A remarkable live performance uniting South African harpist Jacqueline Kerrod and American guitarist Joe Morris, recorded at the Morpeth Contemporary gallery in New Jersey, their first collaboration of adventurous improvisations blending Kerrod's virtuosic harp techniques with Morris's innovative guitar approach, heard in three dynamic and exploratory string interactions.

A compelling collaboration between guitarist Fred Frith and innovative harpist Shelley Burgon — known for her work with Anthony Braxton, Trevor Dunn, and Okkyung Lee — in a series of concise and precise improvisations recorded in Oakland, CA, in 2002 and 2005, as Burgon blends seamlessly with Frith's acoustic guitar to create seemingly telepathic synchronicity and an expansive sonic palette.

Alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs and bassist Timo Shanko, co-founders of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, present their first duo recording, nine improvisations recorded in the studio in Massachusetts, expressing their three-decade synergy through intimate, exploratory playing that blends passionate and deep-seated melodic interplay with free jazz elements and a strong sense of the blues.

An intense performance led by bassist Brandon Lopez, recorded live at Roulette during the 2023 Vision Festival, blending deep listening and collective spirit in a dynamic, politically charged composition featuring Zeena Parkins (electric harp), Mat Maneri (viola), Cecilia Lopez (electronics), DoYeon Kim (gayageum), and drummers Gerald Cleaver &Tom Rainey, propelling intricate textures and ritualistic intensity.

The debut solo album from French saxophonist Ornella Noulet, based in Brussels, performing on alto and soprano saxophones and bells, as she draws inspiration from Albert Camus as a commitment to artistic integrity, exploring new sounds and the spiritual dimensions of music through seven energetically introspective and experimentally rich solo improvisations.

Appropriately recorded at Le Sauvage Cathedral in France, the region name dating to the legend of a wild woman who only ate raw meat, had a double row of teeth, lived under a rocky promontory and was buried by a landslide, as baritone saxophonist Jamison Williams darkly burns in an extended improvisation of outside technique while referencing the Lemegeton, a 17th century book of magic.

Versed in jazz and contemporary composed music, Belgian alto saxophonist Audrey Lauro embarks on a solo journey with seven saxophone improvisations, using 'everyday objects' to prepare her instrument and close-microphone placement to create an intimate sound space, exploring 'the area where voice and instrument converge'.

An album of brutal improvisation in the Borbetomagus mold as the longstanding Maranata duo of Dag Stiberg on alto and baritone saxophones and Jon Wesseltoft on electronics join forces with Mexican saxophonist Martín Escalante, creating an unrelenting sonic assault of frenzied saxophone interplay and harsh electronics, fueled by a visceral intensity and high-pressure chaotic energy.

Norwegian guitarist Stian Larsen joins UK musicians Colin Webster on alto sax, Ruth Goller on bass, and Andrew Lisle on drums in a high-energy fusion of free jazz, post-rock, and noise, weaving dynamic improvisation that moves from sparse textures to explosive climaxes, embracing ecstatic intensity, cathartic interplay, and expansive creative exploration.

Five duets inspired by the Japanese concept of borrowed scenery (Shakkei (借景)) — integrating background landscapes into the design of a garden — are exquisitely realized in these spiritual and introspective performances, from the 20-year collaboration between French saxophonist Alexandra Grimal (tenor and soprano) and Italian pianist-organist Giovanni Di Domenico.

Saxophonist John Dikeman composed this diverse and expressively lyrical song cycle reflecting on colonization, and the double edged sword of religion which can lead to transcendence or tyranny, recorded in Amsterdam in a quartet with Marta Warelis on piano, Aaron Lumley on bass and Sun on Mi Hong on drums, presented in two extended improvisations.

A powerful and socially driven project from a large ensemble founded by Clayton Thomas to musically and culturally respond to the ongoing genocide in Palestine, blending composed improvisation with collective human energy; recorded live on June 27, 2024, this performance stands as a sonic act of solidarity, reflection, and bearing witness, with all proceeds donated to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

French classically trained pianist Sophie Agnel and percussionist Michael Zerang explore unconventional techniques in nine captivating improvisations recorded at Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio, blending Agnel's prepared and extended piano methods with Zerang's nuanced percussion to create a strikingly compatible and dynamic sonic dialogue.

With a title roughly translating to "Unscrewed", Argentinian guitarist Luciana Bass dismantles and loosens the bolts on conventional boundaries, blending blues and abstract improvisation in a journey marked by melodic passion and adventurous sonic exploration, crafting a vivid interplay between embraceable beauty and strikingly unexpected contrasts.

Displaying remarkable technique on a 6-string electric guitar, New York improviser and composer Chuck Roth, also known as watergh0st, explores a vast palette of sounds and textures, bending and twisting the guitar's raw tones without effects or pedals, across 11 succinct improvisations, Roth delivers an engaging spectrum of styles and moods, showcasing his emotional depth and inventive approach.

Recording in the Mills College Concert Hall in Oakland, the quartet of Zeena Parkins (harp), Chris Brown (piano and electronics), William Winant (percussion), and Ben Davis (cello) work in an ethereal mode of electro-acoustic improvisation, drawing unconventional sounds from their instruments as they weave a virtuosic and intricately creative sonic tapestry evoking the rugged unpredictability of the album's title.

Recorded at Experimental Sound Studios following a powerful and inspired concert at Elastic Arts, this trio captures the distinct musical voices of Edith Steyer (alto saxophone & clarinet), Mabel Kwan (piano), and Michael Zerang (drums & percussion), weaving sound-oriented improvisations and diverse transatlantic influences from Berlin and Chicago.

The debut solo album from French saxophonist Ornella Noulet, based in Brussels, performing on alto and soprano saxophones and bells, as she draws inspiration from Albert Camus as a commitment to artistic integrity, exploring new sounds and the spiritual dimensions of music through seven energetically introspective and experimentally rich solo improvisations.

Known for her ensemble Ryorchestra and as half of SaxRuins with Yoshida Tatsuya, Nagoya-based saxophonist, flutist, and composer Ryoko Ono steps out on her own with a solo album featuring saxophone, mouthpiece, duck whistle, and voice, capturing the dramatic contrasts of life through her dynamic, genre-defying improvisations and emotionally resonant compositions.

Recording live in the studio in Washington D.C., this is a fully improvised journey of sub-bass drones, fiery free jazz, and melancholic sonic tales, weaving trombone-driven explorations of real and imagined sonic landscapes; with poetic fictionalizations from Alex Smith and artwork by James Dillenbeck, this album is a fascinating look at an unexpected and imaginative range on the trombone.

With a thoughtful approach to collective improvisation, saxophonist Sakina Abdou, pianist Marta Warelis, and percussionist Toma Gouband weave free music into a 60-minute arc of intimate, acoustic interplay, exploring collective themes like a torn canvas of echoes and fragments, where each gesture binds, stretches, and celebrates stories woven from ash and memory.

Free jazz bassoonist Karen Borca, a former student of Cecil Taylor, reunites with drummer and percussionist Paul Murphy, both longtime collaborators in saxophonist Jimmy Lyons' band, here distilled as a duo, performing seven studio-recorded dialogs in Virginia -- each an expressive and articulate example of their remarkable technical skill and creativity.

Returning to the duo format that launched their series, Evan Parker on soprano saxophone and Matthew Wright on turntables with live processing and sound design deliver two studio improvisations from Ramsgate, UK, with Wright transforming Parker's virtuosity through layers of electronic interaction, crafting a dynamic and intricate virtual symphony of technique and intent.

Drawing inspiration from the archives of philosopher Walter Benjamin, Zeena Parkins leads an extraordinary ensemble of experimental and avant-garde musicians — including William Winant, Tony Buck, Magda Mayas, and Joan La Barbara — in two intricate multi-part compositions that weave acoustic and electronic textures through improv, experimental, and contemporary forms.

With alliterative titles beginning with "To blowe wyth the nose and to snorce", percussionist Ben Bennett, saxophonist Michael Foster, and trumpeter Jacob Wick create an uncompromising tapestry of extended techniques and visceral interplay, through raw and dynamic exploration of texture, space, and sound that blurs boundaries between energy, silence, and collective improv.

Berlin-based, Buenos Aires-born saxophonist Sofia Savlo takes listeners on a tour of eight improvisations performed on the low pitched baritone saxophone, using great control & tone augmented by multiphonics and extended techniques, "rotating" through unusual approaches while engaging listeners through expressive narratives, including emulating a drunken revery.

With an extensive discography of collaboration together in a wealth of groupings, New York bassist Formanek and alto saxophonist Tim Berne are heard in this 1991 live duo performance at The Parlour in Providence, Rhode Island, a powerfully confident concert of informed dialogs captured seven years before their only other duo album from 1998, Ornery People.

Two phenomenal string players improvising remotely across two continents using SonoBus real-time streaming software: former Downtown NY pioneering double bassist Mark Dresser, now located in San Diego, and Australian violinist Jon Rose positioned between the Australian deserts at Alice Springs, presenting eight recordings from their animated and inspired intertwining.

Appropriately recorded at Le Sauvage Cathedral in France, the region name dating to the legend of a wild woman who only ate raw meat, had a double row of teeth, lived under a rocky promontory and was buried by a landslide, as baritone saxophonist Jamison Williams darkly burns in an extended improvisation of outside technique while referencing the Lemegeton, a 17th century book of magic.

Versed in jazz and contemporary composed music, Belgian alto saxophonist Audrey Lauro embarks on a solo journey with seven saxophone improvisations, using 'everyday objects' to prepare her instrument and close-microphone placement to create an intimate sound space, exploring 'the area where voice and instrument converge'.

A remarkable concert in 2023 at The Loft in Cologne, Germany, a superb example of collective free improvisation using extraordinary and masterful technique between UK saxophonist John Butcher, Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner and NY drummer Chris Corsano, also performing on half clarinet; nine conversations of sophisticated and astute communication.

The next angle from the collective Geometry group of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar, exploring their "Geometry" first of "Caves", then "Distance", "Trees", and now "Phenomena", through highly attuned exploration of sonic complexities and intersecting approaches to their respective instruments.

Her 5th solo viola album finds NY improviser & composer Jessica Pavone extending her exploration of music based on the pitches of the open strings, accentuating the natural sympathetic resonances of the instrument and expanded through the use of electronic effects to create a virtual duo, on one track performing on a Ken Butler hand-crafted hybrid instrument, the Sword Viola.

Recording on a vintage reel-to-reel tape deck in his own warehouse living room during a lunar eclipse, saxophonist Steve Baczkowski (Brandon Lopez Trio, Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Ensemble MIA) captures thirteen explorations on tenor and baritone saxophones, plus a homemade wind instrument, for an intimately challenging album of outrageous technique and overtones.

ONCEIM is the French ensemble of over 30 distinguished musicians directed by Frédéric Blondy, drawing on jazz, free improv, experimental and contemporary music as they evolve impressively detailed works from subtle restraint to controlled swells, heard in live performances from 2018 at Eglise Saint-Merry in Paris and at La Muse en Circuit in 2020, plus a 3rd studio session from 2020.

With prior albums on For4Ears and Matchless, the French electroacoustic (with an emphasis on "acoustic") free improvising quartet Hubbub of Frédéric Blondy (piano), Bertrand Denzler (tenor sax), Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto sax), Jean-Sébastien Mariage (guitar), and Edward Peraud (percussion) present two extended, perfectly paced improvisations of stunning interplay and incredible technique.

Each of the 5 members of this band bring a composition to this 2022 live recording at Kuhlspot Social Club in Berlin, along with four collective improvisations, in the impressive debut of the acronym-named band SORBD, signifying Edith Steyer on Bb clarinet, Mia Dyberg on alto saxophone, Rieko Okuda on piano, Isabel Rossler on bass, and Sofia Borges on drums & percussion.

A collection of sonic poems & images that are inspired by her search for a 'real world' — more tangible and less virtual — presented by Argentinian saxophonist based in Amsterdam, Ada Rave, performing on tenor, soprano & sopranino saxophones with differing preparations for each improvisation, while also being influenced by the native music of the Mapuche people and Argentinian folk music.

Since 2020 this trio of Amsterdam-based improvisers have worked together to develop a unique free improvisational language, fueled by but not contained to jazz forms, as heard in this debut album recorded in 2022 between three ex-patriots residing in Amsterdam: German bass & contrabass clarinetist Tobias Klein, Polish pianist Marta Warelis and Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly.

Improvisations recorded at the historical Zaal 100 in Amsterdam between pianist Marta Warelis, whose previous Relative Pitch solo album A Grain of Earth had her playing inside and out of the keyboard; here joined by The Ex and Dog Faced Hermans guitarist and improviser Moor the two create both introspective and rapid-paced sonic interactions of fascinating twists and turns

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Taking the trombone into unusual territory, Danish composer and trombonist Maria Bertel, a member of Fire! Orchestra and Jooklo Danish Group, uses amplification to emphasize unusual and sometimes aberrant aspects of the bone, each of ten solo pieces focusing on various aspects of sound, noise, alien utterance and drone that she coaxes out of the instrument.

Berlin-based, Buenos Aires-born saxophonist Sofia Savlo takes listeners on a tour of eight improvisations performed on the low pitched baritone saxophone, using great control & tone augmented by multiphonics and extended techniques, "rotating" through unusual approaches while engaging listeners through expressive narratives, including emulating a drunken revery.

Following their recordings of improvisations for the abstract film "Triangulated Waves", the long-running collaboration of guitarist Marcia Bassette (Yew Recordings, Heavy Conversation, Heavy Blossom) and violinist Samara Lubelski (Fiery Furnaces, White Magic, Thurston Moore, God Is My Co-Pilot) join for two extended sonic adventures of intertwining, effected strings.

The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty.

The first meeting between New York alto saxophonist Tim Berner and Australian string player Chloë Sobek, performing on the violone, a precursor to the modern double bass, in five improvisations recorded outside of the studio to create an intimate space for their spontaneous, articulate and well-balanced dialogs, from rapt introspection to blazing intensity.

A beautifully contemplative collection of vignettes performed on solo Hardanger d'amore, a sympathetic-stringed relative of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, from Brooklyn improviser and composer Zosha Warpeha, in 13 works of thoughtfully spacious playing utilizing the resonance and rich texture of the Hardanger fiddle, seemingly suspending time despite beguiling momentum.

Nine investigations on the violin and two on the viola from Berlin composer and improviser Maria I.J. Reich, developed during research into solo improvisation, yielding a unique set of timbres, textures and impetus between the musician and the body & bow of the instrument, influenced by the different locations recorded at and presented as captured; a truly fascinating exploration.

Born in São Paulo, Brazil and working in Amsterdam and Lisbon, and also part of the London Improvisers Orchestra, Yedo Gibson unleashes an album of solo improvisation on the soprano and tenor saxophones, his "conic tubes" which he uses to express the potential to change environment and energy through technically impressive, expressive playing.

Known best for the guitar work on clipping's Rick and Morty song "Stab Him in the Throat", Chicago guitarist Kirsten Carey joins with drummer Aaron Edgcomb (Trigger) for this set of mischievous improvised experiments that explore the relationships between rock, jazz and experimental sound through eleven assertive dialogs of quirky, skronky, and inspired playing.