Henry Threadgill's new epic work in four movements written specifically to feature each of the musicians in Zooid: "Ceroepic" for Elliott Kavee (drums), "Dosepic" for Christopher Hoffman (cello), "Tresepic" for Jose Davila (trombone & tuba), and "Unoepic" for Liberty Ellman (guitar).

Composer and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman in a superb modern jazz album, written by applying characteristics of human synovial joints to compositional process, and using "camouflage orchestration" to orchestrate players into the fore-, middle- and background.

Digital sound processing oscillating through a variety of media saturated sources including electronic billboards, kiosk stations, traffic control devices and other city environments, knotted into sculptural arpeggiation by sound artists Nickolas Mohanna.

Chronicling 30+ years of New York bassist Michael Bisio's life as a composer in song form and otherwise, in a quartet with Art Bailey on accordion, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, and Michael Wimberly on drums, balancing freedom and swing in a euphorically compelling album.

Live recordings from guitarist Joe Morris, performing solo at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in two Octobers from 2013 to 2014, showing remarkable technical and creative skills while captivating his audience with accessible progressions and story-telling; masterful!

The enduring sax and drum duo format is invigorated with US drummer Chris Corsano and Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, who push each other in free improvisation that uses insanely great technique while delivering a passionate and ecstatic dialog.

Two passionate studio improvisations from saxophonist Matana Roberts, who lovingly dedicates the album to "those bard(s) of summer...the ideas herein of which I gleaned/interrogated/investigated/celebrated with you..."; subtle, rich, and inspiring.

Pedal Steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn in a mostly solo release, beautifully performing 4 lush compositions by Astor Piazzolla, with bassist Michael Formanek joining for the Alcorn-penned "Suite for AHL".

Frequent collaborators, Matthew Shipp (piano) and Michael Bisio (bass) are joined by fellow Downtown New Yorker Mat Maneri on viola create what they refer to as a chamber ensemble, performing the 15 improvised and inspired chapters of Shipp & Bisio's "Gospel".

"Battle Pieces" was conceived as a background for an improviser, using linguistics, tape processes & aleatoric concepts to fashion an ever-shifting composition that supplies the soloist with information within the context of an ever-changing series of densities, velocities and silences.

Recordings of two German trumpeters--Birgit Uhler and Leonel Kaplan--both using extended techniques and modern instrumental language, splitting their recordings between the left and right channels for clarity in their fascinating and unconventional dialogs.

An unusual and thickly strung album bridging dark rock and improvised music from saxophonist Noah Kaplan, bassist and prepared bassis Giacomo Merega, bassist and prepared painist Wes Matthews, and vocalist Rosalie Kaplan.

Live recordings at the 2014 Vancouver International Jazz Festival from drummer Harris Eisenstadt's excellent and lyrical Golden State chamber jazz ensemble, here as a quartet with Michael Moore on clarinet, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, and Mark Dresser on bass.

The third in John Zorn's solo organ is performed live at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013, performing with unusual sonorities, spectral experimentation, hypnotic moods and stirring melodies.

Eyal Maoz, James Ilgenfritz, and Lukas Ligeti make up Hypercolor, the NYC-based spastic jazz-rock hybrid whose ridiculous artsong craftsmanship alternately revels in complexity or brazen simplicity, favoring entropy and near-disaster over order or tidiness.

Guitarist Lundbom expands his Big Five Chord of Jon Irabagon (sax), Bryan Murray (sax), Moppa Elliott (bass) and Dan Monaghan (drums) to include Sam Kulik on trombone and Justin Wood (sax & flute) for a dynamic album of power jazz named after the prophet Jeremiah.

A new NY label from percussionist Carlo Costa in its 1st release, a quartet with Steve Swell on trombone, Sean ali on bass and Jonathan Moritz on sax, presenting an improvisational language that subsumes the individual players into a distinct group sound.

The fifth release from the international power trio of Dave Rempis (sax), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) in a rewarding release of heavy grooves, offset by introspective soundscapes and moments of quiet beauty.

The free improvising quartet of Nate Wooley (trumpet), Dave Rempis (sax), Pascal Niggenkemper (bass), and Chris Corsano (drums), bridging ridiculously great technical skills with creative curiosity and forward thinking concepts for superb results.

David Thomas continues the Pere Ubu project with band members playing a mix of rock elements and synths, electronics and computers, adding alienation and oddity to this soundtrack to Herk Harvey's 1962 low-budget shocker "Carnival of Souls".

In celebration of his 60th Birthday, Zorn asked his most acclaimed vocal collaborators to write lyrics to select compositions from his vast musical catalog, peformed by an all-star band of Zorn regulars, presented in a beautiful box set of 7" records and a 32-page book.

Pianist, vibraphonist, and composer Karl Berger presents his 2nd release in a trilogy of Tzadik CDs that started with the solo "Strangely Familiar", here in a trio with Joe Fonda on bass and Harvey Sorgen on drums, lyrical free bop jazz in 7 rich and distinctive movements.

A compendium of compositions and improvisations from 2009-13 by undersea acoustician and audio engineer A.F. Jones, who uses stringed instruments and analog devices, hand-crafted and found, in works that emphasize structural components such as timbre, tone, or attack over form.

Chicago cellist and composer Tomeka Reid was commissioned to create original music for the first documentary of the Imagists, mid 60's Chicago post-surrealists artists who exhibited together; Reid reworked the music into a fully realized suite for this CD release.

Three bassists converged on WNUR Studios, in Evanston, Illinois in 1998 to record these tracks, finally released after 16 years: 5 freely improvised trio sessions, 6 miniatures suggested by Kowald and performed by the trio, and 6 duos between Kowald and Lonberg-Holm.

A solo electric guitar soundtrack to James Nares' film "Street" performed by Thurston Moore, freely improvising in a dynamic and impressive performance recorded live at the Rubloff Auditorium at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Inspired by the Gnostic philosophies of the Nag Hammadi library, Zorn invokes the mystical journey of the soul through the bardo as a tribute to the passing of Lou Reed, presented by his Gnostic Trio of Bill Frisell, Kenny Wollesen, and Carol Emanuel, plus guests.

Rasa Rasa members Kenny Wollesen, Dalius Naujo, Jonathon Haffner and Sean Francis Conway present the ancient polyphonic vocal music of Lithuania using a mix of ensembles, reviving the infectious grooves and ancient vocal rounds, aided by new instruments devised by Wollesen.

Flutist Leah Paul presents two engaging compositions in multiple movements, performed with a chamber ensemble of Chris Speed (reeds), Rob Jost (french horn), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Peter Sachon (cello), Tanya Kalmanovitch (viola), Ben Kono (oboe) and Michel Gentile (flute).

Drummer Tyshawn Sorey's trio with bassist Christopher Tordine and pianist Cory Smythe in an album dedicated to Butch Morris and to his mother; intelligent and pensively restrained through-composed jazz influenced by modern composition as much as the history of the jazz trio.

This album documents guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher's first head-to-head encounter in a recording studio, two titans of their instruments playing without overdubs in a single session for remarkable creative and sonic results.

Brooklyn saxophonist Matt Nelson in a solo album of extended saxophone techniques along with a litany of guitar effects pedals, all run through a large 70's era Peavy combo amp with real-time feedback manipulation, a unique album of muscular playing and unusual soundscape.

Guitarist Mary Halvorson's project with Chris Speed on sax & clarinet, Eivind Opsvik on bass, and Tomas Fuijwara on drums, a band formed for a one-off concert at the Blue Note in NYC, that continued on based on the strength of the bond between them, as heard on this superb release.

John Zorn brings together Downtown New Yorkers, Marc Ribot on guitar, Trevor Dunn on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, for 12 instrumental miniatures combining atonal lyricism with rock intensity; scronky, demanding and exciting hybrids of improv and rock.

Bill Laswell on bass and drones and John Zorn on shofar and alto saxophone perform darkly evocative ambient music to readings by magus David Chaim Smith from selections of his mystical text "The Awakening Ground".

Drummer Roberto Rodriguez interprets John Zorn's "Book of Angels" in this 23rd volume from the series, recording in Israel with a wonderfully compelling ensemble emphasizing both rhythmic and melodic elements in nine exciting compositions.

Percussionist Gerry Hemingway's Who Trio with Michel Wintsch on piano and synth, and Banz Oester on double bass and lamp, in an outstanding 2 CD release contrasting their work in acoustic improvisation with "electric" improv, albeit an unusual take on the latter.

The second release from NY trumpeter Peter Evans Quintet with Ron Stabinsky on piano, Tom Blancarte on bass, Sam Pluta on live electronics, and Jim Black on drums, an epic and amazingly sophisticated album based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name.

The fourth installment in Darius Jones' on-going "Man'ish Boy" epic, an a cappella presentation from his vocal quartet, The Elizabeth-Caroline Unit using Jones' fictional, mythological sacred language used in the alien birthing ritual of a new being.

Intense acoustic guitar interactions from frequent collaborators Joe Morris (NY) and Chris Cretella (New Haven, CT) in a remarkable display of free fingerstyle guitar improvisations presented in a limited hand-assembled package.

Merging different sub-genre of NYC's rich jazz and creative music scene, drummer Tomas Fujiwara's trio with Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Ralph Alessi on trumpet furtively builds into a free jazz album of contrasting dynamics and superb playing.

A collection of solo pieces from forward-thinking French soprano saxophonist Michel Doneda, using extended techniques and utilizing every inch of the horn, creating unconventional and captivating sonic expressions from the instrument.

New York's brilliant band takes on Miles Davis' classic "Kind of Blue" in a note-for-note recreation, a head-scratching anomaly that is as close to performing a perfect replica as is imaginable.

An early example of the focus and encompassing direction of the 577 label run by Italian-born/NY-based drummer Federico Ughi, in a trio with trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and guitarist Chris Welcome, building from an introspective approach to free playing as they expand their group energy through shards of organic sound, finally releasing into a beautiful "Inner Void".

The quartet of Cosottini, Melano, Pisani, Miano (EAQuartet Electroacoustic) in compositions referring to the 4 cardinal map points using graphic scores, games, open readings, &c.

A live recording made in April 2014 at Mike Reed's Constellation in Chicago of pianist Karayorgis Quintet with Dave Rempis (sax), Keefe Jackson (reeds), Nate McBride (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums), bridging post-bop and avant jazz in sophisticated and lyrical ways.

A curious and remarkably enjoyable collection of works from Jorrit Dijkstra (sax, lyricon and electronics) in a quintet with Phillip Greenlief (reeds), Kyle Bruckman (double reeds & electronics), Frank Gratkowski (reeds), and Jon Raskin (sax & electronics).

The Boston-based BOLT quartet of Jorrit Dijkstra (sax), Eric Hofbauer (guitar), Junko Fujiwara (cello), Eric Rosenthal (drums) chose the 19 pieces on this release from 36 improvised pieces, ranging from "energy-orgies of free jazz [to] sparse electronic soundscapes".

Recorded during their 2014 tour, Jorrit Dijkstra (sax), Pandelis Karayorgis (piano), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Mary Oliver (violin), Jason Roebke (bass) and Han Bennink (drums) recorded this new set of inspired Steve Lacy & Monks tunes primarily in Padova, Italy.

Zorn's Gnostic Trio (Bill Frisell-guitar; Carol Emanuel-harp; Kenny Wollesen-vibes) in an album drawing inspiration from the Biblical Song of Solomon, intended as a companion to Zorn's vocal masterpiece Shir Hashirim, creating a beautiful blend of classical, jazz and folk music.