Put this one in your Wishlist for the next holiday season: 5th in a series drawing on Vancouver's best; unusual approaches to the classics in a oddly skewed yet sentimental ways.

The fourth in the Elliot Sharp curated "Meta Guitar" series brings a wealth of diverse styles and approaches to the guitar, from Knox Chandler, Tashi Dorji, Monika Roscher, Rhys Chatham, Kalle Kalima, Ryan Choi, Marco Oppedisano, Bern Nix, Markus Reuter, Hahn Rowe, Pete Matthiessen, Robert Poss, Ron Anderson, Morgan Craft, Roberto Zorzi, and Erdem Helvacioglu.

Thirteen emphatic "rituals" from the Argentinian duo of saxophonist Hernan Sama, recording in the studio as they employ an array of techniques including extended bowing and plucking approaches, saxophone smears, growls, vocal utterances, odd reed techniques, &c, to engage their listener's ears as they unfold dialog that merges jazz forms and fully free improvisation.

A multi-national trio from Slovenia (Bostjan Simon-sax), Norway (Stephan Meidell-guitar, bass & electronics) and Portugal (Luis Candeias-drums) bringing a diverse set of modern influences including electronics, alternative rock and sound/noise to excellent free improvisation.

Hazy free jazz in an hallucinatory blend of passionate music influenced as much by experimental and rock forms as traditional improv, from the trio of Bostjan Simon on sax & electronics, Stephan Meidell on guitar, bass, percussion & electronics and Luis Candeias on drums.

"The jazz is not always subject to their premises. Even the breaks in their future creative. The jazz in the present century, taking the legacy of its past vanguard’stico, welcomes new resources, other parameters as technical and musica...

Norwegian violinist Adrian Løseth Waade's first release as a leader is this melodically-inclined album of brightly evocative improvisation, buoyant strings and creative rhythmic drive with Waade providing all compositions, performed with Kjartan Laereid Gullikstad on guitar, Bardur Reinert Poulsen on bass, and Simon Olderskog Albertsen on drums.

Performing on drums, trumpet, guitar, bass, moog bass, and keyboards, Philadelphia born and West Coast drummer/multi-instrumentalist Grant Calvin Weston, a member of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time Band, presents an album or fierce drumming and powerful electronic sources balanced with beautifully paced sonic environments, 16 tracks of diverse and gripping music.

A powerful recording that features heavy, intricate and deep grooves from Philadelphian Grant Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman's Prime Time) on drums, percussion and synths and Lucas Brode on guitars, effects and loops, a great album of creative improvisation that blends fusion-oriented playing balanced with modern sound collage and atmospheric moments.

Guitarist Ed Williams, active in the experimental music scene of Marseille, France, is heard here in two concerts presenting a triptych of solo performances on bowed classical and electric guitar, improvised with no effects, with two parts on electric guitar recorded at the concert series "Aux Soirs Du Chercheur De Noises", the 2nd, "Spectrum, NY" on classical guitar.

Vancouver guitarist Tony Wilson in his 1st solo release recorded in an island cabin, showing his influences from Leadbelly, Fahey, Coltrane, and Ribot.

"Minneapolis-born Hong Kong raised and Berlin-based guitar performer Eric Wong is the author of this amazing release on Portuguese label Creative Sources, named after the initial of each of the five pieces he collected here. Since the o...

"5th January, 12th January, 19th January, 4th February of the year 2015 have a thin red line (or I'd rather say a black line, considering their color on a calendar). They occurred on Monday, the first five Mondays of that year to be pre...

Croatian guitarist and electroacoustic musician Ame Zek in an album of electroacoustic improvisation using prepared guitars, acoustic percussions, self made objects, contact microphones, analog modular synthesizer, amplified feedback speakers, magnetic field microphones and digital midi machines; an album of raw, raspy, dark and dissonant sound.

The debut for this acoustic free improvising Amsterdam trio of Ziv Taubenfeld on bass clarinet, Henk Zwerver on guitar, and Maya Felixbrodt on viola, in a set of abstract improvisations of an active nature using unorthodox and extended techniques, with an upbeat sense of excitement and enthusiasm that allows for solo forays amongst great collective discourse.

A beautiful trio album of compositions from pianist Yuko Fujiyama and presented in a mix of solo pieces and duets & trios with cornetist Graham Haynes and electronic improviser Ikue Mori, for a subtle set of elegant improvisations balancing spacious moments with responsively relaxed interplay rich with anticipation, punctuated with two poems by Shutaro Tankikawa.

A solo album from Austrian-born, NY-based pianist Elias Stemeseder, a member of the Jim Black Trio and Dre Hocevar, here presenting 14 original compositions, succinct works of inventive structures and insightful improvisation along with a traditional Austrian tune "foeggslia'l", an album revealing great skill, quick wit, and a complex mind that yields delightfully intrepid discovery.

The 3-headed monster Khimaira--a lion head in front, a goat head at its back and a snake head at its tail--is rendered by the transatlantic trio of NY saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos, Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Swedish bassist Torbjourn Zetterberg, using profound technique, snarling interaction and contemplative patience to coax the beast in masterful interplay.

The Geometry quartet of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar in their sophomore release of subtly ferocious acoustic improvisation, acute and obtuse angularity through both highly interactive playing and spacious sprawls that merge melody and pointillist styles, expanded through Kitamura's imagistic vocals; outstanding.

An extended monologue on the alto saxophone from Tokyo-based Masayo Koketsu (Carrier/Koketsu/Fuwa/Itani), driven by an innate sense of timing to introduce assertive utterances, growls, throttling and intense interaction offset with long pauses, digressive asides and reflective moments, a remarkable album of modern free jazz in the Japanese tradition.

The trio of North Carolina Triangle free jazz players Crowmeat Bob on bass clarinet, clarinet, alto & tenor saxophones, Phil Venable on upright bass, and Charles Chance on drums, Venable and Chance known from The Paul Swest band, here in a studio album of seven collective free improvisations using open and often abstract approaches to melody and rhythm.

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.

The first trio collaboration between London pianist and innovator Pat Thomas and Swedish improvisers, Sture Ericson on saxophones, and Raymond Strid on drums, performing live at Cafe OTO in London in 2019 for four improvised soundscapes about the fictional character "Bagman", using extended and prodigious technique with both disruptive and melodic intentions.

The last installment in Strut's Sun Ra reissue series is also the first time that Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt album has been reissued, bringing to light these studio recordings between the Arkestra and Egyptian drummer Salah Ragab, recorded during Ra's 1983 Egyptian tour, and featuring two Ragab compostions from his Cairo Jazz Band.

Downtown NY pianist Anthony Coleman (John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Glenn Branca), and drummer Brian Chase (Jeremiah Cymerman, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Drums and Drones) present their debut collaboration, balancing jazz-influenced improvisation with avant compositional forms to forge a chamber jazz album of thoughtful interaction informed by profound technique and creative drive.

Canadian improvising clarinetist François Houle and Swiss trumpeter Marco von Orelli are heard live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, in Basel, Switzerland, 2020 for eleven dialogs reminiscent of the work of John Carter and Bobby Bradford, though uniquely in their own modern language of chamber-oriented jazz through original compositions from both artists.

Essential to any collection charting the transition from Birth of the Cool era jazz to the modern explosion of harmonic and compositional forms, are pianist George Russell's two most essential albums from 1961 & 1962--Ezz-thetics and The Stratus Seekers--in a sextet & septet including Eric Dolphy, Don Elliss, Steve Swallow, &c., remastered to reveal their vital clarity.

Well-recorded performances of Coltrane's most noted works--"Naima", "My Favorite Things" and "A Love Supreme"--in superb concerts from Berlin in 1963 and Antibes in 1965 with his classic quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, revealing the expansion and freedom these compositions receive through the flexibility of live performance.

Named for the long history of collaboration over decades, the NY free jazz Telepathic Band of Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet & trumpet, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Matthew Putman on piano, Rhodes, Hilliard Greene on bass and Federico Ughi on drums are heard live at the 2018 Forward Festival in Brooklyn, NY for four outstandingly informed improvisations.

An early example of the focus and encompassing direction of the 577 label run by Italian-born/NY-based drummer Federico Ughi, in a trio with trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and guitarist Chris Welcome, building from an introspective approach to free playing as they expand their group energy through shards of organic sound, finally releasing into a beautiful "Inner Void".

"This 'Aella' release is one of three in a series curated by myself and released by 577 Records. The other two records are of my trio and of Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala. This trio displays the amazing potential of improvised music. Whenev...

One of three albums in a series curated by saxophonist David Schnug and released by 577 Records, trumpeter Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala presents an inventive and adventurous set of compositions, from a succinct 16 seconds to more than 7 minutes on the title track, in a mix of composed and improvised approaches using modern syntax and compositional strategies to compelling effect.

After years of collaboration through New York's Downtown scene, multi-reed & wind player Daniel Carter (also on piano) and drummer Federico Ughi recorded this 2012 studio album, their 3rd duo album together and a great example of their spontaneously lyrical give and take, ability to anticipate each other's momentum, and the deep jazz roots that each brings to their music.

"Concrete Science is not a stiff, cerebral test of complex music. It is the natural unfettered dialogue between three masterful improvisers: saxophonist Daniel Carter, trombonist Steve Swell, and drummer Federico Ughi. Though cerebral i...

A solo sax album of patterns and intersections from London writer, artist & musician Massimo Magee, influenced by a wealth of sources from Braxton to Stockhausen, each of the five parts of "Toneflower" affected through mic placement as Magee builds to wild expressiveness, transforming round tones into stratospheric pitches, using circular breathing for extended expressiveness; stunning!

Inspired by the work of Lennie Tristano, Brooklyn-based saxophonist and wind player David Schnug steps out as a leader in the first of three albums (along with Aella and Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala) in a trio with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Max Goldman, each of the 7 amusingly titled pieces employing a different compositional concept.

"Bonus material from the album Songs For Four Cities. Exclusive limited edition of 20 hand-numbered copies."-577 Records

"On the first piece of this album, "Talk in Play, People On Mercy", you will hear a rare wall of sound created by two acoustic instruments : Federico Ughi's drums and Gene Janas' bass. For close to nine minutes they bury every aspect of...

One of a pair of complementary CDs (Navajo Sunrise and Navajo Sunset) this 2010 trio recording of a live performance at Area Sismica, Ravaldino in Monte, Italy between Daniel Carter on alto sax & piano, William Parker on bass & shakuhachi and Federico Ughi on drums, is a solid example of the sensitivity and collaborative power of the Downtown NY creative jazz scene.

Recorded in Brooklyn in 2009 from the Downtown New York working band of David Moss on bass, Federico Ughi on drums, Matthew Putman on piano, Daniel Carter on saxophone and Demian Richardson on trumpet, this album was self-released by the artists, to Wake Up! the world through solid grooves and hard playing electric jazz of intensely spirited soloing.

Drummer Federico Ughi is heard in three duo configurations of three improvisations each with British improvisers Steve Buckley on alto saxophone and bass clarinet; Rachel Musson on tenor saxophone; and Matthew F. Morris on baritone saxophone, recording in the studio in London, 1998.

The first new Bootstrappers album since 1992, joining band leader Elliott Sharp for this 3rd album are longtime collaborators Melvin Gibbs on electric bass and Don McKenzie on drums, for seven assertive rock-based improvisations fueled by electronics, free jazz, no wave and electroacoustic sound, manifesting a hardboiled NY ethic of focused grooves and free playing.

Including three previously unreleased live tracks, one of Downtown NY's supergroups of drummer Samm Bennett, reed & wind player Ned Rothenberg and guitar & bass player Elliott Sharp's 2nd album is reissued, bringing this collection of seemingly endless possibility in improvisation back to the foreground, sounding as modern today as it did in the percolating creativity of 1987.

An unusual blend of jazz tradition, spoken word and soundscape, presenting mostly as a jazz album with spoken narration from Steve Piccolo (Lounge Lizards) guiding the album with abstract comments that interject with Sergio Armaroli's virtuoso vibe playing, Elliot Sharp adding both acoustic sax elements and inventive sonic environments underpinning many moments; conceptually fascinating.

The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.

A dark trio of NYC heavyweights Tim Dahl and Trevor Dunn on bass and Nandor Nevai ( _ (Underscore)) on drums and conducting, in Nevai's fifth iteration of the _ ("UNDRSKOR") project, following a fusion of forms referred to as 'Neauxtheque' invoking "Danger Classical", the Martial Pop subgenre of Industrial and the virtuosic demands of Technical Death Metal.

An optimistic definition of "Defeat" through the exultantly dark and expressive work of Fire!, here as the quintet of Mats Gustafsson on flute, baritone sax & live electronics, Johan Berthling on electric bass, Andreas Werliin on drums, Goran Kajfes on quartertone trumpet and Mats Aleklint on trombone & sousaphone, in five works of richly creative and modern improv.

Phil Venable, the Chapel Hill, North Carolina bass player known for his work in the free jazz outfit Tragic Assembly, pairs up with Tragic Assembly drummer Charles Chace for an excursion into the outer limits of improvisation, the album title a reference to a medicinal clay and a riff off of the Charles Mingus song "Moanin".

Joining the Chicago ensemble of Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer/percussionist Avreeayl Ra is pianist & synth player Jim Baker, performing at Elastic Arts in July 2021 as the venue reopened after pandemic shutdowns, the significance clear in the spiritual power and inspired performances of all 4 players.

A fully free improvisation of subtly disruptive, extended electroacoustic mastery, recorded during the Svensk Musikvår Festival at Aliasteatern, Stockholm in 2021, in a piece conceived by Mats Gustafsson who performs on saxophone & flute, with Anna Lindal on violin, Mats Lindstrom on electronics, effects & sampler and Joachim Nordwall on analog synths, effects & tapes.

The 2nd release from the UK collective quartet of Jose Canha on double bass, Trevor Taylor on drums, percussion, Dan Banks on piano and Josh Ison on saxophone, exploring the intersection between freely improvised music and free-jazz, drawing out energetic and subtle moments in lyrical interactions through energetic and focused momentum with a full range of character.

Recording in the studio in Hornchurch, UK in 2022, the open-minded, innately lyrical and freely improvising trio of pianist Dan Banks, long-time collaborator with drummer Trevor Taylor at the latter's Jazz825 club in Southend-on-Sea, and Portuguese double bassist Jose Canhas, are heard in five impeccable contemporary jazz recordings, warm collective conversations of adept skill.

A collective West Coast trio from double bassist Kyle Motl (Treesearch) with cornetist Dan Clucas, also on violin and moxeno (an Andean wind instrument) and drummer Nathan Hubbard, imbued with a spiritual and natural chamber jazz feeling, their improvisations influenced by concepts of daydreams, incandescence and zephyrs; a beautiful and open-minded album.

From the same 2017 session that was released as the album Estuary, this concert in the Philippines between American expatriate saxophonist Rick Countryman and visiting Swiss drummer Christian Bucher expands on the free playing of these two empathetic improvisers, presenting a mix of textural, conceptual, melodic and rhythmic interplay steeped in their personal histories.

Performing on tenor, alto and C-melody saxophones plus alto flute, Paul Dunmall's trio brings together drummer Taymotusz Joziwiak (heard on One Became Many, Unmasked and Awoto) and younger generation bassist James Owswon, for an album of expressive and lyrical free jazz, a well-paced example of tempered collective interplay highlighting all three musicians.

Free string improvisations from Philipp Wachsmann on violin, David Leahy on double bass and Bruno Gustralla on cello, creating subtle and spacious intersections of strings that focus on unusual techniques, melodic fragments spliced over resounding bowing, plucking and instrument errata, while percussionist Trevor Taylor adds sparse punctuation; inscrutably authoritative improv.

A stellar collective collaboration between British and Australian improvisers recorded at the Kazz Lab/Jazz Club, in Melbourne, Australia as part of a joint recording project between MONASH and RMIT Universities, with performers Raymond MacDonald on alto sax, Robert Burke on tenor sax, Paul Grabowsky on piano, Nick Haywood on double bass and Antony Floyd on drums.

"The Demon of Analogy", reedist Udo Schindler on clarinets & saxophone and Michel Withsch performing on a Pleyel piano, take inspiration from the concepts of French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallamé (1842-1989), who considered his texts as instruments of harmonic complexity and ambiguity, interpreted in eight improvisations recorded live at Krailing, in Munchen, Germany in 2016.

Live recordings of two sessions of fully free and uniquely creative duo improvisations by Udo Schinlder on clarinets, saxophone and brass, and Peter Jacquemyn on double bass & voice, recorded on November 29th, 2019 at the 98th Salon für Klang+Kunst Kralling/Munich by Udo Schindler (part one) & on the next day at Galerie arToxin by Gottfried Düren (part two).

Determined and ardent playing like the powerful creep of lava flow as the Brazilian & Portuguese trio of Felipe Zenicola (Chinese Cookie Poets, Paal Nilssen-Love) on bass, Jose Lencastre (Lencastre Nau Quartet) on saxophones and João Valinho (Creative Sources) on drums evolve their tumultuously articulate journey through a molten world of smoldering free jazz.

Two sessions from the free improvising electroacoustic trio of Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics, Martin Hakett on synthesizer and Emil Karlsen on drums & percussion, first for three studio recordings in 2019, and then in concert at the 2020 "Sounds Like This" festival at Leeds College for two wonderfully idiosyncratic and masterful conversations.

Quartet, the masterful grouping of Rachel Musson on tenor sax, NO Moore on electric guitar, Olie Brice on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, an improvising ensemble of wonderfully unpredictable momentum, from passages of quiet introspection to thunderous density, but always with attentive listening and imaginative responses, heard in this spectacular 2021 concert at Iklektic.

Combining the work of 18 artists chosen to interpret a series of sacred rites that took place deep within the woods by an elite shaman of an Amazon tribe, including Squidco's own Carl Kruger & phil zampino, Cheval Gris (Ryan Lewis) weaves an incredible story in sound, a virtual soundtrack of rich aural environments, concrete elements, and ritualistic sound.

A beautifully building release of guitar and percussion, one long track that adds intensity from lovely minimalism to Fripp-ian chords and driving drum work.

An active and creatively absorbing duo between Chicago drummer Quin Kirchner and French-based pianist Rob Clearfield, recorded spontaneously during the sessions of The Shadows and The Light, with one extended improvisation per side, alternating between percolating rhythms of quick witted exchanges to gorgeous lyrical moments of hanging piano figures.

A tribute to late experimental sound artist Peter Rehberg (Pita) from collaborators and friends Lasse Marhaug and Jérôme Noetinger, ten recordings of wildly creative, slippery electronics, crunching sound bunts, rapid fire electronic turmoil and tapehead jamming, ending with a beautifully drifting tribute to an artist who widely influenced modern sound culture.

Taken from concerts during Thollem's 3-month European tour, at Centro d'Arte dell'Università di Padova; AngelicA at Teatro San Leonardo in Bologna; and Rassegna di Nuova Musica 39, performing on acoustic pianos or a Korg Wavestate, showing his technically impressive, creative drive over a diverse set of approaches to solo piano improvisation.

The long-standing duet of guitarist Richard Comte and tenor saxophonist Julen Pontvianne (Onze Hours Onze) is a conversation of introspective and resonant repetition around silence, tonal decay, slow call and response and submerged themes, here symbolically immersed as they explore four sunken islands from around the world: Vordonis; Lohachara; Semionovski and Elugelab.

An immersive drone performed on acoustic guitar, captured and extended through loops and effects and recorded to 4-track cassette, from French improviser Richard Comte (Hippie Diktat, Vegan Dallas), a single extended piece that begins with actively repeating chords that evolve into rich layers of textured, expansive loops, a seemingly infinite work that begs to be looped.

An album of languorous guitar motifs, slowly unfolding in a mesmerizing haze intended to accompany a traveller as landscapes pass, contemplative daydream listening as a mesmeric addition to one's environment in momentum, presented in four "Patterns" that allow the rich tones and harmonics of French electric guitarist Richard Comte to ring out a rich journey.

Rhythmically rich instrumental music crossing experimental, rock and compositional forms with an ear towards primitive and instinctual pulses, the French quartet of drummer & bass harpist Julein Chamla, percussionist Benjamin Flament, Simon Henocq on live electronics and guitarist Richard Comte explore innate pulses imbued with modern and urgent overtones.

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.

The debut of Trio Xolo, bringing together Mexican-American bassist Zachary Swanson, inventive Lithuanian ex-pat & long-time New York drummer/percussionist Dalius Naujokaitis and lyrical Baltimore saxophonist Derrick Michaels, three players steeped in both tradition and avant free playing, captured live in-studio for an album of perceptive creative jazz.

Joyfully assertive and somewhat twisted, the first of three improvisations on this live album at Wels Unlimited 2020 is the duo of Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and drummer Didi Kern, starting at high speed then shifting to unusual approaches in a quirky dialog, made quirkier with Jaap Blonk adding wonderfully nonsensical vocalizations on the last two pieces.

Blurring free improvisation and compositional strategies in this encounter at the "First Meeting Series" at FAB Music Studio Chicago between New York violinist Mark Feldman and Chicago cellist Katinka Kleijn, a remarkable concert in two parts showing imaginative skills of phenomenal technical expertise and experience, instant compositions of the highest order.

The Polish piano trio RGG of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums & percussion are joined by vocalists Marta Grzywacz, trumpet player Artur Majewski and block flutes virtuoso Dominic Strycharski to close out the 2020, 15th Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw Poland, presenting seven improvisations in a beautifully informed journey.

An incredible solo concert from legendary New York pianist Cecil Taylor in October, 1968 at the Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall, Palace of Culture and Science) in Warsaw during the Jazz Jamboree, recorded by Polski Radio and remastered in 2021, an excellent example of the nimble mind and quick technical skills of Taylor's personal take on improvisation; stunning!

Drawing on previous collaborations between Amsterdam pianist Kaja Draksler and wind player Ab Baars, here on tenor sax, clarinet & shakuhachi, and two duo albums between Baars and guitarist Terrie Ex, this meeting as a trio took place at the 2018 Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria for a diverse journey from uniquely introspective to wildly energetic conversation.

A set of blues songs of a personal nature, concepts for a broken yet hopeful age, written and sung by improvising guitarist Marcin "M" Olak (Gadt/Osborne/Zakrocki/Olak, Agusti Fernandez) performed and expanded by a set of stellar improvisers: Ben Stapp on tuba, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Marco Colonna on flute and Steve Swell on trombone.

A determined set of electric jazz from the Brooklyn, NYC trio of Nathaniel Morgan (Buckminster) on alto saxophone, Dustin Carlson on guitar & bass and Kate Gentile on drums & vibraphone, bringing driving rock and experimental music approaches to their improvisations, a uniquely voice and tenacious trio of unorthodox improvisers.

Inspired by Miles Davis, particularly his album On The Corner and Davis' respect and interest in the work Karlheinz Stockhausen, LaPlante wrote Wild Tapestry as a commission from Seth Knopp of Vermont's The Yellow Barn Music Festival in 2021, exploring how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into musical composition and strategy.

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.

Recorded using the natural resonance from the base of a stone double spiral staircase in the Castle of Chambord, France, improvising soprano saxophonist Alexandra Grimal explores her own personal language and the affect the ambience brings to her adept playing, through beautifully melodic lines, long arpeggiations, or short bursts of penetrating utterance.

Recording in real-time during the pandemic, UK improvisers, baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts (Favourite Animals, Madwort Sax Quartet) and double bassist Olie Brice (Olie Brice Quintet, Tobias Delius, &c) recorded these extended improvisations simulateously at their homes, beautifully paced and intently listening as they keep the conversation going despite a world of restrictions.

Cuban/NY pianist David Virelles in his first solo album, 14 original compositions and 2 from Cuban composers, blending modern jazz with Cuban, African and European influences, a tour-de-force of clear and balanced, irrepresible rhythms and elegant ballads, an inspired album opening on marimbula and expanded with percussion from Julio Barreto on three tracks.