Ned Rothenberg (w / Courvoisier / Halvorson / Fujiwara):
Crossings Four (Clean Feed)

Crossing styles, generations and approaches to improvisations, multi-reedist and composer Ned Rothenberg's quartet of Rothenberg on clarinets & alto sax, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Mary Halvorson on guitar & effects and Tomas Fujiwara on drums perform five Rothenberg compositions and one by Rothenberg & Courvoisier of spectacular timbral, rhythmic and melodic intersections. ... Click to View

Jose Lencastre / Hernani Faustino / Vasco Furtado :
Vento (Phonogram Unit)

A remarkable trio of active players on the Lisbon free improv scene -- José Lencastre (alto sax), Hernâni Faustino (double bass) and Vasco Furtado (drums) -- and the debut release for the Phonogram Unit label, in six collective improvisations recorded in the studio, evenly proportioned between boppish free jazz and abstract, almost chamber sonic expression; beautiful. ... Click to View

Albert Ayler (incl. Milford Graves, Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Sunny Murray, &c):
More Lost Performances, Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Remastering previously unavailable and vital performances from three configurations of saxophonist Albert Ayler's bands, including their 1967 Newport Festival concert with Milford Graves, their performance at John Coltrane's 1967 Funeral at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in NYC, and an incredible 1962 concert with Cecil Taylor's group with Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray in Copenhagen. ... Click to View

Bill Evans (Evans, Hall, Peacock, Motian, Israels, Bunker):
Duos With Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65, Revisited [2 CDs] (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Three configurations of sophisticated duos & trios from four remastered albums recorded between 1962 and 1966 by pianist Bill Evans: first in duos with guitarist Jim Hall (Undercurrent); then with his trio of bassist Gary Peacock & Paul Motian (Trio 64); then with bassist Chuck Israels & drummer Larry Bunker (Trio 65); and last full circle to 1966, again with Jim Hall (Intermodulation). ... Click to View

Scott Amendola / Henry Kaiser / Michael Manring:
Haunted by Eternity [2 CDs] + Trouble with the Treble (Agren / Colby / Kaiser) (Fractal)

The West Coast power trio of Scott Amendola on drums & live electronics, Henry Kaiser on guitar and Michael Manring on bass are heard in this double album of 15 assertive tracks that balance heavy electronics and effects with intense soloing amidst unusual "soundtracks for quite a number of films that do not exist in our homeworld version of the Earth's infinite timelines." ... Click to View

Mars Williams / Vasco Trilla:
Critical Mass (Not Two)

The second release from the duo of Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla and Chicago reedist Mars Williams, the latter performing both on reeds and on toy instruments, both using extraordinary and extended technique to create both exotically energetic conversations and beautifully meditative environments, in five creative, playful and impressively informed dialogs. ... Click to View

Tony Oxley / Stefan Holker:
The New World (Discus)

A meeting between two percussive collaborators from legendary UK improviser Tony Oxley and long-time collaborator and member of Oxley's Celebration Orchestra, Stefan Holker, the latter on acoustic percussion while Oxley performs in his inimitable style of close miking and effecting percussive objects, as the pair perform six Oxley compositions of tightly ringing, energetic activity. ... Click to View

Armonicord (Querlier / Minor / Houari / Traindl):
Libres (Festival de Massy 26 Octobre 1975) (Fou Records)

Four free players from the assertive history of French free jazz--Jean Querlier on alto saxophone & soprano oboe, Jouk Minor on baritone & sopranino saxophones, Rachid Houari (the original drummer for Gong) on drums and Joseph Traindl on trombone--are heard in this exceptional and determined set performing two compositions by Jouk Minor at the 1st Massy Independent Festival in 1975. ... Click to View

Thanos Chrysakis / Chris Cundy / Peer Schlechta / Ove Volquartz:
Archangel (Aural Terrains)

The follow-up to Music for Two Organs and Two Bass Clarinets, combining the collective work of clarinetists Chris Cundy, (bass clarinets, soprano ocarina) & Ove Volquartz (bass clarinets), Thanos Chrysakis (chamber organ & voice) and Peer Schlechta (pipe organ), recorded in the natural resonance of the Neustadter Kirche church in Hofgeismar, Germany. ... Click to View

Catherine Lamb / Kristofer Svensson:
Translucent Harmonies - two duos for violin and viola, performed by andPlay (Another Timbre)

The New York-based andPlay duo of violinist Maya Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson perform two extended works commissioned for their performance series, Translucent Harmonies: first an acoustic rendering of Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius VIII (Melodic Duo)"; then Kristofer Svensson's work of contrasts, surprises, modulations, and transformations. ... Click to View

Butcher / Prevost:
High Laver Levitations Vol 1: Unearthed (Matchless)

Long-time collaborators and iconoclastic improvisers, drummer Eddie Prévost and saxophonist John Butcher, met at All Hallows Church, in High Laver, Essex in 2023, using the natural ambience of the space to capture these three improvisations, Prévost playing primarily on a drum kit and both in a more jazz-oriented sax and drum duo, extended by both players' exceptional technique. ... Click to View

Charbin / Prevost:
The Cry of a Dove Announcing Rain (Two Afternoon Concerts at Cafe OTO) (Matchless)

Two unfolding, extended sets from a 2022 concert at Cafe OTO by AMM legendary percussionist Eddie Prévost and French pianist based in London, Marjolain Charbin, the pianist playing inside and out her of instrument augmented by objects, Prévost creating sonic environments through cymbal bowing and scraping, as the duo evolve into high motion and withdraw into suspenseful beauty. ... Click to View

Eddie Prevost / NO Moore / Henry Kaiser / Binker Golding / Olie Brice:
The Secret Handshake with Danger Volume Two (577 Records)

The 2nd volume of the UK/US West Coast quintet of legendary AMM drummer Eddie Prévost, guitarist Henry Kaiser, N.O. Moore on "guitarisism", Blinker Golding on saxophone and Olie Brice on double bass, merging free jazz and free improvisation in a rollicking album of electric jazz recorded in London, adding two more exhilarating "Doors" of quick shifting improv. ... Click to View

Jessica Pavone:
Clamor (Out Of Your Head Records)

With a septet of women improvisers and contemporary performers, composer and violinist Jessica Pavone's long-form collective improv compositions are titled after innovations made by women throughout history to circumvent obstructions to their freedoms, revealed through string and bassoon orchestration that balances harmony, dissonance, drone and disruptive experimentation. ... Click to View

ZYFT (Felixbrodt / Taubenfeld / Zwerver):
Triangle Moments (Creative Sources)

The sophomore release for the acoustic free improvising Amsterdam trio of Ziv Taubenfeld on bass clarinet, Henk Zwerver on guitar, and Maya Felixbrodt on viola, upping the intensity in a set of abstract improvisations of an active nature using unorthodox and extended techniques; upbeat and often exciting collective discourse that leads to great moments of individual expression. ... Click to View

Ernesto Rodrigues / Nuno Torres / Guilherme Rodrigues / Eric Bauer / Stephen Flinn:
Letters to Milena (Creative Sources)

Referencing the book Letters to Milena (Briefe an Milena) by Franz Kafka of his intense love affair with Czech journalist & writer Milena Jesenská, through four lettered parts of a subtly sophisticated set of improvisations by Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (alto sax), Guilherme Rodrigues (cello), Eric Bauer (electronics) and Stephen Flinn (percussion). ... Click to View

Junji Hirose / Kazuo Imai / Darren Moore:
Be Quiet!!! (Meenna)

The catalyst for this album is Australian drummer based in Singapore Darren Moore, whose 2022 tour of Japan took him to Tokyo where he performed with legendary Japanese free improvisers, Kazuo Imai on electric guitar and Junji Hirose on tenor saxophone, this album recorded in GOK Studio, the session anything but Quiet!!!, but definitely energetically charged and assertive. ... Click to View

Jurg Frey / Apartment House:
String Trio (Another Timbre)

Reworking a piece for string trio originally commissioned by the Concertgebouw Brugge and premiered by the Goeyvaerts Trio as part of the 2019 SLOW Festival, this new version expands on the original composition to bring elegant calmness and clarity to the work, performed by UK's Apartment House members Mira Benjamin on violin, Bridget Carey on viola and Anton Lukoszevieze on cello. ... Click to View

Toshimaru Nakamura / David Lee Myers:
Elements (Surface World)

Two like-minded electronic sound & feedback artists, David Lee Myers, aka Arcane Device from NYC and Toshimaru Nakamura from Japan, use feedback matrices & modular electronics (Myers) and No-input Mixing Board (Nakamura) in a remote collaboration of alien overlays, sonic extensions and disruptive digressions through 12 complex and varying compositions. ... Click to View

Phillip Gayle:
Mammoth Flower (Public Eyesore)

A psychedelic set of recordings based around the guitar work of Philip Gayle, improvised, recorded, and layered into diverse experiments in sound and performed on banjo, bass, cello, door, guitars, mandolin, percussion, piano, toy piano, voice, ukulele and waterphone, with guests including saxophonist Shogo Ohshima and vocalists Shizka Ueda, Omusubisan and Fuuchan. ... Click to View

No Nation Trio (Nuno / Faustino / Valinho):
Habitation (Phonogram Unit)

Presenting concentrative and contemplative free improvisation from the Portuguese trio of Jorge Nuno on acoustic guitar, Hernâni Faustino on double bass and João Valinho on drums & percussion, recording in the studio for a 4-part and cohevise set of improvisation through muscular plucking, rich bowing, abstracted string progressions and mysterious drums & percussion; fascinating. ... Click to View

Myra Melford's Fire And Water Quintet:
Hear The Light Singing High (RogueArt)

Drawing inspiration from the same set of Cy Twombly drawings as her previous release, For The Love Of Fire And Water, and with nearly the same ensemble — Myra Melford on piano, Mary Halvorson on guitar, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophones, Tomeka Reid on cello and here Lesley Mok on drums — Melford presents five brightly original and sophisticated compositions. ... Click to View

Zoh Amba / Chris Corsano / Bill Orcutt:
The Flower School (Palilalia)

An enthusiastic and well-balanced studio recording in San Francisco from the trio of Zoh Amba on tenor saxophone, Chris Corsano on drums and Bill Orcutt on electric guitar, following Amba & Corsano's duo tour of the West Coast; this is a first meeting between Amba & Orcutt, who perform as a duo on two tracks, including a guitar duo with Amba on acoustic. ... Click to View

Art Ensemble of Chicago:
Tutankhamun [VINYL] (Org Music)

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. ... Click to View

Jose Lencastre (Lencastre / Zingaro / Lai / Almeida / Sousa):
Common Ground (Phonogram Unit)

An exquisite album of chamber-oriented free improvisation that naturally merges contemporary and jazz forms while underpinned by swinging grooves, each player expressing passion and abstraction to create unique sonic combinations, from Jose Lencastre on alto saxophone, Carlos Zingaro on violin, Clara Lai on piano, Goncalo Almeida on double bass and Joao Sousa on drums. ... Click to View

Suspensao:
Teufelmuzik (Creative Sources)

Portugal's suspenseful reductionist improvising ensemble, blending acoustic and electronic instruments in delicately detailed motion, heard in this live recording at SMUP in Parede from Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (sax), Bruno Parrinha (bass clarinet), Luisa Goncalves (piano), Flak (electric gutiar), Joao Madeira (bass), Carlos Santos (analog synth) and Jose Oliveira (percussion). ... Click to View

Maria Valencia:
Compendio de Alofonias Abisales (Relative Pitch)

Part of Relative Pitch's extraordinary solo series, fascinatingly creative improviser from Bogota, Colombia, multi-reedist Maria Valencia, was inspired by old naturalist manuals, imagining these 16 succinct improvisations where each piece reveals moments of nature in locations between the town of Sutatausa (Colombia) and the mountains of Banff (Canada). ... Click to View

Jean-Marc Foussat / Urs Leimgruber / Carlos "Zingaro":
L'Aile D'Icare (Fou Records)

A remarkable journey in free improvisation and free form electroacoustic improv from the trio of Jean-Marc Foussat on synth & effected voice, Urs Leimgruber on soprano & tenor saxophones and Carlos Zingaro on violin, three masterful improvisers who employ unusual sonic palettes and remarkable technique in a carefully controlled conversation drawing on diverse styles. ... Click to View

Merche Blasco / Lucie Vitkova:
Anette [2 CDs] (XI Records)

An unusual pairing of effected accordion and a 3D printer from Czech accordionist living in NY, Lucie Vitkova, also performing on harmonica, Korg Volca Bass and Moog, and NY multimedia artist Merch Blasco, the album titled for the name of Blasco's 3D printer "Anette", which also printed the thimble-microphones she wears on her fingers to capture parts of this performance. ... Click to View

Seamus Cater:
A History of Musical Pitch (Another Timbre)

Investigating the experimental legacy of Victorian polymath Alexander J. Ellis, author of the 1880 paper, The History of Musical Pitch, composer Seamus Cater uses 74 tuning forks tuned to represent Elliss research of just ratios of 480Hz, in three compositions focusing on the most consonant tones of the system, and balancing them through minimalist chamber work from a 7-piece ensemble. ... Click to View