Drawn from the same period around 1976 which produced legendary free jazz saxophonist Steve Lacy's albums Clangs and Trio Live, the collected recordings in the two volumes of Ictus Record's Archives series were recorded while touring Italy with percussionist Andrea Centazzo, this 2nd volume from a concert in Udine presenting duos with Centazzo and a trio with bassist Kent Carter.

Inspired by a poem Carter wrote about New York's interminable motion, the quartet of Daniel Carter on saxophone, Leo Genovese on piano, William Parker on bass, Gralla & Shakuhachi and Francisco Mela on drums & voice, turn in an ecstatic album of exotic collective improvisation in this first of two planned volumes from an excellent studio session.

Ngayon, the Filipino tagalog word for "Now" or "Today", effectively describes the immediacy of the second release from Bay Area guitarist and composer Karl Evangelista and his exceptional Apura band, performing five sophisticated original works.

Ten exceptional solo improvisations performed live without overdubbing on electric & acoustic guitars, using effects to expand the expressive capabilities of each guitar, as Henry Kaiser endeavors to sound like more than a single musician, inspired by improvisers like Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor or Derek Bailey, each improv providing a dedication or influence.

Working together many years in various formations--saxophonist Michel Doneda & drummer Roger Turner with John Russell; bassist Alexander Frangenheim & Turner in quartets with Pat Thomas or Phil Wachsman; Doneda & Frangenheim's own duo--this concert at Jazzatelier Ulrichsberg recorded during their European tour shows their incredible compatibility and seemingly telepathic conversations.

Recording at London's Cafe OTO, and at the 2022 Newcastle Festival Of Jazz And Improvised Music, saxophonist and composer Martin Archer's exceptional 8-piece line up of his exuberant avant-electric jazz band blurring lines between 70's Miles and AACM abstractions, is heard across three CDs of fiery soloing, contemplative transitions, and spectacular group interplay.

A remarkable concert as part of reedist Udo Schindler's LowToneStudies, referred to as "acoustronic" for the transformational aspects of each instrumentalist's playing, deceivingly electronic sounding despite being fully acoustic, captured live at Kulturschranne Dachau from the trio of Schindler, Gunnar Geisse on laptop guitar and Sebastian Gramss on double bass.

Quirky in a masterful display of instrumental skill from the Swedish duo of soprano saxophonist Martin Küchen and trombonist Ola Rubin (Swedish Fix, Lazy Rude Monk), using every inch of their instruments along with mutes, percussion and percussive emanations, creating a virtual menagerie of animalistic sounds alongside dexterous lines.

The collaboration between Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, Filipino bassist Simon Tan and American ex-patriate living in the Phillipines, saxophonist Rick Countryman, continues with this exceptional collective free jazz album, their fourth on FMR, captured in the studio in Quezon City, Philippines in 2022 for nine exuberant and astute improvisations.

Taking what he describes as a road he's never been on, percussionist and improviser Gerry Hemingway turns in an astute album of original songs, Hemingway's voice expressive on work he explains was originally influenced by Dylan, Geeshie Wiley, Lou Reed or Monroe Brothers, the album developed over four years with a cast of collaborators including Ralph Alessi, Earl Howard, Michael Moore, &c.

Taking what he describes as a road he's never been on, percussionist and improviser Gerry Hemingway turns in an astute album of original songs, Hemingway's voice expressive on work he explains was originally influenced by Dylan, Geeshie Wiley, Lou Reed or Monroe Brothers, the album developed over four years with a cast of collaborators including Ralph Alessi, Earl Howard, Michael Moore, &c.

The fourth book in New York improvising bassist William Parker's interview with other improvisers, here with 29 interviews, and 24 works of art by Jeff Schlangler; interviews include Peter Brötzmann, Darius Jones, Ava Mendoza, Zeena Parkins, Tom Rainey, Bobby Zankel, Evan Parker, James Brandon Lewis, Micheal Bisio, Mario Pavone, Taylor Ho Bynum, &c.

A new trio setting from New York alto saxophonist Tim Berne with accordionist & multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand and long-time associate, cellist Hank Roberts, a warmly orchestrated band that allows fluid and relaxed approaches to their playing, Berne's compositions evoking exquisite tonal color and diverse conversations from pacific to tempestuous.

The Summer 2023 issue of Canada's finest music magazine covering contemporary improvised, composed and experimental music, with Simone Schmidt's Audible Songs of Defiant Meaning on the cover, plus features on Nicole Mitchell and Coco Elysses, Levy Lorenzo, Wayne Lavallee, along with recorded & live reviews, and a 10-track CD with pieces from the artist within.

A collection of six duo recordings from musician, composer, and improviser Peter Soderberg, investigating different tuning systems and the idea of hybrid instruments, recording with Katt Hernandez (violin), Stina Hellberg Agback (harp), Mats Persson (clavichord), Sten Sandell (piano), My Hellgren (cello) and Vilhelm Bromander (contrabass).

A collection of Sun Ra recordings from the 1970s to 80s, from a small pressings on Sun Ra's own Saturn label and now public for the first time - "Just Friends" live (alongside an unreleased, intimate living room solo recordings of the same), plus "Under the Spell of Love" from the Just Friends album, and a previously unissued and Sun Ra's only known recording of "Cherokee".

The second album from drummer Rudy Royston's chamber-like ensemble Flatbed Buggy, featuring John Ellis on woodwinds, Gary Versace on accordion, Hank Roberts on cello, and Joe Martin on bass, in a concept album of the typical ups and downs, joys and sadness, gratitude and dreads a typical day would bring, ultimately culminating in a celebration of life and healing.

Delicately caustic interactions of reeds, piano and percussion using the natural resonance of the Borlunda Church in Eslöv, Sweden, from the freely improvising duo of Martin Küchen and Sophie Agnel, Küchen adding electronics and Agnel performing inside and out of the piano while supplementing her palette with objects, both using space and patience as their allies.

Powerfully rich sounds from two NY-based instrumentalists — John McCowen on contrabass clarinet & Carlo Costa on bass drum & percussion — in a three-part work of acoustic improvisations, McCowen sounding deceptively electronic through overtones and masterful harmonic technique, while Costa's bass drum provides deep foundations as he mysteriously layers percussive distractions; phenomenal!

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.

Continuing his imaginative approach to percussion, Barcelona improviser Vasco Trilla's sixth solo album sees him expanding his rhythmic and tonal range through a fascinating collection of instruments, including bowed Russian flat bells, electrified music boxes, a zither processed through snare drums as resonators, Iranian round bells mixed with gamelan strips, &c.

The Rempis Percussion Quartet in their French debut after 15 years of touring elsewhere through Europe, with Dave Rempis on sax, both Tim Daisy & Frank Rosaly on drums and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, performing an exuberant concert recorded at Le Petit Faucheux in Tours, with trumpeter Jean-Luc Cappozzo joining for one extended improv, plus a live workshop for young immigrants and a rare studio session.

Focused on the music of Don Cherry and recorded at Corbett vs. Dempsey's gallery space on the closing day of an exhibit of art by Cherry's partner Moki Cherry (whose tapestry "Spirit" is the LP's cover) this concert finds drummer Hamid Drake, who lived with the Cherry family in Sweden, and Ken Vandermark on tenor sax, reworking medleys of Cherry's tunes from across his discography.

The second Interstellar Nao album recorded at No Somos Nada Distro Cafe in Mexico City presents the previous day's concerts from their first FMR album Live at No Somos Nada, expanding the trio of Philippine-based saxophonist Rick Countryman, Swiss drummer living in Mexico City Gabriel Lauber and Lauber's collaborator in the group Zero Point, Mexico City native double bass player Itzam Canois, with guitarist Juan Castañón, founder of Impromuzak Collective.

On the last day of the 2021 Spontaneous Music Festival at the Dragon Club in Poznań, Poland, the trio of Berlin trombonist Matthias Muller was joined by younger generation Polish guitarist Pawel Doskocz on prepared electric guitar and fellow Berlin drummer and electroacoustic improviser Emilio Gordoa for these two extended sonic adventures recorded in near-darkness.

Reedist Udo Schindler continues his exploration into the double bass and low-tone reed instruments, here on bass & contrabass clarinets contrasted only with his soprano saxophone, in a 2022 live recording from MUCCA_Kommandozentrate in Munich of the five-part improvisation "Hybride Synergetic" in a trio with double bassists Peter Jacquemyn and Georg Karger.

Referencing the traditional dance of Salento named for the tarantula, this Italian 9-piece improvising ensemble spent several days developing the unique orchestration, melodies and themes of these eight pieces, recorded after the OSIMU festival held in Taviano, using an acousmatic recording device to optimize the details of their insightful and often biting conversations.

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.

A new Free Jazz album inspired by Pharoah Sanders' Karma, from the North Carolina ensemble led by upright bassist, guitarist and Soul City Sounds label-leader Phil Venable with Crowmeat Bob on saxophone, Ken Moshesh on percussion and Tommy Jackson on drums, plus a work for spoken word with NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and a song inspired by BLM with vocalist Jennifer Evans.

The first album from 1982 by drummer Geoff Serle's band Research, combining free improvisation with rock forms, electric and acoustic, or as he described it: "an electro-funk industrial jazz unit", configured as the quartet of trumpeter Jim Dvorak, a member of Mujician & Brotherhood of Breath, bassist Dan Brown from The Fixx, and legendary pianist Veryan Weston.

A perfectly complementary pair of improvisers from the ever-inventive guitarist Fred Frith and instrument inventor Sudhu Tewari, Frith performing on home-made instruments as well-- string instruments he's developed since the 80s described as "planks of wood with strings"--as the two draw unexpected sonic environments and propulsive rhythmic passages through eight compelling dialogs.

Reissuing saxophonist, flutist, bandleader & composer Henry Threadgill's 1991 Black Saint album, introducing his then-new band Very Very Circus, uniquely configured with two tubas (Marcus Rojas, Edwin Rodriguez), two guitars (Brandon Ross, Masujaa, aka Hugh Riley), trombone (Curtis Fowlkes), and drums (Gene Lake), with Threadgill himself leading his fascinatingly layered compositions.

Twenty two vignettes of improvised conversations named for desert fauna between alto saxophonist & flutist Biggi Vinkeloe, tuba & trombonist Mark Weaver, and double bassist Damon Smith, using a unique tuning choice for the band suggested by Vinkeloe, and applying a quality to the studio to create a uniquely orchestrated and resonant album of masterful playing.

Referencing the unusual 1896 feat of catching a turnip dropped 270 feet from a bridge by a member of the troupe The Royal Zanettos, the duo of London pianist Liam Noble and Geoff Simkins perform the slightly less daring but equally fascinating feat of performing a lyrical jazz concert at The Vortex in Dalston in 2022, for a mix of originals, standards and traditional tunes.

A remarkable feat of remastering, sound restoration and pitch correction from the tapes of this June 1950 radio broadcast at Birdland in NYC, finding the exceptional quintet of jazz pioneers led by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker in superb form, with Fats Navarro on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Curley Russell on double bass and Art Blakey on drums.

Three essential concerts remastered, from the legacy of be-bop trailblazers, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, with Don Byas, Al Haig piano, Curley Russell, Max Roach & Sidney Catlett at Town Hall 1945; with John Lewis, Al McKibbon & Joe Harris at Carnegie Hall 1947; and with Bud Powell, Tommy Potter & Roy Haynes at Birdland 1951.

The second of two volumes from the quartet of John Dikeman on tenor saxophone, Pat Thomas on piano, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums, bringing the American saxophonist working throughout Europe together with this nearly telepathic collaborative grouping of UK frequent collaborators, captured in concert at Cafe OTO in 2019 for two absorbing improvisations.

Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.

Digitally restoring and expanding on Sun Ra's 1972 soundtrack for the film of the same name, in a solid box set with two audio CDs, a DVD and BluRay + bonus featuures of the original film, along with a previously unreleased album recorded at the same soundtrack sessions, The Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny, and a booklet with notes from multiple Afrofuturism scholars.

Continuing the reissue series of Swedish drummer & accordionist based in Berlin, Sven-Ake Johansson, with this 1971 recording of an otherwise unrecorded quintet with Jeanne Lee on vocal, Gunter Hampel on vibes, flute & bass clarinet, Michael Waisvisz on synthesizer and Freddy Gosseye on electric bass, captured live in a then-radical concert at Berlin Jazztage.

A tribute to jazz trumpeter & composer Don Cherry--a spiritual world traveler and influential free jazz trumpeter--performed by Chicago's equally spiritual Ethnic Heritage Ensemble led by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar with Corey Wilkes, Alex Harding, Dwight Trible, and the son of Don Cherry, David Ornette Cherry; sadly also an unexpected tribute to David Ornette's sudden passing in 2022.

Known best for his extraordinary saxophone playing, UK reedist and wind player Paul Dunmall also is a first-rate clarinetist, one of the most challenging of the single reed instruments, heard here in four extended improvisations captured in the studio, performing with contemplative thoughtfulness and prodigious technique on four members of the clarinet family: C, A, Eb and Bb.

Referring to the city Brecht in Belgium, this concert at the Kapel Oude Klooster took place during a tour by the Lisbon free improvising trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, joined by Dirk Serries on archtop guitar (New Wave of Jazz, Vidna Obama) for this impressively interactive 3-part improvisation.

Recorded after a three-day series of concerts at New York City's venue The Stone, the trio of Zeena Parkins on electric harp & objects, Mette Rasmussen on saxophone, objects & voice and Ryan Sawyer on drums & objects brought their dynamic and far-ranging approach to collective free improv into Brooklyn's Figure 8 studio to capture these 10 extraordinary recordings.

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

A new collaboration between keyboardist Brent Cordero and bassist Peter Kerlin, a gorgeous blurring of jazz, rock and Terry Riley-esque composition in a swirling collection of original work and a cover of Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance", performed in a core trio with drummer Ryan Sawyer and prestigious guests including Daniel Carter, Jessica Pavone, James Brandon Lewis, &c.

A fascinating trio of West Coast sonic explorers exploring the isopleth, the zone of seawater that receives enough sunlight for photosynthesis to occur, from improvising trumpeter Tom Djll employing electronics with his horn, Bryan Day on invented instruments, and Cheryl Leonard using natural objects including driftwood, feathers, marsh reeds, penguin bones, &c.

Adapting Roscoe Mitchell's large work "Distant Radio Transmission" for the 2022 Fault Zone Festival in a large ensemble conducted by Steed Cowart, along with four other compositions performed in varying configurations from very large ensemble, two pieces from the Space Trio of Mitchell, Thomas Buckner & Scott Robinson, and a duo with pianist Sarah Cahill and violinist Kate Stenberg.

Looking to create a sound realm that would reflect more life and less process, NY guitarist/banjo player Brandon Seabrook takes his 8-piece ensemble Epic Proportions on a truly epic journey through "lyrical melodies, dynamic improvisations and manic counterpoint", showing great evolution and development as a contemporary composer and player; "Brutal is beautiful".

Expanding on pianist/composer Matt Mitchell's 2013 duo album Fiction with Ches Smith is this double-duo release over 2 CDs, one CD with Smith performing on drums, gongs, percussion, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tam-tam & timpani, and one CD with drummer/percussionist Kate Gentile, performing Mitchell's fascinatingly convoluted works that integrate composition with improvisation.

A new trio from NY bassist & composer Nick Dunston, featuring Kalia Vandever on trombone & effects, and Do Yeon Kim on gayageum (a traditional Korean plucked zither), a uniquely orchestrated band performing Dunston's original (and humorously titled) compositions, on some of which each performer uses effects to create sonic environments; a creatively inventive configuration.

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 trio of violist Ernesto Rodrigues, cellist Guilherme Rodrigues and clarinetist Bruno Parrinha on alto & bass clarinets are captured live at Lisboa Incomum, during the 2022 Festival DME, performing two sophisticated chamber improv works, their titles translating to "The aging skies - it's all illusion" and "Pass The Bridges If It's Windy - The Flame Of The Solemnity".

Giving homage to creative musicians before them, the Berlin quintet of Koen Nutters (upright bas), Heather Frasch (flute), Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet), Han-earl Park (electric guitar) and Quentin Tolimieri (bass & soprano melodica)--explore the notion of integrating open improvisations around melody and modal harmonies into a post-musical, conceptual, and social framework.

Interdisciplinary Spanish percussionist Núria Andorrà whose background includes contemporary music and improvisation with performers including Agustín Fernández, Joëlle Léandre, Mats Gustafsson, Nate Wooley, and Joe Morris joins Fred Frith in Santa Maria de Palautordera for studio and concert recordings of eleven far-ranging dialogs of unusual and imaginative technique and concept.

A foundational member of the early Downtown NY scene, now West Coast-based double bassist Mark Dresser expands the sonic properties of his instrument in 12 succinct and forceful improvisations, expanding 4- & 5-string basses through metal tines, bowed and plucked, along with magnetic pickups amplifying nearly inaudible sounds from the strings and the instrument; awe inspiring!

Improvising over strings, winds & percussion from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Joao Madeira on double bass, Bruno Parrinha on flute & bass clarinet and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, in a studio session of active, often pointillistic interaction offset with periods of introspection, reflecting concepts of Baudelaire & The Surrealists.

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.

Definitely of the Borbetomagus mold, the duo of tenor saxophonist Don Dietrich and cellist Camille Dietrich, his daughter who grew up under the influence of that band's relentlessly aggressive free jazz, here in a live performance at Tubby's in Kingston, New York for four burning improvisations that take apart a tree, leaving the audience to catch the fragments; terrifyingly intense!

A mix of chaos, awe and humorously inspired improvisation from the quartet of Don Malfon on alto saxophone, Fernando Barrios on drums & objects, Marco Albert on voice and Misha Marks on latarra (a form of home-built guitar), recording in Colonia Buenavista de San Pedro Ixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 peculisar and absorbing improvisations.

The duo of improvisers Lina Tullgren on violin and Japanese koto player based in Boston Alec Toku Whiting, joined on one track by Ted Reichman on synthesizer & pedals, Reichman also recording these studio sessions, as the duo apply unsual techniques with an ear toward sonic assault and unexpected twists & turns, particularly some especially aggressive interaction on "Polly Chainsaw".

The second chapter in the duo of West Coast improvisers Chris Williams on trumpet, cornet, objects & mutes and Patrick Shiroishi on alto, soprano and tenor saxophones plus snare drum, essentially a free jazz outing of six fascinating dialogs, from call and response to pointillistic interaction, a masterful display of assertive playing through intensive listening.

A 2022 recording at Evil Clown Headquarters, in Waltham, MA of the duo offshoot of the Leap of Faith Orchestra--David Peck on reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice--with guests, trumpeter Vance Provey, saxophonist Michael Caglianone, modular synth player Eric Woods and Albey on bass, with Joel Simches performing real-time signal processing.

In 1978 after recording his acclaimed solo album Monoceros, saxophonist Evan Parker embarked on a solo tour of the US and Canada, in New York City performing at the legendary loft space Environ, his first-ever solo performance in NYC and a masterpiece of extended techniques, circular breathing and spectacular control on the soprano and tenor saxophones.

The 3rd stellar album of modern jazz recorded in the studio after a five-city tour from the quartet of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Benoit Delbecq on piano, performing three compositions each from Halvorson, Fujiwara and Delbeq, illustrating their distinctive approach to creative improvisation.

Composed by Henry Threadgill based on his observations of the exodus of people from New York City during the Covid pandemic and the debris left behind, this work titled "Valence" and dedicated to percussionist Milford Graves, is a chamber jazz piece in three movements was taken from recordings at Roulette of the second of two performances entitled "One" and "The Other One".

With a booklet of images showing the riverside location of the first performances of French guitarist Marc Ducret's sophisticated compositions reflecting tidal river flows & fluctuations by season, the four meticulous recordings on this album were captured in the studio with Fabrice Martinez on trumpet, flugelhorn & tuba, Christophe Monniot on saxophones and Samuel Blaser on trombone.

The cosmological concept of the aeon, the conflict between matter and spirit, is explored in eight "Chronicles" of collective free improvisation using impressive technique and concentrative interaction from the Portuguese quartet of Flak on acoustic guitar, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet and Ernesto Rodrigues on violin.

Saxophonist Allen Lowe's statement on American music and American song form across the many genres and styles that make up the terrain, including jazz, the blues, gospel, honky tonk, heavy metal, hillbilly/minstrel song & medicine shows, &c.; diverse forms of popular music that reflect a commingled society, as Lowe blurs the sacred and the profane with a stellar ensemble of musicians.

Recording in France in 1970, the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Malachi Favors on bass, Joseph Jarman on saxophone, Roscoe Mitchell on saxophone, Lester Bowie on trumpet) recorded the soundtrack to director Moshé Mizrahi's movie Les stances à Sophie, joined by vocalist Fontella Bass, releasing a classic and exciting album that stands as a great testament to the versatility of its players.

Two powerfully intense 1969 free jazz recordings by American ex-patriots, saxophonist Arthur Jones and cornetist Clifford Thornton, recorded days apart in the same studio and released on BYG Records, Jones this reissue's connection with his own trio, and joining Thornton for four uniquely configured sessions that include Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur III, Dave Burrell, and Sunny Murray.

Following the evolution in form and approach of composer and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter from his 1966 Blue Note album Adam's Apple with Hancock, Workman and Chambers (including a pre-Miles "Footprints") to the 1969 Weather Report precursor Super Nova with John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharock, Miroslav Vitous, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette.

The ninth solo album from pianist Satoko Fujii, the most recent in a "torrent" of solo releases over the last six years, this album a remarkable display of force and beauty in improvised playing on the keyboard and inside the piano, captured live at IYO Yume Mari Kan Bunka Hall in six improvisations of cascading notes and introspective passages; spectacular!

Rich in lyrical playing and creative freedom, Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee's 6th album expands on her goal to explore different strategies for improvisation within composition, featuring the unique voices of her ensemble including Brad Turner (trumpet), Jon Bentley (sax), Jeremy Berkman (trombone), Ron Samworth & Tony Wilson (guitars), Andre Lachance (bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums).

Expanding the rhythmically exuberant Natural Information Society led by Chicago bassist & guimbri player Joshua Abrams with core members Lisa Alvarado (harmonium), Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet), are Hamid Drake (percussion), Josh Berman & Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto sax & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) and Ari Brown (sax).

Circumventing pandemic lockdowns, the trio of Brandon Seabrook on guitar, banjo & tapes, Mike Pride on drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells & organ and Mike Watt on bass recorded their contributions in separate studios and file-shared to create this genre-merging album of free improv, rock, experimental and inexplicable forms; an inspired and seriously unique album of challenges overcome.

A warmly lyrical, mostly instrumental album of modern jazz that surprisingly takes it's title from legendary punk band MDC, and its songs from their 1982 debut album Millions of Dead Cops, led by NY drummer Mike Pride and performed with Jamie Saft (keys), Brad Jones (bass), Mick Bar (guitars) and on a few songs, vocalists JG Thirlwell (Foetus), Sam Mickens (The Dead Science) and Dave Dictor from MDC itself.

A beautifully recorded session at Germany's Club Lila Eule for Radio Bremen from 1969 by the Marion Brown Quartet, his touring band at the time with AACM legendary drummer Steve McCall and German double bassist Siggi Busch and trombonist Ed Kröger, performing eight solid free jazz pieces including "Ode to Coltrane" and "Juba Lee"; a spectacular addition to Brown's discography.

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.

Seven forays into dark experimental electroacoustic improvisation from electric bassist and Tour de Bras label-leader Éric Normand and French clarinetist Xavier Charles, leveraging unlikely techniques on both instruments, eight dialogs both assertive and cautiously mysterious, employing harmonic overtones, remarkable reed techniques, and rich electronic foundations.

Exploring the crossing point of jazz and funky electro-beats, experimental electronics and dub grooves, the Chicago trio of Quin Kirchner on drums, percussion, sampler & electronics, Daniel Van Duerm on acoustic & electric pianos, organ, mellotron & electronics and Matthew Lux on bass & electronics dig more deeply into their engaging and upbeat approach to modern forms of fusion improv.

58 Compositions for Cello as part of a sound investigation process from Portuguese cellist based in Berlin, Guilherme Rodrigues, recording in 11 locations with interesting resonant properties, capturing several brief improvisations at each space, the architecture, delay, decay, and interaction affecting his approach and the sonic response to his playing.

An intimate set of solo expressions from Chicago tenor saxophonist and Kettle Hole label-leader Gerrit Hatcher, seven improvisations recorded in the studio that bring together the soloist's interests in free jazz, lyrical playing and intricate technical passages on the sax, infused with a sense of whimsy alongside serious concentrative playing.

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.

Recording to 4 track cassette, this unusual and experimental Boston-area trio of active sound artists--Stella Silbert, Arkm Foam and Neil 'Cloaca' Young--improvise over abstract territory using turntables, a no-input mixer, objects, an open reel tape machine, contact mics, and cassette players, emerging with equally tongue-in-cheek and serious aural interactions.