Interpreting trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Ankhrasmation graphic score--the term joining the Egyptian symbol for life, the Ethiopian word for leader and the universal term for mother--Smith and guitarists Alex Varty & Henry Kaiser use the rich combination of visual cues and musical notation to record this rapturous and unduplicable album of profound and engaging improvisation.

Active since 2013, David Sanford's powerful 20-piece big band based in New York City presents six Sanford originals, along with an effusive arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's bop composition "Dizzy Atmosphere", the focal point of the album a large and spiritual work composed by trumpeter Hugh Ragin dedicated to and inspired by late trumpeter Lester Bowie.

More uncommon than than the sax/drum duo format, reedist Michael Moore performs on clarinet and Paul Berner on contrabass, releasing this double CD of intimately recorded duos, an eclectic mix of standards and original compositions in a lovely and engaging set of lyrical and succinct expression from two eloquent and passionate improvisers.

"Chaos Magick" is a contemporary magical practice based on the ideas of Austin Osman Spare, influencing the work of William Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, and Aleister Crowley, and here inspiring the compositions of John Zorn for his Simulacrum ensemble of Kenny Grohowski on drums & percussion, Matt Hollenberg on electric guitar, Brian Marsella on electric piano and John Medeski on organ.

The followup to John Zorns' 2019 CD The Hierophant, exploring the single Tarot card of the same name, this album performed by pianist Brian Marsella's Trio with Kenny Wollesen on drums and Trevor Dunn on bass, continues Zorn's exploration into the mystery of the occult through the remaining 13 cards, rendered as lyrical and sophisticated jazz compositions.

A companion of sorts to the Euphorium release from Leimgruber/Turner/Dorner/da Boff/Flesh, London/Leipzig/Luzern, trumpeter Axel Dörner breaks off solo for an extended improvisation recorded at the same studio on the same day in Leipzig, employing his unique approach to the instrument in an 18-minute exploration of tone, timbre, and unexpected brass utterance.

David Peck's Grand Aesthetic approach to compositional structures for groupings of any size and orchestral combination leads to unexpected and sometimes exotic results, as heard in this live and monumental performance of his Expanse project expanded with percussionist Michael Knoblach, David Welans on flutes, Eric Dahlman on trumpet and Jimmy Zhao on Chinese instruments.

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A companion of sorts to the Euphorium release from Leimgruber/Turner/Dorner/da Boff/Flesh, London/Leipzig/Luzern, soprano saxophone Urs Leimgruber breaks off solo for an extended improvisation recorded at the same studio on the same day in Leipzig....

Referencing Ornette Coleman in the group name, Portuguese tenor saxophonist engages three US free jazz players--legendary saxophonist and pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee, double bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Chris Corsano--for this 2017 concert at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, capturing four exemplary, at times explosive, and always tightly interactive collective improvisations.

A mix of lyrical, free and traditional compositions, the majority from leader, New York bassist Sean Conly, along with pieces from long-time collaborator Michael Attias, Sam Rivers and Paul Motian, performed in the piano trio format with drummer Francisco Mela and pianist Leo Genovese, in a great balance of jazz steeped in tradition but living fully in the present.

A mix of lyrical, free and traditional compositions, the majority from leader, New York bassist Sean Conly, along with pieces from long-time collaborator Michael Attias, Sam Rivers and Paul Motian, performed in the piano trio format with drummer Francisco Mela and pianist Leo Genovese, a great balance of jazz steeped in tradition but living fully in the present.

The title referring to the Korean word for "play" in a sense of transcending physical reality without abandoning it, pianist Eunhye Jeong, aka Chi-Da, presents a playful and free-flowing enjoyment in nine original compositions, revealing discerning experience and a nimble approach to her instrument as she explores a diverse range of moods through impressive technical skill.

Led by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and peformed by his Red Lily Quintet with Kirk Knuffke on cornet, William Parker on bass & gimbri, Christopher Hoffman on cello and Chad Taylor on drums & mbira, Lewis' work explores and reflects on the legacy of scientist George Washington Carver through 7 remarkable free jazz compositions.

A fiery record of collective free improvisation from the Mofaya! Quartet of American saxophonist based in The Netherlands John Dikeman, Chicago trumpeter Jaimie Branch, US East Coast bassist Luke Stewart and Slovenian drummer Aleksandar Skoric, recording live at Roze Tanker in Amsterdam for three exhilarating improvisations that embody US & European Free Jazz forms.

Dark, often unsettling and rich in detail and innuendo, bassist Marc Urselli brings together this quartet with Lee Ranaldo on guitar, pedals & bells, Jim Jarmusch on guitars, pedals & synth, and Balazs Pandi on drums for their second album of sublimely tension-filled improvisation, patiently building to stealthy momentum and retreating back into night.

Two major works designed for multi-channel sound projections from electronic composer Marcus Schmickler: "Sky Dice / Mapping the Studio", a work for ARP 2500, Publison DHM89B, Publison Infernal Machine and Computer, premiered at Donaueschinger Tage fur Neue Musik in 2018; "Fortuna Ribbon" a 6-part work based on spatial hearing and auditory otoacoustic distortions.

"Let's say you receive an invitation for a formal New Year's party. Question: how do you behave? The golden rule would probably to... stand back, observe, follow the example. It's probably the decent thing to do, nobody likes a party pooper...

With all the tongue-in-cheek aspects of Dutch improvisers, the piano trio of Michiel Scheen on piano, Raoul van der Weide on bass, crackle box & sound objects and George Hadow on drums, all hail from a superb pedigree of European Free Improv involvement, proven through comprehensible playing with a wonderful sense of humor and joy in their approach to delightfully smart playing.

The debut of the Amsterdam-based trio of Argentinian pianist Nicolas Chientaroli and saxophonist & clarinetist Ada Rave with Dutch bassist Raoul van der Weide, all three using preparations, objects and voice to extend their unique approach to instant composition, heard in eight succinct, animated and sometimes eccentric dialogs recorded at BIMHuis.

Initiating his Netherlands-based ensemble in 2016, contrabassist Raoul van der Weide assembles younger musicians, alongside Michael Moore for one piece, orchestrated up to a septet performing a dizzying and joyfully fun array of original compositions including pieces from ICP composers Bert Koppelaar, Guus Janssen and Tristan Honsinger, and a piece from Fred Katz.

"When I proposed this trio it was intentional to create an instrumentation which closely matched that of the classic Leo Smith Trio of the 1970s - a line up which allows space and fire to co-exist. Of course, the fact that Martin Pyne d...

"This first release from the dynamic trumpet player features Charlotte Keeffe in a number of configurations recorded mainly live over the last three years. The four Quartet recordings on the disk find Charlotte in her group with guitar,...

Two generations of remarkable pianists--Keith Tippets and Matthew Bourne--performed a series of two-piano concerts between 2017 and 2019, also recording in the studio, as heard in this 2-CD release, the first a set of consequential piano duos recorded at Leeds Conservatoire in 2019, the 2nd disc a live performance at Daylight Music at Union Chapel, London, Tippetts' final public performance.

"Conceived and realised over an 8-month period of intense solitary work, "Gated" is Alex Ward's most ambitious musical statement to date. The ten pieces employ all of Alex's instrumental resources as a performer, featuring clarin...

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"For Raymond Sheldon Peck on the day of his passing 17 September 2020. I have been very sad since the news arrived a few days ago of my father's passing. He has had a hard time the last few years, falling several times and sustaining in...

"One aesthetic problem requiring a solution when performing long solo works on many instruments is how to continue the sound through the time required for instrument changes... Of course, the looper does exactly this since the loop will...

"I recently became aware of the unique and distinctive instruments made by Tim Kaiser. I would classify these instruments as electro-acoustic rather than electronic since they amplify quiet acoustic sounds made on guitar strings, spring...

"This is the sixth PEK Solo effort of 2020. There probably would be more, except I spent nearly two months on a massive studio construction, a structurally complex work involving many of my instruments, overdubbing and computer sound pr...

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"Electrolysis is a category 4 construction which follows up on the Quartet of PEKs session, Unifications. Unifications heavily featured the growing electronics section of the Arsenal with somewhat less horns in the overall mix. I starte...

The first "Orchestra of PEKS" album to feature Tim Kaiser's recent electro-acoustic instrument, this multi-track solo recording also introduces multi-wind / multi-instrumentalist David Peck's new West African Kora, in a wild electroacoustic set performed on a dizzying array of reeds, winds, strings, electronics, metallic percussion, wood percussion, sirens and thunder tube.

"Founded in spring 2017 in Milan (IT), PIRANHA is conceived as a collective, expandable project, whose dimensions have varied from duo to quartet. Since 2019 the prevailing line-up is the trio. The music offers a multifaceted yet balanc...

"Javier Subatin's laser-accurate guitar drive grounds the interplay on Mountains, a natural world infused spin through the past and future of improvised music. Sidestepping the jazz concept of rhythm-section-with-lead-"voice" the...

"Habitable Records is a new label started in March 2021 by 9 members of the Composers and Improvisers Community Project, an international initiative led by Argentinian guitarist Javier Subatin. CICP was created to maintain momentum for ...

The Berlin-based collective Takatsuki Trio of Rieko Okuda on piano, Antti Virtaranta on double bass and Joshua Weitzel on guitar & Shamisen are expanded to a Quartett in two extended live sets at Berlins' Kuhlspot Social Club in 2020, first in an expansive set with trumpeter Axel Dorner, and then an intensely active set with tenor saxophonist & clarinetist Tobias Delius.

Three CDs of three concerts at London's Iklecktik Club, presenting primarily compositions by David Petts plus collective improvisations, from Adrian Northover, David Petts, Caroline Kraabel and Sue Lynch on saxophones, John Edwards on bass and Rosa Theodora on piano, with Northover, Edwards & Petts adding percussion and electronics to their cryptically rich music.

Referencing Ornette Coleman in the group name, Portuguese tenor saxophonist engages three US free jazz players--legendary saxophonist and pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee, double bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Chris Corsano--for this 2017 concert at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, capturing four exemplary, at times explosive, and always tightly interactive collective improvisations.

The title referring to the Korean word for "play" in a sense of transcending physical reality without abandoning it, pianist Eunhye Jeong, aka Chi-Da, presents a playful and free-flowing enjoyment in nine original compositions, revealing discerning experience and a nimble approach to her instrument as she explores a diverse range of moods through impressive technical skill.

Referring to the brass saxophone and the piano's ivory keys, Brazilian saxophonist based in New York City Ivo Perelman celebrates his 60th birthday with this 9-CD set of diverse approaches to sax & piano duos, performed with some of world's finest improvising pianists: Dave Burrell, Marilyn Crispell, Aaron Parks, Augusti Fernandez, Craig Taborn, Angelica Sanchez and Vijay Iyer.

The second album of free improv with poetry from the Boston-based Evil Clown collective band Axioms of David Peck, Jane SpokenWord and Albey onBass, this album extending the trio with Glynis Lomon on cello and Steve Niemitz on drums & percussion, heard in an extended improvisation bridging the distance between poetic discussion of truths and abstract musical structures.

Following a 1964 Albert Ayler tour, trumpeter Don Cherry remained in Europe, working on new concepts of improvising based on form itself, developing his concepts with saxophonist Gato Barbieri, vibraphonist Karl Berger & bassist J.F. Jenny Clark, composing two brilliant albums: 1966's Communion with Barbieri, Henry Grimes & Ed Blackwell; and in 1967 Symphony for Improvisers as a septet.

First recording in 2012 as a trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby as a guest, 9 years later Toronto drummer Nick Fraser's quartet with Malaby as a permanen member, Rob Clutton on double bass and Andrew Downing on cello show their long collaborations strenght in a set of improvisations plus compositions for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and the DJD production, Juliet & Romeo.

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"Detroit saxophonist Skeeter Shelton and Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake didn't know each other before Skeeter was subbed into a duo gig at Trinosophes (Detroit) after Hamid's partner fell ill. Shortly before the performance, it was d...

"Detroit saxophonist Skeeter Shelton and Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake didn't know each other before Skeeter was subbed into a duo gig at Trinosophes (Detroit) after Hamid's partner fell ill. Shortly before the performance, it was d...

"Poof is composer, saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill's latest work for his band, Zooid, his musical laboratory for the last two decades. Their last release together, In for a Penny, In for a Pound, was the winner of the 2016 Puli...

"Poof is composer, saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill's latest work for his band, Zooid, his musical laboratory for the last two decades. Their last release together, In for a Penny, In for a Pound, was the winner of the 2016 Puli...