach to harmony and melody through sometimes dense but always accessible and compelling compositions.

A stunning example of modern creative improv from the duo of bassists Peter Frey and Daniel Studer, in concert with configurations of duos, trios and one septet, with performers including John Butcher, Hans Koch, Magda Mayas, Jacques Demierre, Gerry Hemingway, &c. &c.

Germany's Grid Mesh (Frank Paul Schubert-saxophones; Andreas Willers-guitar; Willi Kellers-drums; Johannes Bauer-trombone) performs suspenseful, multi-dimensional improv with a fascinating blend of acoustic & electric sounds, here captured live in Madrid, 2011.

The 2nd release on Clean Feed by drummer Joao Lencastre's Communion, a shape-shifting ensemble here configured with 2 New York improvisers from Lencastre's associations over 15 years in NYC--pianist Jakob Sacks and bassist Eivind Opsvik--for 10 studio recordings which include the 4-part "Magnetic Frequency", blurring lyrical avant jazz and chamber forms; beautiful.

Live at the LOFT in Cologne, Germany, the trio of German-based Russian pianist Simon Nabatov with NY Downtown double bassist Mark Dresser and relative newcomer Dominik Manhig on drums, expressive collective improvisation using edgy techniques in impressive dialog.

Italian sonic explorer Francesco Gregoretti uses his drumkit like a lead instrument, amplifying and modifying its sound through effects, as he pursues his varied "Imploded" bands (Strongly Imploded, Grizzly Imploded) fueled by the mathematics of Chaos Theory, here with guitarist Maurizio Argenziano in an album of dense sound, from near-minimal to highly interactive.

A remarkably varied and unique approach to prepared piano that French pianist Eve Risser refers to as "piano droit", heard in her performance at FGO Barbara, in Paris on an upright piano, chosen for its specific mechanical qualities that allow Risser to generate a surprising amount of rhythmic variety, as she performs a single work mixing composed and improvised elements.

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.

Heavy free jazz in the 3rd release from the trio of Mats Gustafsson on tenor and baritone sax, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on bass, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, covering an eclectic set of punk and free jazz titles including covers of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Sonics, White Stripes, Norman Howard and Brotzmann; thick and sick free improvisation.

Since 1999 the duo of sax/clarinetis Tim Trevor-Briscoe and pianist Nicola Guazzaloca have been playing in Bologna, Italy, giving rise to a unique dialog.

Turning to one third of his more familiar Red Trio setting, percussionist/drummer Gabriel Ferrandini enlists bassist Hernani Faustino and tenor saxophonist Pedro Sousa (Sousa/Berthling/Ferrandini, PeterGabriel Duo) to perform 9 Ferrandini compositions named after streets in Lisbon leading from Ferrandini's house to his studio and then to ZDB.

Blending live improvisation with studio composition & production, NY-based Dutch drummer, pianist and composer Flin van Hemmen spent 3 years making recordings with guitarist Todd Neufeld, double bassist Eivind Opsvik and himself, transforming them with layering, studio effects, processors and field recordings to create these intensely fascinating compositions.

Examining the music of Puerto Rico through a very personal relationship, drummer Frank Rosaly assembled a group of percussionists along with trombonists Jeb Bishop & Nick Broste, bassist Nate McBride, pianist Ben Boye wind player Cameron Pfiffner, and Dutch avant-free vocalist Jaap Blonk, all using electronics and voice as they push the boundary of genre and concept.

Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and writer Nick Dunston in his debut album, blending jazz, contemporary, chamber and avant forms, in a uniquely voiced quintet with Louna Dekker on Vargas on flutes & piccolo, Ledah Finck on violin & viola, Tal Yahalom on guitar, and Stephen Boegehold on drums, in a sophisticated album of concisely fascinating compositions.

A melodically subtle and sophisticated album of twenty improvisations composed by saxophonist Christoph Gallio and performed with Gerry Hemingway on drums and Silvan Jeger on electric bass, with Friederike Mayrocker providing words on several tracks, the compositions as short as 19 seconds and a long as 7:40, each dedicated to visual artists and colleagues.

A very odd album of experimental rock and mutilated folk forms that they refer to as "A sort of traditional music from a later country in a less faraway time", from French percussionist Bertrand Fraysse with vocalist Miha, using repetition and simple forms that build to strangely dense electronic environments, with a clear DIY and peculiar attitude; great fun!

A split vinyl release between Urge (Caen) and Tokyo's Sete Star Sept, with one track from the French free jazz trio Urge of Antoine Ulmann on sax, Bubu Pagier on gutiar, and Yann Fontbonne on drums, playing in a Borbetomagus mode; and the Japanese gridcore duo of drummer Ryosuke Kiyasu and bassist/vocalist Kae Takahashi providing a thick extended rock grindcore piece; a blistering combo.

Two complete live performances in Munich at Galerie arToxin, and at Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang + Kunst Krailing in 2018, with Schindler on bass clarinet, soprano saxophone and cornet, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, balancing active and introspective dialog of advanced harmonics, (a)rhythmic approaches, and extraordinary technique.

Originally meeting in 2015 at a music festival, the Berlin-based duo of pianist Antonis Anissegos and cellist Anil Eraslan worked together in different ensembles, and formally declared their duo project in 2018, this their first album, a superb set of both spirited and contemplative dialogs, intricate yet clearly unfolding interaction of masterful skill.

SALON fur Klang + Kunst multi-reedist Udo Schindler met Japanese pianist Masako Ohta at Mohrvilla, Munchen/Freimann, Germany in 2017 to record this extended live improvisation, bringing Schindler's free jazz and non-idiomatic styles together with Ohta's contemporary classical background, in an intently educated and fascinating merging of styles and approaches.

Two trombones free improvising in the studio in Koln from the Duo of Chicago's Jeb Bishop and Cologne's Matthias Muche, both members of the trombone trio Bone-Crusher with Matthias Muller, this album recorded in the studio in Koln just before Bone-Crusher's "Konzert Fur Hannes" (NotTwo), elucidating this facet of the trio in 10 insightful dialogs of awesome technique and wit.

Guitarist Olaf Rupp recorded this trio session with violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, capturing five improvisations from around 8 minutes to 18 in length, the first three demonstrating intense interaction with an overall sense of restraint, closing with two more reflective works, a beautiful balance of reductionist sensibility amid superb technique.

Norwegian jazz vocalist Guro Gravem Johansen (Soyr, Crazy Moon, and vocalist for Helge Hurum's orchestra), in a duo with Colombian cellist based in Helsinki, Sergio Castrillon, performing on a prepared microtonal cello, as the two improvise over five dialogs, from the extended "Primo" to the succinct "Quintuple", blending unusual technique with unique creative impulse.

Austrian improvisers Ulit Winter (cello) and Fredi Pröll (drums) meet Greek-born pianist Villy Paraskevopoulos at Artacts '19, in St. Johann in Tirol, Austria in 2019 for these two superb extended free improvisations with a chamber/non-idiomatic approach, Paraskevopoulos performing inside and out of the piano, in technically impressive and well-balanced dialogs.

Nicola L. Hein, performing on prepared guitar, and Etienne Nillesen on extended snare drum, present three trio recordings with three different pianists--Magda Mayas, Eve Risser, and Marta Warelis--each adding a different dimension to Hein & Nillesen's playing, as heard in these three live recordings from The Loft in Cologne, Germany in 2018.

Named for Sunny Murray's 1969 album "Big Chief", the long-runing collaborations of tenor saxophonist & pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee and drummer/percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love pay tribute to the late drummer Sunny Murray in this concert recording at London's Cafe Oto for a dynamic dialog of free jazz, with two nuanced free improv pieces including a "Fantasy for Lester [Bowie]".

Distilling a trio from Paal Nillsen-Love's Large Unit results in Fish & Steel, the trio of Mats Aleklint on trombone, Per Ake Holmlander on tuba, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion, an unusual brass & drum orchestration in two extended improvisations with an experimental bent that veers in and out of jazz forms with a mischievous attitude and masterful playing.

Bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten (The Thing) and Stale Storlokken (Elephant9, Supersilent, Terje Rypdal) join the Nordic Krokofant trio of Axel Skalstad on drums, vibraphone, Tom Hasslan on guitar, and Jorgen Mathisen on saxophone for the band's 3rd album, performing the 4-part work "Q", an intense and sophisticated album of complex and passionate instrumental rock.

A set of varied compositions from Frank Denyer, most of them of a delicate acoustic intimacy, with works for female singers & flute, two works for koto, a string quartet, one for flute and electronics and the two-part "Frog" for a bowed stringed instrument of Denyer design, the "sneh"; uncategorizable music of sublime imagination and unusual approaches.

Two compositions from Berlin-based Australian composer-instrumentalist Jon Heilbron scored for two double basses and two hardanger fiddles--violins with extra sympahetic strings-- in his two part "Puma Court", a slowly-evolving work that develops uniquely rich acoustic environments of interacting harmonies & timbres, punctuated with subtle percussive elements.

The Field/Vidic duo of Slovenian saxophonist based in Switzerland Gregor Vidic and London born drummer Niclas Field is expanded with Japanese free improvising guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, recording at Gok Sound in Tokyo in 2017 for three exceptional and suspenseful and electroacoustic improvisations, merging melodic and abstract approaches in uniquely detailed ways.

This is the 2nd release by this trio on Clean Feed, with Tobias Klein (alto saxophone, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet), Goncalo Almeida (double bass) and Martin van Duynhoven (drums) captured live at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in 2017, taking on compositions by Ornette Coleman alongside original compositions from all three players in a free jazz mode.

Pianist Daniel Bernardes pays homage to French composer Olivier Messiaen, augmenting his piano trio of Antonio Augusto Aguiar on bass and Mario Costa on drums with the Drumming GP Ensemble of Miquel Bernat on marimba, Jeffrey Davis & Pedro Gois on vibraphones, and Joao Dias on glockenspiel, a wonderful merging of contemporary percussive composition and modern jazz.

The 4th album from German saxophonist Peter Van Huffel's Gorilla Mask, the 3rd on Clean Feed, is another powerful blending of jazz and rock forms in restless and profoundly determined music, energetic but intelligently structured, with great riffs and melodic grooves from Roland Fidezius (electric bass) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drums and percussion).

Swedish bass player Egil Kalman, here on modular syntheizer, joins Norwegian guitarist Fredrik Rasten for a lovely album of drifting electronics and beautifully entwining acoustic guitar, unhurriedly developing environments of warm, slowly evolving chord structures that show influences from players like Catherine Lamb or the Wandelweiser collective.

Three active Norwegians musicians based in Oslo-- guitarist Karl Bjora (Yes Deer, Megalodon Collective), drummer Dag Erik Knedal (Saka, Akode) and saxophonist Karl-Hjalmar Nyberg (Left Exit, Megalodon Collective)--in their debut album as a performing trio, showing both assertive collective playing in a free jazz mode and deeply introspective exploration.

The collective free jazz Nau Quartet led by alto saxophonist Jose Lencastre with Red Trio pianist and bassist Rodrigo Pinheiro and Hernani Faustino and drummer Joao Lencastre are caught live at Moscow's DOM Cultural Center for this album of thoughtfully informed improvisation, using open and spontaneous structures as they evolve each conversation in organic ways.

Dedicated to the late Mike Panico, who requested that viola player Ig Henneman develop a concept for the Relative Pitch label, this trio brings together the Amsterdam-based Henneman and flutist Anne La Berge with US trumpeter Jaimie Branch, three women in an eccentric and fearless trio of energetic interaction marked by masterful technique and exuberant delivery.

Their first release in 2000 performing Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise", for 20 years the Formanex quartet of sound artists, conceptualists and experimenters Anthony Taillard, Christophe Havard, Emmanuel Leduc, and Julien Ottavi are heard here in collaborations with Keith Rowe, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Ralf Wehowsky, Seth Cluett, Michael Pisaro, Radu Malfatti, &c.