An exhilarating departure from saxophonist Paul Dunmall's Coltrane-esque approach to free improvisation with this electrified quintet of Steven Saunders on guitar, Richard Foote on trombone, James Owston on bass and Jim Bashford on drums, playing with upbeat urgency through a set of Dunmall compositions, often letting Saunder's riffs take the foreground around a first-rate set of solos.

A magnificent solo performance for Swiss Radio captured at Salle Faller, Conservatoire de La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in 2007 from trombonist Samuel Blaser, performing seven original, melodically inclined compositions performed with masterful technique and powerfully clear tone, along with an assertive reading of Ellington's "Mood Indigo".

After twenty years of collaboration including bands BleySchool, The Locals and Valid Tractor, this is surprisingly the first duo recording between British improvisers, pianist Pat Thomas and Dominic Lash, the latter more typically on double bass but here on electric guitar, and Thomas on the grand piano at St. Anne's College in Oxford, as the two improvise six fascinating dialogs.

Inspired by and recorded at the basilica of a former monastery overlooking a valley in southern Spain, the duo of Wade MatthInspired by and recorded at the basilica of a former monastery overlooking a valley in southern Spain, the duo of Wade Matthews on digital synthesis & field recordings and Carmen Morales on prepared piano, present improvisations with a unique palette of timbres, contrasting spacious moments against rapid interaction as they "Plunge and Tumble" through five captivating dialogs.ews on digital synthesis & field recordings and Carmen Morales on prepared piano, present improvisations with a unique palette of timbres, contrasting spacious moments with rapid interaction as they "Plunge and Tumble" through five captivating dialogs.

Trio & Octet compositions from UK double bassist Olie Brice: "Fire Hills" in five parts, commissioned by Jazz South and performed by the trio of Brice, Tom Challenger (sax) and Will Glaser (drums); then three pieces including the title track, with Alex Bonney & Kim Macari (trumpets), Jason Yarde, George Crowley, Cath Roberts & Rachel Musson (saxophones), and Johnny Hunter (drums).

Collecting five chamber works from prolific London-based composer Tim Parkinson, written between 1998 and 2017 and performed by the Apartment House ensemble: one piece for solo violin performed by Mira Benjamin, two duos for violin & piano (by Benjamin & Siwan Rhys), a quintet for winds and strings and a septet, both featuring flute and bass clarinet.

A beautifully unfolding story in connected works forming a codex from Texas composer and Wandelweiser artist Kory Reeder, a long form work performed by the UK Apartment House Ensemble in a septet of strings, winds and piano, each section creating a loose narrative ark through several notational strategies envisioned with characters, scenes, diversions, and digressions.

A collection of three modified solo pieces and one collective performance with a minimalist aesthetic through compositions by David Ryan, performed by William Crosby on guitar, Luca Innocenti on church organ & Hammond organ and Dominic Lash on contrabass, each score allowing for interpretation and improvisation, particularly the final collaborative piece.

"As Frogworth says in one review: 'Two giants of Australian avant-garde music getting together here, dedicating their record to Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, whose house in Paddington, Sydney is used for residencies/sabbatic...

Dave Tucker, a one-time member of The Fall and long-time free improviser involved with the Alan Tomlinson Trio and his own School of Velocity quartet with Evan Parker, John Edwards & Steve Noble, in a duo with double bassist Pierpaolo Martino for 11 succinct and assertive dialogs titled "Melophobia" I - XI, diverse works from active Crimson-esque playing to dark & introspective ruminations.

The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.

There is uncertainty of when pianist John Tilbury recorded these three solo keyboard works by his associate and friend, legendary minimalist composer Terry Riley, performing "Keyboard Study #1" and #2, along with "Dorian Reeds" using piano, electric organ, harpsichord & celesta, captured with excellent quality in superb performances from Tilbury at the height of his powers.

Eight powerful and often cinematic pieces for organ and percussion, jointly composed and performed by long-time collaborators, Montreal composers and improvisers Katelyn Clark and Isaiah Ceccarelli, these 8 compositions developed around improvisations on the historic instruments continuo & portative organs, with percussion including a 40" bass drum, bell plates, and almglocken.

Three chamber works by Klaus Lang of a beautifully fragile and dark nature and a meticulous inner structure, alongside arrangements of early music pieces by Johannes Ockeghem and Pierre de la Rue, performed by Klaus Lang himself on organ with the Trio Amos of Sylvie Lacroix on flute, Krassimir Sterev on accordion and Michael Moser on cello.

Six potent duo improvisations for cello and piano by composer & pianist Ernstalbrecht Stiebler and fellow-Berlin resident Tilman Kanitz, who have been developing their dialog together for several years in studio, focusing much of their momentum on pitch and harmony, their work all the more remarkable for Stiebler only having begun improvising in his mid-80s.

Recording in the studio in Hornchurch, UK in 2022, the open-minded, innately lyrical and freely improvising trio of pianist Dan Banks, long-time collaborator with drummer Trevor Taylor at the latter's Jazz825 club in Southend-on-Sea, and Portuguese double bassist Jose Canhas, are heard in five impeccable contemporary jazz recordings, warm collective conversations of adept skill.

The 2nd release from the UK collective quartet of Jose Canha on double bass, Trevor Taylor on drums, percussion, Dan Banks on piano and Josh Ison on saxophone, exploring the intersection between freely improvised music and free-jazz, drawing out energetic and subtle moments in lyrical interactions through energetic and focused momentum with a full range of character.

Free string improvisations from Philipp Wachsmann on violin, David Leahy on double bass and Bruno Gustralla on cello, creating subtle and spacious intersections of strings that focus on unusual techniques, melodic fragments spliced over resounding bowing, plucking and instrument errata, while percussionist Trevor Taylor adds sparse punctuation; inscrutably authoritative improv.

Two sessions from the free improvising electroacoustic trio of Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics, Martin Hakett on synthesizer and Emil Karlsen on drums & percussion, first for three studio recordings in 2019, and then in concert at the 2020 "Sounds Like This" festival at Leeds College for two wonderfully idiosyncratic and masterful conversations.

Determined and ardent playing like the powerful creep of lava flow as the Brazilian & Portuguese trio of Felipe Zenicola (Chinese Cookie Poets, Paal Nilssen-Love) on bass, Jose Lencastre (Lencastre Nau Quartet) on saxophones and João Valinho (Creative Sources) on drums evolve their tumultuously articulate journey through a molten world of smoldering free jazz.

A collective West Coast trio from double bassist Kyle Motl (Treesearch) with cornetist Dan Clucas, also on violin and moxeno (an Andean wind instrument) and drummer Nathan Hubbard, imbued with a spiritual and natural chamber jazz feeling, their improvisations influenced by concepts of daydreams, incandescence and zephyrs; a beautiful and open-minded album.

"The Demon of Analogy", reedist Udo Schindler on clarinets & saxophone and Michel Withsch performing on a Pleyel piano, take inspiration from the concepts of French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallamé (1842-1989), who considered his texts as instruments of harmonic complexity and ambiguity, interpreted in eight improvisations recorded live at Krailing, in Munchen, Germany in 2016.

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.

Performing on tenor, alto and C-melody saxophones plus alto flute, Paul Dunmall's trio brings together drummer Taymotusz Joziwiak (heard on One Became Many, Unmasked and Awoto) and younger generation bassist James Owswon, for an album of expressive and lyrical free jazz, a well-paced example of tempered collective interplay highlighting all three musicians.

A series of impressive improvised solo drum performances by AMM/Matchless leader Eddie Prévost performed at Network Theatre in London, 2012, three pieces with each demonstrating a different characteristic of his remarkably creative and technically virtuosic playing, first with drum sticks, then with "Hands, brush, hands", and finally "Sticking it too".

Quartet, the masterful grouping of Rachel Musson on tenor sax, NO Moore on electric guitar, Olie Brice on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, an improvising ensemble of wonderfully unpredictable momentum, from passages of quiet introspection to thunderous density, but always with attentive listening and imaginative responses, heard in this spectacular 2021 concert at Iklektic.

Drummer Federico Ughi is heard in three duo configurations of three improvisations each with British improvisers Steve Buckley on alto saxophone and bass clarinet; Rachel Musson on tenor saxophone; and Matthew F. Morris on baritone saxophone, recording in the studio in London, 1998.

Employing multiphonics, circular breathing and unusual sonic phenomena of immense control over the lowest of clarinets--the bass clarinet and contra bass clarinet--UK-based multi-reedist Jason Alder performs the two-part "Milieu Interiuer" composition by Greek composer Thanos Chrysakis, along with three other Chrysakis compositions for solo and layered clarinets.

A fully free improvisation of subtly disruptive, extended electroacoustic mastery, recorded during the Svensk Musikvår Festival at Aliasteatern, Stockholm in 2021, in a piece conceived by Mats Gustafsson who performs on saxophone & flute, with Anna Lindal on violin, Mats Lindstrom on electronics, effects & sampler and Joachim Nordwall on analog synths, effects & tapes.

Led by Univers Zero bassist and composer Guy Seger, the third album from Eclectic Maybe Band combines elements of rock, jazz, electronic and abstract landscapes, performed by an ensemble of chamber rock players including Discus label leader Martin Archer, varying groupings within the band focusing on each section in a mix of composed and improvised approaches.

An unusual blend of jazz tradition, spoken word and soundscape, presenting mostly as a jazz album with spoken narration from Steve Piccolo (Lounge Lizards) guiding the album with abstract comments that interject with Sergio Armaroli's virtuoso vibe playing, Elliot Sharp adding both acoustic sax elements and inventive sonic environments underpinning many moments; conceptually fascinating.

An extended improvisation interweaving acoustic and electronic instruments in a beautifully coherent evolution of mysterious and approachable sources, from the trio of Jan Bang, David Toop and Mark Wastell, combining tam tams, gongs, flutes, lapsteel, live sampling, gongs, brushes, elastic, paper and more to captivate the curious listener.

Three chamber works by Calgary, Canadian composer Mark Ellestad composed between 1988 and 1994 and recently retrieved by the composer, including the title track, a graceful solo guitar work performed by Christián Alvear; a meditative piece for pump organ & Hardanger fiddle performed by the composer; and a large work for violin and cello performed by Apartment House.

Six chamber works for strings by Korean composer and Fluxus performance artist Kunsu Shim, performed by the Luna String Quartet, "specialists in quiet music", along with six short pieces written for Kunsu by composer friends and collaborators, including Arnold Marinissen, Ammon Wolman, Alwynne Pritchard, Nicolaus A. Huber, Gerhard Stabler and Anton Lukoszeviez

The third album from the Sheffield-based trio Das Rad of Nick Robinson on guitars, keys & electronics, Martin Archer on woodwinds, keys & electronics, Steve Dinsdale on drums & keyboards, influenced by progressive rock, kosmiche, and fusion forms, here evolving and refining their melodic approach to genre-crossing styles merging composition and improvisation.

Intended to be played continuously without a break, composer and violinist Andrew McIntosh's long-form composition features field recordings of pine woods in his home state of California in performance with violin, viola, piano, wine glasses, slate and electronics, an ethereal work combining improvisation, open tunings, just intonation and sympathetic resonance.

Inspired by the broadcast performance by The Apartment House ensemble of three works by Morton Feldman, Another Timbre requested that they record the exceptional late work of the minimalist composer, Piano and String Quartet, captured at Henry Wood Hall two months later in a stunning interpretation of this enigmatic work of sensually dissipating motion.

Eight chamber works of interestingly structured and exquisitely restrained character, composed between 2016 and 2021 by UK composer Georgia Rodgers, performed by the Apartment House ensemble in configurations of acoustic duos, trios & quartets, one solo piece for piano & electronics, one solo work for electronics and the title piece in 3 parts by a quintet.

Six beautiful, fragile and mysterious works for piano in combinations with other orchestral arrangements and solo, including pitch-based compositions and a graphic work directed by photographs, performed by members of Apartment House in duos, quintets & sextets; works initially commissioned by Another Timbre and Philip Thomas and here performed on piano by Siwan Rhys.

Four clarinet-based works in trio, duo and solo from UK composer and musicologist Martin Iddon, performed by Heather Roche on bass and contrabass clarinets, Juliet Fraser on voice for "Muses", Anton Lukoszevieze on cello and James Opstad on double bass; music with intricate, interweaving lines, the title piece a mesmerising work for multi-tracked clarinets and field recordings.

Recorded at the 2019 Salon fur Klang+Kunst, in Krailing/Munich, this consummate and creative meeting of multi-reed & brass improviser Udo Schindler and double bassist Thomas Stempkowski was performed as a dedication to bassist Simon H. Fell who passed from cancer in 2020; sadly Stempkowski also died during the production of this album, making this both a farewell and a memorial.

The intersection of Austrian violinist, vocalist and sound artist Mia Zabelka and Canadian sound artist and multi-instrumentalist Glen Hall, using recordings of live improvisations, electronics and unusual applications of software to structure fourteen compositions of accomplished playing and startlingly unpredictable sound, a magnificent and often breathtaking journey.

The longstanding Canadian duo of alto saxophonist Francois Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert recorded this expressively energetic album of five dynamic free improvisations at Soda Acustic in Barcelona in a quartet with two South American electric guitarists living in Spain: Argentinian guitarist Pablo Scvarzman and Colombian guitarist Diego Calicedo.

A solo album from Belfast double bassist Alan Niblock, known for his own group Ambient Forces, and his work in a trio with Paul Dunmall and Mark Sanders (Dark Energy), on his own demonstrating a powerfully warm approach to the large strings, augmented and transformed through preparations and objects, improvising in a flowing continuum of rich strategies and concepts.

Led by bass clarinetist Tobias Schirmer and harmonica player Matthias Broede, also on piano, with Jan Roder on bass and drummer Bernd Oezsevim, this German quartet blends contemporary jazz through four original Brode compositions and two collective improvisations, performed with melodic intent and tight, quick interaction as recorded live at Tito's Zentrifuge in Berlin.

Following their Creative Sources album Wind Makes Weather, alto saxophonists Tim O'Dwyer and Georg Wissel, both employing preparations on their instruments, improvise a confluence of sonic rivers evoking, exploring and reflecting waterways from around the world, captured in concert at the cinema hall of the cultural center Alte Feuerwache, in Cologne.

2021 reissue of this 2004 release on the DUNS label bringing together a uniquely voiced quartet with Paul Dunmall on tenor & soprano saxophones, virtuoso concertina player Simon Thoumire, John Edwards on double bass and Philip Gibbs on guitar, with both Dunmall & Thoumire performing on bagpipes on two tracks; a welcome reissue to a distinctive and thought-provoking album.

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.

Reissuing their limited 2014 release on Joachim Nordwall Editions, the Oceans Of Silver & Blood duo of Joachim Nordwall on analog synthesizer, effects & tape and percussionist Mark Wastell on tam tam and timpani present two pieces, the first an environmental work underpinned by subtle percussion, the second a richly resonating work of threatening warmth.

Three CDs of three concerts at London's Iklecktik Club, presenting primarily compositions by David Petts plus collective improvisations, from Adrian Northover, David Petts, Caroline Kraabel and Sue Lynch on saxophones, John Edwards on bass and Rosa Theodora on piano, with Northover, Edwards & Petts adding percussion and electronics to their cryptically rich music.