Trumpeter Kirk Knuffke in a NY trio with clarinetist Doug Wieselman and drummer Kenny Wollesen, all part of Butch Morris' Nublu Orchestra and frequent Zorn collaborators.

Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Taiko Saito is a contemporary classical player well established in the field of improv, joined by long-time collaborator, pianist Niko Meinhold, and here expanded with Tobias Schirmer on clarinet and bass clarinet for an album that uses solid compositional foundations for lyrical and contemplative modern music.

Saxophonist Martin Küchen (Angles) joins together with the Landaeus Trio of pianist Martin Landaeus, double bassist Johnny Aman, and drummer Cornelia Lisson, augmenting the sophisticated lyricism of the Landaeus piano trio with an atypically lyrical voice from Kuchen, as they are recorded in front of a live audience in the Gula Studion in Malmo, Sweden.

Borrowing elements from a vast spectrum of improvisatory styles, fueled by a variety of saxophones, tanpura, drums, prepared cymbals and voice, Swedish improviser Martin Küchen (Angles) joins with Slovak percussionist living in Oslo, Michaela Antalová, taking their listeners on a meteorological journey through a remarkable tempest of sound.

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Following the traditions of the saxophone trio, tenor & baritone player Jonas Kullhammar releases this studio album of irrepressible compositions performed with bassist Tobjorn Zetterberg and drummer Espen Aalberg.

L.U.M.E., aka the Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble directed by pianist Marco Barroso, is a big band with a chamber ensemble feeling, Barroso's upbeat and melodically sophisticated compositions driving the band by borrowing from a variety of jazz, funk and even cartoon-like styles to create a richly complex and compelling set of tunes that twist, turn and surprise.

Crossing tonal material with post-bop playing, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva leads her LAMA trio in electroacoustic and traditional playing, with guest reedist Joachim Badenhorst adding a masterful edge, as they interpret the novel by the Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.

The Norwegian experimental collective improvising group of Henrik Munkeby Norstebo on trombone, Kjetil Jerve on piano, and Andreas Wildhagen on drums & percussion are the core trio here, presenting their third release by adding free improvising vocalist Sofia Jernberg, bringing a sense of unpredictability to a finely controlled chaos of technical mastery.

Active collaborators for six years at the time of this recording, this is the first time Swedish improvisers Cornelia Nilsson on drums, Johnny Aman on double bass and Mathias Landaeus on piano & keys have recorded together as a trio, performing seven engagingly lyrical compositions from leader Landaeus, on several tracks adding an unusual edge through the use of synths.

2 CDs from the amazing little big band of bassist Lane, with trumpeters Nate Wooley & Taylor Ho Bynum, saxophonist David Bindman, trombonists Tim Vaughn & Reut Regev, & drummer Igal Foni.

Mixed, edited and re-organized by Fred Frith and mastered by Thomas Dimuzio, this album find the trio of Frith on electric guitar, Evelyn Davis on the Mills Chapel pipe organ and Phillip Greenlief on clarinet & alto saxophone, performing in the Mills College Chapel in Oakland, CA, the sophomore release on Clean Feed for this versatile trio of masterful improvisers.

This progressive/folk/jazz/improv/experimental/psych quartet from Norway covers a diverse set of approaches to improvisation, from textural, minimalistic and radically abstract, like something AMM would play, using graphic and written notation.

This progressive/folk/jazz/improv/experimental/psych quartet from Norway covers a diverse set of approaches to improvisation, from textural, minimalistic and radically abstract, like something AMM would play, using graphic and written notation.

Reissuing and re-mixing New York saxophonist Steve Lehman's 2004 album with his previous Camouflage Trio of Mark Dress on double bass and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums, perfoming a stupendous set of original compositions live at Teatro Academica Gil Vicente in Coimbra, Portugal.

Three heavy "Concept" pieces of electric jazz from the quartet of Lisbon saxophonist José Lencastre, electric bassist Felipe Zenicola (from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), drummer João Valinho and Jorge Nuno, a guitarist generally associated with psychedelic rock, as the band slowly seethes through a brew that flirts with rock and 70s fusion in unique ways.

Communion is Portuguese drummer and composer Joao Lencastre's project to bring musicians from the American and international jazz scenes together, here in his 3rd release presenting a piano trio with two New Yorkers--pianist Jacob Sack and Norwegian bassist living in New York, Eivind Opsvik--for 3 Lencastre compositions, 1 Ornette Coleman piece, and 6 collective compositions.

The 2nd release on Clean Feed by drummer Joao Lencastre's Communion, a shape-shifting ensemble here configured with 2 New York improvisers from Lencastre's associations over 15 years in NYC--pianist Jakob Sacks and bassist Eivind Opsvik--for 10 studio recordings which include the 4-part "Magnetic Frequency", blurring lyrical avant jazz and chamber forms; beautiful.

Exploring dream-like instrumental states in electrified modern creative jazz, drummer and composer João Lencastre leads an octet featuring saxophonists Albert Cirera & Ricard Toscano, guitarists André Fernandes & Pedro Branco, pianist Benny Lackner and bassists João Hasselberg & Nelson Cascais through six original compositions of fascinating free-flowing forms.

The collective free jazz Nau Quartet led by alto saxophonist Jose Lencastre with Red Trio pianist and bassist Rodrigo Pinheiro and Hernani Faustino and drummer Joao Lencastre are caught live at Moscow's DOM Cultural Center for this album of thoughtfully informed improvisation, using open and spontaneous structures as they evolve each conversation in organic ways.

Cellist Daniel Levin's sophisticated jazz quartet with Mat Maneri (viola), Matt Moran (vibes), and Torbjorn Zetterberg (double bass) are captured live at Connecticut's Firehouse 12 for a superb album of modern improv with great skill, depth and style.

Two string masters--Mat Maneri on viola and Daniel Levin on cello--recording at The Village in Copenhagen, Denmark in an album titled for psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung, reflecting the balance between intuitive spontaneity and pre-established conditions.

Cellist Daniel Levin's quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Peter Bitenc on bass and Matt Moran on vibraphone performing live at the Jazz ao Centro Festival, Salao Brazil.

Cellist Daniel Levin Quartet leads his quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Moran on vibes, and Torbjorn Zetterberg on bass, in open-minded modern compositions that blend jazz, chamber, and experimental improvisation of reserved and riveting character.

Cellist Daniel Levin's trio with Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten and Gerald Cleaver in a set of original compositions from one of contempory jazz's masters of cello improvisation.

The "Inner Landscape" of cellist Daniel Levin's playing in a 6-part solo release of pure improvisation as Levin finds his music in real time through spontaneous play and surprise.

Without a leader, this 9 piece collective ensemble includes members of Red Trio (Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernaani Faustino and Gabriel Ferrandini), Garden (Jose Bruno Parrinha, Ricardo Jacinto, Luis Lopes), the duo Eitr (Pedro Sousa and Pedro Lopes), 2/3 of the Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio (Amado, Ferrandini) and half of the Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet (Lopes and Amado).

Bassist Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth features 2 saxophonists--Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby, Craig Tabor on keys and Gerald Cleavers on drums, in 8 melodic tracks inspired by landmarks of NYC and influenced by jazz tradition, West African music, pop hooks, and more.

Bassist Lightcap's Bigmouth with Tony Malaby, Chris Cheek & Andrew D'Angelo on sax, Craig Taborn on keys and Gerald Cleaver on drums, NY jazz with remarkable rapport and prowess.

Performing the embracingly angular compositions of Russian-born, German-based saxophonist Yaroslav Likhachev that pivot on hard bop transformed through inventive approaches, since 2016 Likhachev's Quartet with Yannis Anft on piano, Conrad Noll on bass and Moritz Baranczyk on drums have pursued new forms of expression while maintaining jazz, traditions here in nine well-defined "sketches".

Drummer Christian Lillinger continues to adapt his band since his 2009 debut GRUND album, "First Reason", here demonstrating his strong skills as a leader, player, and composer.

Masterful NY double bassist in a trio with vibraphonist Kevin Norton and clarinetist Wendell Harrison, in an exquisite jazz album with what Linberg describes as a "post-industrial rust belt aesthetic", alongside a 3 part tribute to the late trumpeter Roy Campbell.

West Coast double bassist and composer John Lindberg's Raptor Trio with baritone saxophonist Pablo Calogero and drummer Joe LaBarbera presents music as a mystery to be left unsolved yet fully absorbed, as heard in this beguilingly lyrical and emotional album.

A precursor to his Motion Trio, this is a 2002 studio recording led by saxophonist Rodrigo Amado performing on baritone & tenor saxophones, with US West Coast saxophonist Steve Adams on soprano & tenor saxophones, Acacio Salero on drums, plus New York bassist Ken Filiano, improvising over six works that show the depth and mastery of each individually and collectively.

Lokomotive's "Labyrinths" with bassist Baretto at the top of his game in playing and scoring this driving and unorthodox set of pieces, performed with two of Portugal's most in-demand players.

Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes with NY bassist Adam Lane and Israeli drummer Igal Fonis, emotional, raw music, with lots of feedback and distortion and astonishing solos!

Debut recording for Portugese guitarist Luis Lopes' Humanization 4Tet with Rodrigo Amado on tenor sax, exciting free-form jazz with a powerful rhythm section.

Guitarist Luis Lopes (Humanization 4tet, Lisbon-Berlin Trio) is known for his mix of jazz, blues, rock; saxophonist Guionnet (The Fish, Hubub) for a mix of free jazz and electroacoustic experimentation; together live they create a riveting and unexpected hybrid of sound.

Citing references including Sun Ra, electric Miles, Ornette, Wadada Leo Smith, Stockhausen & Gabriel Prokofiev, guitarist Luis Lopes's Abyss Mirrors brings together artists drawing on European & Brazilian performers from Clean Feed, Shhpuma and Creative Sources for these evolving and often ecstatic collective, experimental improvisations; unpredictably edgy and exciting!

Citing references including Sun Ra, electric Miles, Ornette, Wadada Leo Smith, Stockhausen & Gabriel Prokofiev, guitarist Luis Lopes's Abyss Mirrors brings together artists drawing on European & Brazilian performers from Clean Feed, Shhpuma and Creative Sources for these evolving and often ecstatic collective, experimental improvisations; unpredictably edgy and exciting!

Energetic and assertive jazzcore improv from Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes' long-running Humanization 4Tet with saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and the near-telepathic rhythm section of Aaron Gonzalez on double bass and Stefan Gonzalez on drums, in an album recorded in the studio in front of an audience in New Orleans during their 2018 tour, finding the band in formidable form.

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

Portugese electric guitarist Luis Lopes with his Berlin Trio of Robert Landfermann on double bass and Christin Lillinger that balances dark tonal work with kicking free improvisation, somewhere between ea-improv and free jazz, a mysterious and absorbing release.

Genre-crossing improvisation with a jazz basis and far-reaching influences from guitarist Luis Lopez and his Berlin Trio of bassist Robert Landfermann and drummer Christian Lillinger.

French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot's large ensemble drawn from 5 nations in an excellent set of compositions that employ a diverse set of approaches, slyly drawing the listener into unique and encompassing sound worlds of remarkable elements and superb improvisation.

Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble (LUME) is an 11-piece ensemble led by pianist Marco Barroso, here captured live at the 2014 festival Jazz em Agosto for an unusual concert that blends free jazz, noise, rock, musical quotes and much, much more in exhiliarating ways.

Brooklyn-based Slovenian saxophonist Igor Lumpert draws on his life experiences through eight original compositions and a Bosnian folk song performed with his core band of alto saxophonist Greg Ward, drummer Kenny Grohwoski and bassist Chris Tordini, expanded to a sextet and octet with stellar improvisers including trumpeter Peter Evans, guitarist Jeff Miles, &c.

Nate Wooley and Paul Lytton continue their collaborations, extending their new duo recordings with live tracks from The Stone in NYC with Ikue Mori, and at Chicago's Hideout with Ken Vandermark.

The electroacoustic quartet of Christof Kurzmann (electronics), Devin Hoff (bass), Ken Vandermark (reeds) and Tim Daisy (drums) performing live in Lisbon, an innovative and significant band developing new languages for improvisation.