Two live recordings at Theatre au Clain, in Poitiers, France and at le Bistrot, in Bayonne, from the free improvising quartet of Christiane Bopp on trombone, Jean-Marc Foussat on synth & voice, Jean-Luc Petit on bass clarinet and sopranino sax, and Makoto Sato on drums, for submersive interchanges blending electronics and acoustics in remarkable ways.

A beautifully complex album of resonant improvisation from Swazi born trumpeter Yaw Tembe, who is committed to bring Africa to the Portuguese free music scene, Yaw, along with Paris veteran percussionist/objects manipulator Monsieur Trinitee, blend patient sonic environments with percussive platforms and both meditative and scrabbly trumpet work; an absorbing release.

A quirky and ingenious duo from two saxophonists using extended techniques: Alipio C. Neto on soprano sax and Thelmo Cristovam on C-melody sax, using the reeds, body and breath to create an unusual and uncommon dialog.

A beautiful album of darkly lyrical jazz duos from Israeli saxophonist and bass clarinetist Albert Beger and collaborator and member of the Albert Beger Quartet Shay Hazan, on double bass and guimbri, for seven pieces recorded in the studio: 6 improvised works and the composed piece "Cycles".

Under-recorded but legendary Japanese free improvising saxophonist Aishi Oyauchi in a double CD, performing on alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and piano through 52 untitled and inventive pieces, from a few seconds in length to several minutes, presented as 7 composite tracks; part of the Armageddon Nova Series exploring radical free improvisation.

Saxophone solo improvisation omnibus by three free saxophonists from around the globe: Lao Dan from China recording in an underground bomb shelter in an agressive solo performance; US ex-pat Rick Countryman from the Philippines in a traditional yet extremely free jazz exposition; and London's Colin Webster on baritone sax for an exploration of extended techniques.

Multi-instrumentalist improviser Harutaka Mochizuki releases this solo album performing on saxophone, performing two extended improvisations that explore the instrument as a whole, producing unusual sounds from the physical and mechanical aspects of the horn alongside more traditional playing, using an expanded range of dynamics to build tension and interest.

Aishi Oyauchi is a free improvising alto saxophonist in the tradition of Kaoru Abe and who hails from the same first generation of Japanese free improvisers from the 1960s; this album finds him performing on alto and soprano sax at Performing Art Center, using space and abrupt diversions alongside unusual tone and technique with percussive asides.

With packaging embellished by 5 images of Paul Dunmall's wood engravings, this album catches the saxophonist on soprano, alto and tenor in the company of saxophonist Frank Paul Schubert on soprano and alto, with Sebastiano Dessanay on bass and Jim Bashford on drums, performing live at Lamp Tavern, in Birmingham for an album of intertwining reeds and solid rhythmic support.

The duo project of Berlin-based clarinetists Kai Fagaschinski and Michal Thieke, (Magic I.D., Christof Kurzmann, Splitter Ochester) in their 5th album of timbre-rich, harmonically fascinating and slowly evolving reed interactions, returning to their core duo after their previous quartet album, here presenting a large rich and beautifully weaving work.

A duo between Swedish guitarist Finn Loxbo (Fire! Orchestra) and bass clarinetist Erik Blennow Calalv, in a low-key, moody and tranquil album of improvisations with titles implying their unhurried approach to their dialog--"Clouds", "Moving, Dancing", and "Ryoanji"-- making a beautiful album of nearly ambient but decidedly determined music.

Composed between 1926 and 1939, "Mikrokosmos" was Bela Bartok's attempt to solve certain technical problems in the art of piano playing, here adapted by the 5-piece Quartetski into a fascinating series of progressive exercises and etudes, oddly enough presented without a piano.

French experimental improviser Jean-Brice Godet, a frequent collaborator with Joelle Leandre and a member of Cuir, in a solo album of 8 etudes for dictaphone, radio, and clarinet, a unique album of extreme and eccentric technique on reeds punctuated by unearthly voice and radio transmissions, a curious album that rewards detailed listening.

Recording at the Neustadter Kirche in Hofgeismar, Germany, the quartet of Thanos Chrysakis and Peer Schlechta organ with Chris Cundy and Ove Volquartz on bass clarinets, use the resonance and massive sound of their organs to create active improvisations of deep tones, cries, and unearthly squalls, an incredible set of interacting textures and runs.

Swiss electric guitarist Florian Stoffner (Manuel Mengis Grupp) and Spanish/Portuguese saxophonist Albert Cirera (Agusti Fernandez Liquid Trio) present the 8 part "IRMA" in concise free improvisations, restrained but alert and quick-witted dialogs that explore their instruments with alternate approaches to each in articulate ways.

A series of musical "mobiles" from European composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, sonic transformations of the visual experiences of Alexander Calder's dynamic sculptures.

Extracting the leader from a multitude of ensembles, David Peck's solo album has him performing on tenor saxophone, bass saxophone, clarinet, contraalto clarinet, bassoon, tarota, hand chimes, accordion, [d]ronin, wood, metal, aquasonic, daxophone, Atlantis gong, plus pre-recorded mixes adding a "soloist with tape" aspect to his complex and rich performance.

Turbulence is the extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra, a varying-sized ensemble, recording here at Boston area's Outpost 196 as a quartet with PEK on reeds, Bob Moores on trumpet and Dan O'Brien on sax, clarinets & flutes, all playing an assortment of percussive devices, with Leap of Faith core member Yuri Zbitnoff as a dedicated percussionist.

Two extraordinary players from two coasts--clarinetist Ben Goldberg from the West and cornetist Kirk Knuffke from the East--in an exuberant duo of lyrical and virtuosic free jazz that astonishes the listener with the ease of their interactions in both parallel and contrasting lines, supporting the other as they express themselves uniquely; an impressive achievement!

Tenor and baritone saxophones in an exchange of spectral interactions that emphasize harmonic overtones and intersections, unusual emanations from both instruments in a perfectly paced improvisations, each of the 12 dialogs named aptly for locations and crossing in Englad and France, adding a sense of journey to these mysterious and wonderful expeditions.

Conservatory trained Argentinian saxophonist Sergio Merce uses a prepared tenor sax and a microtonal sax to create rich harmonics and slowly moving tonal works, layering aberrant and alluring tones in restrained configurations that allow each stratum of sound to be distinguished and appreciated, creating mesmerizing compositions of elusive and illusionistic sound.

With a 15 year history of collaboration, Bug Incision label leader Chris Dadge joins with fellow Calgary free improviser Jonathon Wilcke on saxophone for an album of live performances in their home city, two performances from Parlour and one at Local 510, showing strong rapport in their duo of uniquely unconventional percussion and lyrically quirky sax.

After their 2016 tour of the US West Coast, husband and wife free improvising duo Ingrid Laubrock (tenor & soprano sax) and Tom Rainey (drums) entered a Brooklyn studio with a set of co-written compositions, which they weave together with free improv, relying on cues that can trigger a given composition at any time, adding a unique layer of communication to their exuberant playing.

Three concerts at Vancouver's Western Front, two from 1978 and one from 1996, from the duo of West Coast free improvising guitarist Henry Kaiser and Vancouver saxophonist John Oswald, early yet mature examples of the profoundly great music each artist has gone on to create using astounding and extreme techniques.

Multi-instrumentalist improviser Harutaka Mochizuki releases this solo album performing on saxophone, performing two extended improvisations that explore the instrument as a whole, producing unusual sounds from the physical and mechanical aspects of the horn alongside more traditional playing, using an expanded range of dynamics to build tension and interest.

Inspired by European improvisation, 60's NY-loft-avant-garde and Ethiopian jazz, Heaven, the Norwegian collaborative project of Danish saxophonist Henrik Pultz Melbye and Norwegian drummer Ole Mofjell, merge rhythmic and melodic realms, adding stretches of noise and non-idiomatic sounds, in fast-paced, highly-energetic, and highly-informed performances.

Members of the Polish Infant Joy Quintet and Warsaw Improvisers Orchestra--saxophonist Jan Malkowski and drummer Dominik Mokrzewski--pair off in a dynamic album of solid free jazz, influences feeling like Albert Ayler or Steve Lacy, as the two show great technical and creative skills, sometimes in great motion, sometimes reflective, showing great command and direction.

A "shug monkey" is a cryptid, a creature that may or may not exist, supposed to have features of a dog and a monkey, an odd but apt reference for the unusual improvisations by Berlin-based saxophonist Simon Rose and guitarist Nicola L. Hein, one of 8 tracks named for unusual creatures and mythological beings, each described in sound through extended techniques and powerful playing.

Reedist Peter Brotzmann and guitarist Heather Lee has been one of Brotzmann's most current active collaborations, performing together for several years, here recorded beautifully in the studio for a 6-track LP and 10-track CD of sympathetic, emotional and articulate dialog from two musicians with an innate sense of timing and give and take borne from mutual experience.

German saxophonist and leader of the Salon for Klang + Kunst started the Improx, or "The X for the Unknown and the Unheard" with Gunnar Geisse, here in the third edition of the series with Swiss free improvising vocalist Franziska Baumann, captured live at two performances in 2018 in Germany & Switzerland, for unusual, quick-witted and innovative interchanges.

Eleven instrumental works with each piece based on and emulating the sound characteristics of blackbirds, such as "whistling", "squealing", or "flutes", captured in a live concert at multi-reedist Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang+Kunst in Krailling in Berlin, from the duo of Schindler and long-time musical collaborator, violinist Georges-Emmanuel Schneider, also on live electronics.

Two clarinetists--John McCowen, also the composer, and Madison Greenstone, both on clarinet & bass clarinet--taking the title from Boethius' (427-524 AD) printed work on ancient Greek music: "De institutione musica", as they generate long-form drones using the harmonic interactions and interference patterns of similar tones, overtones, and difference tones; impressively intense.

An adaptation from "Sileen", a composition commissioned by Musica For The Festival Oortreders at Neerpelt, Belgium, 2016 performed with 50 members of a local music school; "Sileen II" was realized with only Gareth Davis on bass clarinet plus sounds from Machinefabriek, recorded in the same pitch and tempo as "Sileen', then slowed to half its speed and one octave lower.

A reflection of the previous year's solo work from Berlin-based saxophonist and clarinetist Edith Steyer, a member of GEDOK, the Berliner Senat and Composers Orchestra Berlin, here using preparations and extended techniques to open new possibilities in improvisations, as she explored ethnomusicology, using repetitive figures influenced by tribal music.

The first release on Japan's Armageddon Nova, now reissued as a limited 180gm double vinyl LP, presenting a 2012 concert at Performing Arts Center, in Japan in 2012 by the duo of free improvising alto saxophonist Aishi Oyauchi, a peer of Karou Abe in the 60s, and contrabassist Deku, a member of the 70s free improvising group New Jazz Syndicate.

Electroacoustic improvisation with unusual techniques from the sextet of saxophonist Sebastian Branche, laptop electronicist Thanos Chrysakis, saxophonist Tom Soloeitzik, guitarist James O'Sullivan, saxophonist Artut Vidal and clarinetist Jery Wigens.

Selected short pieces for C double bass clarinet from German multi-reedist Udo Schinder, recorded live at his performance space for avant, free, and sound-oriented improvisation, Salon fur Klang + Kunst, in Krailling, Munich; Schindler presents a diverse set of approaches recorded to give strength and warmth to both subtle and vociferous statements.

The core trio of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra of improvisers, approaching large work using unique compositional techniques and an arsenal of traditional and unusual instruments and percussive devices, here joined by Elinor Spiers on violin, log drums, glockenspiel, metal, wood, crotales, and cymbells, for a uniquely detailed and immense improvisation.

A duo of Brussels audio explorers, Jean-Jacques Duerinckx on sopranino saxophone and Anatole Damien on tabletop guitar and electronics, contrasting acoustic "dry" and highly effected "wet" sounds, the two develop sonic environments that build and release using unusual reed techniques and mutated string scrabbling in a strangely compelling set of dialogs.

After introducing his new trio with pianist Paul Bley and double bassist Steve Swallow in two 1961 albums on Verve, clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre embarked on a tour of Europe, this recently discovered, well-recorded concert in Graf, Austria the perfect example of his unique concepts yielding intensely focused, harmonically challenging, rhythmically abstract, and exquisite chamber jazz.

The perfect foils for each other, German saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and French AKS sysnthesist Jean-Marc Foussat are heard in two complete concerts, one at the WIM in Zurich and one at the Kunsthalle in Lucerne, both exploring sound, timbre, momentum and atmosphere through extended techniques and extreme playing, and an amazing display of soundscape and sonic force.

A working subset of the UK saxophone-heavy band crossing composition with improvisation, The Remote Viewers led by David Petts, here as a trio with Adrian Northover on alto sax, Petts on tenor sax, and John Edwards on acoustic bass, present 15 new compositions, 10 penned by Petts and 5 collective improvisations, a mix of ferocious timbre and exciting interaction.

A unique pairing of reeds, piano and spinet captured live at Le Singe Club in Biel, Switzerland in 2018 between multi-reedist Hans Koch and keyboardist Jacques Demierre, a wild ride from frenetic interaction to introspective experimental, both using unusual techniques and Demierre playing inside his keyboards, a truly excellent and thrilling concert.

Chicago saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher sees his solo saxophone performances as a format that can be both charismatic and alienating in to the listener, as he uses extreme technique and powerful streams of emotional playing in a set of improvisations: "Salt Dome" parts 1-3, and "Cooking Fuel", each wrought with frailty and bluster; impressive work.

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

Performing on saxophones and cymbal, the debut album from NY-based Canadian-American composer, saxophonist, and performance artist Erin Rogers uses multiphonics, vocalization, circular breathing, and inciting of outer resonance to add layers of complexity to her gripping improvisations, which she describes as "No electronics, no bandmates, no composers... just me + dark room + 2 saxophones".

An absolutely idiosyncratic style in performance, Japanese alto saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe, also on harmonica and voice, is heard in a single extended performance at Sakedelic Space Shuyukan in Shiga, Japan, as the listener experiences the performance through his playing, physical motion, aberrant racket, arduous utterance, and inexplicable moments of silence and sound.

Recording in Madrid in 2002, and at The Groupe de Musique Electroniqueacoustique d'Albi-Tarn in France in 2004, saxophonist Wade Matthews presents 9 solo works using close miking, circular breathing, percussive sounds from the instruments themselves, and other creative and unusual extended techniques, in an idiosyncratic and fascinating album of personal expression.

A live performance at London's Cafe OTO from composer Thanos Chrysakis, performing compositions focused on the deeper reeds from composers Christian Wolff, Iancu Dumitrescu, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Georges Aperghis, and Chrysakis himself, in configurations from solo to quintet, with Tim Hodgkinson, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Heather Roce, Yoni Silver, and Shadanga Duo.

Three female saxophonist from around the world--Rachel Musson (UK), Naoko Saito (Japan) and Audrey Lauro (Belgium)--in a compilation of solo saxophone works, two extended pieces from Musson and Satio, and four shorter works from Laura, with a CD insert with English Braille characters, and a QR code that, when scanned, plays the audio information for the album.

Dedicating his pieces to Charlie Parker, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and John Zorn, NY alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos is heard live at this solo concert in New Haven, CT in 2019, reflecting on the history of jazz through his intense playing style that deploys incredible technique balanced with abstraction and rapid lyricism.

The extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra from the Boston-area collective led by reedist/multi-instrumentalist David Peck, here with PEK on an assortment of saxophones, clarinets, flutes, game calls and percussion, the other horns from Michael Caglianone on sax, game calls, wind sirens and percussion, with drums, bells, bowls and other percussion from Yuri Zbitnoff.

"Efflorescence", to reach an optimum stage of development or blossom, as heard through four studio-recorded CDs, expanding on the warm and enduring duo of saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp in beautifully flowing, succinct improvisations with a lyrical inclination, allowing for exploration through the sophisticated support each brings; beautiful.

Lithuanian reedist Liudas Mockunas in an unusual record of clarinet and saxophone improvisations, from solo work of powerful technique to pieces using water prepared instruments to create a wealth of bubbling and aberrant sound on the instrument, side A presenting the 7 part "Hydration Suite", Side B the 3 part "Rehydration", and "Dehydration".

Four duets of gracefully moving music that focuses on tone without repeating melodies or rhythms, from composer Kory Reeder in his first release, performed by Erin Cameron & Luke Ellard both on bass clarinet; Jonathan Kierspe (saxophone) & Samuel Anderson (bass trombone); Alaina Clarice & Linda Jenkins, both on flute; and Mia Detwiler (violin) & Kory Reeder (piano).

Reedist and mutli-instrumentalist Udo Schindler's first instrument was a soprano sax, and this solo concert at Atelier Ekkelancj Götze in Munich in 2018 brings to the foreground his 40 years of experience, advanced technique, and creative approach to this capricious and demanding instrument, performing a 2-part free-form "PNEUMA-Sax+Erde" and an encore.

A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).

Saxophonist & flutist Bonnie Kane (W.O.O.) joins the Turbulence group, the extended horn section of the Leap of Faith Orchestra from Boston area collective Evil Clown led by David Peck (PEK), a concert that was live-streamed to Youtube during the Covid-19 Pandemic in February 2020, in a sextet with four reedists, two trumpeters, electronics, drums & extensive percussion.

Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura (The NatSat Duo) launch their project Pentas with this album, their 7th as a duo, with compositions from each musician and dedicated as a tribute to Eric and Chris Stern, elder inspirational fans who spoke with the duo after the NY premiere of this music, upon learning that Eric passed away that very night.

Extremely patient compositions for electronics, cello, guitar and tenor sax from French sound and visual artist Pierre Gerard: "Air" using recordings from his duo partner of tenor saxophonist Bertrand De Lamalle with long sections of silence; "Cavity" employs previously recorded guitar improvisations that interact with Gerard's live electronic improvisations.

The collaboration of American alto saxophonist living in the Philippines Rick Countryman with legendary Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozumim, also performing on Erhu, continues with this outstanding performance at the LIMBO Art Gallery in Makati, Philippines in 2020, joined by Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen for a burning set of free jazz.

Using the natural resonance of the chapel of Oficinas do Convento, in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, saxophonist Julius Gabriel recorded these ten diverse solo improvisations, performing on soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones, applying unusual and extended techniques to his playing in a mixture of technical prowess and implicit wit & melodicism.

Taking their project name as a concatenation of their personal names, appropriate to the close improvisational bond shared by the Spanish drum and sax duo of Nasim Lopez-Palacios and Pau Torres Serra, who present a unique and idiosyncratic language on their instruments to create an engaging set of dialogs through energetically controlled yet never chaotic interaction.

Two sets of profound composure and restraint, captured at a concert in Munich in May 2019 by Berlin improvising instrumentalists -- Werner Dafeldecker (double bass) and Lucio Capece (bass clarinet, slide saxophone, feedback and room amplification) -- invoking moods of Polwechsel through focused structures of intense precision of dense interaction.

Track titles are borrowed from Friederike Mayröcker for their "concentrated word acrobatics and linguistic sensuality", and apt analogy to the duo of Udo Schindler on clarinets & cornet, and Irene Kepl on violin, who are recorded live at the 95th Salon für Klang+Kunst Krailling in Munich, 2019, in a set of 9 delicately virtuosic dialogs that use extended and unusual techniques.

A freestyling solo album from NY/Israeli saxophonist Assif Tsahar, performing on tenor sax and bass clarinet in an exciting three-part improvisation of avant forms of technical dexterity and extended range through emphatic and sustained expression of long lines and cycling figures that shift and transform; a great example of Tsahar's skill and imagination.

A studio recording bring three Portuguese string players--Maria do Mar on violin, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello--together with bass & soprano clarinetist Juan Calvi, for 9 succinct intertwining of energetic interplay, often chamber-oriented but all examples of masterful free improvisation exploring a diverse set of creative approaches.

Restricted by pandemic, bassist John Edwards took compositions for Remote Viewers written by Dave Petts along with recordings from himself and saxophonists Caroline Kraabel, Sue Lynch, Adrian Northover & David Petts, using digital compositional methods to maintain Petts' concepts while manipulating and inverting each piece in wonderfully riotous and unexpected ways.

Bass clarinetist Chris Cundy, uses the studio as a performance tool for accompaniment along with pre-recorded tapes, as he contrasts two different composers--Cornelius Cardew & Ton de Leeuw and their compositions titled "Mountains", alongside a Cardew graphic score piece, and 2 work for 5 bass clarinets, from Thanos Chrysakis and John Cage, the latter from his Numbers series.

Five CDs with unique and joyfully creative aspects of saxophonist and composer Trevor Watts' work, from concerts and studio settings in the UK, US and South Americal in configurations of Trevor Watts Moiré Music Group, with the Enjambre Acustico Urukungolo, Trevor Watts' Moiré Music Drum Orchestra, and duos with Jamie Harris, and with Marc Hewins.

Extremely well paired in their unusual approaches to their instruments both acoustic and electronic, this live recording between Udo Schindler on reed & brass instruments and Jaap Blonk improvising with his voice and using computer electronics, results in eight diverting and inspired recording of extreme creative approaches and impressive technical skill.

An epic journey through diverse improvisational approaches within a composed framework, using heavy percussion of unusual & world origins, electronics, rock/groove elements and prepared mixes created from samples, from the Boston duo of David Peck (PEK) on reeds & an arsenal of devices & sources, and Yuri Zbitnoff on drums & percussion, with narration points along the way.

Chicago saxophonist and Kettle Hole label leader Gerrit Hatcher joins with West Coast saxophonists Rob Magill (Weird Cry Records, Dreamcolour) and Japanese saxophonist based in Los Angeles Patrick Shiroishi, for five collective free improvisations of informed saxophone interaction; three approaches to the horn that complement and contrast in fascinating ways.

A lost gem from of British free sax and drums & percussion duo of saxophonist Larry Stabbins and percussionist Roy Ashbury, originally released in 1976 on the Bead Label, their interplay including masterful and extended techniques from Stabbins and an array of chimes, chains, wood blocks, shakers, and bowed cymbals augmenting Ashbury's kit; captivating dialog.

An almost hour long "Rhizome" of free improvisation and a brief "Renewal" from the duo of Joel Futterman on piano and Ike Levin on tenor sax & bass clarinet, performing live at Constellation in Chicago in 2017, for a wonderfully evolving work of suspense, release, technical brilliance and exuberant expression, a dialog that only two such frequent collaborators can evoke.

Dark and beautiful improvisation from saxophonist and electronics artist John Butcher and harpist Rhodri Davies, an incredible display of timbre, technique, and pacing.

Two works for solo instrumentalists by Baltimore composer Ian Power, both written in 1984: "mahrem bir eser | a private work" using microtonal harmonics and electronic noise, performed by cellist Mariel Robers and recorded in 2016 at Brandeis Univeristy; and "swathe" using overtone and microtone performed by clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich and recorded in NYC in 2019.

One circular and one continuous composition from Argentinian composer Sergio Merce, using rich tones like clouds of sound generated by a microtonal saxophone, synthesizer and wind synth, the title referring to his sense of music a channel to see, to reveal, a channel that opens through intuition, observation and attention but not through thinking; beautiful.

Compositions for violas, bass clarinets and flutes performed by Vincent Royer, Jill Valentine, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Tim Hodgkinson, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Carla Rees, Karin de Fleyt, Thanos Chrysakis, Katrina Lauder, with compositions from Gerard Grisey, Iancu Dumitrescu, Thanos Chrysakis, Niels Rasmussen, Salvatore Sciarrino, Lori Freedman, and Tim Hodgkinson.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Using baritone and alto saxophones, speakers and an iPod, Swedish improviser Martin Kuchen (Angles, Exploding Customer, UNSK, Looper, &c) takes his listeners on a demented tour of extended technique and curiously unexpected sounds from the saxophone, focusing on textures and non-abrasive approaches to create an abundance of unexpected and oddly engaging, concise improvisations.

A "travelogue" of Swedish composer and songwriter Adrian Knight's guitar explorations, works originally released on his digital-only and now dormant label Pink Pamphlet, drawing from work recorded in his home studio that developed from sketches and experimentation, along with new recordings including one with saxophonist David Lackner; beautifully moody and elegant music.