A studio project led by Paul Dumall on alto & tenor saxophones and alto flute, recorded while on touring hiatus during the pandemic, composing six passionate and melodically charged works performed by the brilliant sextet of Percy Pursglove on trumpet, Richard Foote on trombone, Steven Saunders on guitar, James Owston on bass, and Jim Bashford on drums.

A collection of live recordings from Sverdrup Balance, the trio of Lawrence Casserley on signal processing instrument, Yoko Miura on piano & Melodeon, and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg on voice, recorded during their 2019 autumn tour in U.K., Belgium and North Italy, a skewed but generally optimistic group of ea- and voice improvisers with a wealth of creative inspirations.

Extremely well paired in their unusual approaches to their instruments both acoustic and electronic, this live recording between Udo Schindler on reed & brass instruments and Jaap Blonk improvising with his voice and using computer electronics, results in eight diverting and inspired recording of extreme creative approaches and impressive technical skill.

The other side of Paul Dunmall's characteristic saxophone work is heard here on the alto flute, bringing Dunmall together with fellow flutist Neil Metcalf and the rhythm section of James Owston on bass and Tymek Jozwiak on drums for four exceptional improvisations that focus more on interaction and less on soloing, showcasing all four through sophisticated performance.

After 3 consecutive nights performing in trio & quartet formats at Balete at Kamias, in Quezon City, Philippines, the duo of drummer Sabu Toyozum and alto saxophonist Rick Countryman performed the final set as a duo, their many collaborations evident in the freedom and flexibility each provides to the other, delivering an exemplary example of a free jazz sax & drum duo.

Bass clarinetist Chris Cundy, uses the studio as a performance tool for accompaniment along with pre-recorded tapes, as he contrasts two different composers--Cornelius Cardew & Ton de Leeuw and their compositions titled "Mountains", alongside a Cardew graphic score piece, and 2 work for 5 bass clarinets, from Thanos Chrysakis and John Cage, the latter from his Numbers series.

Originally released in 3 LPs as Live in Egypt on Thoth Intergalactic and then as the Saturn albums Dark Myth Equation Visitation, Nidhamu & Horizon, this set reissues and expands the 1971 Sun Ra tour recordings: The Mena House Hotel in Giza; a concert at Hartmut Geerken's in Heliopolis; a live Cairo TV channel broadcast; and a concert at Cairo's the Ballon Theatre.

The 4th album on Another Timbre from a series of pieces by composer Antoine Beuger, each acknowledging a cultural or intellectual figure, here titled for philosopher, musicologist, educator and one-time member of the French Resistance, Vladimir Jankélévitch, represented by Beuger in a large dramatic work performed by the Apartment House sextet.

Three minimal works for small ensemble incorporating electronics by Australian-born, UK-resident composer Newton Armstrong: 2 performed by the London-based Plus-Minus Ensemble directed by Mark Knoop as an acoustic quartet configuration and one as an electroacoustic quartet; and a solo work for multiple cello layers and resonance performed by Séverine Ballon.

The UK Apartment House ensemble perform four chamber works or lyrical ballads of slowly meandering melody, referenced as slow dances, by Toronto composer Martin Arnold: "Lutra" for solo cello & humming; "Stain Ballad" for a sextet of strings, piano, reed organ & percussion; "Trousers" for violin & cello; and "Slip" for cello, violin, bass clarinet & piano.

Five fascinating works by the Belgian composer Maya Verlaak, realized by Apartment House and soloists Sarah Saviet & Mark Knoop, experimental compositions including a work of personal reflection based on "Alouette"; a conceptual game piece; a composition layering pre-recorded segments of "Greensleaves"; and two interactive acoustic & computer pieces.

Restricted by pandemic, bassist John Edwards took compositions for Remote Viewers written by Dave Petts along with recordings from himself and saxophonists Caroline Kraabel, Sue Lynch, Adrian Northover & David Petts, using digital compositional methods to maintain Petts' concepts while manipulating and inverting each piece in wonderfully riotous and unexpected ways.

The first new Sun Ra Arkestra album in twenty years, recorded in Philadelphia under the direction of saxophonist Marshall Allan, with long-standing Arkestra members including Danny Ray Thompson, Michael Ray, Vincent Chancey, Knoel Scott, Cecil Brooks, Atakatune, Elson Nascimento and Tyler Mitchel, with new material and new renderings of classic Ra compositions.

The 5th album from the UK collective improvising progressive rock band of reedist Martin Archer, drummer Steve Dinsdale, bassists Lorin Halsall & Terry Todd, percussionist Walt Shaw, keyboardist Andy Peake, violinist Yvonna Magda and string player & vocalist Jad Todd, merging acoustic and electronic instruments in rich and often dreamlike forms that flow with spirited refinement.

As though an elegy for the departed pianist and composer, Keith Tippett does not perform on this work, which was commissioned for the 2004 Norwich and Norfolk Festival, but conducts an ensemble that includes Julie Tippetts on voice, a saxophone octet that includes long-time collaborator Paul Dunmall, and the polyphonic choir of the BBC Singers; an exquisite and stirring work.

The Earshots duo of Daniel Kordik on modular synthesizer and Edward Lucas on trombone reprise their meeting a year earlier with free improvising percussionist and AMM legend Eddie Prévost, drawn by the natural resonance of the All Saints Church in Essex, England, recording these electroacoustic improvisations of astonishing sonic properties and astounding technique.

Part of the Iklectic club's "Meetings With Remarkable Saxophonists" programmed by drummer Eddie Prévost and double bassist Guillaume Viltard, here meeting John Butcher performing on tenor and soprano saxophone for a masterful concert of free improvisations, energetically turning the "Electric", "Light", "On", "Click" through 4 extended and remarkable converstations.

A concert by drummer Eddie PrŽvost, electric guitarist N.O. Moore, and saxophonist Jason Yarde on alto & soprano recorded at the Vortex Jazz Club, in London, Moore deploying effects and Yarde using electronics to create subtexts of sounds, especially on the extended 25 minute "Impossible Meaning" where unusual structures meld with the acoustic free playing.

Their 1st album released in 1977 on Spotlite Records label, the free jazz quartet led by PrŽvost on drums, Geoff Hawkins on tenor saxophone, Gerry Gold on trumpet & flugelhorn, and Marcio Mattos on double bass, released two live albums on the Matchless label before disbanding; this live album from Cata OTO in London in 2020 reunites the band for a solid concert 42 years after.

Chicago multi-percussionist Kahil El'Zabar composes, arranges and conducts a tour de force musical testament to speak about the turbulent issues in America and the world today, as well as his hopes and love for a better tomorrow, in a 12-piece ensemble including Hamiet Bluiett, Tomeka Reid, Corey Wilkes, Dennis Winslett, and the James Sanders String Quartet.

With 20 years of performance history, the "Eventless Plot" trio of Thessaloniki, Greece — Vasilis Liolios (Psaltery, percussion, electronics), Yiannis Tsirikoglou (electronics) and Arias Gatas (piano, percussion, electronics) — present three chamber works, performed with other other Greek instrumentalists; extraordinary works of embracing creativity and depth.

Two sets of profound composure and restraint, captured at a concert in Munich in May 2019 by Berlin improvising instrumentalists -- Werner Dafeldecker (double bass) and Lucio Capece (bass clarinet, slide saxophone, feedback and room amplification) -- invoking moods of Polwechsel through focused structures of intense precision of dense interaction.

UK composer Oliver Leith presents a work in 8 movements for piano, keys and percussion performed by Siwan Rhys (keys) and George Barton, an invocation of everyday life through a personal and often idiosyncratic orchestration reflective of personal ritual & habits; our good and our irrational, often contradictory impetus, portrayed through quirky and embraceable episodes.

Microtonal composer Kraig Grady in a work for specially adapted brass instruments (Kris Tiner, trumpets; Subhraag Singh-saxophones; Emmett Kim Narushima-trombones) and organ (Terumi Narushima) using a the Meta-Slendro tuning, an obscure 17-tone scale, to create an expansive and organic work assembled from recordings of each musician playing meditations on single notes.

During pandemic lockdowns, flutist Mara Winter and experimentalist Clara de Asís explored locations of natural resonance to capture this mix of composition and improvisation, delicate and detailed recordings of diverse intent, using harmonically rich tones and textures that resonate in mysterious and haunting ways of beautiful dream-like secrets and reveries.

The 2nd release from the UK instrumental rock band Das Rad of Nick Robinson on guitars, keyboards & electronics, Martin Archer on woodwind, keyboards, synth bass & electronics, and Steve Dinsdale on drums, keyboards & electronics, expand their sound and referenes as they tug on the heartstrings of prog, krautrock and other advanced rock forms with modern and mellotron-fueled orchestration.

Reissuing percussionist and electronic innovator Tony Oxley's 1977 Incus album, collecting works from Oxley's evolving approaches, including a quartet with bassist Barry Guy and violinists David Bourne & Philipp Wachsmann; a trio with Barry Guy and Ian Brighton on electric guitar; and solo pieces including a piece for Evan Parker emulating his sound through electronics.

Pianist & improviser Steve Beresford performing on prepared piano, toys & electronic, percussionist Valentina Magaletti and bass player Pierpaolo Martino are heard in this cataclysmically interesting album based around Beresford's compositions, each piece a vignette that merges elements of free improv, rock, sound & avant structures in inventive and compelling ways.

After twenty years playing together, the Sealed Knot trio of Burkhard Beins on amplified percussion, Rhodri Davies on amplified lap harp, and Mark Wastell on dual 32 past tam tams, gongs & nepalese singing bowls, performed live at Cafe OTO to record this beautifully captured, contemplative concert of tone, texture and ringing sound, like a 20-year dream reflected.

Two extremely compatible guitarists are heard in two live recordings in Tokyo, Japan, at OTOOTO and at Permian, in 2017 & 2018, using unusual tunings, extended techniques and a patient sense of space and momentum that allows each of their contributions to resonate distinctively while maintaining a confident dialog of connected abstraction and exploration.

UK sound artist Fermata Ark, aka Harry Smith, composed this work from improvisations recorded by Mark Wastell performing on cello, double bass and harmonium, and Spencer Grady performing on 5-string banjo, ebow, violin bow and brass slide, creating an extended work of immersive and mesmerizing textures and tones, sounds rising and falling in sublime and passionate ways.

Inspired by a work by John Stevens from 1991, Mark Wastell developed this work merging narration and improvisation by transcribing the text from Steven's performance, preseanted here by an electroacoustic ensemble including Phil Durrant, Dominic Lash, Bertrand Denzler, Jennifer Allum &c, yielding an enveloping and fascinatingly mysterious piece presented in two versions.

A dynamic collaboration between This Heat/Massacre legendary drummer Charles Hayward and the Dungeness improvising sound duo Harmergeddon of Polyphoniefae and Nathan Greywater, who use photophonics, electromagnetic fields and consumer electronic junk to create detailed and interactive sound environments that propel Hayward into exultant rhythmic territory.

A 5-part electroacoustic improvisation from the UK duo of electronic and sound artist Thanos Chyrsakis and reedist Chris Cundy, the former using laptop computer, synthesizers, and copicat tape echo to create mesmerizing sheens of sound that circle and complement Cundy's bass clarinet, who also performs on megaphone, voice changer, zither, & objects; entrancing and captivating.

An extended work for 10 improvisers using a composite composition of graphic scores, open notations, and two trio sub-pieces titled "skelf" (electric guitar, double bass and drums) and "antiphon" (violin, viola and double bass), all directed by UK saxophonist Matt London in an ensemble with reeds, winds, brass, strings, electric guitar, and Mark Sanders on drums.

Two unique and adventurous takes on collective free improvisation led by Paul Dunmall and recorded in the studio, using the group that appears on his first Paul Dunmall Presents series in January 2020: Dunmall on tenor sax, John O'Gallagher on alto sax, Percy Pursglove on trumpet, Elliott Sansom on piano, Chris Mapp on electric bass and Miles Levin on drums.

Collecting 4 albums with pianist Keith Tippetts: The Bern Concert, a 1993 live duo with Howard Riley; Linückea, a 2000 studio album with The Kreutzer String Quartet plus a narrated work; The Dartington Trio of Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts & Paul Dunmall live in 2003; and The Dartington Trio Live at The Priory at the Southend International Jazz Festival.

A searing album in the European Free Jazz tradition from the trio of Stefan Keune on tenor sax, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Steve Noble on drums, performing live at Cafe Oto in London in 2020 for an explosive set that at times catches its breath, but which always returns to their assertive and astounding displays, ultimately ending with a unique introspection; magnificent.

Studio improvisations from the far-ranging quartet of Daniel Thompson on acoustic guitar, Adrian Northover on saxophone, Mbira & Melodica, Adam Bohman on objects, and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg on voice, an experimental acoustic set that at times takes on nearly electronic qualities, Van Schouwburg and Bohman bringing unusual and unique elements to authoritatively perplexing dialog.

UK sax and wind player James Arben and cellist Shirley Smart explore the possibilities of chamber-oriented free improvisation through a series of dialogues of harmonic, rhythmic and timbral tension and resolution, created from bold experimental playing techniques and melodic discourse that draws on influences from jazz to Middle Eastern, folk and contemporary music.

Performing a set of UK bass clarinetist Chris Cundy's compositions, along with one collective improvisation, TrioFolio is complemented with the father/son team of double bassist Paul K. Scott and drummer Saul Scott, exploring the borders between classic modern jazz and free forms of improvisation, all heard in the lower instrumental spectrum through rich lyrical jazz.

Representing some of the London scene's most innovative and creative improvisers, with years of work together as a trio and as M.A.M.--saxophonist Andrian Northover (Remote Viewers), cellist Marcio Mattos (Stellari String Quartet, Tony Oxley's Celebration Orchestra) and vocalist Marilza Gouvea--are heard here in 2 studio recordings and 3 live recordings at Iklectic.

Scottish improviser Raymond MacDonald (Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra) and Gogs AKA Gordon Maclean, the Creative Director of Music & Literature at the AnTobar Arts Centre on the Isle of Mull, met in Tobar and without discussion, in a single take, recorded these soulful, warm and well-balanced dialogs, a lyrical and cultured discourse between two friends.

Percussionist Steve Hubback's project Metal Moves presents the percussionist, composer and instrument maker's work, using drums, gongs, bells, cymbals and percussive sculptures in well-developed compositions, evoking mysterious environments that evolve into muscular displays of extraordinary power, a beautifully balanced album of uniquely voice solo percussion.

Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen joins the working trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, and Rick Countryman for a lively set of performances, Sabu and Countryman having met Yandsen in Kuala Lumpur several times the previous year for unrelated projects, bringing confident familiarity to their improvisations, captured here as a trio and quartet from a 3-night engagement in Manila.

Drawn from 3 days of recording in July 2019, after more than 6 years of collaboration in the Philippines between drummer Christian Bucher, alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, and bassist Simon Tan, and released as a complement to their "Empathy" album, in trio improvisations, plus the title track a duo between Bucher & Countryman; a melodic and well-balanced album of free jazz.

Representing some of the finest of UK free improvisers, the quartet of John Edwards on bass, Mark Sanders on drums, Liam Noble on piano, and Paul Dunmall on tenor & alto saxophones are recorded in the studio in Birmingham for three extended improvisations of commanding technique, creative drive and wide dynamics; the power of free jazz in the hands of masters.

Turning his attention from original compositions to the music of his heroes--Ornette Coleman, Stevie Wonder, Keith Jarrett, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane & Charlie Parker--saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa turns in an upbeat and exuberant album of standards performed in a trio with bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston.

Turning his attention from original compositions to the music of his heroes--Ornette Coleman, Stevie Wonder, Keith Jarrett, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane & Charlie Parker--saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa turns in an upbeat and exuberant album of standards performed in a trio with bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston.