Translating to "Cross Black", French guitarist Richard Comte provides a set of four diverse soundtracks, from deep turbulent darkness and sonic decay to crisply ringing guitar resonance, over which sound poet Sébastien Lespinasse intones with solemn import his dark words of imagery and observation.

Translating to "Base and vertex drift", French guitarist Richard Comte (Hippie Diktat, Vegan Dallas) present four darkly ominous solo works on electric guitar through slowly shifting chords and deep reverberation, punctuated with ringing tones and light moments that peer through sonic clouds, his ambience a backdrop to alternations of lucidity and submersion.

An immersive drone performed on acoustic guitar, captured and extended through loops and effects and recorded to 4-track cassette, from French improviser Richard Comte (Hippie Diktat, Vegan Dallas), a single extended piece that begins with actively repeating chords that evolve into rich layers of textured, expansive loops, a seemingly infinite work that begs to be looped.

Addressing the perception and representation of physical space through 9 solo guitar works of sonic textures and treatments imbued with rich solo playing, each track named by coordinates of remembered towns and cities, creating a succession of interconnected sonic landscapes of drones, resonance and clear tones as a metaphor for an internal, mental, cartography.

Addressing the perception and representation of physical space through 9 solo guitar works of sonic textures and treatments imbued with rich solo playing, each track named by coordinates of remembered towns and cities, creating a succession of interconnected sonic landscapes of drones, resonance and clear tones as a metaphor for an internal, mental, cartography.

An album of languorous guitar motifs, slowly unfolding in a mesmerizing haze intended to accompany a traveller as landscapes pass, contemplative daydream listening as a mesmeric addition to one's environment in momentum, presented in four "Patterns" that allow the rich tones and harmonics of French electric guitarist Richard Comte to ring out a rich journey.

Using raw and primal rhythms, deep textures from amplified baritone saxophone and trance approaches to rock instrumental music balancing Steve Reich and Sunn O))), the French Hippie Diktat trio of Antoine Viard on baritone sax, Julien Chamla on drums and Richard Comte on guitar has toured Europe since 2011, here in recordings at l'Ecluse, in Reims from 2013.

Six raw instrumentals bridging free jazz and free rock forms, clearly influenced by both Brötzmann and Sunn O))) (as referenced in the track "SunnA)))") from the French Hippie Diktat trio of Antoine Viard on amplified baritone sax, Julien Chamla on drums and Richard Comte on guitar, recording at l'Ecluse, in Reims in 2013 for six ruggedly inspired tracks.

Stripping down their performance matter to its most minimal expression, their work developed since 2011 as they've toured the European alternative scene, the Hippie Diktat trio of Richard Comte on electric baritone guitar, Julien Chamla on drums and Antoine Viard on amplified baritone saxophone work an energetic and heavy set of Steve Reich-ian grooves.

This assertive French rock trio's first EP takes on provocative subjects with urgency and an acerbic humor through dark and driving grooves and tight interaction, from the trio of Theo Lanau on drums, Richard Comte on guitar, bass, & voice and Quentin Biardeau on saxophone & keyboards, from studio treated live recordings at Astrolab, in Orleans, France.

Recorded live in Paris in 2019 as a celebration of improvising keyboardist Alan Silva's 80th birthday, and released with a dedication to the memory of trumpeter Itaru Oki, the quartet completed with guitarist Richard Comte and drummer Makoto Sato, in a 3-part improvisation that is sadly the final recording for Oki, standing as a great example of his voice.

Rhythmically rich instrumental music crossing experimental, rock and compositional forms with an ear towards primitive and instinctual pulses, the French quartet of drummer & bass harpist Julein Chamla, percussionist Benjamin Flament, Simon Henocq on live electronics and guitarist Richard Comte explore innate pulses imbued with modern and urgent overtones.

Rhythmically rich instrumental music crossing experimental, rock and compositional forms with an ear towards primitive and instinctual pulses, the French quartet of drummer & bass harpist Julein Chamla, percussionist Benjamin Flament, Simon Henocq on live electronics and guitarist Richard Comte explore innate pulses imbued with modern and urgent overtones.

25 pieces for solo saxophone in a tribute to and following the logical number games of minimalist composer Tom Johnson, composed by clarinetist and ensemble Dedalus member Farbrice Villard under the inspiration of Johnson's collection Rational Melodies, and performed by the extraordinary French clarinetist Pierre-Stephane Meuge (Counterpoise).

Borrowing from traditional music notation, Jessica Pavone's compositions for her string ensemble with Aimée Niemann and Abby Swidler alternates between metered and time-based scores allowing the performers freedom to move between long tone sounds and clusters at the performer's chosen rate, responding to each other while creating a "collaboratively sewn musical fabric".

The debut of Trio Xolo, bringing together Mexican-American bassist Zachary Swanson, inventive Lithuanian ex-pat & long-time New York drummer/percussionist Dalius Naujokaitis and lyrical Baltimore saxophonist Derrick Michaels, three players steeped in both tradition and avant free playing, captured live in-studio for an album of perceptive creative jazz.

Six potent duo improvisations for cello and piano by composer & pianist Ernstalbrecht Stiebler and fellow-Berlin resident Tilman Kanitz, who have been developing their dialog together for several years in studio, focusing much of their momentum on pitch and harmony, their work all the more remarkable for Stiebler only having begun improvising in his mid-80s.

Three chamber works by Klaus Lang of a beautifully fragile and dark nature and a meticulous inner structure, alongside arrangements of early music pieces by Johannes Ockeghem and Pierre de la Rue, performed by Klaus Lang himself on organ with the Trio Amos of Sylvie Lacroix on flute, Krassimir Sterev on accordion and Michael Moser on cello.

Six pieces developed by violinists Johnny Chang and Keir GoGwilt, with vocalist Celeste Oram joining on three, starting with early music works by Hildegard van Bingen and Orlando de Lassus in a hybrid of musical archaeology informed by modern concepts of repetition, variations of timbre, improvisation, &c, as they seek hidden sound worlds in older notation.

Eight powerful and often cinematic pieces for organ and percussion, jointly composed and performed by long-time collaborators, Montreal composers and improvisers Katelyn Clark and Isaiah Ceccarelli, these 8 compositions developed around improvisations on the historic instruments continuo & portative organs, with percussion including a 40" bass drum, bell plates, and almglocken.

There is uncertainty of when pianist John Tilbury recorded these three solo keyboard works by his associate and friend, legendary minimalist composer Terry Riley, performing "Keyboard Study #1" and #2, along with "Dorian Reeds" using piano, electric organ, harpsichord & celesta, captured with excellent quality in superb performances from Tilbury at the height of his powers.

Joyfully assertive and somewhat twisted, the first of three improvisations on this live album at Wels Unlimited 2020 is the duo of Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and drummer Didi Kern, starting at high speed then shifting to unusual approaches in a quirky dialog, made quirkier with Jaap Blonk adding wonderfully nonsensical vocalizations on the last two pieces.

Blurring free improvisation and compositional strategies in this encounter at the "First Meeting Series" at FAB Music Studio Chicago between New York violinist Mark Feldman and Chicago cellist Katinka Kleijn, a remarkable concert in two parts showing imaginative skills of phenomenal technical expertise and experience, instant compositions of the highest order.

The Polish piano trio RGG of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums & percussion are joined by vocalists Marta Grzywacz, trumpet player Artur Majewski and block flutes virtuoso Dominic Strycharski to close out the 2020, 15th Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw Poland, presenting seven improvisations in a beautifully informed journey.

An incredible solo concert from legendary New York pianist Cecil Taylor in October, 1968 at the Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall, Palace of Culture and Science) in Warsaw during the Jazz Jamboree, recorded by Polski Radio and remastered in 2021, an excellent example of the nimble mind and quick technical skills of Taylor's personal take on improvisation; stunning!

Drawing on previous collaborations between Amsterdam pianist Kaja Draksler and wind player Ab Baars, here on tenor sax, clarinet & shakuhachi, and two duo albums between Baars and guitarist Terrie Ex, this meeting as a trio took place at the 2018 Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria for a diverse journey from uniquely introspective to wildly energetic conversation.

A set of blues songs of a personal nature, concepts for a broken yet hopeful age, written and sung by improvising guitarist Marcin "M" Olak (Gadt/Osborne/Zakrocki/Olak, Agusti Fernandez) performed and expanded by a set of stellar improvisers: Ben Stapp on tuba, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Marco Colonna on flute and Steve Swell on trombone.

A determined set of electric jazz from the Brooklyn, NYC trio of Nathaniel Morgan (Buckminster) on alto saxophone, Dustin Carlson on guitar & bass and Kate Gentile on drums & vibraphone, bringing driving rock and experimental music approaches to their improvisations, a uniquely voice and tenacious trio of unorthodox improvisers.

Inspired by Miles Davis, particularly his album On The Corner and Davis' respect and interest in the work Karlheinz Stockhausen, LaPlante wrote Wild Tapestry as a commission from Seth Knopp of Vermont's The Yellow Barn Music Festival in 2021, exploring how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into musical composition and strategy.

Working inside and out of the piano and sometime evoking wild sounds that seem to have no relationship to the instrument, Polish-born and Amsterdam-based pianist Marta Warelis explores the concepts of realities beyond our perception, and a thought that we are a part of a big organism where everything goes endlessly bigger and smaller in scale of size, time and speed.

Recorded using the natural resonance from the base of a stone double spiral staircase in the Castle of Chambord, France, improvising soprano saxophonist Alexandra Grimal explores her own personal language and the affect the ambience brings to her adept playing, through beautifully melodic lines, long arpeggiations, or short bursts of penetrating utterance.

Recording in real-time during the pandemic, UK improvisers, baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts (Favourite Animals, Madwort Sax Quartet) and double bassist Olie Brice (Olie Brice Quintet, Tobias Delius, &c) recorded these extended improvisations simulateously at their homes, beautifully paced and intently listening as they keep the conversation going despite a world of restrictions.

The first recording of an ongoing collaboration between violinist Maya Bennardo, bass clarinetist Erik Blennow Calälv, and kacapi (similar to a Japanese koto) musician Kristofer Svensson, presenting two restrained and lovely compositions bringing together contemporary classical, free improvisation and Sundanese music in a unique chamber format.

Recorded a year after Volume 1, alto saxophonist Steve Coleman's Five Elements band with Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Anthony Tidd on bass, Sean Rickman on drums and, replacing guitarist Miles Okazaki, improvising vocalist Kokayi credited as "wordsmith", performing at The Village Vanguard for a sophisticated, rhythmically fascinating and energetic concert; exemplary!

Cuban/NY pianist David Virelles in his first solo album, 14 original compositions and 2 from Cuban composers, blending modern jazz with Cuban, African and European influences, a tour-de-force of clear and balanced, irrepresible rhythms and elegant ballads, an inspired album opening on marimbula and expanded with percussion from Julio Barreto on three tracks.

Trickster, the stellar quartet of New York guitarist Miles Okazaki with Matt Mitchell on piano, Fender Rhodes & synth, Anthony Tidd on electric bass and Sean Rickman on drums, in a sequel to The Sky Below, blending acoustic and electric jazz in four captivating compositions that Okazaki describes as striving towards something like collective dreaming.

Beginning with a reimagining of the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome", trumpeter Dave Douglas' album is an emotional and powerful statement of human engagement towards justice--Racial justice; Climate justice; Voting justice; Gender justice--performed with Ryan Keberle on trombone, Fay Victor on voice, Camila Meza on voice, guitar, Jorge Roeder on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

A new trio from NY bassist Max Johnson with Anna Webber on tenor saxophone & flute and Michael Sarin on drums, performing five lyrically inclined yet inventive compositions from Johnson, allowing distinction for each performer as they bridge sections between fluid straight-ahead playing and spaciously singular experimentation, keeping player and listener on their toes.

A large work from Downtown New York improviser and innovator Ikue Mori, seven piece dedicated to women artists whose vision found them creating into their 80's & 90s, performed in an ensemble with Sylvie Courvoisier, Ned Rothenberg, Zeena Parkins, Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura, Erik Friedlander, David Watson, Makigami Koichi, Charmaine Lee & Sae Hashimoto.

The last installment in Strut's Sun Ra reissue series is also the first time that Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt album has been reissued, bringing to light these studio recordings between the Arkestra and Egyptian drummer Salah Ragab, recorded during Ra's 1983 Egyptian tour, and featuring two Ragab compostions from his Cairo Jazz Band.

The fifth set of compositions from John Zorn for the guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley, these works inspired by the short stories of Argentine philosopher and writer Jorge Luis Borges, each of the nine pieces drawing on elements of folk, classical, jazz, bluegrass, world music and more, rendered impeccably by the masterful skills of all three guitarists.

Featuring the poetry and words of Cecil Taylor-associated poets Albey OnBass and Jane SpokenWord, the Boston collective improvising band Axiom of David Peck on reeds, winds and percussion, Steve Niemtiz on drums & percussion and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic + OnBass & SpokenWord, focus on "Discourse", wakefullness and freedom in an age of social unrest.

A tongue-in-cheek album packaged like a Deutsche Grammophon release of a string quartet by fictional composer Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdys (1878-1907), which is instead a superb live ea-improv performance at the 2018 Music Unlimited Festival in Austria by Gaudenz Badrutt (electronics), Kai Fagaschinski (clarinette), Jonas Kocher (accordion) & Christof Kurzmann (electronics).

The 2nd of two studio albums from the quartet of Daniel Carter on saxophone & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, recordings from the same sessions as the 1st volume with five shorter works, as the long-time collaborators and friends show their nearly telepathic rapport in adventurous and masterful modern jazz.

A new quartet lineup for the Boston-based Evil Clown Collective group Leap of Faith, expanding the core duet of David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice with multi-reedists Melanie Howell and Todd Brunel, all four employing their extensive arsenal of percussive instruments.

The core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, joined by the Reverend Grant Beale on guitar and Eric Woods on analog synth, subtly merging electronic elements into the primarily acoustic sound of the group as they amble through unusual soundscapes.

The first Leap of Faith set in a quartet lineup expanding the core of David Peck on reeds, winds & percussion and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic with trumpeter Vance Provey and percussionist Michael Knoblach, in an introspective livestreamed set that balances the strings of Lomon against two horns while bringing out a wealth of unusual percussive interactions.

A working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments, improvising with a rock-leaning edge and exploiting a large part of the Boston Evil Clown collective's percussion arsenal, along with analog synth, drum & Chos kit, reeds & winds and bass, manipulated in real-time through signal processing, with occasional narration from Dante's Inferno.

An offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble, this Evil Clown collective features David Peck on reeds, percussion and electronics, Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar, and electronics, Eric Woods on analog synth and Joel Simches on real-time electronics, "synesthesia" a perceptual phenomenon where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a 2nd.

Changing approaches to his music with new quartet of Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Alan Silva on double bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums, pianist Cecil Taylor's incredible 1966 concert in Paris presented four extended compositions, here remastered and reissued with a track from a compilation LP--"With (Exit)"--extending his quartet with Bill Dixon on trumpet and Henry Grimes on double bass.

Using David Peck's "Broad Palate" concept to introduce frequent variation in sonorities through changing instrumental combinations, this live performance of Turbulence, the extended horn section of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra, presents the largest assemblage of performers for the group yet, and introduces the 17-string bass to the Evil Clown arsenal.

The extended horn section of the Leap of Faith Orchestra, the core ensemble of the Boston collective led by multi-instrumentalist David Peck, here in a spacious and somewhat psychedelic and embraceable performance with Bob Moores on trumpet & brass, Eric Dahlman on trumpet and winds, Duane Reed on baritone horn, and all on percussion & electronic instruments.

Two collaborations in a split LP, and the continuation of a series of duo pieces for piano and other instruments that pianist and keyboardist Eric Wubbels has been pursuing since 2006: first an intensive 3-part "Field Of Action" with vocalist and noise artist Charmaine Lee; then "Contraposition" with trombonist Weston Olencki in a duo with Wubbels on prepared piano.

Free jazz recorded one person at a time from the duo of saxophonist Chad Fowler and WC "Chad" Anderson who, constrained by pandemic, chose to create "simulated concerts" by exchanging solo recording, each starting the process for different pieces and surprised at how "live" the results felt, as they built up the twelve excellent, rule-breaking tracks of this album.

A tribute to avant jazz saxophonist and composer Frank Lowe by assembling players who had never previously played together as a group, but who had all individually performed and been influenced by Lowe: Chad Fowler on saxophones, Christopher Parker on piano, Bernard Santacruz on bass, Anders Griffen on drums & trumpet, Kelley Hurt on vocals and Bobby Lavell on saxophone.

Celebrating the temerity and successes of the students known as the Arkansas "Little Rock Nine", who in 1957 set a precedent as they fought to enter a segregated high school, in six pieces written by pianist Christopher Parker and vocalist Kelley Hurt, who narrates the student's successes over the powerfully uplifting and reflective music of a six piece jazz band.

Three MinneapolisÐSaint Paul/Twin City improvisers--Brad Holden on saxophones, Dick Studer on bass and Steve Hirsh on drums--active in a variety of groups come together as a collective, named for a Buddhist concept of the consciousness that underlies the everyday thoughts about the world around us, heard in 12 improvisations emphasizing deep listening and open-minded expression.

Known first as one of New York's finest audio engineers running Park West Studios, Jim Clouse is also a drummer and saxophonist, this his first recorded foray into free jazz partnering with legendary multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter on sax, trumpet, piano & drums, for seven diverse and extremely well informed improvisations as each follows their natural inclinations.

An intimate sax and piano duo from two improvisers with a 30-year friendship--Chad Fowler and Christopher Parker--both living in the same block of Park Hill, Staten Island, forming a close musical bond that is heard in their confident exchanges, both playing together and in providing space for each to express themselves; a lovely album of warm and informed conversations.

The first duo collaboration between pianist Joel Futterman and saxophonist Chad Fowler, performing on stritch--a straight alto saxophone--in a nine-part studio journey drawing on a history of jazz styles, from blues to free, in lyrical and actively introspective dialogs, building to an intense conclusion of rapidly cathartic interaction and a final, pensive release.