Peter Evans / Joe Morris / Tyshawn Sorey:
Comprehensive (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Recorded at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn in 2025, this first document of Peter Evans (trumpet), Joe Morris (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) captures four expansive improvisations where Evans's quicksilver trumpet, Sorey's architecturally detailed drumming, and Morris's tensile bass cohere into a lucid, high-energy trio language that balances raw edge with striking clarity. ... Click to View
John Edwards / Luis Vicente / Vasco Trilla:
Choreography of Fractures (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
The first documented meeting of bassist John Edwards, trumpeter Luís Vicente, and percussionist Vasco Trilla channels the duo rapport of Vicente/Trilla into a volatile trio language, where tensile bass arcs, quicksilver trumpet figures, and textured percussion intertwine from hush to rupture across four expansive studio improvisations captured in Portugal — forcefully fractured. ... Click to View
Ray Anderson / Joe Hertenstein Quartet feat. Michael Moore / Michael Formanek:
7th Dinner Live (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Drawn from three 2024 concerts in Berlin, St. Johann, and Cormons, drummer Joe Hertenstein's touring trio with Michael Moore (reeds) and Michael Formanek (bass) welcomes trombonist Ray Anderson, the quartet forging strong themes and free-form interplay where Anderson's ebullience, Moore's lyricism, Formanek's foundational lines, and Hertenstein's flexible drive spark constantly evolving momentum. ... Click to View
Ivo Pereleman / Ray Anderson:
12 Stages of Spiritual Alchemy (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trombonist Ray Anderson distill their proven chemistry heard in the quartet album Molten Gold (FSR 03|2023), here in twelve concise, alchemy-titled improvisations, Perelman's elastic lines and altissimo edge intertwining with Anderson's plunger color, slide glissandi, and buoyant phrasing to forge vividly conversational miniatures of texture, tension, and release. ... Click to View
Blumer / Dell / Geisser / Morgenthaler:
Beyond Scope (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
A seasoned quartet of trombonist Robert Morgenthaler, vibraphonist Christopher Dell, bassist Fridolin Blumer, and percussionist Heinz Geisser recorded in Zurich, exploring the essence of free improvisation through deep listening and spontaneous structure, where interplay and attentiveness replace convention, revealing the magic that happens in the space between the rules. ... Click to View
Francesca Gemmo / Magda Mayas:
Tides In The Mirror (first visit) (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Recorded in Verona, Italy, pianists Francesca Gemmo and Magda Mayas engage in an intricate dialogue between piano and prepared piano, blending Gemmo's contemplative lyricism and impressionist echoes with Mayas's inventive explorations of touch, timbre, and texture, creating a vivid and unpredictable sonic landscape of tension, nuance, and resonance. ... Click to View
Christoph Gallio's Stone Is A Rose Is A Stone Is A Stone :
Yet Dish (first visit) (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Inspired by Gertrude Stein's experimental poem Yet Dish, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio leads an ensemble with vocalist Sonia Loenne, bassist Vito Cadonau, and percussionist Flo Hufschmid in a nuanced exploration of language and sound, transforming Stein's rhythmic abstractions into vivid musical dialogues where wit, structure, and spontaneity intertwine with poetic precision. ... Click to View
Cat Hope:
Speechless (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Composed by Cat Hope and recorded live at the Tura and Perth Festival, this striking opera for four vocal soloists, bass orchestra, and community choir unites the visceral voices of Caitlin Cassidy, Judith Dodsworth, Sage Pbbbt, and Karina Utomo under conductor Aaron Wyatt in a profound, wordless protest against the inhumanity of refugee detention and a moving appeal to shared compassion.
... Click to View
The Necks:
Disquiet [3 CDs] (Northern Spy)
Marking their 39th year together, pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck, and bassist Lloyd Swanton expand their immersive approach to improv across three discs of evolving intensity, recording in the studio in Australia, where four long-form pieces unfold with hypnotic patience, microscopic detail, and The Necks' hallmark balance of restraint, texture, and boundless improvisational discovery. ... Click to View
Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito:
Out Beyond Orbit (577 Records)
Reuniting after a decade, guitarist George Draguns and percussionist Robert Cozzolino revive their duo Flying Sutra at Metropolitan Sound in Brooklyn with saxophonist Ayumi Ishito, their telepathic interplay and raw intensity yielding four vividly improvised tracks that expand their textural range and transcend genre through fearless, high-energy experimentation. ... Click to View
Samuel Blaser:
18 Monologues Elastiques (Blaser Music)
A solo journey of striking imagination, Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser channels the modernist spirit of Blaise Cendrars in eighteen original works recorded in Berlin, blending sculptural sound, melodic exploration, and poetic abstraction into a deeply personal meditation that bridges contemporary jazz, literature, and sonic art. ... Click to View
Blink (Dijkstra / McBride / Rosenthal / Hofbauer / Boyarin):
Blink (Driff Records)
Led by alto saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra, BLINK embraces collective improvisation over solo display, blending microtonal tuning, layered rhythmic cycles, and ensemble interplay inspired by insect swarms, African High Life, and minimalist rock, resulting in an inventive, off-balance sound that thrives on tension, texture, and spontaneous cohesion. ... Click to View
Pandelis Karayorgis Trio (w/ Julia Werntz / Eric Moe):
Climbing To Sleep (Driff Records)
Reuniting pianist Pandelis Karayorgis with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Randy Peterson, and featuring composer-pianist Eric Moe, this microtonal project bridges jazz and contemporary composition through Werntz's Capricious Nocturnal Variations, as Karayorgis' trio expands its themes with richly textured interplay and fluid explorations of the uniquely tuned Werntz Nocturne Scale.
... Click to View
Morton Feldman :
Intermission 6 (Another Timbre)
Finnish composer Antti Tolvi's 72-minute realization of Morton Feldman's Intermission 6 transforms the brief 1953 piano score into an extended meditation on sound and silence, his patient, quietly unpredictable interpretation revealing the work's subtle randomness and serene depth, evoking Feldman's later explorations of duration and near-stillness. ... Click to View
Magnus Granberg / Skogen:
The Willow Bends And So Do I (Another Timbre)
Composed from four pools of material inspired by Johnny Mandel's A Time for Love, Magnus Granberg's 2024 work for his Swedish ensemble Skogen unfolds in ten slow cycles where delicate fragments, melodic shadings, and restrained improvisation interlace across strings, harp, guitar, percussion, and prepared piano, creating a quietly luminous meditation on fragility and motion. ... Click to View
Marc Sabat:
Bach Tunings (Another Timbre)
Reimagining Bach's Three Sonatas for Solo Violin through the lens of Just Intonation, composer Marc Sabat adds a second violin to create intricate harmonic dialogues performed with Sara Cubarsi and Xenia Gogu, where precise microtonal tuning and subtle psychoacoustic resonance reveal new shades of Bach's counterpoint, bridging baroque invention with contemporary exploration. ... Click to View
Julia Eckhardt:
Blanca (Another Timbre)
Developed during a residency in the Spanish town of Blanca, violist Julia Eckhardt's eight compositions trace daily walks through the arid hills as sound, image, and memory, each piece born from field recordings, photographs, and improvisations that echo the wind-swept landscape, transforming the act of walking and listening into meditative musical reflection. ... Click to View
James Opstad:
Drift (Another Timbre)
The debut composer album from Apartment House bassist James Opstad presents five chamber works performed by Apartment House, the GBSR Duo, and clarinettist Heather Roche, tracing his evolution from electroacoustic exploration to intricately layered instrumental writing, where overlapping tempi, gradual transformations, and subtle harmonic shifts create a sense of suspended motion and quiet intensity. ... Click to View
James Saunders:
With Paper (Editions Glomar)
Blurring the line between sound and action, English composer James Saunders' composition transforms 100 pages of performance instructions to tear, score, press, and write on paper, creating a tactile soundscape where performers Conor Bourgal, Lindsay Goss, Ryan Seward, and Andrew Weathers weave rustle, rhythm, and resonance into a fragile equilibrium between the mundane and collective sound art. ... Click to View
Reign of Ferns (Raffa / Weathers):
In The Same Room (Editions Glomar)
A transpacific collaboration merging long-distant sonic composition and improvisation between Taipei-based Ryan J Raffa and Texas composer Andrew Weathers, capturing the evolving project Reign of Ferns in an intimate, improvisational exchange of texture and tone, their music shaped by distance, friendship, and the quiet resonance of shared creative presence. ... Click to View
Roscoe Mitchell / Michele Rabbia:
In 2 (RogueArt)
The duo of Roscoe Mitchell on bass and sopranino saxophones with percussion, and Michele Rabbia on percussion and electronics, engage in a meticulous and expressive dialogue where the smallest breath or strike is amplified into vivid detail, redefining improvisation as an inclusive and responsive art of conversation that balances order, disorder, and creative transformation. ... Click to View
Matthew Shipp:
The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe)
In a fully improvised solo recording, pianist Matthew Shipp channels a lifetime of discipline and influence into an expansive and deeply personal work whose shifting architectures, sly dissonances, and luminous pacing unfold with the gravity of composed modern classical music while retaining the spontaneous intensity of free jazz, reframing his sound in a broader, genre-fluid context. ... Click to View
Donny McCaslin:
Lullaby For The Lost (Editions)
With longtime collaborators Jason Lindner, Ben Monder, Tim Lefebvre, Zach Danziger, Nate Wood, Ryan Dahle, and Jonathan Maron, visionary saxophonist Donny McCaslin channels the raw intensity of improvised jams into a cinematic, high-energy sound world, blending jazz with rock, electronica, and soulful urgency, a fierce and timeless statement. ... Click to View
Jason Hwang Kao:
Myths of Origin (True Sound Recordings)
Recorded live at the 2022 Vision Festival in Brooklyn, Jason Kao Hwang conducts a remarkable ensemble of strings, guitars, bass, and percussion in a work that blends notated passages with conduction-driven improvisation, forging a powerful and fluid language that transcends cultural and stylistic boundaries while illuminating collective individuality and truth. ... Click to View
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Exit) Knarr:
Drops (Sonic Transmissions Records)
For their third studio release, bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten leads his (Exit) Knarr septet through graphic scores that blend visual art, mythology, electronics, and free jazz into a vivid collective process, the ensemble — now including Amalie Dahl and Marta Warelis — shaping long and short forms alike into explosive, texturally rich works of improvisational energy and imagination. ... Click to View
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Exit) Knarr:
Drops [VINYL] (Sonic Transmissions Records)
For their third studio release, bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten leads his (Exit) Knarr septet through graphic scores that blend visual art, mythology, electronics, and free jazz into a vivid collective process, the ensemble — now including Amalie Dahl and Marta Warelis — shaping long and short forms alike into explosive, texturally rich works of improvisational energy and imagination. ... Click to View
Eva Novoa:
Novoa / Gress / Gray Trio Vol. 2 (577 Records)
New York pianist Eva Novoa joins bassist Drew Gress and drummer Devin Gray for their second trio release on 577 Records, weaving melodic themes with swing and groove as Novoa expands the palette with Chinese gongs and whistling, Gress layers in modular synth textures, and the ensemble explores freedom, interplay, and evocative electronic landscapes. ... Click to View
Senso di Voce:
Through Itself (Sonic Transmissions Records)
The duo Senso di Voce, with Esin Gunduz on voice and Paul J. Ferington on oboe, create an immersive chamber work of voice, oboe, and electronics whose movements balance the ancient and the contemporary, weaving resonances, silence, and philosophical imagery into a meditative and exploratory sound world that rewards repeated listening with new layers of detail and emotional depth. ... Click to View
Perturbations:
Intractable Problems (Evil Clown)
The ninth set from Evil Clown's Perturbations project brings together reed players David Peck and Michael Caglianone with brass player John Fugarino, each expanding their roles through percussion, electronics, and objects, while Joel Simches provides real-time processing, creating a vivid and continuously transforming improvisation of shifting sonorities and electro-acoustic textures. ... Click to View
Leap Of Faith Orchestra:
Sentence Types And Tokens (Evil Clown)
Expanding to a nine-piece ensemble, Leap of Faith Orchestra with PEK and Glynis Lomon joined by John Fugarino, Eric Dahlman, Michael Caglianone, Tor Snyder, Albey onBass, Dennis Warren, and Joel Simches, transforms through broad palette improvisations where horns, strings, guitar, bass, percussion, electronics, and real-time processing converge into a richly layered orchestral improvisation. ... Click to View
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The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco ! |