Rosco Blur's groove-based jazz album with a great set of players including Paul Plimey (piano), Dylan van der Schyff (drums), spirited music with the occasional sung-spoken lyric, an album that harkens to the world of Roland Kirk with a modern edge.
Italian pianist Alberto Braida in a duo with Netherlands bassist Wilbert de Joode, a set of freely improvised works of intense dialog both technical and sensitive, with a playful give and take that incorporates magnificent use of both players instruments.
Newly Distributed in 2021: Limited edition DVD plus audio files of two extended sets bringing saxophonist Anthony Braxton and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum together live at Bezanson Recital Hall in Amherst, MA in 2010, performing compositions by both artists.
A thoroughly modern and bizarre two-act opera about three struggling roommates in Brooklyn performed with Jason Cady, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara, Jessica Pavone, Tim Dahl, Ben Holmes, Katie Young, &c.
A hauntingly beautiful set of solo piano works from Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, subtle work that belies her incredible techincal skill through beautifully paced and meditative music.
Trumpeter & cornetist Dennis Gonzalez' Yells At Eels with sons Aaron Gonzalez on bass and Stefan Gonzalez on drums adds Aakash Mittal (Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ravish Momin) on alto sax for a dynamic studio release of Gonzalez and Mittal compositions.
An early album from Vancouver clarinetist Francois Houle with frequent collaborators Tony Wilson (guitar) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums & percussion), performing original compositions and a unique version of Duke Ellington's "Frustration."
With two trumpets, drums and piano, Kaze's 2nd release with Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura, and Muzzix members Christian Pruvost and Peter Orins, hits like the album title, but surprises with contrasts from torrential power to beautiful melodic interplay.
Recorded among the Alps, "Refugio" is Laboule's (Paolo Novellino) disclosure of an ancient, dusty and seaside soundscape where it's possible to discover the necessary asylum to grow and find a refuge for melancholy.
The West Coast trio of Michael Vatcher on drums & percussion, Steuart Liebig on electric bass, and Vinny Golia on reeds and winds recording live in Los Angeles, 2001, astonishing free improvisation from three seasoned players.
Chicago cornetist/composer Rob Mazurek leads his Exploding Star Orchestra featuring Roscoe Mitchell with Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Steve Swell, Matt Bauder, Jason Adasiewica, &c. through a colossal 8 part work, and also provides a single CD of cosmic electronics.
Turbulent and rugged free improvisation live in Berlin from the trio of electric guitarist Caspar Brotzmann, E-Bassist Marino Pliakas, and drummer Michael Wertmuller, with FM Einheit joining on steel for two tracks.
The duo of pianist Dana Reason and drummer & sampler player Peter Valsamis in an album crossing boundaries of jazz, classical, and creative new music from two exceptional players involved in a rich dialog.
This extraordinary improvisation quartet joining NY and London improvisers made it's debut over the course of 3 concerts in Europe in 2012, with Evan Parker on sax, Peter Evans on trumpet, Craig Taborn on piano, and Sam Pluta on laptop.
Tenor saxophonist Matthias Schubert leads a quartet with Claudio Puntin (clarinet) Carl Ludwig Hubsch (tuba), and Tom Rainey (drums), integrating New Orleans jazz forms into modern improvisation, including covering Jelly Roll Morton's "Shreveport Stomp".
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.
A double CD of UK's experimental music ensemble Apartment House performing 14 chamber pieces composed by and under the supervision of Laurence Crane, beautiful and informed minimal work from a unique voice in modern composition.
Kaze brings together Japan's incredible improviser-composers, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii, with trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins from the French improvisers collective Muzzix.
Germany's Fragment Factory released this compilation to celebrate their 4th anniversary, with artists Joachim Montessuis, AMK, Aaron Dilloway, Philip Marshall, Krube., Michael Barthel, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Michael Muennich, Giuseppe Ielasi, Leif Elggren and Michael and Basil Esposito.
British saxophonist Simon Rose uses extended and evocative techniques in this exceptional set of duos with Paul Stapleton, who plays a Bonsai Sound Sculpture, an assemblage of unusual electronic and acoustic components allowing a wide range of expression.
A composition written for collaboration between Charles Evans and David Liebman, an unusual pairing of soprano and baritone saxophones, in a quartet with pianist Ron Stabinsky and bassist Tony Marino.
Pianist Nechusthan leads his powerful trio of bassist Ken Filiano & drummer Bob Meyers, plus clarinet legend Harold Rubin, in a Jackson Pollack-influenced action suite, 10 pieces of free improvisation following a larger structured process.
Using Gato Libre's music as the direction for his first solo album since 2004, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura releases an album of powerful and personal playing with a surreal flow of ideas, impish humor, and restrained joy.
TLASILA was an experimental music collective founded in 1990 by composer Tom Smith; this 3 CD + download releases finds a massive cast of artists restructuring the improvisations from the "Noon and Eternity" album into a massive 240 minute work.
Trumpeter Gonzalez's band with sons, bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez, joined by saxophonist Tim Green and legendary UK/South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo.
Reissue of pianist Copland in a trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jochen Rueckert performing ballads including pieces by Coltrane, Waldron, Porter and Sting.
A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).
The debut recording of New York double bassist Sean Ali's improvising string trio with violist Joanna Mattrey and cellist Leila Bordreuil, having worked together since 2015, each brings impressive technique and a somewhat twisted approach to their strings in a diverse set of extended improvisation from pensive and spacious to formidable density.
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.
A beautiful solo set of 12 improvisations, Michael Attias performing on alto sax with his left hand and piano with his right, captured in the natural reverberation of La Maison en Bois in Abeville-La-Riviere, France; surprisingly his 1st solo album, developed over 12 years yet played in under an hour with no retakes, a wonderful nuanced reflection in tone, melody & color.
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.
Recording in Toronto, the core trio of drummer Nick Fraser, saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis are joined on four tracks by tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Lina Allemano, in an album of composed and collective improvisation, merging Toronto, NY and European influences in an accomplished album of diverse approaches and orchestrations.
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.
A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).
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.
Using hard bop as his jumping off point, Swiss saxophonist Omri Ziegele Tomorrow Trio with Christian Weber on bass and Han Bennink on drums--musicians who have toured and performed together over years--went into the studio hot off of a 13 day tour to record these 6 Ziegele original compositions, lyrically balanced with room for exemplary soloing and group interplay.