The 2nd release from this Sydney, Austrlian acoustic sextet, creating subtle yet dynamic improvisations influenced by the musical concepts of John Cage and Morton Feldman, balancing contemplative sections with building surges, these works developed on their 2019 Europe tour, which included performances at Copenhagen Jazz Festival as well as shows in Berlin and Stockholm.

The core of the German free improvising Takatsuki Trio is Rieko Okuda (piano, viola, &c.), Antti Virtaranta (bass), and Joshua Weitzel (shamisen, guitar), who, while touring, ask a guest from the area they're performing in to join them, here inviting tenor saxophonist Matthias Schubert in Kassel, Germany, and in Wiesbaden, Germany inviting saxophonist Dirk Marwedel.

Formed in 2014 to explore their own personal history with jazz music, the French trio of Fidel Fourneyron on trombone, Sebastien Beliah on double bass and Geoffroy Gesser on tenor saxophone & clarinet put their focus on the master of be-bop, Charlie Parker, updating, reinventing and making an inventive playground of Parker's music through thirteen classics.

Bringing together two masterful percussionists -- Norwegian drummer Per Oddvar Johansen and Paris-based Japanese drummer Seijiro Murayama -- for a distinctive drum duo, each musician using a minimal set that combines a snare drum with small objects and cymbals, for an album of six improvisations and two composed pieces, all showing restraint in rhythmic interaction.

Tokyo sound artist Elico Suzuki attached or arranged "gadgets" including a small electric fan, a motor and a radio, to an upright piano whose upper and lower panels were removed and insides exposed, using their inherent sounds and those created by touching them to the piano strings to generate overlapping and evolving sound, ending each piece with force through the keyboard.

Found dead in the Thames River in 1969, pianist & composer Mike Taylor left a legacy of two solid & lyrical jazz albums, of which the complete Trio album and one track from Pendulum are remastered; but he was also a songwriter for the Eric Clapton/Ginger Baker/Jack Bruce band Cream, of which three Taylor compositions with lyrics and vocals by Baker are included.

Three active Portuguese improvisers in a trio of remarkably sensitive rapport from Gonçalo Mortágua on tenor saxophone, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Higino Andrade on double bass, their group name referencing "3 Old Women", though their playing is youthful and adept, bringing a sense of bright space in 14 concise and intensely creative conversations.

The electroacoustic improv trio of flutist Paolo Pascolo and electronics guru Alberto Novello (JesterN') on modular synthesizer, and Slovenian drummer Vid Drašler, for seven haunting improvisations of unfaltering patience, electronic tones commingling with atmospheric flutes and subtle percussive intervention, creating rich sonic environments or quirky conversation.

A solo album from Italian percussionsit Lucio Miele, presenting six works of layered percussion with live electronics and, on three tracks, recitation from actor Simona Fredella, each piece sound-oriented with an incredibly diverse set of percussive variety, detailed atmospheric settings and diverse rhythmic foundation; a remarkable and sometimes hair-raising album.

The trio of Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet & alto sax, Abdul Moimeme on prepared electric guitar & objects, and Carlos Santos on electronics & objects performed this confrontational improvisation at the 2020 Small Formats Materials Festival, weaving acoustic and electronic expression with assertive confidence, affirming reductionist approaches as commanding statements.

A modern soundscape in three acts from Italian improvisers, drummer Walter Forestier (Death Roars, Angelo Mastronardi Trio) and guitarist Vito Pesce (Minus Tree, Pastel, Squieti), their 2nd album a dialog shifting between pensive introspection and aggressive evocation, a full range of expression that builds and releases suspense as the two unfold their narrative.

The 8-piece String Theory ensemble directed by violist Ernesto Rodrigues performs a beautiful and subtle work inspired by a poem written by Rodrigues, "Une Ombre Du Bonheur", realized through viola, violin, cellos, viola de gamba, double bass, piano, zither and objects, a stunningly beautiful and deceptively tranquil work of exceptional detail and dexterous execution.

Interested in exploring open form improvisation and pairing Western and Korean musical instruments & tradition, baritone saxophonist Simon Rose met gayageum player Youjin Sung, a member of the AsianArt Ensemble playing contemporary music, at the Berlin club Sowieso in 2019 to record these eight exotic and informed dialogs of unique timbral voicing and authoritative skill.

The second album from the duo of cellist Paula Sanchez and oud player Christian Moser, a "restless hodgepodges of tensile agitation, percussive clatter, and nocturnal claustrophobia, with both Moser and Sanchez contributing conventional instruments abused with extended techniques (oud and cello, respectively) as well as objects and found ephemera."

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.

Dark Tree's Roots series continues to unearth hidden masterworks from the West Coast scene, here with bassist Roberto Miranda's Home Music ensemble in 1985, an 11-piece large band performing Miranda's lyrically rhythmic compositions, with an all-star cast including flutist James Newton, clarinetist John Carter, pianist Horace Tapscott, trumpeter Bobby Bradford, &c.

Cleverly complex yet melodically embraceable, the trio of Beligan pianist residing in Norway, Jonas Cambien's trio with Andre Rolighete on tenor and soprano saxophone and drummer Andreas Wildhagen perform eleven original Cambien compositions, a mix of astute, joyful and irrepressibly creative approaches to jazz and free improvisation.

Recording in the studio in Switzerland, the trio of Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Ned Rothenberg on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet & Shakuhachi, and Julian Sartorius on drums & percussion perform a mix of compositions, with 3 from Courvoisier and 1 by Rothenberg, and 4 collective improvisations; a unified and accomplished album of diverse approaches to free improv.

Meeting for the 1st time at the 2016 October Meeting in Holland, the quartet performance there of Susana Santos Silva on trumpet, Mette Rasmussen on alto sax, Ada Rave on tenor sax & clarinet and Kaja Draksler on piano, inspired the formation of Hearth to develop soundscapes focusing on moods and textures, as heard in these six rich, explorative collective improvisations.

The Hammond organ takes the lead sound on this straight-up, melodically grooving and fast-paced album, with compositions coming mostly from Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen, performed in this trio with French organist Cedric Piromalli and Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg; an album that puts one foot in the history of 60's jazz and one foot firmly in the creative present.

Following his ECM album Trace Provisoire, violinist Dominique Pifarély's new album with his quartet of Antonin Rayon on piano, Bruno Chevillon on double bass and Francois Merville on drums, expands on the merging of compositional and improvisational form in this set of Pifarély compositions, alongside two co-written with Bruno Chevillon and two with Antonin Rayon.

Their 2020 tour cut short and no prospects of perfomance in March 2020, the trio of trumpeter Thomas Heberer, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Joe Hertenstein began a weekly discipline of composing and rehearsing new music, doing so for the next five months, recording this superbly defined set of new compositions in August, the day before Herstenstein left NYC for Berlin.

After the Desalambrado duo album album between Spanish pianist Agustí Fernandez and drummer/percussionist Lucía Martinez, Fernandez enjoined UK bassist Barry Guy to record with them while he was in Spain working on his Via Augusta; the results are this album of mysterious environments that lead to intense and exciting interaction, expansive improv through Martinez' percussive elements.

A live recording of insightful collective improvisation recorded in 2019 at the Moers Festival in Germany, from Harri Sjostrom on soprano saxophone, Achim Kaufmann on piano, Adam Pultz Melbye on double bass, Dag Magnus Narvesen on drums, and Emilio Gordoa on vibraphone, in an extended exploration of subtle hues through effortlessly intense and inventive interaction.

Formed in 1990 as a sextet to explore the possibilities of real-time signal processing in an improvising context, the 30 year history of saxophonist Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and the first new album in 9 years explodes with this incredible 2019 live concert at Wojciech Krukowski Hall, in Warsaw, Poland as a 10-piece ensemble of masterful improvisers.

Existing between composition and free improvisation, this Norwegian quartet of Torstein Lavik Larsen on trumpet, Adrian Myhr on double bass, Fredrik Rasten on acoustic guitar, and Jan Martin Gismervik on drums & percussion are informed by minimal composed, folk and improvised musics, applying unusual technique and methodology to create beautiful textural and impressionistic sound.

The Selva trio of Ricardo Jacinto on cello, Goncalo Almeida on double bass and Nuno Morao on drums join with Rutger Zuydervelt of Machinefabriek who adds unique electroacoustic transformations to their fusion of free improvisation and hydrid world elements, resulting in this wonderfully dark venture inside a virtual jungle of contrasting darkness and refined acoustic beauty.

Discovered in a box of recordings in BPA's possession, this recording from 2003 restores a stimulating freely improvised studio encounter between then-West Coast frequent collaborators, double bassist Damon Smith and percussionist Gino Robair, in a trio with Austrian alto saxophonist & bass clarinetist Tanja Feichtmair, mastered to pristine quality by Weasel Walter.

Two Israeli tenor saxophonists of different generations--Stephen Horenstein, who is associated with Bill Dixon and the Kadima label, and Eyal Netzer of Lab Orchestra and works with Albert Beger--in an intimate dialog of passionate playing merging jazz forms and experimental approaches to improvisation, both taking up drums, Horenstein also performing on soprano sax.

With an ensemble of adept improvisers including Luis Vicente on trumpet, Nuno Torres, Jose Lencastre and Bruno Parrinha on reeds, Luis Lopes on guitar, &c, Creative Sources leader and violist Ernesto Rodrigues' Isotope Ensemble examines the element "Helium" in a monumental 44-minute electroacoustic improvisation recorded live at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon.

A percussive "Natchtprogramm" and a tonal "Syntax" from composer Torsten Papenheim, recorded in the studio in Cologne and Berlin, the former performed with trombonist Matthias Much, double bassist Achim Tang and pianist Philip Zoubek; the latter with Johannest Trondle (violincello) & Axel Haller (electric bass), then with Elena Kakaliagou (french horn) & Evi Filippou (percussion).

A three part solo improvisation from pianist and composer Joel Futterman, also performing on Indian flute and curved soprano saxophone, each track a complete unedited first take with no overdubs, presented in the order performed, the first part a nearly 53 minute epic of powerful and consequential playing, from vigorous technical runs to beautifully languid moments; stunning.

NY double bassist Sean Ali presents an engrossing journey in seven pieces that depict an inner journey through tone, technique and words, using the double bass to create deep sonic environments through interactively playing and layering, using extended approaches that support and contrast his narration; a compelling and descriptive observation on the nature of self.

While on vacation in Rome in 2018, NY percussionist Carlo Costa took his portable recorder inside a grain silo in the countryside north of the city, eschewing traditional percussion for found bricks, pipes, rocks and branches found nearby, recording in the resonance of the silo with the sounds of cicadas and other ambiance permeating the silo as he unfolds this engrossing, thoughtfully paced improvisation.

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".

The extended and absorbing live performance between Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and Chicago drummer Michael Zerang at Španski Borci,in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2019 begins in restful interaction, Harnik often inside the piano and Zerang scraping and coaxing sound, building to a disruptive dream of intense interaction that ends in a turbulent awakening.

An exotic album of tradition-spanning improvisation from the trio of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perleman, oud player Gordon Grdina and percussionist Hamin Honari on tombak and daf, avoiding any cliches of "world fusion" as the effusive Middle Eastern rhythmic devices propel Perelman and Grdina into joyful flights of ecstatic playing that bridge the East and West.

An articulate and important collection of songs devoted to the marginalized voices of women around the world from NY vocalist Jen Shyu, performed in a masterful quintet with Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Mat Maneri on viola, Thomas Morgan on bass, Dan Weiss on drums, Shyu singing and performing on percussion, piano, Taiwanese moon lute, and Japanese biwa.

Drum and percussion improviser Barry Altschul leads his trio with Jon Irabagon on tenor, sopranillo saxophones & alto clarinet and Joe Fonda on bass in their fourth release since forming in 2013, here with five original compositions in free jazz form with strong melodic heads that manifest in tremendous soloing from his players and outstanding drum work.

Eight improvisations named for the month of recording during the challenges of pandemic from British tenor saxophonist Ed Jones and Norwegian drummer/percussionist Emil Karlsen, often reflective work that explores timbral possibilities on each instrument through flowing lines and deceptively active investigations in a variety of empathetic and sublimely ruminative approaches.

Asebeia (ἀσέβεια) was a criminal charge in ancient Greece for the "desecration and mockery of divine objects", for "irreverence towards the state gods" and disrespect towards parents and dead ancestors; here it is also the informed and diverse, freely improvised duo of Spanish improvisers, saxophonist Liba Villavecchia and drummer/percussionist Vasco Trilla.

Live concert recordings at Alchemia club in Krakow captured during the Krakow Jazz Autumn Festival 2019 while double bassist Joëlle Léandre held residence, 3 CDs presenting first a quartet with Zlatko Kaucic on drums & percussion, Mateusz Rybicki on clarinets and Zbigniew Kozera on bass, then one disc in a duo with Zlatko Kaucic and another with guitarist Rafal Mazure.

The third of a 3-album trilogy, Playfield offers the musical equivalency of a walk through the diversity of New York in a loft-style extended improvisation from the octet of Daniel Carter on horns, reeds, Luisa Muhr on voice, Ayumi Ishito on saxophone, Eric Plaks on Nord piano, Aron Namenwirth and Yutaka Takahashi on guitar, Zach Swanson on bass, and Jon Panikkar on drums.

"Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra" was originally written by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki for the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by composer himself; this new extended reading and conduction of the score from 2018 was originated and directed by Mats Gustafsson, a powerful update and expansion of the original work.

Reissuing two essential and innovative piano trio albums: Paul Bley Trio's 1965 album Touching with Bley on piano, Kent Carter on double bass and Barry Altschul on drums, plus the title track from the 1967 Bley album In Haarlem - Blood with Altschul and Mark Levinson taking the double bass roll, performing compositions by Paul Bley, Carla Bley and Annette Peacock.

After 3 consecutive nights performing in trio & quartet formats at Balete at Kamias, in Quezon City, Philippines, the duo of drummer Sabu Toyozum and alto saxophonist Rick Countryman performed the final set as a duo, their many collaborations evident in the freedom and flexibility each provides to the other, delivering an exemplary example of a free jazz sax & drum duo.

After their first encounter at the M.I.A. Improvisation Festival in Atouguia de Balei, the trio of Carlo Mascolo on trombone, Joao Madeira on bass and Felice Furioso on percussion entered the Dwarte Studio in Lisbon to record these seven instant compositions, profound work from three players dedicated to finding unique expression and structure through free improvisation.

Three disparate improvisers--Guy-Frank Pellerin on soprano & tenor saxophones, Matthias Boss on violin & voice and Eugenio Sanna on amplified guitar plus small metallic layers, balloons & voice--present a non-idiomatic, fully improvised set of "sonorities, fragments, atmospheres seeming to constitute independent parts, but actually forming a unicum".

An energetic trio of Serbian free improvisers from Tibor Takacs Faki on reeds, Laslo Lenkes on guitar and Goran Grubisic on drums, Tibor Takacs Faki and Goran Grubisic both part of the rock band Wooden Ambulance, that energy translating into their indefatigable approach to collective improvisation, just keeping a lid on their rambunctious interaction.

Darkly powerful sonic interaction through transformative use of their instruments, the trio of trombonist Matthias Müller, drummer Christian Marien and pianist Eve Risser obscure their sources through non-traditional techniques, energetically and mysteriously evoking industrial mechanisms with riveting nuance and inventiveness, an exceptional achievement.

The debut solo album of London tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson, the title a wordplay on the spoken word interactions that accompanying her unique voice on the sax -- gritty melodic lines trading off with unusual asides and techniques -- engaging the listener as she interjects words, phrases and utterance that serve as jumping off points to direct her improvisations.

The first meeting between Art Ensemble of Chicago saxophone legend Roscoe Mitchell and the long running improvisational trio of Sandy Ewen (guitar), Damon Smith (double bass) and Weasel Walter (drums), in an epic 72-minute recording captured live at Duende in Oakland, CA in 2014, an amazing display contrasting control & chaos, form and deconstruction; exemplary!

The 2nd of two 3-CD sets released as trumpeter Wadada Leo nears his 80th birthday, these albums were recorded in 2015 & 2016 in bassist Bill Laswell's studio, the first presenting the duo of Smith and late drummer Milford Graves, the second a duo with Laswell, those discs leading to the expansive and outstanding full trio of Smith, Laswell & Graves on the final disc.

Pure Wadada Leo Smith in a 3-CD box set of solo recordings from 2016 captured at and using the natural resonance of the St. Mary's Church in the town of Pohja, on the Southern Coast of Finland, presenting fourteen new compositions, including four extended multi-part works, as Smith demonstrates his incredible authority, investigative spirit and spiritual approach to the horn.

"Volatile Models", the pairing of Dutch guitarist Henk Zwerver and bassist & percussionist Raoul van der Weide, also on crackle box, creating spontaneously unrestricted, sometimes irascible but always inspired and exuberant free improvisation, from moments of tension to explosive release, as heard in six dialogs performed live at Atelier 5, in Amsterdam in September, 2020.

A chamber-oriented album of strings & piano improvisation released on cellist Raoul van der Weide's Casco label, in a quintet of Marta Warelis on piano, Jacob Plooij on violin, Raoul van der Weide on cello & percussion, Henk Zwerver on guitar, Jan Nijdam on double bass, recording in the studio for eight quick-witted, sophisticated and innately playful conversations.

"Scraps", or leftovers from the recording sessions of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and drummer/percussionist Andrea Centazzo, the same sessions that yielded the albums Clangs and Tao, with remastered studio and live sessions in Udine, Bologna and other cities in Italy, plus a live recording from an audio cassette with Kent Cart on bass at Teatro Lirico in Milano.

Reissuing clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre's 1963 Columbia album Free Fall, presenting trio performances with bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley recorded after their 1961 European tour, along with duos between Giuffre and Swallow and several solo tracks from the clarinetist himself, propelling himself and his band into his sophisticated, risk-taking chamber jazz compositions.

Using Rosa Barba's cello and the celluloid of a film projector as an alternative bow to create rich drones, and Chad Taylor's drum kit along with his incredible prowess with a mbira, this NY duo create an incredible set of rhythmically active soundscapes that draws their listener into a wonderfully vivid and richly flowing improvisational world; stunning!

Led by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and peformed by his Red Lily Quintet with Kirk Knuffke on cornet, William Parker on bass & gimbri, Christopher Hoffman on cello and Chad Taylor on drums & mbira, Lewis' work explores and reflects on the legacy of scientist George Washington Carver through 7 remarkable free jazz compositions.

Documenting the efforts by saxophonist and label leader Dave Rempis to continue his creative output during the pandemic, in a 2-CD set with solo pieces from weekly streamed performances at his practice space, alongside duo & trio performances from outdoor concerts including collaborators Tomeka Reid on cello, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Tim Daisy or Tyler Damon on drums.

The first recorded collaboration between guitarist Mark Shippy (U.S. Maple) and improvising violinist Alex Cunningham (Apathist!, Claire Rousay, Cunningham/Cameron/Smith), together taking their instruments into strangely tumultuous and often quickly shifting territory; sometimes ethereal, sometimes cantankerous, always captivating.

The first concentrated duo of two improvisers who have worked together in other groupings since 2006 from guitarist Joe Morris and double bassist Damon Smith, recording a set of five extended and technically stunning conversations, a mesh of texture and motion through charged creative drive, merging their strings among often inexplicable technique to create thrilling dialogs.

The fifth album from Amsterdam avant rock band Plan Kruutntoone led by Hans Visser on guitar, banjo & voice, and drummer/percussionist Chris MŸller, is a diverse set of recording that bring a sense of isolation and introspection, including spoken word pieces with Samuel Beckett text fragments, and a string quartet composed by Hans Visser; unique and singular.

After their duo album A Map of Guilt and many albums together under various Fire! groupings, Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and electronic artist Joachim Nordwall face off again for a limited 7" single: two simmering dialogs, remarkable counterpunches of rumbling synthetics, instrumental noise, pulsating bass tones, heavy breath and terrifying innuendo!

Using unusual techniques and a collection of instruments that include the standard Western instruments of cello and flute, along with guembri, sulittu, dilli kaval, bass xun, launeddas (mancosedda, tumbu), plus the application of objects against strings, the Italian duo of Antonio Bertoni & Stefano Leonardi engage in seven remarkable and assertive improvised duos.

Using the natural resonance of the Liepkalnis underground water reservoir in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Katarsis4 saxophone quartet of Arminas Bizys, Algirdas Janonis, Danielius Pancerovas and Kazimieras Jusinskas merge free improvisation, both melodic and of extended tetechniques, with composed forms and folk music, capturing this extended work of beguiling and powerful music.

While in a residency in 2018 at the Yokohama, Japan jazz club Bitches Brew, Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockunas had the opportunity to perform in duos and trios with some of Japan's most famous improvising reed players--Kazutoki Umezu, Masayo Koketsu, Akira Sakata and Eiichi Hayashi--and also in a trio with Kazutoki Umezu and Otomo Yoshihide performing on electric guitar.

The first Wandering The Sound album in 2018 was the trio of Argentinian reedist Guillermo Gregorio, Spanish drummer Ramón López and Polish bassist Rafał Mazur, here extended to a quintet with pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura for a 2019 concert at Alchemia in Poland, a masterful example of free improv based on a poem by Ikkyu Sojun, a Zen master from the 15th century.

Boston free improviser, composer, reed player and multi-instrumentalist PEK (David Peck) quadruples himself on this album with four continuous tracks of one PEK each playing many instruments, using a broad palette comprised of woodwinds, percussion, electronics, and strings, each recorded pass filling in space and playing counterpoint to previously recorded tracks.

In July 1968 trumpeter Don Cherry assembled a group of Swedish musicians--Bernt Rosengren (sax & winds), Tommy Koverhult (saxophone & winds), Leif Wennerström (drums), Torbjörn Hultcrantz (bass), Jacques Thollot (drums) & Kent Carter (bass)--recording their session with the intention of releasing an album that never happened, the tapes now re-discovered 50 years later and finally available!

This forward-thinking Dutch quintet led by percussionist Pierre Courbois released this album in 1968, recording their percussion-centric and enthusiastic collective free jazz at the farm of vibraphonist Erwin Sommer, with trumpeter Boy Raaymakers, saxophonist Peter Van Der Locht and bassist Ferdinand Rikker'; a passionately joyful and impressive example of European Free Jazz.

The debut of the advanced and innovative collaboration between improviser and prominent double bassist Barre Phillips, British saxophonist John Butcher and Norwegian drummer, percussionist and improviser, Stale Liavik Solberg, recording at the Blow out Festival in Oslo, Norway in 2019, and at Offene Ohren, Einstein Kultur, in Munchen, Germany in 2018.

Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker and cornetist Rob Mazurek have collaborated for more than 20 years in a variety of ensembles, heard here in their first ever duo, condensing their creative use of lyrical, textural and technical skills into this outstanding album.

Two concerts by improvising keyboardist and vocalist Jean-Marc Foussat, on the LP a recording at the Tout Rennes S'Emmerde event organized by From Town to Town, Capital Taboule, Consternation, L'Effroyable Association Western Soviets Satanist and Dream'in Noise, the 2nd a DVD of Foussat performing live on the beach as part of the 13th Farniente Festival.

A vinyl reissue of improvising synth, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Marc Foussat's 2001 Potlatch album, originally released as a CD-ROM and here with an accompanying DVD titled "Hope for Happiness" including 3 silent films, two of which relate to the album; performed with Pascal Bouscailloux, Jac Berrocal, Jean-Francois Pauvros, Roger Turner, &c.

Taking its title from the rum-running yacht on which McPhee's father sailed from Nassau to Miami, this free electroaoustic improvised concert with Joe McPhee on pocket cornet & alto saxophone, Jen Clare Paulson on viola and Brian Labycz on electronics was captured live in 2014 at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during Okka Fest 6, released as CvsD's first vinyl LP.

Somewhere between Acid Mothers, 70s Miles or Sun Ra's Arkestra, NY-based Japanese saxophonist Ayumi Ishito's first Spacemen volume with Theo Woodward on synth & vocals, Nebula and the Velvet Queen on theremin, Jake Strauss on guitar & bass and Steven Bartishev on drums, lives up to it's cosmic moniker through exploratory improv blurring jazz, electronica and psych.

Mining the area between the blues and creative jazz with pieces by Charles Tyler, Ornette Coleman, Phil Cohran and Sun Ra, this is the 3rd album from the Italian quartet of Alberto Popolla on clarinets, Errico De Fabritiis on saxophones, Gianfranco Tedeschi on double bass, and Fabrizio Spera on drums & percussion, joined by Eugenio Colombo on flute and Francesco Lo Cascio on vibes.

Translating to "Fork", Garfo is a modern Portuguese jazz quartet led by tenor saxophonist Bernardo Tinoco, with João Almeida on trumpet, João Fragoso on double bass and João Sousa on drums, all 4 contributing compositions to their lyrically sophisticated music, effortlessly using complex structure and time signatures to propel first-rate free improvisation.

Living true to its album title, electric guitarist Luis Lopes' collective Lisbon Berlin Quartet with Rodrigo Pinheiro on Fender Rhodes, Robert Landfermann on double bass & effects and Christian Lillinger on drums, creates an hypnotic brew of interactive, weaving and layered improvised expression, rapid-paced yet hypnotically sinister in its controlled kinetic flow.

With cinematic moments and dark, rich grooves, Italian bassist Danilo Gallo leads a quintet with fellow Italians Massimiliano Milesi on tenor & soprano saxophones, Francesco Bigoni on tenor saxophone & clarinet, American drummer Jim Black, and Lorenzo Corti on guitar, through a set of 10 Gallo compositions, melodically centered but surprising in detail and direction.

In the final stages of cancer, late double bassist and composer Mario Pavone recorded this lyrically warm and beautifully sincere album of modern jazz in a quartet with his son Michael Pavone on guitar, Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone and Michael Sarin on drums, written as a tribute to his granddaughter Isabella, who died in 2020 when she was only 23 years old.

The title a reference to a 1953 poem by Yasuoka Shotaro, this album instead finds excellent company in the Portuguese duo of percussionists Pedro Carneiro on marimba with quarter tone extension and Pedro Melo Alves on prepared drums, their informed and unhurried improvised dialog merging concepts and influences of contemporary compositional music in compelling ways.

An album of spiritual and lyrically rich free improvisation from trumpeter Luis Vicente's Trio with double bassist Goncalo Almeida and drummer/percussionist Pedro Melo Alves, the three Portuguese improvisers performing Vicente's compositions that urge the performers to search and extend themselves expressively through both inspiring interplay and reflective calm.