Meeting in Minneapolis, home of saxophonist & guitarist George Cartwright (Curlew), the quintet of Cartwright, Steve Hirsh on drums, Chad Fowler on stritch, Kelley Hurt on voice and Christopher Parker on piano have many collaborative and friendly connections, heard in their easy-going and informed dialog, with some quirks & comments tossed in to personalize these excellent studio sessions.

Stepping away from the Australian trio The Necks, drummer/percussionist Tony Buck meets pianist Alister Spence in the studio for seven distinct dialogs of "submerged rhythm, oblique extended forms, entwined interplay, and sound for its own sake", Spence at times using preparations on his strings, as both listen and respond deeply through a congenial approach to playing.

Capturing two exceptional concerts at London's Cafe OTO in 2021 & 2022, in the launch of a new quartet expanding the longstanding trio of NO Moore on electric guitar, John Edwards on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, with Alan Wilkinson on baritone & alto saxophones, and for one performance on each night, tenor saxophonist Nathaniel Catchpole joining.

An immersive album of understated but incredibly detailed free improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Emidio Buchinho on electric guitar and Carla Santana on electronics, performing live at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Amadora, Portugal for a four part concentration on silence through sound.

Following their album of compositions by Alvin Lucier, the New York violin duo String Noise of Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris present a series of solo and duo compositions by American avant composer Christian Wolff, a peer of Brown, Cage, and Feldman from the New York School, works composed across the span of his career through a wealth of concepts and motives.

39 tracks make up this compelling 3-part solo percussion work from Swiss improviser and composer Christian Wolfarth, using a game approach where some sequences are determined by the roll of a dice for note values, rest and tempo, Wolfarth performing on dead wood, a drum or 39 pine cones, augmented with recordings of stones, water, footsteps, church bells, &c.

The first meeting of Austrian improviser Christof Kurzmann (The Magic I.D., Schee) and Montreal sound artist Elizabeth Millar (Sound of the Mountain, Ensemble Supermusique) in two tremendous multi-part performances live at the 2019 Suoni Per il Popolo Festival in Montreal, works of mysteriously vibratory backdrop, insinuating narrative voice and unsettling sonic interaction.

Evoking the spirit of a seance experienced by alto saxophonist Devin Brahja Waldman, the duo of Waldman and drummer Hamid Drake are captured live at Elastic Arts, in Chicago, beginning as a mysteriously delicate concert of intricately introspective playing and spiritual reflection, building to a free jazz drum & sax duo of powerful and enthusiastic release.

Demonstrating the striking diversity modern solo percussionists present, the Italian tape label TSSS Tapes compiles an international set of solo works from explorers Tim Daisy, Jeph Jerman, Ted Byrnes, Wojtek Kurek, Clinton Green, Rie Nakajima, Emilio Berne, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan, Lucie Nezri, Karen Willems, Paolo Sanna, Li Qing, Carlos Godinho, and Rodrigo Vieira.

The 3rd album from the touring trio of Joe McPhee on trumpet & tenor sax, John Edwards on double bass and Klaus Kugel on drums, following their previous NotTwo releases A Night In Alchemia and Journey To Parazzar, here captured live at FreeJazzSaar 2019, in Saarbrucken, Germany for a boisterously exciting set of three collective improvisations, including a tip of the hat to Charles Gayle.

Meeting in the studio with an open mind to approach, guitarist Justin Purtill and long-time friend, pianist Leo Genovese, are joined by bassist Sean Conly to record this set of original Purtrill songs, along with songs by John Hurt, Joe Price, and the title track by Bob Dylan, a relaxed and expressive session of jazz-based originals and interpretations.

Borrowing from jazz/improvised music, new compositional forms and avant reductionist traditions, the Montreal quartet Success Pistol release their debut album of compositions by saxophonist Dustin Finder, oral instructions including game pieces that leave room for improvisation; with Scott Bevins on trumpet, and husband and wife duo Eli Davidovici on bass and Mili Hong on drums.

A new quartet lineup for the Boston-based Evil Clown Collective group Leap of Faith, expanding the core duet of David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice with multi-reedists Melanie Howell and Todd Brunel, all four employing their extensive arsenal of percussive instruments.

The second album from the Hydra Ensemble (Goncalo Almeida on double bass, Lucija Gregov on cello, Nina Hitz on cello, Rutger Zuydervelt on electronics) is a live recording with no audience from the Worm club in Rotterdam during the pandemic, reaching deeper into their masterful world of darkly intense chamber improv and electronics, slowly yielding to a spaciously brighter ending.

A truly fascinating and seamless hybrid of improvised and composed music, alongside an exploration of feedback and "its acoustic double, a harmonic noise", from the merging of two projects--LAMIEE and Dròlo Ensemble--plus Italian poli-instrumentalists Nicholas Remondino and Andrea Giordano (OTONN), yielding wonderfully complex and enveloping sound worlds.

A seeming contradiction in terms, the unison voices and divergent polyphony that emerges best describes the subtle interactions between these two Swiss reed players--Markus Eichenberger on clarinet and Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) on soprano and C-Melody saxophones--their "harmony of coherence" strategies guiding their melodic interlacing and fragmentation.

The first recording of an ongoing collaboration between violinist Maya Bennardo, bass clarinetist Erik Blennow Calälv, and kacapi (similar to a Japanese koto) musician Kristofer Svensson, presenting two restrained and lovely compositions bringing together contemporary classical, free improvisation and Sundanese music in a unique chamber format.

From the same 2017 session that was released as the album Estuary, this concert in the Philippines between American expatriate saxophonist Rick Countryman and visiting Swiss drummer Christian Bucher expands on the free playing of these two empathetic improvisers, presenting a mix of textural, conceptual, melodic and rhythmic interplay steeped in their personal histories.

One of three albums in a series curated by saxophonist David Schnug and released by 577 Records, trumpeter Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala presents an inventive and adventurous set of compositions, from a succinct 16 seconds to more than 7 minutes on the title track, in a mix of composed and improvised approaches using modern syntax and compositional strategies to compelling effect.

Perhaps the darkest and most experimental album from the Flying Luttenbachers, the 4th from the NYC-based version of Weasel Walter on guitars & drums+bagpipe chanter & electronics, Tim Dahl on bass, Katie Battistoni on guitar, Matt Nelson on sax & live electronics and Sam Ospovat on drums, in two extended, terrific collective improvisations.

The 2nd solo album from Sweden-based pianist and Merce Cunningham-collaborator Kristine Scholz, performing on a 1921 Steinway & Sons Model A piano, recording four movements from composer Hans Otte's seminal work "Das Buch der Klänge" (1979-82), and an interpretation of John Cage's "Music for Piano 4-19", compatible pieces from two contemporary and visionary composers.

With titles for the album and all compositions from a poem by US poet E.E. Cummings, guitarist Samo Salamon developed these structured improvisations during the pandemic, inviting a set of masterful improvisers including Martin Küchen, Luis Vicente, Vasco Trilla, Emanuele Parrini, &c. &c. to contribute to these magnificent long distance collective improvisations.

14 musicians from 9 different countries in various collaborative groupings performing acoustic & electronic free improvisations, the focus on soundscape and limited to 15 minute performances, developed by saxophonist Harri Sjöström in 2013 as "SoundScapes Festivals" and presented in Helsinki and now in Munich as part of the art-project "Aspects of Free Improvisation 2021".

An intimate sax and piano duo from two improvisers with a 30-year friendship--Chad Fowler and Christopher Parker--both living in the same block of Park Hill, Staten Island, forming a close musical bond that is heard in their confident exchanges, both playing together and in providing space for each to express themselves; a lovely album of warm and informed conversations.

Celebrating the temerity and successes of the students known as the Arkansas "Little Rock Nine", who in 1957 set a precedent as they fought to enter a segregated high school, in six pieces written by pianist Christopher Parker and vocalist Kelley Hurt, who narrates the student's successes over the powerfully uplifting and reflective music of a six piece jazz band.

An open and free album of modern jazz evoking loft-style collective improvisation but controlled under the compositions of pianist Christopher Parker, in his debut album as a leader with the incredibly talented sextet of Kelley Hurt on vocals, Daniel Carter on winds, Jaimie Branch on trumpet, William Parker on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums

Reinventing their band with the late drummer Alvin Fielder and saxophonist Kidd Jordan, the core trio of vocalist Kelley Hurt, pianist Christopher Parker and alto saxophonist Chad Fowler bring together drumming legend Brian Blade, bassist William Parker and trumpeter Marc Franklin for three extended works, rich journeys in expressive, soulful and lyrical free jazz

A tribute to avant jazz saxophonist and composer Frank Lowe by assembling players who had never previously played together as a group, but who had all individually performed and been influenced by Lowe: Chad Fowler on saxophones, Christopher Parker on piano, Bernard Santacruz on bass, Anders Griffen on drums & trumpet, Kelley Hurt on vocals and Bobby Lavell on saxophone.

An idiosyncratic and wonderfully wild improvisational music theater group revolving around composer & cellist Tristan Honsinger, using spoken word and song through eclectic and active free improvisation including strings, reeds, trumpet, toy piano, tap dance, bass & drums, a truly unique and joyfully quirky album that fulfills Honsinger's goal of uniting music, theater & poetry.

The debut of Ensemble Nist-Nah, a nine-piece collective group of French percussionists led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie, incorporating a diverse set of influences including Gamelan performance, contemporary composition, noise and jazz into rich and ecstatic performances, an exciting album of informed approaches to modern and traditional percussion.

Three works from English composer Christopher Fox performed by the five-member Ensemble SEV, with two renderings of his work "This is the Wind" along with three duos, each combining two of a set of six "Paralogos", a solo work for violin--"Planes and Folds"--and the title piece "Hieroglyph" about decoding the incomprehensibility of unfamiliar music.

24 short works for clavichord from German composer Christoph Schiller and performed by French keyboardist Ed Williams (Heard Of Bears, TANDEM, Grand 8 Ensemble), slowly developing pieces that bring clusters of notes like falling leaves that slowly fade into silence, thoughtful works of space around unanticipated clusters, presented as groups of "Fuge" variations.

Two burning improvisations from the Chicago / Norwegian trio Ballister of Dave Rempis on alto & tenor saxophones, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello & electronics and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion, performing live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in 2019 in an exuberantly assertive concert from three incredibly active artists in the trans-Atlantic community of improvising musicians.

Dinged Sleeve copies

Composer, pianist and band leader Manuel Valera presents his second album with New York-based New Cuban Express Big Band, a large ensemble performing Valera's compositions that fuse the music of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil to forge innovative sounds and textures, leaving room for outstanding solos from vocalists and instrumentalists.

Essential members of the Downtown NY scene since 1981, the collaborations of turntablist Christian Marclay and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp, here on 8 string guitarbass, bass clarinet & electronics, is distilled in this extremely creative electroacoustic/concrete duo, recorded live in convert at the Knitting Factory in December, 1997.

A chamber music piece for two harmonicas and an ensemble of strings, brass and drums, written by Austrian composer Christian F. Schiller, originally premiered at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York in 2017 by the Austrian new music ensemble Studio Dan directed by Daniel Riegler, who perform the work again in the studio in Vienna in 2019 for this album release.

Analogized to a form of poetry known as the Projective Verse, Chicago trumpeter Rob Mazurek propels clarion exclamation and contemplation on the piccolo trumpet through eleven improvisations utilizing the natural resonance of each room that he performs in, captured in True Stereo through dual microphones resulting in this remarkable solo album.

A rare recording for Milford Graves in 2002 and a spectacular meeting between three free jazz legends--Peter Brotzmann on sax and clarinet, William Parker on bass and Doussn'Gouni, and Graves on drums and voice--recording in the front room of CBGBs for four magnificent and passionate improvisations, a wild affair captured by the Eremite Mobile Unit and finally released as a double LP.

With a history of both improvisation and rock, NY saxophonist and sound artist (Creature Automatic, Love As Laughter) concentrates on the sopranino saxophone in this solo album, performing acoustic feats of impressive technical skill, and on many tracks performing with tuning forks and live electronics, sequenced in a compelling journey of contrasts and wonder.

With many parallels to and collaborative work with Henry Threadgill, cellist Christopher Hoffman pens eight dynamic compositions for his superb quintet of Bryan Carrott on vibraphone, Rashaan Carter on bass, Craig Weinrib on drums and David Virelles on piano, merging melodic approaches to creative jazz with interesting structures and virtuosic soloing from all performers.

A 2004 quintet recording from Victoria Rooms in Bristol with the core of long-time collaborators Paul Dunmall on tenor sax, Paul Rogers on bass and Philip Gibbs, performing with two improvisers also well known for their work in compositional forms--Jonathan Impett on trumpet and Andrew Ball on piano--bringing unique perspectives to their far-ranging, advanced improvisation.

A solid modern jazz album in the Blue Note tradition with a Latin angle, the title a reference to Max Roach's 1960 protest album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, evoked through strongly melodic tunes composed by Brooklyn saxophonist Kazemde George and performed with vocalist Sami Stevens, keyboardist Isaac Wilson, bassist Tyrone Allen II, and drummer Adam Arruda.

Composer Dominic Lash's Consort ensemble explores the possibilities of combining sustained-tone music, guided & free improvisation, and the relationship between acoustic and amplified sound, heard in this evolving, extended concert at Café Oto on Lash's 40th birthday, in a unique mix of acoustic & electronic instruments that even includes an amplified kitchen sink!

An unusual sax and drum duo between Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockunas, here performing on contrabass and prepared clarinet, tenor & soprano saxophones, with Christian Windfeld performing on prepared drum kit, drums, drums and cymbals, in two side-long improvisations, the first focusing on sonic subtlety, the second a rompingly idiosyncratic and energetic set.

Beautiful long-form drones and harmonic interactions develop and are then shaken up with sonic deformations and collisions, returning to beautiful environments and then reversed once again, from the duo of sonic explorers Bob Bellerue and Christian Ronn, recording in Copenhagen using organs, electronics, winds, and feedback to create these wonderfully alien domains.

The fourth release from the long-standing sonic research duo of Montreal sound artist Anne-F Jacques, who uses "rotating devices" based around small amplified motors, and Montreal ex-patriot living in Kobe, Japan Tim Olive (845 Audio), using magnetic pickups on objects and self-built instruments, here in six richly detailed and sometimes curiously menacing recordings.

Four impressive free improvisations of tremendous mastery and advanced and unusual technical skill from the trio of Axel Dorner on trumpet, Elan Pauer on piano & percussion and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion, performing at naTo, in Leipzig, Germany in 2013, augmented on one track by John Edwards knocking on the venue door.

An introduction to Habitable Records, initiated by members of the Composers and Improvisers Community Project led by Argentinian guitarist Javier Subatin, their work crossing composed and improvised boundaries, here in 18 duos and trios including work by Zé Alemeida, Pedro Melo Alves, Killick!, Federico Calcagno, Luis Figueiredo, Samuel Gapp, Javier Subatin, &c.

Mist and mystery in pensive and meticulous improvisation from the Portuguese duo of trumpeter Luis Vicente and percussionist Vasco Trilla, their 2nd studio album after their 2019 Clean Feed release, exploring textures and timbres through extended techniques and detailed percussive interaction, as confident expressions rise and submerges in a wonderfully abstracted haze.