Jorrit Dijkstra might be something of a bridge in the ever-shrinking chasm between American and European improvisation. The Dutch saxophonist and experimenter studied with Misha Mengelberg and Steve Lacy and was active in Amsterdam before moving to Boston in 2002. He's worked with Americans Anthony Braxton, Gerry Hemingway and Marty Ehrlich; Canadians Dylan van der Schyff, Francois Houle and Lori Freedman; Britons John Butcher, Paul Rutherford and Roger Turner; and Barre Phillips, Thomas Lehn and Marc Ducret from the continent. He has, in other words, quite a musical passport.

His Flatlands Collective - its name referring to the common horizons of the The Netherlands and the American Midwest - delves into Chicago's unique sonic landscape, a warm, brassy sound still under the sway of Gene Ammons after several musical generations. Dijkstra pulled together a strong sextet, with James Falzone (clarinet), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Fred Longberg-Holm (cello), Jason Roebke (bass) and Tim Mulvena (drums). Their Gnomade is a gradual, expansive suite, with changes generally gained foothold before being noticed. Most of the eleven tracks are Dijkstra's, with contributions from all but the drummer. But the surprises more often than not come from Dijkstra's electronics. His sparing use of analog synth and lyricon make for pleasant disruptions across an otherwise enjoyable record.

If Gnomade carries few surprises, Dijkstra's duo with percussionist John Hollenbeck is nothing but. The disc rumbles and rings with super-present sounds, sax and drums rounded out by kalimba, autoharp, tin whistles, electronics and a music box, none sounding more than several centimeters from the ear: jingle bells rolling in a can, a robin singing with a jackhammer in the distance - the juxtaposing of sounds seems endless, either homeless or universal. Perhaps after all of his geographical connections, Dijkstra has found the connections between the cracks.