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.

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

"Letters and Folds", contains 6 interpretive pieces by French composer Bruno Duplant, realized in multiple layers by Dutch pianist & composer Reinier van Houdt; "Letters" are letter-form scores addressed to van Houdt containing letter sequences distributed across the page; each "Fold" is a response to each letter, combining piano with field recordings made on John Cage's 100th birthday.

Varying the instrument and proportions of acoustic or electric presentation straddling the foreground/background dynamic for each track, Appalachian Trance Metal guitarist Killick presents his first vinyl LP to extend his vast CD discography; a worthy and curious album of solo guitar, acoustic and electroacoustic work that belongs in any guitar enthusiast's collection.

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

Stephen Gosling performs solo piano works by John Zorn, 3 impressionistic pieces in the tradition of Debussy and Ravel paying tribute to legendary ballet dancer Nijinsky, to author Novalis who is credited with inventing the prose poem, and 3rd century poet Nossis, and a duo for piano & violin with Chris Otto inspired by the art of Hilma af Klint and the writings of Sigmund Freud.

One of three releases in Rob Mazurek's Marfa Trio, recorded in Marfa, TX, using 106 distorted still images and fragmented skipping sound from video shot at Abbaye Royal de Fontevraud, France in 2005, repurposed for this intense and wild sound work which processes the images through modular synth and computer, shaped by Mazurek's unique approach to sound.

Recordings from the 4-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, of Rob Mazurek's work using recordings of electric eels from National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil, combined with analog/digital synthesis to create environments of beautiful undulating and radiant sonic textures.

Reflecting on the Horweb Sax Quartet he was a member of during the 80s, UK improvising saxophonist Martin Archer uses AACM influences (and covers one Roscoe Mitchell piece) as he plays all parts of a series of "solo" saxophone recordings, layering his playing alone and in harmony, in call and response, and in insanely creative ways that never cease to engage his listeners.

Under the inspiration of Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai, Berlin-based improvising pianist Aki Takase recorded these impressive works over two days at the Sendesaal Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, some live during an award ceremony where she was awarded The Berlin Jazz Prize, some in the studio, including a duo with pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach.

Mujician pianist Keith Tippetts embarked on his first solo tour in 1979, capturing these concert recordings that were originally released in 1980 on vinyl on the Universe Label; long out of print, Discus has revived these extraordinary recordings, showing the incredible technical abilities, endurance, and quick-witted creative powers of this legendary improviser.

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

Recorded during the Jazz Festival in Pisa, Italy while trumpeter Ted Daniel was touring through Europe, good fortune making an opportunity for Daniel to present his first fully spontaneous solo performance, captured at Abbrazia San Zeno and dedicated to his father, where Daniel plays with authenticity, relaxed warmth, impressive technique and spiritual creativity.

Containing the majority of minimalist composer Morton Feldman's compositions for solo piano, 3 CDs of short works and 2 for the magnificent "For Bunita Marcus" and "Triadic Memories", performed by one of the foremost interpreters of Feldman's work, Philip Thomas, and presented in a sturdy 5-CD box set with a 52 page booklet of notes from the performer and artwork.

Reissuing pianist Ran Blake's 1965 ESP release presenting original compositions and works by Ornette Coleman and George Russell, along with arrangements of standards, an expressive and passionate release heralding Blake's long and brilliant career.

Few musicians better represent the Downtown NY scene's early years than late cellist Tom Cora, a key player who performed and recorded with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Polly Bradfield, Samm Bennett, &c, &c, bridging and blurring the lines between jazz, improv, rock, and compositional music, heard here in an exuberant and masterful solo set live at Vancouver's The Western Front in 1986.

Tokyo-based electronics artist Toshimaru Nakamura's 9th album of No-Input Mixing Board music, elucidating sound from the mixing board without any audio sources, showing the amazing evolution of his approach as he turns this "empty" "instrument" into an amazing source of rhythmic and assertive sound that's both surprising and wonderfully musical.

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

An unusual and distinctive record from violinist and ornithologist Hollis Taylor, a book with 2 CDS presenting 41 tracks of recordings of the Australian pied butcherbird, each track pairing a bird, environmental sound, and a single instrumentalist, with an impressive list of performers who take unique approaches to the challenge of accompanying a bird.

During a week in April 2017 John Zorn travelled to Paris, where he performed several concerts including "The Interpretation of Dreams", presented an evening with guests, and performed solo on the organ at the Grande salle Pierre Boulez, the full concert of which is presented on this CD, along with 30 minutes of recordings made before the evening's concert.

Twelve percussion solos from incomparable Japanese percussionist living in Consequence, New Mexico, Tatsuya Nakatani, a dramatic presentation starting with bowed and resonant cymbals and developing into active sections of intense drumming using bowls and found objects to create complex and unique percussive environments filled with detail, mystery and excitement.

Two 10-minute percussion solos from incomparable Japanese percussionist living in Consequence, New Mexico, Tatsuya Nakatani, a dramatic presentation starting with bowed and resonant cymbals and developing into active sections of intense drumming using bowls and found objects to create complex and unique percussive environments filled with detail, mystery and excitement.

John Zorn continues his recording series improvising on large church organs with these three improvisations from St. John the Divine in New York City, a meditative place of worship dedicated to the author of the Book of Revelations, as Zorn evolves three powerfully introspective works, the longest opening to "The Doors of Perception".

Recording in Slovenia during his 2019 residency at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival at the secular Gallus Hall, after Slovenian churches prevented his using their organs, accusing Zorn of believing in supernatural powers, this 8th volume of John Zorn's Hermetic Organ series finds Zorn playing the saxophone simultaneously with the organ, using his feet, hands and elbows.

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

Using metal, glass, wood, and plastic, percussionist Brian Osborne (The Gate, Hatchers) offers twelve tracks of interweaving layers of simplicity and complexity, clarity and haze, many pieces initiating with deceptive simplicity and insinuating themselves in unique ways, all performed live in the studio and presented with no overdubs or affects.

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

The third solo venture for Lisbon-based guitarist and visual artist Filipe Felizardo, performing without effects and loops over a lush and spare framework, for a "ghost blues meditation" in 8 movements of focused, beautifully paced and sonically oriented playing.

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.

Recorded during Ken Vandermark's residency titled "The Unexpectable", in Krakow in 2017 at Klub Alchemia, plus concerts at Hevre and Black Box in Germany, with duos, trios and quartets in a variety of configurations with artists including Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Ikue Mori, John Butcher, Kent Kessler, Steve Noble, Mette Rasmussen, Eddie Prevost, Joe McPhee &c.

Derek Bailey's impressive guests for his July 1982 "Company" concert at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts were pianist Ursula Oppens, singer Julie Tippetts and pianist Keith Tippett, violinist/electronics wizard Philipp Wachsmann, guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, harpist Anne LeBaron, bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa and sound artist Akio Suzuki.

Contemporary composer, improviser and pianist Chris Burn in 4 lively, playful and fasciatingly structured works, as heard in Philip Thomas's renderings: "as if as"; "only the snow"; a transcription of Derek Bailey's "from ten, two, and three" in 6 parts; "pressings and screening" in 4 parts; and "the sky a silver dissonance" with Kate Ledger as a 2nd pianist.

Downtown NY cornerstone pianist Anthony Coleman is heard in a solo album of Coleman originals including a piece dedicated to Roscoe Mitchell, plus one piece each by Billy Strayhorn, John Klenner, and Ellington/George/Hodges/James, all beautifully captured at Boston's Jordan Hall as Coleman reveals his unique logic and inventive approach to solo performance.

Spending two days in a recording studio in Berne, pianist Stefan Aeby recorded these 14 short works, a mixture of improvised and composed works using preparations and electronics to evoke a set of diverse recordings, from energetic structural works to evocative lyricism, nothing overstaying its welcome, carrying the listener through an inquisitive and compelling set of ideas.

Filmakers and composers Nicolas Humbert and Marc Parisotto revisit the tapes recorded by Jean Vapeur for the film by Humbert & Werner Penzel, "Step Across the Border" with soundtrack by Fred Frith, extracting more of Vapeur's fascinating field recordings and adding music by Fred Frith with additional music & voice from Tom Cora, Iva Bittova, John Zorn, &c.

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.

Trombonist Scott Murray (Monicker, AIMToronto) performed this installment of his "Trombone Solos at Odd Hours" series by paying homage after the passing of his friend, painter and drummer John Heward, recording this concert at Heward's studio in his home on Murray Street in Montreal, in a far-ranging and emotional solo performance of fascinating technique and expression.

Sound and visual artist Gen Ken Montgomery released this album on cassette on the Directions Music label in 1990, here reissued in 2020; the two side-long pieces were performed live and then remixed, creating a fascinating and elaborate tapestry of tapes, concrete and mechanical sounds alongside instrumentation of percussion, violin, voice, &c.

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.

Viennese-born, Berlin-based electro-acoustic composer Werner Dafeldecker (Polwechsel, Fennesz, &c) creates an intense and beautiful musique concrete and acousmatic journey in two parts, examining "perspective, extreme subjectivity and the specters that haunt our auditory worlds" through mysterious sound and enveloping sonic construction, a profound and riveting work.

Originally issued in 1972 on the FMP label, drummer Sven-Ake Johansson follows his instincts in polyrhythmic drum improvisation, demonstrating the prowess that makes him such a capable sideman of Peter Brotzmann, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, &c., through three direct and compelling statements of powerful rhythms that layer time signatures and tempos, dynamics and pulse.

German pianist and Euro Free Jazz stalwart Georg Graewe in a solo work, released a decade after his previous solo album, presenting a remarkable set of succinct compositions balancing astonishing technical skills with beautifully expressive playing, presented in several series of "stills" and "stories".

The soundtrack for Dutch/Belgium/Italian co-production "Porselein" (Porcelain), a psychological drama by Jenneke Boeijink, recorded with cellist Francesco Guerri and using a motif from Henry Purcell's "The Fairy Queen", the album release including 12 additional tracks; powerful, emotional and passionate music of great tension and brilliant performances from Guerri.

Not ambient nor aggressive, Swiss guitarist Vinz Vonlanthen's latest solo album finds the improviser creating contemplative environments in unhurried ways, allowing bass and upper string to interact, often adding unusual vocal emanations to punctuate or layer with the guitar, creating an eclectic set of succinct works, often ominous, always uniquely fascinating.

New York City-based trombonist/composer Weston Olencki, specializing in the performance and production of experimental music & art, presents four compositions for brass instruments exploring a sound-based and psychoacoustic approach to solo performance, applying extended instrument preparations and fundamental principles of sound synthesis to this acoustic medium.

Originally a clarinetist, UK improviser Alex Ward began exploring the guitar in rock settings, first bringing the instrument to his improv work around the year 2000 with N.E.W. (w/ Steve Noble & John Edwards); this is his 1st solo guitar album, showing a wide range of styles that embrace improv, rock and compositional styles, a remarkable display of skill and creative drive.

Twenty miniature compositions for acoustic guitar from French composer and improviser Guillaume Gargaud, each under one and a half minutes, the shortest just 53 seconds, each composed in 12 measures creating a lovely reflective and introspective set of abstract melodies, poetic and evocative music from a player dedicated to solo guitar work.

Christoph Nicolaus began working with the stone harp around 2007, a block of granite with a slanted top that is deeply notched to create fins that resemble a loaf of bread, played by "bowing" the sides with wet hands causing each to vibrate in unique and beautiful tones; this album collects 13 compositions & improvisations performed between 2008 and 2018, in rich and uniquely evocative sound.

Four compositions for solo piano from Swiss composer Urs Peter Schneider, founder of Ensemble Neue Horizonte Bern, with four accompanying prose pieces with text in German from Schneider himself, Martin Luther, and Ita Wegman; unusual words to accompany Schneider's minimalist works of clear progressions, thoughtful direction and interesting concepts.

Two understated compositions for solo piano from Kuala Lumpur composer living in Berlin, Rishin Singh, both performed by pianist Dante Boon, with the first piece written for Boon himself, a minimal work of slowly rising and descending progressions; the other piece "For Eva-Maria Houben" dedicated to the Wandelweiser composer, using recurring yet distinctly varying patterns.

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".

A contrasting album of beauty and sonic exploration from Texas native, NY bassist Tom Blancarte, fueled by quotes from Frank Herbert and Ran Prieur, an unusual and creative album using extended and imaginative techniques from one of NY's finest bassists.

Wandelweiser member and composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos has twelve of her compositions for solo piano performed and realized by French composer/pianist ​Melaine Dalibert, each built around slow moving melodic progressions that resonate through patient performance, each fragment and note ringing beautifully, mysteriously, and dramatically.

Three solo piano works from three composers--Mark Hannesson, Dante Boon, and Anastassis Philippakopoulos--are performed by Dante Boon in this studio album recorded in Berlin; three extremely compatible works that prove to be quintessential examples of Wandelweiser minimalism finding melody, progression and abstraction in subtle and elusive ways; sublime.

"Distant Radio Transmission" was originally recorded as an improvisation by Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and Kikanju Baku in 2013, then transcribed by Stephen P. Harvey in 2016, extended for strings by John Ivers in 2017, and then fully orchestrated by Roscoe Mitchell himself in 2017; the album also includes "Noonah Trio", "Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet" and "8/8/88".

Japanese saxophonist living in NYC Tamio Shiraishi, an associate of Keiji Haino, has a unique approach to his solo work, often playing outdoors in concert with nature, or using the natural resonance of his performance space, recreating the sounds of wind, birds, water, and any other natural "noise" sounds, here in a live performance at Issue Project Room & 6 studio recordings.

Innovative experimenter Matt Weston's latest LP is a live recording of two new electroacoustic songs mastered by Jason Lescalleet, inspired by the "revolutionary experimental filmmaker" Joseph Levitch, aka Jerry Lewis, using percussion, electronics & objects in unique, explosive, and unexpected ways to create a wonderfully chaotic audio image of the comedic master.

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).

19 years after the last Chicago Underground Quartet album, this session with Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, electronics & bells, Jeff Parker on electric guitar, and Chad Taylor on drums, percussion and newcomer Josh Johnson on synth bass & keys is a warm reunion, with individual compositions from Taylor, Mazurek & Parker, and two solo pieces by Mazurek and Taylor.

This '93 solo concert at Norfolk Academy in Virginia finds free jazz pianist Joel Futterman reflecting on standards and jazz repertoire by inference & reference, improvising over 7 original compositions and Coltrane's "Naima", with moments of lyrical delicacy, savvy swinging sections, and reflective Monk moods, all filtered through his Futteran's powerful creative drive.

Recording with an Italian ELKA 400 electric accordion organ, pioneering electronic and sound aritst Kaffe Matthews presents two sonification of the word F O R E I G N E R, reflecting on her experience regularly moving from country to country, dealing with varying borders and governmental laws, by organizing sound in clusters that attempt to cross a compositional line.

Mark Mothersbaugh records five compositions for the Player Piano Forte composed by Nandor Nevai, each an impossible performance for a human being, with each piece named for the number of hands theoretically performing, from "1 Hand" to "5 Hands", driving the Pianoforte into extreme territory of rapidity and complexity in a fascinating set of compositions.

Not Two Records celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a festival in Wlen, Poland, inviting 13 of the finest European & US improvisers--Guy, Leandre, Mazur, Nilssen-Love, Kaucic, Fernandez, Gustafsson, Vandermark, Trzaska, Brotzmann, Swell, Holmlander, & Homburg--performing in configurations from duo to quintet, released in a limited 5-CD wooden box set.

An amazing album of electronic experimentation from multi-instrumentalist Jean-Marc Foussat, dedicating the album to the late painter and son Victor Foussat, through two extended and far-ranging works that blends concrete sounds with intense playing and sonic environments.

An amazing album of electronic experimentation from multi-instrumentalist Jean-Marc Foussat, dedicating the album to the late painter and son Victor Foussat, through two extended and far-ranging works that blends concrete sounds with intense playing and sonic environments.

The title to be taken literally, these two solo concerts recorded in Canada by French-based US bassist Barre Phillips, the first recorded at Vancouver Western Front in 1989, the 2nd from the 35th International Festival Music Festival of Victoriaville in 2019, both exemplary concerts showing his masterful skills and ability to captivate then and now.

Bob Drake takes his listeners on a 22 piece instrumental journey through a "Beastley" garden of confident melodic foundation anBob Drake takes his listeners on a 22 piece instrumental journey through a "Beastley" garden of confident melodic foundation and experimental forays, captured by day and night, a tour de force of conception and execution.

Belgian composer Pierre Gerard presents a work that examines what we see around us, and what sometimes remains invisible, in three dramatic minimal works of powerful tones and tension, silence and motion: the first is 'the mechanics', the second 'the structure of a rock on a high mountain', the third 'the distance between the elements in a small forest area'.

A stunning exploration of interior architecture through recordings of the elements of three spaces including La Casa's own apartment, finding micro and macro-scopic sound in common elements that he uses to create fascinating compositions reflecting both the captivating fullness and stillness of each space, as the composer questions his relationship with each space.

A 5-part concert and encore from Masami Akita, AKA Merzbow, performing in Australia at Room40's Open Frame Festival in 2019, a wrenching performance of distinctive yet diverse noise sources and textures revealed as a controlled tumult; all profits from this edition will be donated to assisting wildlife recovery in the wake of the Australia bushfire crisis of 2020.

Based on a series of improvisations on a very hands-on hardware setup, with an old tone generator, effects pedals, dictaphones, contact mics, &c., Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt) took these recordings into the studio to compose these four works, 2 brief pieces and the 2-part, intricate "Amalgaam", in an absorbing album of dramatic texture & sound.

A selection of Machinefabriek's (Rutger Zuydervelt) favorite remixes made between 2005 and 2015 of his reworks and reinterpretations of tracks by Mensenkinderen, Wouter Van Veldhoven, Fieldhead, Aaron Martin, Coppice, de la mancha, The Moi Non Plus, Djivan Gasparyan, Amon Tobin, Gareth Hardwick, Fiium Shaarrk, Vladimir and Red Stars Over Tokyo.

The sixth album of embraceable electroacoustic and acousmatic French composer Bérangère Maximin, whose work with Ina-GRM, Stockholm's EMS points to her extraordinary skills in organize other-worldly sound, imbued with her ability to create warmly embraceable works with mystery amongst propelling rhythm, here exploring recordings from city parks & abandoned properties.

The 4th of 5 Xerox releases from electronic and sound composer Carsten Nicolai, based on the concept of digital replication of source material, Nicolai replicates his recordings and utilizes their changes, in Volume 4 creating melodic ambient works, warm tones that are colored and affected by subtle texture, creating a beautiful set of 14 cinematic expressions.

Dating back to the 13th century in Wales, the Telyn Rawn is a nearly forgotten horsehair harp; UK improvising harpist Rhodri Davies researched the instrument and its unique sound, commissioning the construction of a harp on which he performs 18 improvisations of impressive technique and sonority, launching his new Amgen Records label with this album named for the instrument.

While developing a soundtrack with violinist and violist Anne Bakker, Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, began editing a series of Bakker's improvisations, creating new works from those recordings by layering them into succinct short works or "scenes"--twenty of them in the end--that he sequenced into this album of confidently dramatic and delicately beautiful episodes.

Recently discovered, unissued solo improvisations from legendary Japanese free jazz alto saxophonist Karou Abe--four extended statements from the full concert recorded in 1970 at the Sapporo jazz cafe "Ayler"--an excellent example of the passionate performances he presented, using extended and unusual technique from assertive mastery to near-silent moments; incomparable.

Two extended solo percussion works by Swiss improviser Christian Wolfarth, focusing on two components of the standard drum set--a tom or simple drum, and a cymbal--the first side a "Souvenir From a Drum" using brushes and sticks to disrupt then mesmerize the listener; the second side a "Souvenir from a Cymbal", a shifting roll and pattern that evokes a myriad of tonalities.

Percussionist Steve Hubback's project Metal Moves presents the percussionist, composer and instrument maker's work, using drums, gongs, bells, cymbals and percussive sculptures in well-developed compositions, evoking mysterious environments that evolve into muscular displays of extraordinary power, a beautifully balanced album of uniquely voice solo percussion.

Collecting 4 albums with pianist Keith Tippetts: The Bern Concert, a 1993 live duo with Howard Riley; Linückea, a 2000 studio album with The Kreutzer String Quartet plus a narrated work; The Dartington Trio of Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts & Paul Dunmall live in 2003; and The Dartington Trio Live at The Priory at the Southend International Jazz Festival.

Drawing from contemporary composers including Tom Johnson, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Adrian Democ, James Tenney, &c, this is the 3rd chapter of Italian flutist Manuel Zurria's project/research on "minimalisms" in contemporary music, taking an active interpretation of the classification over 16 informed and adventurous recordings.