This album of improvised music was born out of mutual appreciation and admiration for the respective art forms of Ann Coman and experimental sound artist Barry Chabala, who performed original guitar improvisations while Coman intuitively created visual artworks from those performances, then reversing the process where Chabala interpreted Coman's art as visual scores.

The first album from 2006 of the Ember electro-acoustic improvising chamber jazz-oriented quartet of Urs Leimgruber on soprano & tenor saxophones, Alexander Schubert on guitar, electronics & percussion, Oliver Schwerdt on piano, percussion, guitar & electronics, and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion; an album of insightful and meticulous interaction.

On their first concert as a duo in 2014, alto saxophonist Michael Attias and pianist Simon Nabatov recorded these five creatively lyrical improvisations at iBeam in Brooklyn, Nabatov on the keys and inside the piano and both using tremendous technique in a mix of perky and introspective free expression, including an extended work that melds into Herbie Nichol's "Spinning Song".

Naming each track for the teeth of a different type of zip-fastener (curved, triangular, saggitate, &c) Swiss double bassists Daniel Studer and Peter K. Frey improvise a fascinating set of interlocking and intersecting abstractions, recorded live at at Kronen Galerie, in Zurich as the two celebrated their 20th anniversary as a duo through a series of 10 half-hour concerts.

The first release from the Barcelona-based trio of Matthias Muller (trombone), Ricardo Tejero (saxophone), and Vasco Trilla (percussion), the band examining "physics, metaphysics, and the root causes of tension that hold our world together" through fully improvised improvisation using unusual voicing, textures, modes of expression and techniques.

NY drummer Devin Gray provides the compositions for this EP with his Cloudsounds trio of Ingrid Laubrock performing on tenor and soprano saxophones and Corey Smythe on piano, the sophisticated structures leading the improvisers into almost chamber jazz territory, with a light playfulness and warm interaction, Gray's intriguing rhythms shifting and propelling their music.

A uniquely voiced free improv trio of strings and drums from the New York City trio of violinist Jessica Pavone, guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and drummer Devin Gray, each a distinctive leader in their own right who use their instruments in unusual and technically superb ways, here in a concise set of collective improvisations of an edgy and exploratory style.

After moving to NYC in the early 60s, filmmaker Michael Snow was introduced the music of saxophonist Albert Ayler's Trio with bassist Gary Peacock & drummer Sunny Murray, inviting them and trumpeter Don Cherry, trombonist Rudd and altoist John Tchicai to record these three brilliant freely improvised tracks, parts of which would be used in his art film "New York Eye and Ear Control".

A powerful and effusive jazz rocking and danceable album of instrumentals and songs from the Italian/International J & F Band of drummer Tiziano Tononi, bassist Joe Fonda, plus guitarists David Grissom, Bobby Lee Rodgers & Scott Sharrard, keyboardist Pee Wee Durante, violinist Emanuele Parrini and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, recording in New Haven, CT; get it on!

Following their first record with this powerful blues rock & jazz album, the Italian/US J & F Band of Tiziano Tononi (drums), Joe Fonda (bass), drummer/percussionist Jaimoe and Pach, Peewee Durante (keys), Alberto Mandarini (trumpet), Beppe Caruso (trombone) and Gianluigi Paganelli (tuba), with guest guitarist David Grissom and vocalist Lamar Williams Jr.

Reminding of Downtown NY bands in the vein of No Safety or Curlew, this Chicago/NY 7-piece blurs rock, jazz and funk forms with intelligent and often satirical lyrics, upbeat and joyful music that defies categorization through groove-based songs that playfully critique while keeping it all danceable and fun, in a wonderfully talented and enjoyable album.

A companion 3" CD to the Karacho! album, with an additional dynamic improvisation from the same concert, the Big Bad Brotzmann Trio bringing together master multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann, here on tenor saxophone & clarinet, with pianist Oliver Schwerdt, also playing percussion & little instruments, and drummer/percussionist Christian Lillinger.

A trio sounding much larger than its three contributors--Oliver Schwerdt on grand piano, percussion & little instruments, Baby Sommer on drums, cymbals & percussion and Barry Guy on double bass--captured in concert at naTo, in Leipzig, Germany in 2019 for a joyful and assertive album of collective free improv that merges contemporary, free and jazz idioms seamlessly.

A truly diverse set of improvisations, from solo work to large scale ensemble, as Euphorium_Freakestra are joined by European Free Jazz legends, drummer Baby Sommer and double bassist Barry Guy, in a band with leader & pianist Oliver Schwerdt, plus Bertrand Denzler, Burkard Beins, John Eckhardt, Pierre-Antoine Badaroux, Patrick Schanze, Daniel Beilschmidt & Freidrich Kettlitz.

The second step in this evolutionary project, the title referring to "noisy bustle; Riot" started with the trio of wind & reed player Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, pianist Elan Pauer and drummer Christian Lillinger (Radau!), then expanded to this quintet with two double bassists-John Edwards & Robert Landfermann--captured live at naTo/ in Leipzig, Germany in 2015.

This evolutionary project titled as "loud, colorful hustle & bustle" started with the trio of wind & reed player Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, pianist Elan Pauer and drummer Christian Lillinger (Radau!), then expanded to a quintet with two double bassists-John Edwards & Robert Landfermann--and here as a septet with saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and trumpeter Axel Dšrner.

Eschewing his many monikers (Birg Borgenthal, Elan Pauer and Ra Ra da Boff) pianist Oliver Schwerdt steps away from EUPHORIUM_freakestra, uses his given name, and takes the stage of the Bauhaus building in Dessau where such legends as Fred van Hove and Alexander von Schlippenbach have played, to record these four exemplary and extended, kinetic & free solo piano improvisations.

A double CD of pianist, Euphorium label-leader and EUPHORIUM_freakestra leader Oliver Schwerdt in a double CD of solo recordings in the studio in Leipzig, 3 extended improvisations and 1 concise piece titled "Prestige" I & II and "No Smoking" I & II, remarkably concentrative work displaying an acute and extraordinarily inventive approach to improvisation.

One year after the 2013 recording by New Old Luten Quintet, Tumult!, the exceptional free jazz grouping of Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky on sax & clarinet, Elan Pauer on grand piano & percussion, John Edwards & Robert Landfermann on double bass and Christian Lillinger on drums, took the stage at naTo, in Leipzig to record this energetic and strongly percussive followup.

Ra Ra da Boff is an alter ego for keyboardist Oliver Schwerdt, here performing on electric organ in a trio with trumpeter Axel Dörner and percussionist Roger Turner, the three turning free improvisation on its ear through extended and unusual approaches to their instruments in an impressionistic set of three impressive and slowly tumultuous extended conversations; exemplary!

Active and informed improvisations on acoustic guitar from Jean Claude "JC" Jones, label leader of the Kadima Collective and also known as a double bassist, though his roots are in the guitar, which he has returned to with vigor since 2016, performing on lap-style prepared acoustic and prepared Spanish guitar, heard here in 13 concise pieces titled by single words.

Two Chicago compatriots--established drummer/percussionist Adam Shead and newcomer to the Chicago improvised scene, saxophonist and multi-reedist Chris Moore, in an expressive album of sax & drum interaction, thoughtful interactions in twelve succinct dialogs that focuses on the depth of their conversation through clear expression and response.

A 60 page book and CD from sound artist Jason Kahn, the audio composition representing an interconnected set of sound impressions focused on the Indian city of Varanasi, using field recordings of life on the street, the people, animals & music heard there, into the holy sites of the city, the school rooms, ending with a cremation and inevitable quiet at end of day.

A 3" CD of three technically impressive, intricate improvisations: first in a solo piano piece by pianist Oliver Schwerdt, followed by a duo with drummer & percussionist Christian Lillinger with Schwerdt also on small instruments, ending in a piano trio format with double bassist Robert Landfermann, a high-speed affair of quick-witted interplay and almost telepathic communication.

A tumultuously wonderful free jazz epic recorded in Leipzig in 2013 from original New Old Luten founders, saxophonist & clarinetist Enrst-Ludwig Petrowsky and drummer Christian Lillinger, the band configured as a quintet with Elan Pauer taking on the piano role plus percussives, and the dual and powerful double bassists John Edwards and Robert Landfermann.

Opening with a powerful solo set from pianist Elan Pauer, this album was released on the occasion of Pauer's 80th birthday, revealing itself to be the incredible free jazz quintet of of Pauer, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky on clarinet & shepherds' flutes, both John Edwards & Robert Landfermann on double bass, and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion.

A 3" CD-EP of the New Old Luten Trio, expanded into a quintet by the addition of two double bassists--John Edwards and Robert Landfermann--to the lineup of Euro Free Jazz reedist Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, pianist Elan Pauer (aka Oliver Schwerdt) and drummer/percussionist Christian Lillinger, in the warm-up set before the concert yielding the album Tumult!.

Ominous and dense with layers of strata intended for nighttime listening, the German quartet of Axel Dorner on trumpet & electronics, Matthias Lorenz on cello, and both Robert Landfermann and John Edwards on double bass recorded these four tremendous electroacoustic improvisations at their live performance at naTo in Leipzig, Germany in 2013.

The title referencing a Blind Willie McTell entreaty to himself, Elliott Sharp's contemporary blues project Teraplane truly "kicks" in 8 burning pieces of concentrated guitar work from Sharp, solo and in overdub, recording in Studio zOaR while performing on electric guitar, vong co guitar, lap steel guitar, console steel guitars, mandocello, mandola, basses & drum programming.

Known as a percussionist, Bay Area improviser Charles K. Noyes' first part of his Crimes In High Places is performed on electric & resonator guitars plus amplified guqin, expanding on the innovations of Derek Bailey in free-form non-idiomatic playing as he works to create a personal language on the instrument, presenting a dark and creatively foreboding vision.

An insightful look at the history of New York composer, saxophonist and guitarist Elliott Sharp, "Sixteen Pieces in the Shape of a Memoir" as Sharp looks back at his musical influences and approach to playing and composing, with observations on music, art, politics and technology, a fascinating set of essays from a vanguard artist's point of view.

A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.

Three duos--"Tandem Spaces"--and two solos--"Dry Swing"(s)-between drummer Gunter Baby Sommer, who was celebrating his 70th birthday the year of this recording, and younger generation pianist and Euphorium label-leader Oliver Schwerdt, the duos an exciting set of exchanges often building to high speed, with Schwerdt's solo work engrossingly intricate and quick-witted.

The curious album of Friedrich Kettlitz, co-founder of Euphorium_Freakestra, reciting his poems (in German) set in 25 miniature recordings, also performing on english worker's flute, pling, metal kettle, felt head mallet, temple bell, in a duo with Oliver Schwerdt on piano, as well as small percussive devices, voice, slide whistles, a zither, and little cubic cardbox.

Two drummerless trios meet two drummers in this incredible 2006 concert at naTo, in Leipzig, one from trumpeter Matthias Mainz, cello player Matthias Lorenz and bass player Michael Haves, the other from Fabian Niermann on tenor saxophone, Konrad Gruneberg on double bass and Oliver Schwerdt on the grand piano, the drummers Christian Lillinger & Gunter Baby Sommer.

An early EUPHORIUM_freakestra performance recording at naTo, in Leipzig, Germany, in 2002 and 2003, in an 11-piece electroacoustic band that includes electric guitar, a full brass and horn front end, synth, electric bass, drummers including Gunter Baby Sommer and a percussionist, in a great blend of funky electronics and powerful free improvisation.

An early assemblage of the EUPHORIUM_freakestra led by pianist Oliver Schwerdt in a 2000 concert at Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Leipzig, each work part of a fictional narrative of a figure called Birg Borgenthal, realized through a combination of improvisation and contemporary chamber music, orchestrated for 3 pianists, 2 guitarists, and 3 singers and narrators.

In many ways a prelude to the EUPHORIUM_freakestra to come, this double album of Oliver Schwerdt's open-minded ea-improv big band was recorded in Eisenach, Germany in 2000, in Bellers, Germany in 2001 and finally in Leipzig in 2001 & 2002; despite the vastly different band configuration the concepts of the Freakestra are clear in these spectacular recordings.

After the earliest versions of the Euphorium_freakestra toured in Weimar, Leipzig, Dresden, Krakow & Gottingen in 2000, pianist Oliver Schwerdt and guitarist Friedrich Kettlitz came together to develop a suite for grand piano, acoustic guitar and free vocals, a prelude to the album Gay - Saunawirt ten years later, and the start of the professional recording history of the EUPHORIUM ensembles.

Tkać means to weave, as Swedish electroacoustic sound artist Marta Forsberg interwines drones, first through a work of sound and light using frozen and processed violin sounds that slowly shift in minimal repetition; then in a synthetic work exploring darkness, light and colour by means of LED light, fabric, sequins, and minimalistic drone-based electronic music.

Essential performers on the 80s Downtown NY scene, cellist Tom Cora and percussionist & vocalist David Moss released this album in 1983 on Fred Frith's Rift label, ten active and often absurd duo improvisation of informed interaction, intertwining strings, drums, odd rhythmic sources and strange vocal utterances, yielding to both serious improv and whimsical notions.

The Australian trio of percussionist Robbie Avenaim, keyboard player Chris Abrahams performing on a Waldorf Q+ Synthesiser and bass flutist Jim Denley, all compatriots in a variety of groupings, in an extended studio improvisation of spacious textures and rapidly understated percussive elements, aptly titled for the weaving and cris-crossing threads on a loom.

A collection of original songs and interpretations inspired by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, from vocalist Hélène Breschand, also performing on harp, electronics & field recordings, in a duo with Elliott Sharp, who creates grooves and instrumental environments on guitar, synth, bass, drum programming & electronics, each song beautifully fractured and rich in detail.

An electroacoustic composition of environment & sound punctuated with subtle percussion and electronic interventions, developed from field recordings, performances on Roosevelt Island, and studio recordings in Brooklyn by the duo of Tucker Dulin on bells, bowl, can, cymbal, lentils, mallet & whistle and Ben Owen on paper mic, speaker boxes, op amps & cassette.

The first fully improvised album from the Chicago trio of Jake Wark on tenor saxophone, Matt Piet on piano and Bill Harris on drums, recording at Experimental Sound Studios in 2018 for seven numbered and concise improvisations, running the gamut from rapidly active yet controlled interaction and investigatory conversations of confident expression and creative drive.

Socialytics signifies analysis of social media to reach out for human interaction, here through NY composer and drummer Devin Gray's music representing sonic examples of those attainments, heard through stellar trio playing with trumpeter Dave Ballou and guitarist Ryan Ferreira, the latter adding electronic rhythmic components to their creative conversation.

Chicago tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, known for his duos with Anton Hatwich and with Julian Kirshner, the improvising trio Devouring the Guilt with Eli Namay & Bill Harris and a trio with Mars Williams & Lia Kohl, is heard here in three extended solo improvisations, with strong tone riffing on grooves, exuding warm melodies, and running demanding technical passages on his horn.

Twelve studio improvisations between Kadima-label leader JC Jones playing on a lap-steel plugged in Spanish guitar and French guitarist & improviser Raymond Boni, also performing on harmonica and electronics, where Jones, leveraging his history of work as a double bassist, often takes on the role of percussive/rhythmic foundation against Boni's incredible explorations.

The fifth in bassist, guitarist and Kadima label-leader JC Jones "Distance Series", works assembled through virtual sessions with associated artists, Jones performing on Spanish guitar which he plays as a lap guitar, on Nucleous creating a set of five unusual vocal works with internationally reknown vocalists Meira Asher, Esti Kenan-Ofri, Anat Pick and Josef Sprinzak.

Beijing sound artists Yan Jun and Zhu Wenbo developed this hour-long sound composition from independent recordings, a set of abstractions through recordings in the field, mechanical and electronic devices, human voice and utterance, acoustic and electronic instruments, &c. &c., made cohesive and compelling through independent time assignments by each artist; inexplicably interesting.

A diverse set of electroacoustic improvisations, including pointillistic interplay, free explorations merging contemporary compositional cues, pieces composed around specific parameters and evolving experimental soundscapes, from the Michigan trio Kimmel.Ali.Harris of Jeff Kimmel on clarinet & electronics, Ishmael Ali on cello, guitar & electronics, and Bill Harris on drums & synth.

Wandelweiser composer and pianist Anastassis Philippakopoulos presents four solo clarinet pieces performed by fellow Wandelweiser member, Swiss composer and clarinetist Jürg Frey, and three solo piano pieces performed by himself, in a beautiful album of delicately minimal and fragile music inspired by and reflecting the natural landscape of Greece.

Three layers of Chicago pianist & composer Matt Piet (Four Letter Words, Matt Piet Trio) in a virtual trio improvised sequentially in the studio in 2020, the title referring to a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer of paint on a canvas, an apt analogy for the keen interactions and wonderful labyrinths Piet performs with himself.

Freely improvised, noisy chamber music performed on guitar, trombone, conch shell, drums & percussion from the trio of Swiss guitarist Beat Keller, Austrian trombonist Werner Puntigam and German drummer Georg Wilbertz, bridging genres while keeping a sense of free jazz as an implied basis, with a sly sense of humor and wonder through marvelous technique and timing.

One of the pioneers of live computer music, Carl Stone and guitarist, multi-reedist and electronic artist Elliott Sharp have had a long association sharing concert stages together, heard here in 2019 at Bar Ishee in Tokyo for a unique concert of syncretic improvisation, merging instrumental music with unusual concrete and acousmatic sonic manifestations.

"Koki" translates to "rare in ancient times," referring to ones 70th birthday, a milestone that trumpeter Natsuki Tamura achieves this year, providing proof that such an age is no longer rare, nor that it has affected the tremendous creative and physical powers that Tamura applies to his playing, as heard in this inventive solo album on trumpet, piano, voice and even pots & pans!

Active and informed improvisations on acoustic guitar from Jean Claude "JC" Jones, label leader of the Kadima Collective and also known as a double bassist, though his roots are in the guitar, which he has returned to with vigor since 2016, performing on lap-style prepared acoustic and prepared Spanish guitar, heard here in 13 concise pieces titled by single words.

The Ember quartet's 2nd release recorded during the 2008 Ahornfelder Festival in Leipzig, an amazing live/studio album of distinct and clearly separated structured improvisations.

The improvising string duo of stalwart London improvisers, Daniel Thompson on acoustic guitar and Phil Durrant on the octave mandola, are heard in two settings of texturally rich, intricate interactions, first at Cafe OTO in 2022 for an extended improvisation, then at Cable Street Studios two months later for six succint, impressively diverse dialogs.

After riding through his city of Zurich to the Kunstraum Walcheturm studio in 2020, Jason Kahn was struck by the quiet aspects of the usually busy city, now quelled by pandemic; entering the studio feeling the desolation and strange sense of peacefulness in the midst of so much tragedy and suffering, he recorded these "songs" of passionate free vocal improvisations and acoustic guitar.