Chicago's leading free jazz DKV Trio of Ken Vandermark (reeds), Hamid Drake (drums) and Kent Kessler (bass) are joined by European Free Jazz leaders Mats Gustafsson (reeds), Paul Nilssen-Love (drums) and Massimo Pupillo (bass).

A box set documenting the October 2015 3-day event held at Porgy and Bess in Vienna for the 50th birthday of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Fire! and innumerable duo/trio/ensemble formations) with a who's-who of collaborators invited to join in various formations.

Two distinctive tracks from the Norwegian duo of Katariin Raska-Torupill on Estonian bagpipe and Christian Meaas Svendsen on double bass: "Melting With Butterflies" is a work of ecstatic repetition, filled with chaos and joy, building in intensity; "The Way Mountains Make Love" is an immense, profoud and potent lower register work of dark solidity.

This trio joins 3 disparate approaches to composition and improvisation--Japanese improviser Ayumi Tanaka, Oslo composer Johan Lindvall, and ECM artist Christian Wallumrod-developing the engaging material on this album by focusing on elements like tuning, register, intervals and dynamics, for an absorbing album of compatible and concentrative playing.

Chinese Buddhism defines "Hungry Ghosts" as beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way, an apt description of this trio's dynamic and often bristling collective free jazz, with Malaysian saxophonist Yong Yandsen and Norwegians, Christian Meaas Svendsen on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, performing live in Kuala Lumpur, 2018.

The New York trio of pianist Jerome Kitzke, bassist Steve Rust on electric and acoustic, and drummer/percussionist Harvey Sorgen, alternate consummately clever approaches to collective playing with Kitzke's humorously ironic and insightful reading of four poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti from his book "A Coney Island of the Mind", in honor of his 100th birthday.

West Coast oboist and english horn improviser composes a startlingly enjoyable work based on Matt Shears' book of recursive, encyclopedic poetry of the same name: 10 pieces colliding elements of skronk, spoken word, fried electroacoustic noise and dark prog within a Creative Music framework, with a core quartet of Aram Shelton, Jason Hoopes and Jordan Glenn, plus guest Weston Olencki and a large cast of readers.

Agrakal is the trio of Marco Colonna (clarinet), Augusti Fernandez (piano), and Zlatko Kaucic (percussions), three musicians able to cross cultures and attitudes and develop a new language of abstract collective jazz, Fernandez being the pivot point between the trio, having previously recorded and toured as a duo with both Colonna and Kaucic.

An incredible concert at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee from the Chicago trio of Hamid Drake on drums, Kent Kessler on bass, and Ken Vandermark on reeds, a working trio of intense free jazz that formed in the 90s and has developed an almost telepathic rapport through energetic and cathartic collective playing, one of the exceptional examples of Chicago jazz.

17 succinct improvisations recorded in 2000 from the trio of the late and legendary German free improvising bassist Peter Kowald, West Coast bassist Damon Smith, and alto saxophonist Marco Eneidi, powerful and lyrical improv with a nod to Ayler amidst brilliant playing.

The extended and absorbing live performance between Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and Chicago drummer Michael Zerang at Španski Borci,in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2019 begins in restful interaction, Harnik often inside the piano and Zerang scraping and coaxing sound, building to a disruptive dream of intense interaction that ends in a turbulent awakening.

Bassist Max Johnson's quartet with multi-reedist Mark Whitecage, trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Tyshawn Sorey in an upbeat album of free collective improvisation from the downtown NY scene.

Taking its album title and the titles for three compositions from poems by Laura Winter, the German jazz quartet led by clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann with Christopher Dell on vibes, Christian Ramond on double bass and Klaus Kugel on drums present an advanced example of modern creative, chamber-oriented collective free jazz with a stunning level of communication.

Uniquely orchestrated with all three members bringing a trove of objects & percussion, the trio of Martin Küchen on saxophones, Agustí Fernández on piano and Zlatko Kaučič on drums are heard in this two-part live concert at BUMF festival in Smartno, Slovenia, for a superb example of intent listening and use of space around confident, stunningly creative & virtuosic playing.

A thorough overview of bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre's recent work in a boxed set of 8 CDs and a 16 page booklet of essays, photos and credits, each CD bringing a unique grouping from Les Diaboliques to duos with Mat Maneri, Fred Frith, Lauren Newton, & Jean-Luc Cappozzo, plus one solo disc and a quartet with Zlatko Kaucic, Evan Parker and Augusti Fernandez; magnificent.

French bassist Joelle Leandre and US vocalist Lauren Newton recorded these duos live at Club Gromka in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2010; absorbing and unusual interactions between two significant improvisers.

Marilyn Lerner (piano), Ken Filiano (bass & effects) and Lou Grassi (drums & percussion) extend their trio work after their previous two NoBusiness releases with this album of profound collective improvisation, blending lyrical and abstract work in energetic but never frenetic conversation, in a range of mood performed with incredible technical and inventive skill.

Spanish drummer residing in France, Ramon Lopez leads this trio with British trumpeter Percy Pursglove and Polish bassist Rafal Mazur for an album alternating compositions from Lopez with collective improvisations, the trio patiently unfolding their conversations with a strong melodic bias that balances introspective playing with fiery technique.

Dowtown reed player Michael Marcus concentrates on clarinet on this set of original compositions recorded in the spring of 2008 in a variety of band configurations.

Since 1999 bassist Rafal Mazur and saxophonist Keir Neuringer (Stability Group, Infinity Quartet) have performed together, bringing an intense physicality and range of sonorities to their improvisations.

Avant improvisation from violist Szilard Mezei's vocal ensemble, a 10 piece orchestra with two vocalists, performing live at CNESA, Serbia; complex and fascinating music with a mix of unusual and traditional orchestration.

An exciting trio recording of the creatively unorthodox and superb collective piano trio of German pianist Uwe Oberg, Spanish drummer & percussionist based in Berlin Lucia Martinez, and New York bassist Joe Fonda, also on flute, performing at the the 2019 Just Music Festival in Weisboden, the band's implicit joy of their performance clearly heard in these recordings.

The UK/Europe trio of Albert Cirera on saxophones, Rafal Mazur on bass guitar, and Nicolas Field on drums, in five ordinal improvisations recorded at Alchemia Club in 2018, for a concert of vigorously assertive playing and seething interactive layers, laying back at times to build their progressions, ending the concert with an explorative "Fifth" improvisation.

Chicago multi-reedist Ken Vandermark in a quintet with Italian musicians Stefano Ferrian (tenor saxophone), Simone Quatrana (piano), Luca Pissavini (double bass), and SEC_ (Revox tape recorder, instant sound treatment) in an uninhibited live concert in 2013 at Dragon Club in Poland.

Alto saxophonist Robbins in a free improvising and powerful New York quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Daniel Levin on cello, and Jeff Davis on drums.

The trio of bassist Joe Fonda, drummer Harvey Sorgen and clarinetist Christopher Rocher in an album dedicated to reedist Perry Robinson, a heartfelt album balancing structured composition and collective work, with authoritative free playing from all three as Rocher switches between bass clarinet and b-flat, Fonda plucks and bows, and Sorgen skilfully mixes it up.

An impressive concert of free jazz from the UK duo of Simon Rose on baritone sax and Steve Noble on drums, their collaborations over many years, particularly their working relationship in their trio with Simon H. Fell, bringing obvious confidence in their conversation as each pushes their playing into both energetic and reflective moments of masterful skill.

London Improvisers Orchestra saxophonist Simon Rose in a solo album of improvisations recorded in the hall of a Berlin psychiatric hospital noted for its extraordinary acoustic properties.

Official issue of the drumming duo of Jay Rosen (Trio X, Cosmosomatics) and Brian Wilson (Pauline Oliveros, Ivo Perelman), performing at Whitman Hall in Brooklyn College in 2008, presenting 5 concertos for two drums written by both performers, through pristine recordings demonstrating melodicism through rhythm as they explore a wide range of timbre and color.

The second CD by the trio featuring tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark, drummer Klaus Kugel, and bassist Mark Tokar, the band back at Krakow's Alchemia Club, bringing these three Chicago and European players together for a skronky, energetic romp of commanding playing alongside unorthodox approaches and powerfully creative intent.

Celebrating bassist and composer William Parker's 65th birthday at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia in a band led by Bobby Zankel on alto saxophone, Muhammad Ali on drums, Dave Burrell on piano, Steve Swell on trombone, Diane Monroe on violin, and William Parker himself on bass, in a 4-part suite of beautifully turbulent and masterful free jazz.