An intimate encounter with Portuguese tenor saxophone player Rodrigo Amado, performing three original compositions -- the extended "Sweet Freedom", "Singular Blow" and "Shadow Waltz" -- performed at the Church of The Holy Ghost (Igreja do Espirito Santo) in Caldas da Rainha, an often introspective and innately lyrical set that reaches emphatic moments while always speaking directly.

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.

Finding common ground through independent work in Asheville, NC, drummer Jeff Arnal and modular synth experimenter Curt Cloninger started exchanging musical ideas, developing their concept to add powerful rhythmic elements into patterned energetic synthetics, building a language to improvise together and rework their material into these rich and exciting compositions.

Reissuing and remastering this exceptional 1969 album from avant-garde jazz pioneers Art Ensemble of Chicago as Lester Bowie (trumpets, horns & bass drum), Joseph Jarman saxophones, reeds, winds keys), Roscoe Mitchell (saxophones, reeds, winds, sirens, bells & whistle), and Malachi Favors (bass, banjo & sitar), adding two bonus tracks: "Tthinitthedalen" Parts 1 & 2.

Discovered in the archives of guitarist and free improv innovator Derek Bailey's Incus Records label are these two live performances between Bailey and percussionist Paul Motian, mastered by Jim O'Rourke and presented as a vinyl LP with a 1990 performance at JazzMarathon at De Oosterpoort, in Groningen, and as a download with a concert in 1991 at New Music Cafe, NYC.

Mailing unspooled 1/4" tape to each other along with a magnet to randomly erase part of each tape, Marc Baron & Mark Vernon captured these fragments and placed them into sequence based on the minute past the hour each was originally recorded, contrasting the degraded recordings with the original; an exacting but fascinating method of creating something unexpected and uniquely engaging.

Wandelweiser founder and composer Antoine Beuguer and French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos in a work for voice (Philippakopoulos) and breath (Beuguer), employing spaces of silence against utterance and sibilant expression, a patiently developing work that floats by in deceptively simple ways, captivating through each articulation that seems perfectly placed.

An outrageously powerful improvised exposition of nine rivers from New York pianist John Blum, performing live in a solo concert as part of the 2013 Crosscurrent Festival in Pecara, Italy, Blum's commanding technique and density making clear his influence by former mentors Cecil Taylor and Borah Bergman, as he rolls and roars rapidly through each torrent.

Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album was captured live at 1974 Ost-West-Festival in Nurnberg, Germany from the legendary, masterfully amusing and absolutely serious trio of Peter Brötzmann on alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, Fred Van Hove on piano, Han Bennink on drums, clarinet, homemade junk, everything, anything.

Often performing together as a duo after their initial 2004 Chicago Tentet encounter, drummer/percussionist Paal Nilssen and multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann typically released albums of live performances, this 2015 studio date in Antwerp unique in their catalog, an exemplary set of recordings, particularly with Brötzmann on a new contra-alto clarinet and Paal adding gongs to their improvisations.

Merging members of Ensemble SuperMusique with a subset of the ensemble Chorale Joker, Joane Hétu presents four premieres that explore our experiences during the pandemic, SuperMusique focused on electronics and synthetic instruments and offset by a wind quintet, the music and vocal interactions often explosive, reflecting on our mental states during an overwhelming cultural malady.

Concepts of community, dialog, sharing and transmission, or "recontre", are the linking ideas between these four works commissioned of Montreal composer and wind player Jean Derome, developed for four Quebec ensembles, these pieces combine contemporary and improvisational forms, the scores shaped by constraints from the combinatorial mathematics of Marin Mersenne.

The trio of German pianist/composer Georg Graewe, guitarist Martin Siewert (Radian, Trapist, Also), and drummer Dieter Kern (DEK Trio, Bulbul, Fuckhead) bring together diverse attitudes in free improv from avant jazz to ea-/experimental approaches and bristling rock forms, sharing a unique collective voice with an oddly implied sense of humor and disconcertingly ingenious skill.

Montreal composer, guitarist and arranger Andre Duchesne developed the pieces on this solo album as a tribute to his sister Carole, "the one who dreamed of horses," who passed in 2010, his pieces incorporating elements of rock, improvisation and compositional forms, a sincere tribute developed by recording daily over a month as a virtual rock band of guitar, bass and drum programming.

Confidently forceful German free improvisation with an eccentric approach, from multi-instrumentalist Udo Schindler on clarinets, cornet & tuba and artist & improviser Etienne Rolin on basset horn, Glissotar (a continuous wind instrument) & a Bansuri flute, as they improvise over Schindler's poem (jetzt/now) from his cycle frequenz schaukelt / frequency swings.

The DUOT pairing of Argentinian, Barcelona-based sax player Albert Cirera and Spanish drummer Ramón Prats is joined on their 6th album by the Portuguese string quartet ZARM Ensemble of Carlos Zingaro on violin, David Alves on violin, Ulrich Mitzlaf on cello and Alvaro Rosso on double bass for a dynamic concert at Igreja do Espírito Santo in Caldas Da Rainha, Portugal.

From subtle dynamics to invigorating free exchanges, the collective improvising band Easter Quartet brings together New York luminaries Ken Filiano on bass with two drummer/percussionists--Lou Grassi and Todd Capp--and Leipzig, German pianist Simone Weissenfels, performing in the studio for three extended, forcefully confident, evolving improvisations.

The third album from the genre-merging quintet The End of of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Moster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (baritone and bass guitar) and Borge Fjordheim (drums), an experimental song-based project influenced by avant rock, jazz and soundscape in seven nuanced pieces.

Featuring works premiered at the ESM concert "Zigzague and Colore" in November 2022 in Montreal at Escape Orange - Edifice Wilder - Espace Danse, this exceptional concert of Montreal's premiere improvising Ensemble SuperMusique presents the works of three female composers--Elizabeth Millar, Laura Kavanaugh, and Danielle Palardy Roger--through a variety of graphic scores.

An overview of Montreal's Ensemble Supermusique celebrating their 40th anniversary, drawing on works from founders Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, and Danielle Palardy Roger and their projects including Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Justine, &c., realized by 40 instrumentalists in 8 groups of 3 to 8 players; masterful sophistication with a sense of humor and wonder — exceptionnelle!

UK saxophonist Andy Sheppard joins again with pianist Espen Eriksen's Trio of drummer Andreas Bye and bassist Lars Tormod Jenset, for a lyrical set of seven richly melodic original compositions, the trio's 7th release together since 2010 and marking 16 years together as a group, evident from their confident communication and seemingly effortless interaction.

Irish guitarist and composer Scott Fields has worked with the poems of late New York writer Steve Dalachinsky over the years, here bringing together an ensemble of improvisers, electronic and contemporary classical performers to set a suite of six poems by Dalachinsky sung by soprano Barbara Schachtner, with interludes between each weaving them into a larger and satisfying opus.

Highlighting the parallel to changes in birdsong in urban areas because of anthropogenic ambient noise, this diverse ensemble demonstrates the evolution of improv approaches through unique origins and backgrounds; with Chad Fowler (stritch, flute), Shanyse Strickland (French Horn), Sana Nagano (violin), Melanie Dyer (viola), Ken Filiano (bass) and Anders Griffen (drums).

Zeitkratzer director and pianist Reinhold Friedl meets with Martin Siewert (Radian, Fake the Facts, Dry Thrust) for three improvised explorations on piano, guitar and electronics, through the course of powerful transitions building from deep introspection into prickly, bellicose interaction, yielding to a brooding finale of subtle electronics and punctuation; profound.

While still a member of Henry Cow, guitarist Fred Frith released his first solo album simply titled Guitar Solos in 1974, a remarkable album of expression through preparations, treatments and effects; 50 years later Frith expands on that album with new compositions using a similar setup as the original, paired in this 2-LP release with the remastered original album.

Sporadic sonic exchanges exploring guidelines, graphic scores, or completely improvised, with an expansive instrumentorium from the sextet of Magali Babin, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Martine H Crispo, Anne-Francoise Jacques, Emilie Mouchous, and Erin Sexton.

A heavy and wild ride in the 9th album from New York's The Gate of composer and tuba player Dan Peck, bass player Tom Blancarte and percussionist Brian Osborne, concise pieces of heavy melodic elements, dark riffs and an ominous attitude, intersecting with plundered asides and anxious pauses, a strong addition to their discography and an engrossing collection of deep disturbance.

In the same character as a Wandelweiser/Jürg Frey work, guitarist Pierre Gérard offers up five minimalistic or reductionist improvisations, sparse works that follow the patterns of his mind and his improvisatory method, allowing his thoughts to linger and follow a music that is curiously compelling; an idiosyncratic companion to a quiet evening or afternoon.

Approaching the concept of endless repetition, New York composer and pianist Phillip Golub (Tropos, Sarafand Ensemble, Cecil McBee) presents his debut solo piano album, a contemplative set of system-based looping phrases that open up to improvisational variety in live performance, here in four renderings that defy the categorization of a "loop".

A unique concert even by the standards of Victoriaville from The Growlers, a vocal ensemble who interpret heavy metal, known for their epic work "Hate.Machine" and "The Dayking" with participation from poet Fortner Anderson, performed here along with a comprovisation backed by an electronic track originated from electric guitar recordings.

Black Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Drawing on a far-ranging set of influences--jazz, rock, contemporary, surf & exotica--California-born improvising guitarist Simon Hanes (of Trigger, who covered Zorn's Bagatelles) now resides in NYC, appropriately releasing an album of eclectic, generally upbeat, sometimes quirky, typically melodic instrumentals performed with an octet ensemble of incredible musicianship.

An album of jazz poetry between long-time collaborator, bassist Michael Bisio and poet Paul r. Harding, with former Jimi Hendrix percussionist Juma Sultan joining on half of the tracks, for thirteen narrative poems and utterance that provide incisive observation on ourselves and our country, the bass and percussion weaving around expression that slams, swings, and pulls no punches.

Combining acoustic drums, percussion and electronics, the third solo album from Chicago drummer Bill Harris delves deeper into the sonic aspects of his improvisations while providing them in discrete segments through eleven succinct recordings, a diverse set demonstrating unique approaches to rhythm and sound, enhanced on some pieces through studio techniques.

Chicago tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, known for his duos with Anton Hatwich and with Julian Kirshner, the improvising trio Devouring the Guilt with Eli Namay & Bill Harris and a trio with Mars Williams & Lia Kohl, is heard here in three extended solo improvisations, with strong tone riffing on grooves, exuding warm melodies, and running demanding technical passages on his horn.

A 33 rpm 7" from Washington, DC sound artist Chester Hawkins, which "contains highly concentrated extracts" of two remixes of live recordings at Logan Fringe Arts Space and Red Onion Records, from his limited-edition USB release "Cops Need Serial Numbers"; mesmerizing and hypnotic electronics from a masterful performer and kosmiche explorer.

Sealed new copy damaged in the post, dinged corners and bends but the LPs are in mint shape.

The first album from the amalgamated band name Herr Borrelgrip, a play on the names of alto saxophonist Pierre Borel and double bassist Joel Grip, developing their work in Stockholm, Berlin and Paris starting in 2008 as a performing duo, heard here in a beautiful gatefold double LP studio release with an extensive LP-sized booklet of text in French and images.

The Montreal-based Chorale Joker ensemble directed and conducted by Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy, and Jean Derome, who are also participants, is one of the most unusual and fascinating improvising vocal ensembles active, heard here in a concert coordinated with Productions SuperMusique at Le Vivier, Amphiteatre du Gesu, Montreal in early 2020; indescribably fascinating!

A fascinating work dedicated to improvising cellist Remy Belanger de Beauport written by Montreal composer Joane Hétu and performed by the large Ensemble SuperMusique with Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Scott Thomson, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, &c., commissioned and performed for the Ensemble's 40th anniversary and expanded for this studio edition.

In the footsteps of the band for which she's the vocalist — Scott Thomason's The Rent paying homage to the music of Steve Lacy — Montreal vocalist and movement performer Susan Hood steps out on her own to merge the words of German poet Judith Malina, who influenced Lacy and Irene Aebi's "Cycle of Jazz Art Songs", with Steve Lacy's exuberant music, for a captivating and sincere pairing.

Four improvisations that start as dense and scrabbly electroacoustic improv and then transport into beautiful sonic interaction from the Chicago collaborative quartet of Chris Dammann (Scott Clark) on double bass, Kevin Davis (Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore) on cello, John Niekrasz (Poor School, The Naked Future) on drums and Toby Summerfield (Larval, Algernon, Scott Clark) on guitar.

The eccentrically named group "Jones Jones" is the trio of Lithuanian drummer Vladimir Tarasov, NY/West Coast bassist Mark Dresser and Rova Saxophone Quartet saxophonist Larry Ochs, since 2008 expressing humor and vexation at the world in sometimes meditative and sometimes explosive collective free improvisation, here in their 4th outstanding album and their 1st in the studio.

The fifth in bassist, guitarist and Kadima label-leader JC Jones "Distance Series", works assembled through virtual sessions with associated artists, Jones performing on Spanish guitar which he plays as a lap guitar, on Nucleous creating a set of five unusual vocal works with internationally reknown vocalists Meira Asher, Esti Kenan-Ofri, Anat Pick and Josef Sprinzak.

The 2nd LP from Polish multi-wind & reedist Mat Walerian, his 2nd with NY pianist Matthew Shipp, and the 2nd recorded within the live Okuden Concert Series, adding drummer Hamid Drake for an excellent album of free improvisation that flows beautifully from track to track.

After riding through his city of Zurich to the Kunstraum Walcheturm studio in 2020, Jason Kahn was struck by the quiet aspects of the usually busy city, now quelled by pandemic; entering the studio feeling the desolation and strange sense of peacefulness in the midst of so much tragedy and suffering, he recorded these "songs" of passionate free vocal improvisations and acoustic guitar.

Evoking the passionate free improvisation of Kaoru Abe and influenced by Austrian poet Georg Trakl's "Nocturnal Song", the trio of Makoto Kawashima and Harutaka Mochizuki on alto saxophone and Michel Henritzi on lap steel & feedback recorded these three crepuscular works in separate locations, assembled by Henritzi into richly dreamlike and cathartic compositions.

Manipulating orchestral elements via midi composition at physically impossible speeds, LA musician Sunik Kim unleashes two side-long works of synthetic mayhem organized in strangely consumable blocks, with collisions and breath-catching pauses until the commotion drops over the compositional cliff once again; reflecting our current chaotic society? Mayhap.

The first volume in an ongoing collaboration between composers Kenneth Kirschner and Joseph Branciforte, this work explores the application of software-based compositional techniques — including algorithmic processes, generative systems, and indeterminacy — performed in a superb ensemble including members of Flux Quartet and International Contemporary Ensemble.

The album title translating to Humanity, Polish improvising vocalist Natalia Kordiak demonstrates her skills both as a jazz singer and as part of the continuum of creative free improv vocalists, with a tremendous quartet of young musicians: Przemyslaw Chmiel on tenor & soprano saxophones, Mateusz Kolakowski on piano, Alan Wykpisz on double bass & bass guitar and Grzegorz Palka on drums.

John Butcher mastered this live recording immaculately captured by Alex Ward at the Vortex in London in 2022 between two exceptional free improvisers, Dominic Lash on electric guitar and Ståle Liavik Solberg on drums & percussion, their three-part dialog sliding in and out of jazz, non-idiomatic and experimental modes in quick-witted and masterful exchanges.

Working with sound designers, cinematic and theater artists along with free improvisers, percussionist and composer Didier Lassere's performance project focuses on the relationship between sound and silence, composing entry, exit and superimposition points that the members of his septet improvise around, reconfiguring to smaller groupings throughout the work.

A collaboration that goes back 30 years, French improvising bassist Joëlle Léandre and avant accordionist Pascal Contet in their fifth album together, turning from their more typically extended conversations to a series of 10 "Miniatures", shorter and diverse dialogs recorded live in 2022 at the beautiful Arsenal Concert Hall in Metz, France.

Composer and tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' exceptional Red Lily Quintet quintet (Kirk Knuffke on cornet; William Parker on bass; Chad Taylor on drums; Christopher Hoffman on cello) pays homage to gospel and jazz singer Mahalia Jackson through a suite of original Lewis compositions, reimagining some of Jackson's best known works; CD & LP issues include a bonus download track.

Copenhagen composer Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard's long form work refers to units of compositional structure in systems of instruments, each a "bubble" that interacts and collides creating fluctuations, ruptures and tension release in an hypnotic sonic tapestry, performed by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini on violins, viola, cellos and harmonica; mesmerizing.

Extremely active in the Downtown NY scene as a versatile double bassist in a wide variety of settings, Brandon Lopez presents a tour de force album of solo improvisations, developed to illuminate his abilities as a powerful string player but also as a mischief-maker on the strings through unexpected technique and the application of "RealBadVibes".

Using only their right arms and never fingering the strings with their left hand, this recording of Alvin Lucier's "One Arm Bandits" was recorded in Lucier's own dining room, the hour-long piece in four parts exploring the relationship between bow direction changes and shifts in phase, scored for four cellists and performed by Tyler J. Borden, Laura Cetilia, Charles Curtis and Judith Hamann.

Spanish sound artist and vocalist Mattin in his 6th "Songbook" album, performed with Farahnaz Hatam, Pan Daijing, Colin Hacklander, Werner Dafeldecker, and Dean Roberts, a vicious mix of essentially no-wave rock and experimental music, six songs at exactly six minutes each covering topics of the conflicts, confusion and frustrations of our modern age.

Mattin takes 5 spontaneous 5-minute songs from 5 musicians, and a 25 minute concert structured by 5 instructions based on those song titles, then records vocals for the 5 songs as a singing lecture, then superimposes all 3 to create the five 5-minutes songs on this album.

An unrestrained album of free jazz, unorthodox electronic excursions and vocal irascibility as legendary tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee joins the Bazuinschal duo of alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and percussionist & electronic manipulator Dennis Tyfus (Ultra Eczema) for this singularly unusual 2018 concert at Het Bos, in Antwerp, Belgium; magnificently indescribable!

A brutal and complex concert of processed sopranino saxophone, electric guitar and electronics from the long-running Italian quartet Melting Mind of Virginia Genta, Michele Mazzani, David Vanzan and Matteo Poggi, recorded during a 2019 tour of France at Grnd Zero in Lyon, a 33 minute performance of thick noise & feedback layered with inexplicable detail.

A beautiful album of expanded landscapes performed on electronically modified Electronic Wind Instrument, field recordings, virtual instruments and synthesizer from Argentinian sound artist Sergio Merce, his characteristically patient pacing and use of space creating dramatic and beautiful sonic environments that hint at warm narratives in a seductive excursion.

A live and extended performance of brutal but shifting sonic assault performed before an appreciative audience at London's Cafe OTO in 2016, a solo performance from Japanese noise legend Masami Akita, AKA Merzbow, each of the 2 CDs in this set more than 50 minutes of tightly controlled electronic mayhem from the unremitting determination of one of the globe's masters of noise.

Composer, poet and saxophonist David Mirarchi seeks to transform the written word into melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and structural materials, using experimental compositional techniques, here recording in Brooklyn with trio of bassist Mathias Hojgaard Jensen and drummer Eliza Salem for a two part work transmuted from a two-part poem contrasting city life and nature.

Teaming up with Norwegian keyboard player Ståle Storløkken of Elephant9 & Supersilent and drummer Ole Mofjell, guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen introduces her new trio with this double album of live recordings from three separate concerts in Oslo and Stavanger, Norway, in dynamic performances of blistering, building prog and jazz fusion-oriented rock forms.

Working again with the 12-piece, expressive Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Norwegian guitarist and composer Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen recorded this double LP in the studio in Halden in 2021, for 9 long form epics that bridge and merge rock and jazz genres, in both instrumental work and songs that explore the nature of family and issues of social justice.

An unusual release from the accordion, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, placed microphones in a way to enhance the harmonics and all the particularities of every sound, layering slowly moving tones and their harmonic interaction, allowing unexpected details to emerge.

Sonic explorer and feedback pioneer David Lee Myers in a collection of eight pensive electronic ambience works recorded at Pulsewidth in the spring of 2022, meditating on the mysteries of time and eternity through Apophis, a demon serpent of darkness whom Ra, as sun god, destroys every morning at dawn.

Referring to the music on this album from New York feedback and electronic pioneer David Lee Myers as "firmly rooted in the electronic music of the 1950s-1960s", over nine tracks we are taken on an otherworldly journey of detailed particulate electronic adventures, sometimes swooping, vertiginous, monstrous and unpredictable, each track captured live in Myer's Pulsewidth studio.

Reflecting on a magnificent career as an improviser, vocalist & organizer, including Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Les Diaboliques and the Feminist Improvising Group, Maggie Nichols releases an LP solo vocal improv: a set of intimate & expresive songs performed on voice and piano applying techniques going back to John Stevens/SME, and a take on Zappa's 'what's the ugliest part of your body'.

Reflecting on a magnificent career as an improviser, vocalist & organizer, including Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Les Diaboliques and the Feminist Improvising Group, Maggie Nichols releases two related CDs of solo vocal improv: a set of intimate & expresive songs performed on voice and piano; and a set of overdubbed free improvisations applying techniques going back to John Stevens/SME.

A impressive album of virtual guitar duos from Swedish-born and New York-based experimental guitarist Anders Nilsson, challenging himself to imagine playing the pieces as 4-handed piano music, or as performed on a kora, or by a string quartet, through three extended pieces that balance complex interaction with thoughtful beauty and instrospection; exceptional.

Referencing the unusual 1896 feat of catching a turnip dropped 270 feet from a bridge by a member of the troupe The Royal Zanettos, the duo of London pianist Liam Noble and Geoff Simkins perform the slightly less daring but equally fascinating feat of performing a lyrical jazz concert at The Vortex in Dalston in 2022, for a mix of originals, standards and traditional tunes.

A gorgeous album of acoustic improvisation from Anthony Pateras performing on a prepared piano and Stephen O'Malley on steel string acoustic guitar, recorded live with no overdubs during O'Malley's residency at La Becque on Lake Geneva in the summer of 2021, slowly interacting through resonant harmonics and percussive tones that glide and fill the air with contemplative sound.

Ten years having passed since his last solo acoustic guitar album, Bill Orcutt's new release focuses on a more lyrical, relaxed and reflective side to his playing, in ten succinct pieces recorded in the spring and summer of 2002 at San Francisco's community focal point for and member of Intersection for The Arts, The Living Room.

Celebrating the temerity and successes of the students known as the Arkansas "Little Rock Nine", who in 1957 set a precedent as they fought to enter a segregated high school, in six pieces written by pianist Christopher Parker and vocalist Kelley Hurt, who narrates the student's successes over the powerfully uplifting and reflective music of a six piece jazz band.

The first vinyl re-issue of the 1980 duo between UK saxophonist Evan Parker and US trombonist George Lewis, captured live at the Art Workers Guild in London, using the natural resonance of the space and phenomenal technique in an intense set of dialogs showing the mastery of each player and the forceful voice each of them brings to free improvisation.

A much-needed reissue of saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton's first duo album, recorded in London at the loft of The Standard Essenco in 1972 and originally released on the Incus label, the duo approaching their instruments in fantastic and unusual ways in a dialog far ahead of its time, augmented with recordings and eccentric assemblages.

Once roommates in Rhode Island, guitarist Jeffrey Alexander of The Heavy Lidders, now living in Philadelphia, and guitarist/vocalist Ashley Paul, now living in London, come together again for a 3-song 7" release of idiosyncratic and informed free-form songs and instrumentals performed with a saxophone, clarinet, prepared guitar, prepared percussion, moog & electric piano.

The Swiss guitar trio of Florestan Berset on electric guitar with Norbert Pfammatter on drums and Francesco Losavio on double bass perform a mix of lyrical compositions from Berset, along with lyrically inclined collective improvisation from the group, each player bringing unique approaches to their instruments in a highly compatible set of conversations.

While NY trombonist Steve Swell and alto saxophonist Rob Brown were in Paris, flutist Michel Edelin, who has recorded and performed with Swell over more than a decade, organized this session with Paris-based American ex-pats, drummer John Betsch and bassist Peter Giron, recording three Swell compositions, two by Brown, one from Edelin and four collective improvisations; magnifique!

A sophisticated album of collective free jazz recorded in Brooklyn in 2004, from the trio of husband and wife improvisers Roberta Piket on piano and Billy Mintz on drums, with under-recorded saxophonist Mark Reboul rounding out the trio, as the three present "Seven Pieces" in "About an Hour" of stunningly elegant, implicitly melodic and impressively creative playing.

The husband and wife duo of New York free improvisers, Reut Regev on trombone and Igal Foni on drums, both bringing electronics to their session, in surprisingly their debut duo release after two decades of musical collaboration and shared life, their assurance and intimacy evident in the relaxed spontaneity and sheer musicality they bring to their dialogs.

Composer/percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger's musical satire about capitalism, performed with some of Montreal's finest improvisers using conventional & unconventional instruments and voice, captured live at the Gesu Amphitheater, in Montreal in 2018: Michel F Cote, Andre Duchesne, Joane Hetu, Elizabeth Lima, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Alexander St-Onge, and Ida Toniato.

A work of scientific sound from Australian sound artist Philip Samartzis, creating compositions based on field work from the High-Altitude Research Station at Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, over four weeks deploying various recording devices and microphones in and around the station to capture anthropogenic & geophysical forces, allowing listeners to experience the ecology under stress.

The 2nd album from the Polish guitar trio of Marek Malinowski on guitar, Robert Rychlicki-Gasowski on double bass & bass guitar, and Wojciech Zadruaynski on drums, performing Malinowski's embraceable mix of lyrically inclined modern jazz compositions with an explorative side, balancing structure with free space for sprightly spontaneity, a beautiful followup.

As the availability of venues for free improv have dwindled through New York City, an emerging new "loft scene" has developed, one of them named simply Aron's Place, the home of Aron Namenwirth, whose 2023 series hosted the solid, free-wheeling quartet of Dave Sewelson on baritone saxophone, Stephen Moses on drums, Jochem van Dijk on electric bass and Steve Holtje on electric keyboard.

Originally released in 1992 on the US Quinton Records label, this trio album by New York improvisers, pianist Matthew Shipp (this being his first CD under his own name), bassist William Parker and drummer Whit Dickey, presents the four-part "Circular Temple" composed by Shipp, leveraging the language of jazz in remarkable ways, particularly the 2nd movement, "Monk's Nightmare".

Cantankerously informed and paced like a perfect tumble, the duo improvisations of Massachusetts collaborator Stella Silber on turntables and Nat Baldwin on upright bass augment their work through turntable preparations and static, Baldwin performing all over his instrument, as the duo surprise and maintain interest through accessible abrasiveness.

A solo album from Austrian-born, NY-based pianist Elias Stemeseder, a member of the Jim Black Trio and Dre Hocevar, here presenting 14 original compositions, succinct works of inventive structures and insightful improvisation along with a traditional Austrian tune "foeggslia'l", an album revealing great skill, quick wit, and a complex mind that yields delightfully intrepid discovery.

Composed using an "exquisite corpse" method during the pandemic, where each player provided a partially complete track with instructions to expand their concept, enlisting an incredible set of musicians across the US & Europe, directed by Moe! Staiano, including Jesse Quattro, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, GW Sok, Amy X Neuburg, Darren Johnston, &c &c.

Reminiscent of the packaging of early releases from The Ex, the vocalist from that band--G.W. Sok--provides the words for the first tracks on this 7" from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum drummer/composer Moe! Staiano's long-running band, a brutal wordplay stab at Russian president Putin for his invasion of Ukraine; plus a dub remix of a song on the upcoming full-length Surplus 1980 album.

Composed over a period of thirty years, the eleven absolutely remarkable recording from the duo of husband and wife virtuoso piano improvisers and composers Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach, performing together on two grand pianos or, as the title describes, performing with four hands, is a stunning achievement in style, complement, and nearly telepathic dialog.

An epic story in symphonic rock style from pianist, drummer and composer Risa Takeda, telling the fantastic tale of a dramatic confrontation between an Emperor and a Sorcerer, through eleven compositions of a contemporary classical and theatrical nature, using modern synthetic sources in active and complex orchestration as the plot advances.

A member of the Paul Dunmall Quintet and Ed Gauden's Crux, Birmingham UK pianist, composer and band leader Steve Tromans presents an album of original work, lyrical and introspective pieces improvised in the studio as a response to the duress of the global pandemic, motivated to record on a great piano in the great Sansom Studio based on recent life experiences.

The Norwegian big band Trondheim Jazz Orchestra joins together with the Swedish-origin trio The MaXx (Oscar Gronberg-keyboards, Petter Kraft-guitar & saxophone, Tomas Jarmy-drums) to develop and perform this monumental work of modern electric jazz, an abstract rock opera written specifically to leverage the power of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.

Double bassist Jonas Gerigk invited two Berlin-based musicians--pianist Anaïs Tuerlinckx and percussionist Burkhard Beins--for a week of musical experiments and exploration at the venue Saxstall in Pohrsdorf/Tharandt, Germany, culminating in a well-recieved live performance; these two recordings are the result of their week of sonic investigation and improvisations.

The duo of improvisers Lina Tullgren on violin and Japanese koto player based in Boston Alec Toku Whiting, joined on one track by Ted Reichman on synthesizer & pedals, Reichman also recording these studio sessions, as the duo apply unsual techniques with an ear toward sonic assault and unexpected twists & turns, particularly some especially aggressive interaction on "Polly Chainsaw".

An international electroacoustic improvising trio of German trumpet player Birgit Ulher, also on radio, speaker & objects, and two Chicago outside improvisers--Carol Genetti on voice & objects, and Eric Leonardson on his unique self-built instrument the springboard, objects & electronics-- heard in a live performance at Elastic Arts, in Chicago, Illinois in 2018.

New Pricing April 2019: Recordings from the Berlin Inventionen Festivals for New Music 2005 and 2006 featuring compositions by Edgar Barroso ("ODD"); Mario Verandi ("Comme un jeu des images"); Paul Wilson ("Trhough the Rain"); Ricardo Climent ("Wallwoodpeckers"); Vladimir Djambazov ("The Secret Life of a Snare Drum"); and Ludger Brummer ("Glasharle").

A "subterranean homage to trumpet players of the caliber of Don Cherry, Bill Dixon, Miles Davis, Lester Bowie, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Jaimie Branch and Chet Baker", in six improvisations of unusual technique and creative concept from Chilean trumpeter Benjamin Vergarda, known for his work with Fred Frith, Keefe Jackson, &c, and director of the Festival of Experimental Music Relincha.

A wild and adventurous concert and one of the highlights of the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville from the electric improvising quartet of Elliott Sharp on electric guitar & electronics, Colin Stetson on bass, alto & tenor saxophones, Billy Martin on drums & percussion and Payton Macdonald on marimba, vibraphone & African xylophone.

A unique approach to improvisation, the Italian trio of Carlo Mascolo on trombone & no-input trombone, Giacomo Mongelli on drums & objects and Pino Montecalvo on trombone & toy junk, use a "Blind Instant Composition" approach to their live studio improvisations, where the players are unable to see each other, forcing close listening & response to their quirky and fascinating conversations.

Improviser, influencer and world traveler performing with exceptional players in interesting situations, saxophonist Jack Wright is heard in four solo improvisations that support the description of his wide vocabulary on the horn: "leaping pitches, punchy, precise timing, sharp and intrusive multiphonics, surprising gaps of silence, and obscene animalistic sounds".

A series of electroacoustic improv "Ballads" and "Blues", beautiful and chimerical works at the intersection of strings and a miscellany of percussion, patiently and unhurriedly unfolding under the deep listening ears from the Polish trio of Patryk Zakrocki on prepared electric guitar & granular delay, Maciej Garbowski on double bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on multipercussion, objects & toys.

Known as a jazz bassist, Torbjörn Zetterberg mostly steps away from the big strings for a series of multitrack studio compositions on a variety of instruments electronic & acoustic, plus samples and voice, all performed by Zetterberg himself (with Konrad Agnas and Anna Hogberg adding input on a couple of tracks); powerful, urgent, impressive works from a truly well-rounded musician.

A brutal and complex concert of processed sopranino saxophone, electric guitar and electronics from the long-running Italian quartet Melting Mind of Virginia Genta, Michele Mazzani, David Vanzan and Matteo Poggi, recorded during a 2019 tour of France at Grnd Zero in Lyon, a 33 minute performance of thick noise & feedback layered with inexplicable detail.