Chicago and Norway collide in the continuing collaboration of the "free-wheeling trio" of Ballister: Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Paal Nilssen-Love, amazing and forward-thinking free jazz.

Toronto's Xmas series with an amazing lineup Jean Martin, Christine Duncan, John Southworth, Tania Gill, Kyle Brenders, Justin Haynes, Julia Hambleton, DB Boyko, &c. &c.

Three bass instrumentalists - Gebhard Ullman on bass clarinet and bass flute, Chris Dahlgren on double bass, and Clayton Thomas on double bass, improvising on the lower end of the tonal range of chamber music.

The 1st part of Doc Chad's new "Concerto" series features a homemade Smoke Detector in a variety of instrumental settings involving organ, piano, a vintage Martin acoustic, the Bo Diddley Gretsch electric & Doc Chad's large scale percussion ensemble.

Their 6th duo album, cornetist/electronic artist Rob Mazurek & drummer/percussionist/electronic artist Chad Taylor's release is concerned with the balance between controlled and uncontrolled experiences.

Frode Gjerstad's genre-bending Circulasione Totale Orchestra with Sabir Mateen, Anders Hana, Louis Moholo, Paal Nilssen-Love, Lasse Marhaug, &c. in a 2 disc set, one each live in 2010 from Oslo, and Philadelphia.

The fourth Clarinet Trio release on Leo Records, and the first one in eight years, with Jurgen Kupke on clarinet, Michael Thieke on alto clarinet, and Gebhard Ullmann on bass clarinet.

Osvaldo Coluccino's "Atto" uses various acoustic objects but no musical instruments or electronic manipulation, here in 5 pieces recorded near Milan, Italy in 2011.

A 4-CD box set of 9 "Spontaneous Sweets", elaborate, magnificent and melodic piano improvisations, recorded by Connie Crothers & David Arner performing in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, NY.

The great, late UK drummer Tony Levin is paid tribute in an album of lovely, unique and oft eccentric compositions performed by a (drumless) trio of peers: saxophonist Paul Dunmall, guitarist Phil Gibbs, and bassist Paul Rogers.

Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and his quintet expand the sonic possibilities of jazz by building on the modal music of the Iraqi maqam, adding a microtonal harmonic and melodic language influenced by the pitch-flexibility of Middle Eastern music.

The Ex were in Ethopia in 2010 for their "Free the Jazz" saxophone project, here presenting Mats Gustafsson on baritone saxophone, Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, and Mesele Asmamaw on krar, a stringed bowl-shaped lyre.

Free improvising vocalist and story spieler Shelley Hirsch teams with Simon Ho and a great set of musicians including Tony Buck, David Hofstra, Tomas Ulrich, for an engaging and fascinating set of songs and stories.

Nine tracks from two albums that Konitz recorded with German pianist Frank Wunsch in the early 90s - "Into It - Solos and Duos" and "Frank-Lee Speaking" - beautiful soulful jazz dialog between two lyrical masters.

Performing on cello, piano, prepared guitar, tapes, and the mixing desk itself, Anthea Caddy, Magda Maya, and Annette Krebs present two improvisations, one from the studio and one live in Boston.

Following the traditions of the saxophone trio, tenor & baritone player Jonas Kullhammar releases this studio album of irrepressible compositions performed with bassist Tobjorn Zetterberg and drummer Espen Aalberg.

Yusef Lateef provides solo saxophone accompaniment to authors Nicolas Humbert and Marc Parisotto's short stories and poems, using the music Lateef had played during the shooting of the film "Brother Yusef".

A project about the rich jazz history of Brooklyn, NY, recorded in that burrough by NY saxophonist Joe McPhee & bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, referencing Putnam Central, The Blue Coronet, Sonny Rollins, and Brooklyn itself.

A double CD of saxophonist Mike Osborne's group with bassist Harry Miller and drummer Tony Levin performing live 1976 at the Warwick Suite, Grand Hotel in Birmingham, driven and innovative UK free jazz from a trio of legends.

Ivo Perelman's fifteenth album for Leo Records is a trio with bassist Joe Morris and drummer Gerald Cleaver, performing original group compositions recorded in the studio in NYC.

The 2nd release from Paul Dunmall's Realisation Trio with bassist Nick Jurd and drummer Jim Bashford, recording original Dunmall compositions at Victoria Rooms Bristol in 2011.

NY trumpeter Nate Wooley and Portugal's Red Trio (Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernani Faustino & Gabriel Ferrandini), recorded after their live performance at the 2010 Clean Feed Festival in NYC; powerful and thought-provoking modern improvisation.

NY saxophonist/guitarist, composer and conceptualist Elliot Sharps Trio with bassist Brad Jones and drummer Ches Smith using written scores to guide rhythmic and melodic jazz into unlikely and fascinating structures.

10 compositions from drummer Tyshawn Sorey's creative quartet/quintet repertoire "41 Compositions", created as a series of platforms for improvisation, here performed with Loren Stillman, Todd Neufeld, John Escreet & Chris Tordini.

The exceptional free jazz quartet of saxophonist Larry Stabbins, pianist Howard Riley, bassist Tony Wren and drummer Mark Sanders performing 4 extended improvisations of great dialog and dexterity.

Nasuno Mitsuru (Altered States, Seijaku, Korkyojin, &c) in a new band with two synthesizers, bass, and drums, rock in a Heldon/Tangerine Dream mode using modern electroacoustic principles for richly hypnotic electronic music.

Alex Ward developed this band to confront the issue of combining composition with improvisation, using free jazz as a touchstone for pieces allowing stylistically unbounded playing, here with an incredible set of players.

The quartet of Cosottini, Melano, Pisani, Miano (EAQuartet Electroacoustic) in compositions referring to the 4 cardinal map points using graphic scores, games, open readings, &c.

Legendary trumpeter, composer and educator Bill Dixon in a 17 piece orchestra playing original compositions live at the 12th Vision Festival in New York City.

The eight freely improvised pieces on this record demonstrate a dynamic group with a powerful, confident sound, as performed by guitarist Ricart, trumpeter Herb Robertson, bassist Jason Ajemian, and drummer Andrew Barker.

The duo of Liz Allbee on trumpet and Anthea Caddy on cello in beautifully paced, mysterious improvisations using a minimal approach of extended and often disconcerting techniques augmented with subtle electroacoustic touches.

Dazwischen means in-between, and these works by pianist, electronic artist and AMM associate Sebastian Lexer bridge the electronic, compositional, and free improv worlds with subtlety.

Avant improvisation from violist Szilard Mezei's vocal ensemble, a 10 piece orchestra with two vocalists, performing live at CNESA, Serbia; complex and fascinating music with a mix of unusual and traditional orchestration.

A masterful fountain of melodic ideas, intriguing rhythms, and exceptional technical skill from the duo of Hamid Drake on drums and frame drum, and Sylvain Kassap on clarinets and chalumeau, recording live at the France Musique at Studio Theatre dÕAlfortville and in the studio.

A live performance at Judson Church in Manhattan as part of the 20th Vision Festival from the NY/France free improvising trio of Joelle Leandre on double bass, Mat Maneri on viola, and Gerald Cleaver on drums and percussion, two tracks of steadily building, incredibly compatible dialog.

Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus named "Clinamen" the unpredictable (in time and space) swerve of atoms falling in the void, which aptly describes the unexpected directions taken in subtle free improvisation from this French trio, led by bassist Louis-Michel Marion, with Jacques Di Donato on clarinet, and Philippe Berger on viola.

The Swedish duo of percussionist Andreas Pollak and prepared pianist Johan Graden (Adam & Alma) in an album of references and innuendo, clandestine and furtive sounds that evoke great mystery and drama in beautifully shaped sound; evocative music that deceives to emerge from the electronic realm while in actuality coming from all acoustic sources.

The second volume of the project heard in the previous Creative Sources album, "Suspensao", here in a 9-piece electroacoust ensemble with viola, cello, doublebass, alto sax, trombone, piano, electric guitar, computer and percussion, suspenseful lowercase music that unfolds in mysterious, beautiful and rewarding ways.

Canada's premiere new music magazine, with Philip Glass on the cover, plus articles on Jocelyn Morlock, Farah, D'Eon and Gill, and Olivia Block, and a 12 track CD of works by those and other artists.

The Antonio Quijano Quartet with Paul Dunmall (saxes), Philip Gibbs (guitar), Marco Anderson (piano) is an international collaboration that explores the fringes of improvised music in a variety of settings.

Rafael Toral's Space Program, post-free jazz electronic music, is made manifest in this duo between the electronicist and drummer Davu Seru, performing live in Minneapolis during Toral's 2011 tour of the US.

Tektite is European improvising bassist Inegbrigt Haker Flaten's new label to release solo and ensemble work; "Birds" presents 5 solo recordings from Grand Sport Studio in Oslo and one live from The Hideout in Chicago.

Two basses and a lower-end saxophone from the trio of Damon Smith on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass, and Danny Kamins on baritone sax, Durham also adding effects and "Radio Manipulation" to their deep sound, Durham & Kamins the core of CARL with Damon Smith adding extra underpinnings to their slowly developing, sometimes pensive, sometimes cantankerous, profound improvisation.

Recorded live at Silence Sounds in Guelph Canada, the duo of Xavier Charles on clarinet and Eric Normand on electric bass & objects eschew idiom in favor of their unique natural language on their instruments, applying patient development of truly idiosyncratic and fascinating command through a single extended work punctuated in seven diverse passages.

From 2008-16 until drummer Frank Rosaly moved to Amsterdam, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella's Trio was an active part of Chicago's creative jazz scene; in early 2018 Rosaly returned for a visit and Mazzarella composed a suite of 6 new pieces to commemorate the trio's tenth anniversary, the exuberant result this excellent concert recorded at Co-Prosperity Sphere!

A beautifully hypnotic album of saxophone, accompanied by Pan-Ney, Shruti Box and Organ, recorded in overdubs by composer/wind player Werner Durand in this 2nd chapter of his trilogy focused on the Pan-Ney, a self-built instrument for repetitive foundations, as Durand draws on elements of nature, mythology, dance, religion, literature and folklore.

Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight.

The 5th release from the trio of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Keiji Haino, guitarist Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi on wineglass and percussion is an introspective and beautifully developed set recorded live at their March 2013 concert at SuperDeluxe.

An extended and rich confluence of strings from R Keenan Lawler and John Krausbauer, using resonator guitar and banjo, sustained tones that intertwine in a beautiful and optimistic drone, minimalistic yet drenched in a profusion of harmonic detail; a beautiful and elusive dream mixing between an Indian raga and an alien electronic environment.

Recorded in the mid-90s, Livebatts! was a project of John White (Cornelius Cardew, Scratch Orchestra) developed to exploit "toy" keyboards of the 80s--cheap battery-driven instruments that hold tremendous potential for "serious" music-making--used here in a playful quartet with vocalist MJ Coldiron, Andrea Rocca (guitar & samples) and Nancy Ruffer (electrified flute).

Quietly lurking as it prepares to attack, this Kobra is the free improvising quaret of Aurora Nealand on accordion, alto saxophone, voice & objects, Steve Marquette on acoustic & electric guitars, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Paul Thibodeaux on drums, captured live at Chicago's Hungry Brain during the Instigation Festival for a mysterious 2-part "New Omens" and some "Telly Attire".

'Spilla' means 'to play' in the language of Neapolitan musicians, and playing here are NY guitarist and composer Elliott Sharp and Italian guitarist Sergio Sorrentino, presenting world premier recordings of 4 works recorded live in Vercelli, Italy: two improvisations and two graphic scores performed on electric guitar with incredible technique and passion.

Stochastic music for percussion and synthesizers from New York avant conceptualist and keyboardist Charlemagne Palestine, here on piano & electronics, with the Italian duo Trrma' of Giovanni Todisco on percussion and Guiseppe Candiano on synth, in two side-long works of irregular rhythm, complexity and dissonance that build and recede in a suspenseful journey.

While both improvisers were in New York City for the 2019 Vision Festival, multi-reedist and European Free Improv legend Peter Brötzmann met Chicago cellist and electronics artist Fred Lonberg-Holm to record their 3rd album together, their 1st album in the studio a diverse set of incredible concentration, with Brötzmann performing on tenor saxophone, woodwind, and clarinet.

A momentous 2020 concert at London's Cafe OTO, presented in two discs, the 1st with label leader Jean-Marc Foussat in a solo improvisation on synth and voice, the 2nd in a trio with Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone sax, and Evan Parker on soprano sax, the 2 saxophones weaving and responding to Foussat's remarkable alien soundscapes and vocalization in an immersive extended improvisation.

German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and Vancouver pianist Kris Davis, both living and working in NY, and having worked together in a variety of groups including Laubrock's Anti-House, a trio with drummer Tyshawn Sorey, Tom Rainey's Obligatto, &c. &c., concentrate their sophisticated playing with this duo album of 7 original compositions and 2 free improvisations.

Trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez merges his Yells at Eel project with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer/percussionist Stefan Gonzalez, with Texas-based experimental rock band Pinkish Black--Daron Beck on keyboards and Jon Teague on drums & synthesizers--for a gripping and masterful hybrid of improvisation, dark synthetic rock and heavy moods; a riveting journey.

Exploring the lineage of the Dukes of Bedford, the Russell lineage in Bedford, England, in groupings of acoustic & electric guitarists John Russell, Ray Russell, and Henry Kaiser along with double bassist Ollie Brice, from duos to quartets, eight Duke "Russells" from 1680 to 2003 are explored through intricate and joyfully creative and technically amazing string improvisations.

Taking his title from a poem by Octavio Paz with titles from translations by Lysander Kemp of other Octavio Paz poems, this solo album from double bassist Damon Smith is his definitive statement on the instrument: 23 tracks from 46 seconds to 5 minutes 50, developed over 15 years and displaying Smith's incredible technique and creative intent; incomparable.

Composed two years before his death, Feldman's "Piano and String Quartet" is a wonderfully impressionistic piece that moves slowly, rendered beautifully by Vicki Ray and the Eclipse Quartet.