The 2nd Code Girl release from guitarist Mary Halvorson presents an embraceable and ambitious set of songs from 8 poetic forms for which Halvorson composed words & music, 3 of which are sung by Robert Wyatt, the others by Amirtha Kidambi, in a band with Thumbscrew members Michael Formanek (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), plus Maria Grand (sax) and Adam O'Farrill (trumpet).

The fourth PEK Solo effort of 2020 finds Boston-area reedist David Peck in a virtual duo with himself, using a digital delay in a call and response on a single instrument - the tenor saxophone - his primary horn for a large part of his early history, demonstrating his current improvisational thinking & language on his most familiar instrument.

An innovator in integrating pedal steel guitar into modern improvised music, Cleveland-born, Baltimore-based pedal steel guitar player Susan Alcorn's quintet enlists a superb set of New York players--Mark Feldman on violin, Michael Formanek on double bass, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Ryan Sawyer on drums--taking on a diverse set of Alcorn compositions.

A fascinating set of stereophonic electroacoustic compositions based on the recordings and mixes used for four sound installations in four galleries in France, impeccably captured and creatively edited: Eric La Casa & Jean-Luc Guionnet; Michaële-Andréa Schatt & Eric La Casa; Seijiro Murayama & Eric La Casa; and Arnau Horta & Eric La Casa.

During their 2019 Japan Tour, the collaboration of the Norwegian experimental rock band MoE and alto sax virtuoso Mette Rasmussen extended their trio with legendary drummer Ikuru Takahashi to record this energetic, rough and tumble album exploring the boundaries between free improvisation, skronky rock, and other confrontational, conceptual crossover forms.

This reissue of the 1983 Saturn Research LP presents two aspects of the Sun Ra Arkestra, the first side with the 80's classics "Nuclear War" along with "Retrospect" and "Makeup"; the second side presenting the extended and more experimental "A Fireside Chat with Lucifer", a 20 minute well balanced, open framework that allows for both melodic soloing and extended free exchanges.

A precursor to his Motion Trio, this is a 2002 studio recording led by saxophonist Rodrigo Amado performing on baritone & tenor saxophones, with US West Coast saxophonist Steve Adams on soprano & tenor saxophones, Acacio Salero on drums, plus New York bassist Ken Filiano, improvising over six works that show the depth and mastery of each individually and collectively.

Two innovators of free vocal improvisation come together for a concert at Santa Chiara Nuova Church during the 2015 ImprovvisaMente festival in Lodi, Italy, setting aside Chen's cello and electronics to focus on pure voice interactions, each using their unique language and technique in a single 37 minute performance of intrepid, inexplicable and unique improv.

Emphasizing unusual aspects of the pipe organ, composer and typically reedist Jean-Luc Guionnet (Hubbub, Return of the New Thing) performs solo on the organ at the Church of the Decollation of Saint-Jean Baptiste in L'Isle-verte, Quebec, Canada, taking a sound-oriented approach to the instrument with a minimalist attitude through four extended performances.

A set of informed avant/abstract acoustic and electroacoustic improvisations recorded in the studio in Austria in 2019, from the transatlantic trio of Euro free jazz legend, trombonist Matthias Muller, Quebec bassist Eric Normand on electric bass, and innovative trumpeter Petr Vrba also deploying electronics, the trio's interaction focused on patient and inspired sonic detail.

Jean-Luc Guionnet composes for the Le Grand Groupe Régional d'Improvisation Libérée (GGRIL) directed by bassist Éric Normand, with an 11-piece ensemble recording in the studio for a work of tension and release through fitful sections that explores contrast and unison, space and contraction, guided by a wonderful sense of mystery and surprise.

Exploring the jazz tradition through 12 tone serial tone row scales, along with graphic scores & other variations, from UK composer Trevor Taylor, also on drums & vibraphones, in a quintet with Shanti Paul Jayashina on trumpet, Josh Ison on saxophones, Dan Banks on piano, and Jose Canha on Double Bass, in a set of tunes that beautifully balance freedom and lyricism.

The other side of Paul Dunmall's characteristic saxophone work is heard here on the alto flute, bringing Dunmall together with fellow flutist Neil Metcalf and the rhythm section of James Owston on bass and Tymek Jozwiak on drums for four exceptional improvisations that focus more on interaction and less on soloing, showcasing all four through sophisticated performance.

Extremely well paired in their unusual approaches to their instruments both acoustic and electronic, this live recording between Udo Schindler on reed & brass instruments and Jaap Blonk improvising with his voice and using computer electronics, results in eight diverting and inspired recording of extreme creative approaches and impressive technical skill.

A collection of live recordings from Sverdrup Balance, the trio of Lawrence Casserley on signal processing instrument, Yoko Miura on piano & Melodeon, and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg on voice, recorded during their 2019 autumn tour in U.K., Belgium and North Italy, a skewed but generally optimistic group of ea- and voice improvisers with a wealth of creative inspirations.

A studio project led by Paul Dumall on alto & tenor saxophones and alto flute, recorded while on touring hiatus during the pandemic, composing six passionate and melodically charged works performed by the brilliant sextet of Percy Pursglove on trumpet, Richard Foote on trombone, Steven Saunders on guitar, James Owston on bass, and Jim Bashford on drums.

A superb concert of masterful collective improvisation captured live at LOFT Cologne in 2018 from the trio of Luc Houtkamp on tenor saxophone & clarinet, Steve Beresford on piano & objects, and Martin Blume on drums & percussion, in three extended improvisations, thoughtful work building to periods of powerful passion while maintaining a reflective introspectiveness.

A convergence of reeds across the range of clarinets, from double bass clarinet to piccolo clarinet, in this live recording at Udo Schindler's 88th SALON fur Klang+Kunst in Krailling/Munich between reedists Schindler and Ove Volquartz, with particular emphasis on the deepest of reeds, the most challenging of clarinets, handled masterfully by both players.

Portuguese guitarist Marcelo Dos Reis and trumpeter Luís Vicente, Icelandic pianist Kristján Martinsson and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert release their 2nd album, moving from the studio to a live concert at Salão Brazil in Coimbra in 2018, performing six collective improvisations of explorative and technically advanced, cutting edge free improv.

Performing at the Gottfried Duren/arToxin at Galerie ar Toxin in 2019, the trio of Udo Schindler on clarinet, bass clarinet & alto horn, Damon Smith on double bass, and Karina Erhard on C flute & alto flute present a sophisticated set of free improvisations with a chamber improv feeling, using tremendous technique and intent listening through six fascinating dialogs.

Refined and free ranging improvisation between German reedist Udo Schindler performing on bass clarinet, tenor & sopranino saxophones and also on cornet, and US double bassist Damon Smith, recorded 3 days after the first volume in this series, presenting two sets from the same day of informed and diverse dialogs between two masterful improvisers.

Two deep basses come together in this recording of a live performance at O'Culto de Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal between Red Trio double bassist Hernani Faustino and Ensemble MIA/String Theory double bassist Joao Madeira, mixing bowed and plucked styles along with preparations and extended techniques in a three part suite of powerfully imposing improvisation.

A set of lyrical, thoughtful and sometimes whimsical works from the Scottish-based duo of Rob Hall & Chick Lyall (Green Room Trio), who have been developing their musical language since 2003, drawing from a wide range of genres from Baroque chamber music to free jazz and folk idioms, their lack of boundaries lending itself to a uniquely diverse and embraceable music.

An epic journey through diverse improvisational approaches within a composed framework, using heavy percussion of unusual & world origins, electronics, rock/groove elements and prepared mixes created from samples, from the Boston duo of David Peck (PEK) on reeds & an arsenal of devices & sources, and Yuri Zbitnoff on drums & percussion, with narration points along the way.

Influenced by both free jazz and Caribbean folk music, the NYC-based MPT Trio, led by Francisco Mela (Crash Trio, Joe Lovano, McCoy Tyner, John Scofield, Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz), presents a stylistically innovative sound on their debut album, presenting eight original pieces blending diverse musical traditions with contemporary & avant-garde jazz structures.

The first new Sun Ra Arkestra album in twenty years, recorded in Philadelphia under the direction of saxophonist Marshall Allan, with long-standing Arkestra members including Danny Ray Thompson, Michael Ray, Vincent Chancey, Knoel Scott, Cecil Brooks, Atakatune, Elson Nascimento and Tyler Mitchel, with new material and new renderings of classic Ra compositions.

Originally released in 3 LPs as Live in Egypt on Thoth Intergalactic and then as the Saturn albums Dark Myth Equation Visitation, Nidhamu & Horizon, this set reissues and expands the 1971 Sun Ra tour recordings: The Mena House Hotel in Giza; a concert at Hartmut Geerken's in Heliopolis; a live Cairo TV channel broadcast; and a concert at Cairo's the Ballon Theatre.

A suite of short pieces for solo piano subtitled "Images and Impressions for Piano", composed by John Zorn and performed by frequent Zorn interpreter Stephen Gosling, the works inspired by the sketches of English painter J.M.W. Turner, embracing influences including Ligeti, Scriabin, Bach, Glass, Debussy, Bartok, Berio, Feldman, Xenakis, Schoenberg &c.

Two compositions by John Zorn for solo cello and two works for cello and rhythm section, performed by cellists Jay Campbell (JACK Quartet) and Michael Nicolas (Brooklyn Rider, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)), with drummer Ches Smith and bassist Jorge Roeder taking the rhythm chairs; exciting and innovative compositions in virtuoso performances.

Japanese free improvisation legend, soprano saxophonist Mototeru Takagi (高木元輝), having been a one-time member of Masayuki Takayangi's New Direction Unit, shows his affinity to guitarists in this 1987 live performance at FarOut, in Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan with UK free improvising guitar legend Derek Bailey, presenting four contemplative & intricate avant improvisations.

A duo between Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozum and Swedish baritone saxophonist & wind player Mats Gustafsson, also performing on his own fluteophone (a mouthpiece attached to the flute), capturing five live improvisation at their 2018 performance at Jazz Spot Candy, in Chiba, Japan for an extremely inventive set of potent playing.

One of London's most significant and prominent free improvising double bassists, from Spontaneous Music Ensemble to London Jazz Composers Orchestra and innumerable projects with some of the globe's finest improvisers, entered the studio in 2019 to record this exceptional and diverse solo album of advanced forms and remarkably creative imagination.

A raucous and passionate concert led by the trio of Juozas Milasius on guitar, Tomas Kutavicius on piano, and Dalius Naujokaitis on drums, with the Lithuanian Young Composers Orchestra assisting on voice, cymbals, clapping, and "trampling", creating moments of adventurous disorder that lead to beautiful passages of heartfelt playing, in what must have been a marvel to experience.

An exceptional album of demanding collective free improvisation from the transatlantic quartet of Nate Wooley on trumpet, Liudas Mockunas on contrabass clarinet and saxophones, Barry Guy on bass, and Arkadijus Gotesmanas on drums & percussion, recorded in the studio in Vilnius, Lithuania while Wooley and Guy were artists in residence for the 2019 Improdimensions.

Revisiting two of Archie Shepp's 1969 recordings released on the BYG label as Blasé, and title track to Yasmina, three tracks featuring the vocals of Jeanne Lee, with four band configurations including Dave Burrell, Malachi Favors, Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Sunny Murray, Philly Joe Jones, &c., beautifully remastered to bring to light Shepp's pan-stylistic impulses.

Bringing together two essential and impeccably remastered 1960's Cecil Taylor albums — Cecil Taylor Unit Structures and Cecil Taylor Unit Mixed — presenting both traditional influences and Taylor's unique approaches to modern jazz, featuring two septets with musicians including Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes, Archies Shepp, Ted Curson, Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, Sunny Murray, &c.

Japanese free improvisation legend, soprano saxophonist Mototeru Takagi (高木元輝), having been a one-time member of Masayuki Takayangi's New Direction Unit, shows his affinity to guitarists in this 1987 live performance at FarOut, in Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan with UK free improvising guitar legend Derek Bailey, presenting four contemplative & intricate avant improvisations.

A superb mix of propulsive free jazz and pensively introspective free improv from the quartet of Frank Gratkowski on alto saxophone, clarinets & flutes, Achim Kaufmann on piano, Wilbert de Joode on bass, and Tony Buck (The Necks) on drums & percussion, recorded in a live concert at Loft, in Koln, Germany in 2018 for six inspired collective improvisations.

The Red Trio of pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, bassist Hernâni Faustino and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini mark their 10th anniversary as a trio on this 2-CD set of an outstanding concert in Lisboa, PT, joining forces with the 13-member Celebration Band, whose members include John Butcher, Ernesto Rodrigues, Luis Vicente, Sei Miguel, Rodrigo Amado, Mattias Stahl, Carlos Santos, &c.

The fourth volume in the NoBusiness Records Sam Rivers Archive series is this live recording from Hamburg, Germany during River's 1979 tour of Europe, with the multi-instrumentalist performing on tenor & soprano saxophones, flute & piano in a quartet with Joe Daley on tuba, euphonium, Dave Holland on bass, cello, and Thurman Barker on drums.

A 1990 concert at Jazz Inn Lovely, in Nagoya, Japan in configurations of duos and trios, from free improvising legends Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Masabumi Kikuchi on piano, with a 16 page booklet of photos from private collections and a detailed essay from Kohjiro Tanaka in English & Japanese providing background on the performance.

A duo between Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozum and Swedish baritone saxophonist & wind player Mats Gustafsson, also performing on his own fluteophone (a mouthpiece attached to the flute), capturing five live improvisation at their 2018 performance at Jazz Spot Candy, in Chiba, Japan for an extremely inventive set of potent playing.

Futari (meaning "two people") is the stunningly beautiful debut album of pianist Satoko Fujii and vibraphonist Taiko Saito, recorded in 2019 after a concert tour in Japan, the confluence of these similar instruments and the performer's technical mastery blending in introspective and active modes, adding rich sonic dimensions through preparations and extraordinary technique.

Kassel Jaeger, aka François J. Bonnet, a leading figure in electroacoustic and electronic music, presents an extended work of rich and warm layers, slowly unfolding and shifting as both detailed and clouded events emerge and disappear, the consistency and pacing of the work an impressive testament to his compositional control and inspiration.

Each side of these 2 LPs is take from one of four installations by Marina Rosendfeld in Frankfurt, Donaueschingen, and NYC, presenting the installation Deathstar; a piano performance within the Deathstar; a re-notation in the form of a concerto for piano and chamber orchestra; and the orchestration's reduction to something like chamber music.

An LP reissue of a 2018 Hi Hat CD, presenting an extremely well-recorded radio studio live recording from Paris in March, 1969 from the Don Cherry Trio with Cherry on cornet, piano, bamboo flute & gong, Jacques Thollot on drums, bells & timbales, and Karl Berger on vibraphone, marimba, piano & percussion, in a passionate and energetic set of extended improvisations.

A first-time encounter between saxophonist Matana Roberts and pianist Pat Thomas, performing live at London's Cafe OTO in 2018, with three short works opening the album as the duo develop their language, the 2nd side presenting an extended improvisation where both players go deeper into their dialog, each showing determination and great self-discipline.

2020 reissue of trumpeter Don Cherry's '73 album recorded with & commissioned by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, with Carla Bley on piano, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums, in compositions blending Eastern and Indian music with Western jazz.

Sounding current in the modern age of free improvisation, this 1973 recording of a live concert at Teatro Beat 72 in Rome, led by outstanding performers, trumpeter Alvin Curran (MEV), clarinetist Roberto Laneri (Prima Materia) and trombonist Giancarlo Schiaffini (Gruppo di improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza), stands as a testament to the free improv movement they helped to expand.

Reissuing The Necks' pianist Chris Abrahams' 2004 solo album, a unique set of recordings that reflects both on his improvisational life and his explorative nature, recorded using a Positive Organ, Forte Piano, DX 7 and an acoustic piano, each piece evoking distinct sonic environments and approaches to playing and compositions that makes sense in the overall presentation.

Formed in Chicago in 2009, Apiary brought together David Daniell (guitar), Steven Hess (drums), Joseph Clayton Mills (electronics), and Jason Stein (bass clarinet), interweaving disparate strands of Chicago's improvised music community, seamlessly incorporating their influences — ranging from jazz to minimalism to noise — into a whole that was dense and hypnotic.

A lovely album of friendly improvisation in the 1st meeting of French guitarist Guillaume Gargaud, who works in improvised music and composition for contemporary dance and film, and Finnish trumpeter Eero Savela, whose work is in dance, theater, circus and media art, this concert at the former mental hospital Lapinlahti finding the two exploring with lyrical insightfulness.

An album of extreme electronic improvisation using heavy underpinning of rhythm, voice and electronics, from a trio of Viennese, French, and Chinese/American performers--Lukas Konig on drums, synthesizer & voice, Julien Desprez on guitar, and Audrey Chen on voice & electronics--blurring the lines of sonic art, rock, and inexplicable ritualistic sound.

The first of a five-volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from L. Hein, Davaajargal Tsaschikher, Alan Courtis, Marco Cappelli, Elliott Sharp, Hery Ujjaya, Killick Hinds, Gilbert Isbin, and Nick Vander.