MTB continues to inspire, merging shake-your-ass jazz with experimental electracoustic elements, blending players from Chicago (reedist Ken Vandermark & drummer Tim Daisy) and Europe (bassist Jasper Stadhouders of Cactus truck & Christof Kurzmann on electronics).

Baltimore brass player and composer Dave Ballou, know for Either/Orchestra, Meridian Art Ensemble, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble, Satoko Fujii ensembles, &c, in an intimate, diverse, and informed solo album performed on Bb trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, and mutes.

Jazz drummer and composer Scott Clark leads his Richmond, VA 4Tet of Cameron Ralston (bass), Jason Scott (sax) and Bob Miller (trumpet) on a lyrical and passionate suite exploring Clark's Native American roots, referencing Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee".

Young Belgian pianist & composer Bram De Looze in a new Septych (septet) orchestrated with two cellos, three horns, piano and drums from a tremendous set of players: Daniel Levin, Gebhard Ullmann, Robin Verheyen, Lester St-Louis, Bo Van Der Werf and Flin Van Hemmen.

A live performance from Culturgest in Lisbon, Portugal, 2015 of Portugese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, presenting six free improvisations that showcase both the technical skills and the strong creative powers of both improvisers.

Two string masters--Mat Maneri on viola and Daniel Levin on cello--recording at The Village in Copenhagen, Denmark in an album titled for psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung, reflecting the balance between intuitive spontaneity and pre-established conditions.

Guitarist Luis Lopes (Humanization 4tet, Lisbon-Berlin Trio) is known for his mix of jazz, blues, rock; saxophonist Guionnet (The Fish, Hubub) for a mix of free jazz and electroacoustic experimentation; together live they create a riveting and unexpected hybrid of sound.

Guitarist Luis Jose Martins and pianist Joana Sa, known from their Shhpuma release "Almost a Song" and a release on Creative Sources, join again with harpist Eduardo Raon, with two Shhpuma releases, for a delicately complex, effervescent, and sometimes turbulent release.

Nate Wooley assembled his outstanding quintet of Josh Sinton on bass clarinet, Matt Moran on vibs, Eivind Opsvik on bass and Harris Eisenstadt on drums to present a non-ironic take on the early music of a trumpeter who inspired Wooley at an early age - Wynton Marsalis.

"Fairly Early With Postscripts is meant to be a scrapbook of Derek Bailey's activities from 1971 to 1998. Most of the material included on this CD had been previously released on hard-to-find LPs (mostly on the label Emanem) and f...

A much-need reissue of the 1974 Emanem LP presenting saxophonist Anthony Baxton, also on flute, with guitarist Derek Bailey on acoustic and electric, performing at London's Wigmore Hall for twelve duets of a diverse, playful, and accesible character.

For her second solo album, Charlotte Hug concentrates on solo viola without any electronics in a series of pieces inspired by a then-recent visit to London, showing her strong musical personality and original extended techniques in a solo recital unlike any other.

The Steve Lacy Quintet's final tour with vocalist Irene Aebi, trombonist George Lewis, bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel and drummer John Betsch, performing live in Boston for an impressive set punctuated with words from Burroughs, Waldman, Kaufman, Creeley & Schelling.

Two performances by one-off groups, both featuring Evan Parker (saxophones) and Paul Rogers (double bass) -- a 1983 trio studio recording with percussionist Jamie Muir, and a 1991 quartet gig with percussionist Mark Sanders and visiting trombonist Wolter Wierbos.

Performing live at London's The Vortex in 1996, two extended exuberant improvisations from the trio of Evan Parker on tenor & soprano sax, Barry Guy on double bass, and Paul Lytton on drums & percussion, perhaps the most ferocious and relaxed example of this trio on record.

An hour long free improvisation by Evan Parker (saxophones), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Hans Schneider (double bass) & Paul Lytton (percussion & live electronics) performing at Le Festival Jazz et Musiques Improvisees, Waterloo, Belgium in 1985.

Rutherford's appearance at Chicago's Empty Bottle Festival in 2002, his first visit to the US as a lead performer, performing this incredible 31 minute trombone solo, and then organising a septet with Jeb Bishop, Lol Coxhill, Mats Gustafsson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler & Kjell Nordeson.

A reissue of Emanem 3305 (3403) with extra material from the same sessions from free improvising trombonist Paul Rutherford recorded in 1974, presenting a then-rare example of the instrument and approaches that were avant, humorous, technical, and amazingly inventive.

Improvised pieces for tracker action organs and strings recorded in five English churches from the trio of violinist Jon Rose, Veryan Weston on tracker action organ, and cellist Hannah Marshall, inviting the public to re-imagine the nature of pitch relationships.

Taking their name from composer Guillaume de Machaut, Quentin Biardeau directs his saxophone quartet as they reinterpret his 1365 polyphonic mass "Messe de Nostre Dame", using the resonance of the the Abbey of Noirlac, France to enhance these beautifully paced compositions.

Remaster of the exhilarating second set from saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton's concert at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA, 1993, one of 7 nights performing with the quartet of Marilyn Crispell on piano, Mark Dresser on bass, and Gerry Hemingway on percussion.

Guitarist Marc Ducret expands his trio of bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer Eric Echampard with saxophonist Christophe Monniot, trumpeter Frabrice Martinez, and trombonist Samuel Blaser for a tour de force of dynamic and quickly shifting improv that both shreds and reflects.

Since 2007 NEXMAP has produced "Binary Cities", a performance series bringing together artists from different cities; in 2009 they brought guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist Michel Doneda together in San Francisco for the first time for an incredible night of improvisation.

Hag is the trio of Sean Ali (bass), David Grollman (snare drum) and Brad Henkel (trumpet), joined for this, their 2nd release, by Dan Peck (The Gate) on tuba, using their instruments and objects in unusual ways to make a "joyfully frenetic dance of decadent noise".

A long-term studio project/mutant big band merging collage, scored pieces, structured improvisations, cut-up jams, hi- and lo-fi textures, electroacoustic work, and location recording into large and wonderfully unpredictable compositions with few boundaries.

German pianist Uwe Oberg (Lacy Pool, Uwe Oberg Quartet, Kooperative New Jazz) in a solo album performing works of Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk and his own original work, applying a diverse set of approaches rooted in jazz tradition.

West Coast multi-reedist and founding member of the Rova Sax Quartet Larry Ochs leads this impressive free improvising quintet patterned after the New York Contemporary Five, with the superb lineup of Nate Wooley, Harris Eisenstadt, Pascal Niggenkemper, and Ken Filiano.

Recorded alongside "Corn Meal Dance", these 2007 recordings complete the picture of bassist William Parker's intensely creative session that day, adding 6 songs plus 1 live track from 2012, with Rob Brown (sax); Eri Yamamoto (piano); Lewis Barnes (trumpet); and Leena Conquest (voice).

Acoustic hallucinations for violin and piano from the duo of violinist Erkki Veltheim and pianist Anthony Pateras, exploring spectral techniques throughout extended temporal structures to generate unrelenting harmonic waves that create a singular psycho-harmonic texture.

Sardinian pianist Claudio Sanna, versed equally in the classical, jazz, and electroacoustic traditions, in his debut recording of 8 original compositions blending composition and improvisation, revealing an enthusiastic and curious approach to music.

Trombonist Steve Swell presents an homage to composer Bela Bartok, applying jazz techniques to the composer's music to find something new and unexpected, in an amazing quintet with Connie Crothers (piano), William Parker (bass), Chad Taylor (drums) & Rob Brown (sax).

The second set of Cecil Taylor's superb live set at Grosser Saal Volkshaus, in Basel, Switzerland in 1981, performing solo over five improvisations, presented for the first time in the original concert sequence.

Two saxes and a synth in long-form improvisations from the trio of Berlin-based synth player/mask-designer Liz Kosack and Brooklyn-based saxophonists Nathaniel Morgan and Anna Webber, using sophisticated approaches to the blending and contrasting of tones, rhythm and sound.

Six rich and varied electro-acoustic instrumental works from an amazing quintet of brilliant improvisers: Anthony Pateras (keys); Will Guthrie (drums & percussion); Natasha Anders (bass & computer); Clayton Thomas (double bass) and Jerome Noetinger (tapes & electronics).

New York's Twins of El Dorado is a voice-trumpet duo exploring the concept of the art song and the intersection of text and music as a songbook concept, performed by Joe Moffett (trumpet), Nathaniel Morgan (alto sax), Cole Kamen-Green (trumpet), and Kristin Slipp (voice).

Zorn's "The Book of Heads" is performed by guitarist James Moore, heard on CD and seen in a DVD by Stephen Taylor, using prepared guitar to interpret Zorn's hermetic language of meticulously notated sounds inspired by contemporary classical extended techniques.

A meditation on the inner mental environments that one encounters and endures during times of work-related travel, intended as a distraction in airports, bus stations, train stations, subway terminals, &c, reflected in literal and abstract sound for a mix of patience and terror.

Unusual sound work from the Japanese duo of Takahiro Kawaguchi and Utah Kawasaki (Astro Twin), using self-made instruments and electronics to create unexpected sonic emissions that follow curious paths separated by periods of quiet or textural sound.

The Necks 18th album finds the trio of drummer/percussionist Tony Buck, bassist Lloyd Swanton and pianist/keyboardist Chris Abrahams in a vertiginous 44 minute dark excursion punctuated by cliff hanging moments through homemade instruments and unusual textures.

In 2004 Charlegmane Palestine updated his 1977 work "Schlingen Blangen", a piece that could be played for days nonstop in "sonic constant chemical acoustic + architectural evolution + transformation in space", here in the version from that year's Angelica Festival.

The 2nd installment of the trio of guitarist Henry Kaiser, double bassist Damon Smith and drummer Weasel Walter's unadulterated free improvisation escapades, with innovative approaches to playing and a quirky sense of humor leading to outstanding improv.

Features: The Expanding Universe of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan; Yamantaka // Sonic Titan; The Retro Aesthetic of Le Revelateur; JOYFULTALK (Drip Audio); Muuixx; Hard Rubber Orchestra; Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville; Allison Cameron and Contact; plus live and recorded reviews.

Eugeniusz Rudnik composes a tour-de-force of electroacoustic audio in a sound essay based on the soundtrack to Zuzanna Solakiewicz's award-winning movie "15 Corners of the World", reworked to stand alone as a stunning and thought-provoking audio work.

Polish electronic composers and performers Tekla Mrozowicka and Marcin Cichy in a beautifully paced sound work of resonating textures with melodic progressions and mysterious concrete punctuations, an embraceable abstract accomplishment.

Japanese no-input mixing board innovator Toshimaru Nakamura joins Norwegian improviser Martin Taxt on amplified Microtonal Tuba for a gritty album formed by running Taxt's tuba into the mixing board, interrupting Nakamura's signal with unexpected sonic results.

An album of tones and tonal environments from Barry Chabala and A.F. Jones, using guitars and effects to create slowly moving tones punctuated with unusual utterances of unknown origin; rich and curiously non-specific sound that lives in the back- and foreground.

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.

A co-production between BeCoq Records and Creative Sources, the quartet of saxophonist Mathhiew Lebrun with 3 guitarists--Leo Rathier, Paul Menard, and Thomas Coquelet--use preparations, feedbacks, glass, cymbals, microswitches, and unusual sax techniques to create unusual sonic environments that ebb and flow in introspective and disquieting ways.

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.

Live recordings at LOFT in Cologne, Germany from the trio of George Wissel on prepared saxophone, Achim Tang on doublebass, and Simon Camatta on drums & percussion, performing seven "Movements" that use prodigious technique with reserve and direction, revealing the structure of their work as the pieces build and recede in fascinating ways.

Two live recordings at Theatre au Clain, in Poitiers, France and at le Bistrot, in Bayonne, from the free improvising quartet of Christiane Bopp on trombone, Jean-Marc Foussat on synth & voice, Jean-Luc Petit on bass clarinet and sopranino sax, and Makoto Sato on drums, for submersive interchanges blending electronics and acoustics in remarkable ways.

Four side-long improvisations from the Australian trio of Chris Abrahams on piano, Tony Buck on drums, and Lloyd Swanton on bass, each side a masterpiece of slowly transpiring and evolving music, unhurriedly expanding each track to reveal tension and allure.

"This Norwegian duo takes the listener into a world of sound that moves between the continuous and the meditative and the fleeting and frag- mented. Their scraping, thundering, trembling and tinkling sounds sur- round the listener. The...

Having previously worked together with Joe McPhee and Kent Kessler, this album distills the Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and NY drummer/percussionist Chris Corsano to a concentrated sax and drum duo of earnest and edgy playing, bending jazz, free and blues idioms to their will with magnificent technique and power, both clearly elated in their meeting.

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!