Drawing on previous collaborations between Amsterdam pianist Kaja Draksler and wind player Ab Baars, here on tenor sax, clarinet & shakuhachi, and two duo albums between Baars and guitarist Terrie Ex, this meeting as a trio took place at the 2018 Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria for a diverse journey from uniquely introspective to wildly energetic conversation.

An incredible solo concert from legendary New York pianist Cecil Taylor in October, 1968 at the Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall, Palace of Culture and Science) in Warsaw during the Jazz Jamboree, recorded by Polski Radio and remastered in 2021, an excellent example of the nimble mind and quick technical skills of Taylor's personal take on improvisation; stunning!

The Polish piano trio RGG of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums & percussion are joined by vocalists Marta Grzywacz, trumpet player Artur Majewski and block flutes virtuoso Dominic Strycharski to close out the 2020, 15th Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw Poland, presenting seven improvisations in a beautifully informed journey.

Blurring free improvisation and compositional strategies in this encounter at the "First Meeting Series" at FAB Music Studio Chicago between New York violinist Mark Feldman and Chicago cellist Katinka Kleijn, a remarkable concert in two parts showing imaginative skills of phenomenal technical expertise and experience, instant compositions of the highest order.

A mix of original compositions and collective improvisations from the NY trio of cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp, in a double album of exemplary creative jazz from three players steeped in both tradition and forward-thinking approaches to improvisation, filled with spectacular playing from enthusiastic to introspective; a superb release.

Originally released in 2013 on CDR, this meeting of sound artists Jeph Jerman and Aaron Dilloway show the skill, subtlety, and disruptive sonic skills of two innovators, using objects, damaged electronics, electronic loops and live acoustic sound to create large tapestries: 4 pieces that defy characterization through diverse approaches to impactful sound.

The 3rd album from this young Norwegian piano trio led by composer Kjetil A Mulelid with double bassist Bjørn Marius Hegge and drummer Andreas Skår Winther, presenting ten lyrical compositions of strong melodies and solid and expressive rhythmic foundations, a thoughtfully beautiful and sophisticated album of exquisite modern jazz.

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".

Vibraphonist Emilio Gordoa leads this superb quartet with Don Malfon on alto & baritone saxophones, John Edwards on double bass and Dag Magnus Narvesen on drums, in an incredible live performance at the 2019 Alte Gerberei Artacts Festival in Austria, a captivating set of creative techniques yielding well-controlled passages of both intense activity and unique introspection.

A set of dramatic improvisations of incredible technical skill and creative drive from the working trio of Luis Vicente on trumpet, Seppe Gebruers on unprepared piano and Onno Govaert on drums, unedited improvisations presented as played, "composed by an interaction between the musicians and instruments, a nameless room, audience, microphones and you."

An extraordinary and powerful concert at the 2009 Jazz in Luz Festival recorded at Marquee of Luz-Saint-Sauveur when Japanese improvising guitarist and vocalist Keiji Haino joined the electroacoustic improvising trio Marteau Rouge of Jean-Francois Pauvros on electric guitar, Makoto Sato on drums and Jean-Marc Foussat on analog synthesizer & voice.

The enduring and innately lyrical collaboration of Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and NY bassist Joe Fonda, first heard in 2016 with Duet, through 2019's Four with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, continues despite the constraints of a pandemic in these 10 improvisations recorded separately in Kobe and at Fonda's home, with Fonda also performing on cello & flute.

The third duo album focusing on the relationship between the bass and piano interplay of New York improvisers Michael Bisio and Matthew Shipp, whose long relationship as collaborators, particularly in the Matthew Shipp Trio and Quartet, afford them a nearly telepathic compatibility in their work together, heard in nine detailed recordings of superb dialog.

A truly wild concert of free jazz from Cecil Taylor's transatlantic orchestra, captured live at the 1984 Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, Poland, bringing together impressive improvisers from the US--William Parker, John Tchicai, Jimmy Lyons, Karen Borca, Frank Wright, & Henry Martinez--with European Free Jazz leaders Tomasz Stank, Enrico Rava, Conrd Bauer & Günter Hampel.

The collaboration of saxophonist Yedo Gibson and Vasco Trilla, heard as a duo on Multikulti Project and together in projects released on Emanem, NoBusiness and Creative Sources, are heard in this second Fish Wool trio album with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, a uniquely voiced band of two horns and versatile percussion, captured live at the 24th Jazz Cerkno in 2018.

Meeting regularly since 2018, these three Luzern, Switzerland improvisers have developed a shared language of collective creative improv, the best known of the three being drummer & percussionist Gerry Hemingway working with two younger generation musicians, acoustic & electric guitarist Florestan Berset and vocalist Vera Baumann, here in their first wonderfully paced album.

An epic journey in free vocal improvised music from the trio of vocalist Anna Gadt with Zbigniew Chojnacki on accordion & live electronics and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums, performing live in the studio in Nieport, Poland, with arrangements, deconstructions and original music by Anna Gadt, along with the theme from "Monumentum pro Gesualdo" by Igor Stravinski.

Bay Area experimental music scene legend and multi-disciplinary artist Barabara Golden celebrates her 80th birthday presents works created between 1980-2020, including performances by Robert Ashley, Maggi Payne, Chris Brown, WIGband with Johanna Poethig, George Lewis, William Winant, Mary Oliver and texts by Melody Sumner Carnahan.

An unusually contemplative solo record from New York pianist Matthew Shipp, belying the intricately subtle density of his inventive approach to solo piano improvisation, with an innate lyricism through unusual motive and direction; perhaps one of the most succinct and concise albums Shipp has released, and a beautiful reflection of his creative intentions.

A compilation of improvised steel-string acoustic guitar works framed by pitch and intervallic restrictions, from French composer and guitarist Guillaume Gargaud, 17 succinct pieces that evade standard jazz vocabulary while integrating influences from Messiaen to Webern to Cecil Taylor, paced in contemplative and sophisticated style.

A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.

Two concerts by improvising keyboardist and vocalist Jean-Marc Foussat, on the LP a recording at the Tout Rennes S'Emmerde event organized by From Town to Town, Capital Taboule, Consternation, L'Effroyable Association Western Soviets Satanist and Dream'in Noise, the 2nd a DVD of Foussat performing live on the beach as part of the 13th Farniente Festival.

A vinyl reissue of improvising synth, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Marc Foussat's 2001 Potlatch album, originally released as a CD-ROM and here with an accompanying DVD titled "Hope for Happiness" including 3 silent films, two of which relate to the album; performed with Pascal Bouscailloux, Jac Berrocal, Jean-Francois Pauvros, Roger Turner, &c.

A double CD of the complete Cecil Taylor Ensemble's 1990 performance at Junges Theater in Gottingen, Sweden, with personnel similar to his 1989 Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble album Legba Crossing, here in an adventurous concert of large group improvisation with Taylor performing on piano while directing and conducting the extended orchestration that includes balafon & elephanthorn!

Concentrating the Teneleven quintet to a duo in the core of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei, Korekyojinn) and bassist & electronic device guru Mitsuru Nasuno (Altered States, Fushitsusha, Ground Zero), for eleven tracks of energetic interactive rock improvisations, alternating between "TdD" pieces of burning improvisations and introspective "Afterglows".

A live recording of insightful collective improvisation recorded in 2019 at the Moers Festival in Germany, from Harri Sjostrom on soprano saxophone, Achim Kaufmann on piano, Adam Pultz Melbye on double bass, Dag Magnus Narvesen on drums, and Emilio Gordoa on vibraphone, in an extended exploration of subtle hues through effortlessly intense and inventive interaction.

After the Desalambrado duo album album between Spanish pianist Agustí Fernandez and drummer/percussionist Lucía Martinez, Fernandez enjoined UK bassist Barry Guy to record with them while he was in Spain working on his Via Augusta; the results are this album of mysterious environments that lead to intense and exciting interaction, expansive improv through Martinez' percussive elements.

Recorded at the same time and influenced by the recording of their 2020 album The Anthony Braxton Project, the NY Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass & electric bass present 9 original compositions, three pieces from each of the musicians, of melodically inclined forward thinking, creative jazz.

Two performances of Chicago reedist and composer Guillermo Gregorio's graphic score "Moholy 2", inspired by the artwork of László Moholy-Nagy, recorded in two conductions at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago in 2007 & 2008 by the trio of Gregorio on clarinets & alto sax, Damon Smith on double bass, and Jerome Bryerton on percussion, cymbals and drums.

Working together since 2015, the Polish guitar trio of Marek Malinowski on guitar, Robert Rychlicki-Gasowski on double bass & bass guitar, and Wojciech Zadruaynski on drums, present Marek Malinowski's embraceable mix of lyrically inclined modern jazz compositions with an explorative side, balancing structure with free space for sprightly spontaneity; a trio to keep track of.

Though not well documented, free jazz legendary pianist Cecil Taylor's working band for 3 years in the late nineties was this quintet of Harri Sjostrom on soprano saxophone, Tristan Honsinger on cello, Teppo Hauta-aho on double bass, and Paul Lovens on drums, cymbals & gongs, heard in this energetic concert at Tampere Jazz Happening in Finland, 2018.

An immersive record of free improvisation from the French trio of analog synth player Jean-Marc Foussat, trombonist Christiane Bopp, and vocalist Emmanuelle Parrenin, 4 works inspired by a still life painting by Duane Keiser, each an impressive evolution and transmutation of sound in dream-like environments that envelop then surprise its listeners.

The EMS Synthi AKS was introduced in 1972 as a portable analog synthesizer, used in many avant rock & electronic settings; on Spielgelungen both Jean-Marc Foussat and Thomas Lehn perform on the Synthi, their adept skills and experience with the instrument in free improv highlight both their incredible creative drive and the flexibility of the AKS.

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.

A set of Eric Dolphy compositions and one Colonna composition in the style of Dolphy and a Dolphy-esque take on Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child", from pianist Alexander Hawkins and Marco Colonna on clarinet, bass clarinet & sopranino saxophones, recorded live in Rome in 2020 for a spirited and tender hommage to one of the great and most singular figures in jazz history.

Keyboardist Annie Lewandowski (London Improvisers Orchestra, Fred Frith, Samech) composed this song cycle about ancient Greek figures in collaboration with David Yearsley, Theresa Wong and Russell Greenberg, poetic pieces contrasting traditional use of instruments with subtle experimental approaches in a unique and fascinating set of compositional strategies.

The Polish trio OWL of Marcin Halat on violin, Maciej Garbowski on double bass, and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums invited German pianist Pablo Held for a concert at Loft in Cologne, 2019, to perform three lyrical and dynamic compositions from violinist Halat, alongside a 6-part "IMPRO" collective improvisation, balancing free and lyrical approches to superb modern jazz.

A warm and relaxed saxophone trio album led by Finnish tenor saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen (Raoul Bjorkenheim's eCsTaSy), Polish double bassist Maciej Garbowski and drummer Krzysztof Gradziuk (RGG), the three focused on deeply expressive interaction and lyrical finesse, while performing live at Institute of Music Performance, in Katowice, Poland, in 2019.

Led by Polish multi-reedist and composer Przemyslaw Chmiel and his quartet of Mateusz Gramburg on piano, Piotr Narajowski on double bass, and Michał Szeligowski on drums, this is their debut album, presenting a sophisticated set of structured compositions that allow for great spontaneity and lyricism, a strong start for this expressive young band.

The third volume in this free improvising series, starting with the collaboration of Polish violinist Patryk Zakrocki and guitarist Marcin Olak, varying the additional players as they explore chamber-oriented free improvisation, here with the impressive vocal improvisation of Anna Gadt and cellist Annemie Osborne, ripping apart the calendar in 14 monthly machinations.

After a tour through upstate New York State with Chicago cellist and electronic artist Fred Lonberg-Holm, saxophonist Frode Gjerstad headed to New York City for a planned trio recording which evolved into this informed quartet with Steve Swell on trombone and William Parker on bass, tuba, cornet & flutes, an outstanding example of Transatlanic collective improvisation.

The Stirrup trio of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri (bass), and Charles Rumback (drums) is merged with improvisers from Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra project--Keefe Jackson & Mars Williams on reeds, guitarist Peter Maunu, violist Jen Clare Paulson, trumpeter Russ Johnson & Zoots Houston on electronics -for this compelling structured performance at Elastic Arts.

The Thumbscrew trio of NY improvisers Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibes, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass, turn their focus to their shared history with composer and reedist Anthony Braxton as he celebrates his 75th birthday, performing 11 previously unheard compositions selected from Composition No. 14 through No. 274; masterful and profound.

A momentous 2020 concert at London's Cafe OTO, presented in two discs, the 1st with label leader Jean-Marc Foussat in a solo improvisation on synth and voice, the 2nd in a trio with Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone sax, and Evan Parker on soprano sax, the 2 saxophones weaving and responding to Foussat's remarkable alien soundscapes and vocalization in an immersive extended improvisation.

Recording at the Lilypad in Cambridge, MA, the Boston-area trio of pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Eric Rosenthal are captured in concert for an adventurous album of free improvisation, Karayorgis's compositions leading this piano trio of magnificent mastery into buoyantly exciting interaction as they take their listeners to a dizzying precipice edge.

Performing in the intimacy of the Birdland Jazz Club in 2011, New York innovative pianist Cecil Taylor met with London free jazz legendary percussionist and long-time associate in The Feel Trio, Tony Oxley, Taylor's rapid often percussive approach to the keys pairing with Oxley's percussive work, and both invoking lyrical beauty from the other.

The 13th International Festival of Improvised Music "Ad Libitum" in Warsaw, 2018, themed "Women Alarm!", presented the new trio of Joëlle Léandre (double bass), Myra Melford (piano), and Lauren Newton (free improv voice), performing a masterfully energetic, quirky and indescribably enthralling set of trio and duo improvisations titled "Whisper" 1 through 8.

Aggressive "honk-n-skronk" free jazz from the Moscow based trio of alto saxophonist Anton Ponomarev, with Danish drummer Peter Ole Jørgensen (aka P.O. Jorgens known for his work with Peter Brötzmann) and bass guitarist Dmitry Lapshin, in a studio album of eight burning "Circles", demanding skirmishes of fiery imformed collective free jazz.

The music to composer Craig Shepards performance work that presents listeners with text drawn from court testimony in the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, here concentrating on the quiet long tones generated by wind instruments and ebow strings, where pure tones pass between the musicians to build a pulsating chord that then drops away tone by tone.

A collection of compositions from clarinetist Guillermo Gregorio alongside collective improvisations from the trio with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Ramon Lopez, sophisticated chamber-oriented jazz from masterful players recording in the studio in New Jersey, as they explore the musical intersection of disparate cultural, geographic and life experiences.