The follow-up to NY drummer/composer Dan Weiss's 2018 release Starebaby is an unconventional compounding of electric jazz, doom metal, electronic music, and improvisation, performed with Matt Mitchell on piano & Prophet 6, Craig Taborn on piano, Fender Rhodes & synthesizers, Ben Monder on guitars, and Trevor Dunn on electric bass.

Recorded at the same time and influenced by the recording of their 2020 album The Anthony Braxton Project, the NY Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass & electric bass present 9 original compositions, three pieces from each of the musicians, of melodically inclined forward thinking, creative jazz.

Perhaps one of the quirkiest releases from the Klaxon Gueule trio of Michel F Côté, Bernard Falaise and Alexandre St-Onge, performing respectively on drums, guitar and bass, and all on synthesizers and computer, recalling early electronic albums while adding a whimsical and alluring edge to their often darker and more experimental prior releases.

Performing four of avant composer Alvin Lucier's works composed between 1991 and 2004, the Montreal-based Quatuor Bozzini (Clemens Merkel on violin, Alissa Cheung on violin, Stephanie Bozzini on viola, and Isabelle Bozzini on cello) focus on Lucier's works of sonic exploration, including the intensely harmonic interactions of the album's title work.

After work supporting Lee Morgan, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Steve Lacy, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, &c., free jazz bassist Henry Grimes recorded this great example of his skills as a composer and leader, in a trio with Tom Price on drums and Perry Robinson, here in a definitive vinyl LP reissue of this exemplary album.

London's Otoroku label keeps this magnificent album in print with a 2021 reissue of the 1982 Incus release featuring Evan Parker performing solo on soprano saxophone, using the natural resonance of the Church Of St. Jude-on-the-Hill, in Hampstead London as he explores upper tones and high frequency split tones in a technically brilliant display.

On their 6th recording as a trio concept, The Fire! trio of Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass guitar) and Andreas Werlin (drums) add to their energetic approach to free improvisation through Mats Gustafsson performing on both baritone sax and flute, and by the addition of guests Goran Kajfes on quartertone trumpet and Mats Aleklint on trombone and sousaphone.

Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) invited 41 drummer/percussionists including Tony Buck, Vasco Trilla, Tim Barnes, Greg Stuart, Cyril Bondi, &c. to take part in a project by recording a few short fills or phrases, which Zuydervelt used as "Lego Bricks" to build a series of short rhythmical collages, the results being 24 diverse and fascinating compositions.

Recording in Cologne, Germany, the quartet of Arne Deforce on cello, Deborah Walker on cello, Erik Drescher on flute, and Dafne Vicent Sandoval on bassoon realize NY composer Phill Niblock's work of acoustic drone, using long sustained notes to create a seething combination of harmonic interactions with an ominous tone, ending somewhat abruptly to reveal its layers.

The debut of a new electric jazz quintet from NY violinist Sana Nagano, with Peter Appfelbaum on tenor saxophone & megaphone, Keisuke Matsuno on electric guitar, Ken Filiano on acoustic bass & effects, and Joe Hertenstein on drums, an inventive and energetic album of joyful urgency and tremendous group dynamic, fueled by Nagano's exuberant and lyrical compositions.

The first of a 3-album trilogy Playfield offers the musical equivalency of a walk through the diversity of New York in a loft-style extended improvisation from the octet of Daniel Carter on horns & reeds, Luisa Muhr on voice, Ayumi Ishito on sax, Eric Plaks on piano, Aron Namenwirth & Yutaka Takahashi on guitars, Zach Swanson on bass, and Jon Panikkar on drums.

A remarkable tour de force of solo piano improvisation on this self-released album from Virginia-based but New York-associated pianist Joel Futterman, recording in the studio in 2009 for a three-part series of exploratory and profoundly masterful improvisations, captivating with intense and technical passages that yield to lyrically beautiful and expansive playing.

An almost hour long "Rhizome" of free improvisation and a brief "Renewal" from the duo of Joel Futterman on piano and Ike Levin on tenor sax & bass clarinet, performing live at Constellation in Chicago in 2017, for a wonderfully evolving work of suspense, release, technical brilliance and exuberant expression, a dialog that only two such frequent collaborators can evoke.

Beginning in 1995 in Seattle, audio explorers Jeph Jerman & David Knotts explore lo-fi approaches using cassettes, mini-cassettes, dictaphones, various assortments of homemade instruments & collected materials, this 2020 cassette including recordings of mouth, stone, wood, glass, metal, paper, plastic, radio, and input from a number of contributors.

Zorn's compositions on this album bridge the worlds of contemporary compositional and fully improvised jazz, Zorn conducting a quartet with Stephen Gosling's piano and Sae Hashimoto's vibraphone parts fully notated, while drummer Ches Smith and bassist Jorge Roeder provide an improvisational rhythm section, bringing to life these dynamic and lyrical works.

The songwriting team of John Zorn and Jesse Harris, who worked together on Zorn's The Song Project, wrote these beautiful melodies & lyrics that merge elements of rock and jazz for singer Petra Haden, performed in a quintet with Jesse Harris on acoustic guitar, keys & background vocals, Kenny Wollesen on drums, percussion, Julian Lage on guitar, and Jorge Roeder on bass.

John Zorn's Gnostic Quartet of Bill Frisell on guitar, Carol Emanuel on harp, John Medeski on organ, piano & Fender Rhodes, and Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone perform Zorn's melodic compositions dedicated to one of Zorn's earliest mentors, Ennio Morricone, through nine compositions of "beautiful harmonies, a driving rhythmic pulse and stunning lyricism."

The third and final CD in composer John Zorn's trilogy inspired by historic figures of Christian mysticism, following works for Francesco d'Assisi and Julian of Norwich, these 10 pieces are conducted by Zorn and written specifically for the acoustic guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley; an album of breathtaking character and inspired playing.

Two quartets performing two live concerts from 1963 led by John Coltrane on tenor & soprano saxophones, the first at the Newport Jazz Festival with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass and Roy Haynes on drums, the second at Birdland with Elvin Jones on the drums, plus 2 studio recordings with that quartet at Van Gelder Studio in the same year.

Having worked together for 40 years starting in the 80's in the Downtown NY scene, guitarist Fred Frith and electronic artist Ikue Mori recorded this album in Germany, using studio time left after recording the music for a radio play by Werner Penzel, using that work as an influence for these exceptional improvisations on home made instruments, toys and electronics.

Working in a Derek Bailey vein of solo guitar improvisation, Portland, Maine improviser E. Jason Gibbs presents 14 performances on the acoustic guitar, cohesive pieces of confident development that reference not only the London improviser, but also shades of Americana and a unique voice and set of strategies uniquely his own.

Pianist Alexander Hawkins' six movement composition is realized by the UK Riot Ensemble, known primarily for their work with notated contemporary music, adding Evan Parker's incredible soprano sax soloing, and filtered through Matthew Wright's live electronic processing, resulting in this amazing hybrid masterwork that bridges modern 21st Century forms.

The 10th album from The Rempis Percussion Quartet, the dual-drumming free improvising collective quartet of Dave Rempis on alto & tenor saxophones, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, and Tim Daisy & Frank Rosaly on drums, celebrating their 15th anniversary as a working band through this exhilarating concert captured during their 2019 European Tour at AMR in Geneva, Switzerland.

Recorded during the The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra sessions in 1961 after moving the Arkestra to the Philadelphia/NY area from his original Chicago base, these two ballads are sung by Ricky Murray, "I Struck a Match..." written by Sun Ra and very much an Arkestra tune, while "Dreamsville" is a Livingston-Mancini-Evans tune that receives Ra's big band treatment.

Bringing an innate lyricism to free improvisation in the piano trio format, albeit a thoroughly modern take on that format where all performers are equal and active participants, from Aki Takase on piano, Christian Weber on bass, and Michael Griener on drums, performing five Takase originals, one from Griener & Takase, and 8 collective works.

French voice artist and composer Yannick GuŽdon living in Brussels composed this extended work, the title translating to "insistence on possibilities", realized with cellist Deborah Walker and violist Cyprien Busolini, Guédon merging extended utterance into long string drones, contrasted with silence, as the piece moves through very specific placement.

Sharing compositional credits with the title translating to "the cooked", the trio of Andreas Nordheim on cornet, Ole Schmidt on clarinets, and Chris Weinheimer on flutes, with pianist Jan Gerdes guesting on one piece, present 16 recordings of minimalist harmonic and tonal development, mysterious and haunting works are taxonomically named by their location.

Various facets of German composer and experimenter Florian Wittenburg's interests, in two iterations of two pieces and two compositions, using voice, vibraphones and ringing bowls, treated electronically to emphasize unique characteristics of sound from warmly rich to mysteriously fragile, balanced with space and careful timing; a valuable introduction to his work.

Guitarist, computer musician, and improviser Eric Wong (D.N.A.N.D.N.A. with Simon Rose) focuses on sound textures and perception of sound, in three works composed using Ableton Live that explore concepts of psychoacoustic sound through dissonance, harmonic interference and hallucinatory sound, slowly developing works of rich sonic characteristic.

A live concert of collective free improvisation captured at Elastic Arts in Chicago in 2018 between Rob Magill on tenor & soprano saxophones, Gerrit Hatcher on tenor saxophone, Charlie Kirchen on bass, and Julian Kirshner on drums, an energetic and diverse concert in three conversations that allow for great discourse and extended soloing; numbered edition of 150 copies.

French sound artist Karbe Dinel creates a complex work of sound that shifts through diverse moods and seamlessly dovetailed sections, using synthesizer and effects to create deep resonating tones and high pitched complements, mysterious grainy ambience, haunting chambers of drifting electronics; a mysterious and compelling journey in the electronic realm.

A rich and beautiful drone work from Stephen O'Malley recorded at EMS in Stockholm, the title translating to "East-West Summer", as the piece emulates an accommodating evening, electronic crickets introducing and then settling into a slowly rotating and absorbing combination of tones, the flickering crickets returning to fade out the sense of restful night.

Recorded at the same time and influenced by the recording of their 2020 album The Anthony Braxton Project, the NY Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass & electric bass present 9 original compositions, three pieces from each of the musicians, of melodically inclined forward thinking, creative jazz.

An unusual duo of double bass, voice, hammered dulcimer, recorder, slide whistle, and various objects, recorded in 2019 between bassist Damon Smith and Sarah Ruth Alexander, freely improvising through nine pieces that show the breadth of creative imagination and powerful technical skills of each; curiously compelling, unpredictable and marvelously diverse.

A merging of free jazz and free improvisation in the UK/US West Coast quintet of legendary AMM drummer Eddie Prévost, guitarist Henry Kaiser on "ismguitar", N.O. Moore on "guitarisism", Blinker Golding on saxophone and Olie Brice on double bass, in a rollicking album of electric jazz recorded in the studio in London for two exhilarating "Doors" of quick shifting improv.

An exciting album of free jazz from the Australia/London-based Cyclone Trio, their name apt in the feverish interaction between saxophonist Massimo Magee and dual drummers Tony Irving and Tim Green on the opening work, the album patterned like a storm that slows introspectively for a quiet eye, then drums up a final gale force that dissipates to a sort of calm; brilliant.

Null Hypothesis is a return to the birth of Metal Chaos Ensemble 5 years previously with Null Theory, the duo of David Peck (PEK) on reeds, winds, percussion and other unique percussive elements, and Yuri Zbitnoff on drums, chimes, and other percussion - no spoken words accompaniment tracks, or overdubs, simply Zbitnoff and PEK and a room full of percussion, horns and electronics tearing it up live to YouTube for 70 minutes; epic.

The final issue of 2020 is is dedicated to the art of conversation in music and about music during the age of pandemic; with Debby Friday on the cover, plus articles about Victoria-based composer Anna Höstman, Tehran-born Araz Salek, Tkarón:to-based saxophonist and composer Olivia Shortt, with a CD including tracks from those artists, plus reviews, articles, &c.

PROMO COPY WITH CUT CORNER

Four times David Peck, as the Boston reedist and multi-instrumentalist leverages concepts from his graphic scores for the Leap of Faith Orchestra designed to limit the excesses of large ensemble in improvisation, following his score of symbols and written instructions through four recorded iterations, listening to and reacting to the previous layers in a virtual quartet of PEKs.

The "guess" was guitarist and electronics artist Dave Tucker's educated guess that these four musicians--himself, pianist/keyboardist Pat Thomas, guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders--would create someting extraordinary if he brought them together for a concert at London's Cafe OTO, this boundary-pushing album the indisputably successful result.

The Brooklyn trio of Yuma Uesaka on tenor saxophone & clarinets, Cat Toren on piano & synthesizer, and Colin Hinton on drums, percussion, gongs, glockenspiel, & vibraphone, in a sophisticated album of modern creative improvisation with a lyrical attitude and a confidently introspective approach, all three players contributing original compositions to this debut album.

The fourth 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 Janet Feder, Martin Vishnick, Ikbal Lubys, Edward J. Gibbs, Joshua Weitzel, Guram Machavari, Eric Wong, Garth Erasmus, and Bill Horist.

The third 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 Sergio Sorrentino, Christian Vasseur, CharbelHaber, Misha Marks, Henry Kaiser, Nick Ashwood, Emil Palme & Taus Bregnhøj-Olesen, Sharif Sehnaoui, Colin Robinson, Martin Huba

Matt Weston (Arthur Brooks Ensemble V, Arc Pair) initiates a series of limited cassette releases with this solo album, seven works of percussion using traditional and idiosyncratic percussive sources with a pensive pace and somewhat irascible attitude, each piece fully notated and executed live in the studio, using a similar aesthetic to link each work.

First release on the Alt.Vinyl label in 2014, this album finds harpist Rhodri Davies performing on the same instrument as his prior album Wound Response, but here with no amplification, preparations or distortion, improvising through "tumbling phrases, arpeggios and articulate rhythms", in a compelling album of assertive and joyful playing.

First released in 2012 on the Alt.Vinyl label and now reissued on his own Amgen label, Rhodri Davies performs solo in Newcastle upon Tyne on lap harp and electronics, using two main techniques: over-articulation of the strings (what harpists are taught not to do) and attacking the strings with a plectrum, forcing the tuning into new relationships until the strings eventually break.

The remarkably creative flutist & saxophonist Jean Derome often incorporates unusual instruments into his improvisations and compositions, including bird calls, harps, kalimbas, sirens, flower plastic wrappings, bells, &c &c.... on this album Derome focuses on those unique instruments and noise makers through 23 surprising pieces illustrating his incredible collection.

A single piece recorded live for Ingebrit Haker Flaten's 2020 Sonic Transmissions Festival finds the Danish saxophonist in an extended improvisation of varying moods, applying a diverse set of methods and technical approaches to the horn, from quiet meditate work to full-throated exuberance, in a remarkably personal journey of confident exposition.

Applying extended techniques from rubbing & scraping to sawing and striking, New York violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul presents a bold solo violin album of 6 pieces with titles like "Bruise" or "Teeth", drawing an incredible gamut of unusual sounds from the violin and its body, occasionally adding vocal utterance, all laid out with a wonderfully quirky sense of timing.

With the sudden cessation of touring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Satoko Fujii turned to composing and recording herself in a home studio that she developed with the help of sound engineer Mike Marciano, freeing herself to explore new compositional methods and approaches to theory, this superb solo album the results of seven months of sublime self-expression.

Two concert recordings between alto saxophonist Bertrand Gauget and pianist John Tilbury, one at Eglise Saint Maximin, in Metz, France in 2016 and the other at Festival Paysages d'écoute at Les Quinconces, France in 2019, leveraging the natural resonance of both spaces as they perform with concentrative pacing using advanced techniques to create drama and intensity.

Focusing on the harmonic interaction, delicate nuances and harmonic functionality of closely related tones, Chicago instrumentalists Zachary Good on clarinet and Ben Roidl-Ward on bassoon recorded these six works of acoustical and phenomenological events using the interplay between coinciding clarinet and bassoon notes, creating illusory and haunting tonal works.

The Montreal-based Chorale Joker ensemble directed and conducted by Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy, and Jean Derome, who are also participants, is one of the most unusual and fascinating improvising vocal ensembles active, heard here in a concert coordinated with Productions SuperMusique at Le Vivier, Amphiteatre du Gesu, Montreal in early 2020; indescribably fascinating!

Two side-long compositions from audio explorer Jeph Jerman, assembled using recordings of objects including "mouth, stone, wood, glass, metal, paper, plastic, radio" plus field recordings made through the spring and summer of 2020 in and around Cottonwood, AZ, joined with audio contributions from Doug Theriault, Chris Reider, Julie Schubert, &c.

Using an unusual re-tuning of the piano, saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh enlists three inventive pianists--Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, and Craig Taborn--for a set of melodically-oriented duos, Modirzadeh using alternate fingerings and embouchure adjustments to achieve intervals between major and minor, together freeing the improvisers to explore new tonal possibilities.

The husband and wife duo of New York free improvisers, Reut Regev on trombone and Igal Foni on drums, both bringing electronics to their session, in surprisingly their debut duo release after two decades of musical collaboration and shared life, their assurance and intimacy evident in the relaxed spontaneity and sheer musicality they bring to their dialogs.

The fourth and final night of a series of concerts after three nights of trios and quartets, this live recording captures the duo of legendary Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi and American alto saxophonist living in the Philippines Rick Countryman, freely improvising four impresseive and creative conversations of both intricate and reflective dialog.

Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble, merging reeds, strings and percussion with live signal processing to create something indescribably transformative is further amplified with the addition of free improvising vocalist and Tuvan throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak, adding an unearthly layer of interaction and transmogrification to this incredible 1996 FIMAV performance.

Including six of his own compositions, a work by Sylvie Courvoiser and Ornette Coleman's "Peace Warrior", New York violin virtuoso Mark Feldman's new solo album, recorded in the studio in Brooklyn, is a touchpoint to his skills and creative imagination today, 26 years after his first solo album, displaying a profound ability to engage and inspire his listeners.