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Kim Jae Jung:
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Signe Emmeluth / Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten / Axel Filip:
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Makoto Kawashima :
arteria (Relative Pitch)

A wild solo performance recorded at GOKsound in Tokyo by Japanese alto saxophonist Makoto Kawashima, whose intense and introspective improvisations balance fierce tonal expression with fragile silences, drawing from the lineage of Abe and Shiraishi while establishing his own haunting and highly individual voice in the realm of free improvisation. ... Click to View


Marco Eneidi Quintet (w / Johnston / Finkbelner / Smith / Anderson):
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Eric Shorter:
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A dynamic debut from multi-talented saxophonist Eric Shorter, joined by pianist David Shields and percussionist Gregg Bendian in a spirited trio session that replaces the traditional bass role with open, aleatoric freedom, creating an engaging interplay of spontaneous composition, expressive lyricism, and inventive harmonic exploration. ... Click to View


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Paula Sanchez:
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Camila Nebbia / Kit Downes / Andrew Lisle:
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Le Vice Anglais (Pires / Parrinha):
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Francisco Lopez :
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Eventless Plot | Haarvol:
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Eternities:
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The duo of Katie Porter on bass clarinet and Bob Bellerue on electronics, zither, and feedback create rich, multidimensional drones through live performance, blending harmonic wind tones with resonant feedback and overtone manipulation in two expansive recordings from Berlin and NYC that explore the porous boundary between intention and indeterminacy. ... Click to View


Elka Bong (Margolis / Wright / Bouchard):
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Integrating live coding, field recordings, IFM synthesis, and an array of electroacoustic instrumentation, the trio of Al Margolis, Walter Wright, and Sara Bouchard craft an unbounded and exploratory work that embraces technological transformation and sensory disruption, channeling Marshall McLuhan's insights into a richly layered and prophetic sonic landscape. ... Click to View


Karl Evangelista Quintet feat. Bobby Bradford and William Roper:
Solace Angles (Asian Improv)

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Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters, The (Rasmussen / Mitelli / Rezaei / Koenig):
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An electrifying session of genre-defying free improvisation from the international quartet of Gabriele Mitelli (trumpet & electronics), Mette Rasmussen (sax), Mariam Rezaei (turntables), and Lukas Koenig (drums & bass synth), delivering an explosive, high-energy album that blurs the lines between noise, jazz, and avant-electronic intensity with visceral spontaneity and tightly channeled chaos. ... Click to View


Akmee:
Sacrum Profanum (Nakama Records)

Recorded in Oslo's Toyen Kirke, this spiritually resonant second album from the Norwegian quartet Akmee explores acoustic possibilities with lyrical counterpoint, trance-like repetition, and intuitive improvisation, as trumpeter Erik Kimestad Pedersen, pianist Kjetil Jerve, bassist Erlend Olderskog Albertsen, and drummer Andreas Wildhagen stretch melody and rhythm into expressive, otherworldly forms. ... Click to View


Ernesto Rodrigues / Guilherme Rodrigues / Maximilian Glass:
Beyond The Mist And The Unforeseen Encounters (Creative Sources)

An intimate, texturally rich trio session recorded in Berlin between Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & crackle box, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Maximilian Glass on percussion, navigating misty lowercase atmospheres, glitch-box coloration, and finely balanced interactions that unveil subtle surprise and collective improvisation within a tight, exploratory sound world. ... Click to View


Sveio:
Latent Imprints (577 Records)

A fascinating exploration of human-machine collaboration from UK trio Sveio — James Mainwaring on saxophone, Federico Reuben on laptop improvisation and live coding, and Emil Karlsen on drums — using AI in real-time to generate uncanny textures and forms, resulting in a spontaneously composed and constantly evolving electroacoustic sound world. ... Click to View


Kommun:
Kalpa (thanatosis produktion)

Expanding to a sextet, Swedish guitarist Finn Loxbo's Kommun deepens its exploration of cyclical time and collective improvisation, weaving acoustic steel-string guitar, piano, strings, and percussion into evolving, harmonically rich phrases that merge individual lines into fluid, slow-burning forms — meditative, intricate, and poised between structure and dissolution. ... Click to View


Various Artists:
Archipelago (Bathysphere Records)

A benefit compilation in support of marine restoration through ORAI, this diverse collection features 13 experimental and ambient works — including evocative soundscapes by Scott Solter, Cristina Cano, and others — each track a donation from artists celebrating the sea’s mystery, fragility, and power through deeply personal sonic reflections. ... Click to View


Mat Watson:
Reflective Hits (Eternal Music Projects)

Extracted from archival sessions at Imaginary Sound Fields in Melbourne, Australian synthesist Mat Watson assembles a limited-edition set of vivid modular compositions — ranging from library-inspired cues to exploratory electronic abstractions — capturing the tactile nuance of a Eurorack modular as he sculpts asymmetrical, colorful soundscapes that blur nostalgia, experimentation, and inner space. ... Click to View


Unredeemable (Tracy Lisk / Andrea Pensado):
Preverbal (Love Earth Music)

A dynamic, spontaneous duo collaboration by percussionist Tracy-Lisk and multi-disciplinary performer Andrea-Pensado, this LEM-347 release unfolds through drumming, cymbal washes, voice and live electronics into a fluid, improvisatory dialogue that balances rhythmic sensitivity and textural exploration within an intimate, acutely reactive sound world. ... Click to View


+DOG+:
Our Beloved..... (Love Earth Music)

A fierce and immersive set of three extended noise pieces from the six-member experimental collective of Steve Davis, Bobby Almon, Chuck Foster, Edward Giles, LOB, and Mackenzie Kourie, recorded in multiple locations, blending dense textures, static-laced improvisation, and electroacoustic intensity into a raw and unapologetically visceral listening experience. ... Click to View



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   review by Kurt Gottschalk
  2003-09-12
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Tribute to Lester  (ECM);
Art Ensemble of Chicago - The Meeting  (Pi Recordings)

The story so far: The Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, unable to find the audience they deserve in the US, relocate from Chicago to Paris in 1969. (They are soon followed by the Creative Construction Company - Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins and Leo Smith - who don't meet with the same success.) In Paris, Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors and Joseph Jarman make a fast string of odd, exciting records, filled with vocals and bicycle horns, poetry and attitude. They release 9 records in 2 years, are renamed The Art Ensemble of Chicago by a French promoter, and meet up with American drummer Famadou Don Moye before returning to the States in 1971.

Book II - The group becomes the biggest thing in avant garde jazz in the 1970s and '80s, perhaps the biggest production outside jazz has ever supported - an organization with a huge touring company and increasing professionalism as they record for the German label ECM and the Japanese DIW. Their records become more polished but no less brilliant. Each of the members pursue more and more side projects, Bowie even joining Afrobeat legend Fela's band in Nigeria for a year. The group seemingly can do whatever they want.

But things begin to waver. The early '90s see their two weakest records to date, a pair of collaborations with an African vocal troupe. While African culture had always been deep in the band's conceit, it seemed a trendy move, their first following of fashion. Suddenly, they're sharing muses, not just with the World Saxophone Quartet, but with Paul Simon as well.

Book III - The group has its first change in membership since the addition of Moye when Jarman quits to focus on his Buddhist studies in his Brooklyn dojo. Their next album, Coming Home Jamaica (Atlantic, 1998) is an even bigger disappointment and a subsequent release, Zero Sun No Point (Leo, 2001) with percussionist Hartmut Geerken, is better but barely noticed. In 1999, Bowie, the charismatic trumpet player who charmed many fans into the fold, dies, causing a major setback for the band.

It would seem the end of the mighty band, but they persevere as a sax trio and after some less-than-spirited concerts begin to find their voice again. And why not? Mitchell is one of the best saxophonists alive, and he's backed by a great rhythm section with whom he's worked for 30 years.

Which brings us to the present, the last chapter of Book III and the first of Book IV. Tribute to Lester is the first record by AECO- as-trio and the group's fifth for ECM. With producer Manfred Eicher, the group found a clarity of vision in the '80s, especially on Nice Guys and Third Decade. (Mitchell's Note Factory also released their strongest disc, Nine to Get Ready on ECM.) Tribute harkens back to those records with beautifully clean sound and percussion driven tracks opening and closing the disc. But there is, as might be expected, a somber quality to the record. They play Bowie's fast bop "Zero" as a lament, sadly longing for a trumpet solo. "Tutankhamun," a composition by bassist Favors dating back to 1969, likewise has a yearning quality. "As Clear As the Sun" is a tour-de-force, showing that Mitchell ranks with Braxton and Evan Parker as a fluent master on the soprano. After a disappointing decade, Tribute ranks among the band's best.

Book IV begins with a surprise: the return of the mystic, Joseph Jarman. The group played some quartet shows in Europe before recording The Meeting. And if Tribute is about Bowie's departure, The Meeting is about Jarman's return. The very first second of the recording is Jarman's voice, so recognizable from the couple of records they waxed for Atlantic in the early '70s, "Hail we now sing joy/ For the mighty warrior."

The record is, in truth, more a meeting than a reunion (and shouldn't count as a reunion until we see if Jarman is going to hang). The Art Ensemble always relied on well-rehearsed heads and a remarkable simpatico, but here there's a cautious hesitancy, a bit of feeling each other out. "Hail We Now Sing Joy" could have used another take and "Tech Ritter and the Megabytes" inexplicably fades after four great minutes.

But even if it's unusual in the AECO sphere, such meetings are the stuff of jazz, and it certainly doesn't come off as a first meeting. "It's the Sign of the Times," "Wind and Drum," "Amin Budness" and "The Train to Io" are percussion discussions in true Art Ensemble style, making up 43 minutes of the 59-minute disc. "Tech Ritter" is another of the jagged R'n'B jaunts Mitchell likes to explore.

Moreover, and to me these words are very nearly holy, it's The Art Ensemble. It's a joyful thing to hear these two horns together again.

So let us forgive those who said that they weren't the Art Ensemble without Lester Bowie. Such are the sentiments of mourning philistines. And with the emergence of this new Art Ensemble quartet, let us welcome back to the path those who have strayed. Of course they're the Art Ensemble, the great and mighty Art Ensemble, and we shall forgive them, too, their missteps of the '90s. For they are the Funky AECO, because they say they are. And if at some future time, Don Moye should be the last one standing, I hope he does a drum solo and bills it as The Art Ensemble of Chicago. And I hope I'm there to hear it.





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