Our April 9, 2014 show is archived at Squidco's Mix Cloud Account. Click the link to the left to listen to the show while reading the narrative below.

On today's show we're going to listen to some new releases that we added to our Squidco catalog during March of this year, focusing on a number of NY artists and some recent releases on Switzerland's great Intakt label.

First up, iconic NY saxophonist John Zorn's new release "Psychomagia" on his own Tzadik label presents his Abraxas quartet of (Arm Bajakian-guitar, Eyal Maoz-guitar, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz-bass, Kenny Grohowski-drums) performing a new suite inspired by the magical writings of Giordano Bruno & Alejandro Jodorowski. The name of the track is "Evocation Of The Triumphent Beast".

Guitarist Mary Halvorson is a rising star in free improvisation, here in a trio with Michael Formanek (double bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums) in a composer's project with all three contributing material. The album is called "Thumbscrew" on the Cuneiform label, and the piece is titled "Goddess Sparkle".

Drummer and percussionist Gerry Hemingway developed the material on his CD & DVD release "Kernelings on his own Auricle label over many years, dividing the program into "mist, dust, light, and sex". The release highlights the wide range of approches and concepts that Hemingway puts into his work, as demonstrated in this track "B Slow".

The trio of saxophonist Assif Tsahar, drummer Chad Taylor and multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore recently put out their 3rd Digital Primitives release as Tsahar revives his Hopscotch imprint. The improvisation is rhythmic and soulful with an inventive New York attitude, as heard in the piece "Eye Perceives"

The Claudia Quintet is an amazing New York band led by drummer John Hollenback, here in their 7th album after 15 years, with Drew Gress on bass, Matt Moran on vibraphone, Ted Reichman on accordion, and Chris Speed on reeds plus Philadelphia pianist Matt Mitchell. The track is titled "September 24th Interval Dig" from their "September" album

Sticking with the Cuneiform label, Finnish guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim has released his 4th Cuneiform album titled "Ecstasy", intense electric jazz with young Finnish players Pauli Lyytinen (saxophones), Jori Huhtala (contrabass) and Markku Ounaskari (drums), forceful music that transports the listener with power and form, as heard in the track "The Sky Is Ruby".

Japanese pianist Aki Takase has released a number of albums on Switzerland legendary Intakt label. Her new band is La Planete where Takase plays piano, celesta, Louis Sclavis plays clarinet & bass clarinet, Doiminique Pifarely is on violin, and Vincent Courtois on cello, in a beautiful blend of improvisation and composed work that plays with time, space and sound. The album is titled "Flying Soul" and the track, "Moon Cake".

Drummer Mike Pride alerted us to guitarist Luke Polipnick's Group, of which he is a part, along side Adam Linz on double bass and Brandon Wozniak on alto & tenor saxophone. Polipnick writes new jazz with an electric edge, technical and melodic music as hears in the track "The Albatross from their "Episodes" release on Eunoria Records.

Pianist Matthew Shipp's long-standing trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey released their "Root of Things" album on the young and increasingly important NY label Relative Pitch. The album features complex and inspired compositions applying modern creative approaches to jazz in beautifully accessible ways. This is the title track.

Returning to saxophonist Assif Tsahar's Hopscotch label, here's a track titled "Oblique Interpretations" from the trio of Tsahar on tenor sax & percussion, the great bassist Mark Dresser, and a drummer/percussionist we heard earlier in the show, Gerry Hemingway. This is from a live recording at Levontin 7, the album is titled "Code Re(a)d".