Since 2019 Portuguese drummer & percussionist Pedro Melo Alves has run the Conundrum series at the ZDB club (Galeria Ze dos Bois) in Lisbon, inviting a diverse set of improvisers, many for first time encounters, and recording the concerts which he presents here in this first volume: thirteen fascinating improvisations that challenge both the drummer and participants alike.

Led by Portuguese trumpeter Luís Vicente, his trio with double bassist Gonçalo Almeida and drummer/percussionist Pedro Melo Alves introduce a set of Vicente compositions and one traditional Brazilian piece, Vicente's frameworks and melodic structures opening to great space for all three player to shine through formidable and creative improvisation.

Paying tribute to the music of Steve Lacy from the Italian trio of Danilo Gallo on double bass, banjo & guitar, Ferdinando Farao on drums & percussion, and Roberto Ottaviano on soprano saxophone, the latter having studied with Lacy during the 80s, here in seven Lacy composition and four group compositions clearly influenced by the late, great soprano saxophonist.

Recorded at Sonoscopia, the Porto, Portugal experimental music and sound art hub under the direction of percussionist Gustavo Costa, double bassist Gonçalo Almeida leads a trio with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Gustavo Costa performing the five-part Almeida composition "Restraint", fulfilling the title through commanding cliff's-edge control.

The debut by a Norwegian trio comprised of Martha Lea on saxophone and flute, Jon-Rune Strom on bass and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums, solidly in the free jazz realm as they present a mix of collective improvisation, plus composition each from Lea and Strom, ending with an interpretation of late bassist Charlie Haden's "Song for Che".

The complete recording of Joëlle Léandre's Lifetime Achievement evening that opened the 2023 Vision Festival at Roulette in Brooklyn, in a box set with 4 CDs, a DVD of a 2023 interview punctuated with bass solos, and a 32-page color booklet of concert images and liner notes from John Sharpe; performances by Tiger Trio, Roaring Tree, Atlantic Ave Septet & the duo of Léandre/Moten.

After a long break from their last recording, the long-lasting (since 1977!) BassDrumBone trio of Mark Helias on bass, Gerry Hemingway on drum and Ray Anderson on trombone came together for a packed 2023 concert at Zurcher Gallery, the enthusiasm resonating into this studio session days later as the trio recorded a mix of collective improvisations and one composition from each.

A companion piece to UK improvising harpist Rhodri Davie's solo album Telyn Rawn , asking some of his favorite musicians to respond to the 18 improvised pieces on that album, instructing them to imagine that the source material was an ancient musical form from the medieval period, and that their responses were to be modern interpretations of those "ancient" forms.

Continuing his investigations into ancient Welsh Harps, the Telyn Wrachïod (which translates to the Witches Harp) used pegs or brags emerging from the string-holes, in Welsh called gwrachïod, which could be adjusted to press on the strings to create a buzzing percussive sound used for dancing, here in improvisations by Rhodri Davies using a Urquhart bray harp.

Propelled by the confidence and intimacy that a familial relationship brings to two improvisers, imbued by each player's masterful technical skills and creative drive, the husband and wife duo of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura expand their catalog with this set of magnificent dialogs, sometimes quirky, always powerful and implicitly lyrical.

An album of lyrical electric jazz from Japanese sax player based in NYC Ayumi Ishito, a frequent collaborator with Daniel Carter, here with her own band of Hajime Yoshida and Yana Davydova on guitars, Yoshiki Yamada on bass and Carter Bales on drums, for eight fusion-oriented, upbeat melodic original works that yield great soloing and band interaction.

With more than 25 years of experience playing together in bands including Trio Kamosc, Gueuledeloup Quartet and The Achim Kaufmann Trio, alongside duo performances playing original compositions and the music of Herbie Nicols, here now in a double CD from two concerts in Berlin in 2022, with one third of the material exploring the music of Andrew Hill.

The former touring guitarist for Bikini Kill, who has also worked with The Raincoats and Kim Gordon, in a 2-part solo work of experimental approaches to the electric guitar, starting with minimal loops that slowly layer in intensity until reaching a climactic release and dispersal, picked up again in the second part for a unique work of noise and alien guitar soloing.

Active since 1976, the Northwoods Improviser collective founded by percussionist and drummer Mike Gilmore and bassist Mike Johnston, with drummer Nick Ashton joining in 1986, working with saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey after the 2000s; this live-in-the-studio recording is of the rhythmic trio captured joyfully jamming on the music they would record with Bey later that day.

Recording on an afternoon in Andrew Weather's studio Wind Tide, in Littlefield, Texas in 2023, from the electroacoustic trio of Kory Reeder on double bass, electronics & gongs, Ryan Seward on psaltery & electronics and Andrew Weathers on lap steel & tenor saxophone, the final compositions assembled from two improvisations using two different tunings that Seward brought with him.

Recording inside of abandoned agricultural silos in the Colorado plains during the summer of 2023, percussionist Ryan Seward and saxophonist Andrew Weathers leverage the resonance of these large metal structures, taking a slow pace employing silence with a pensive attitude as they improvise encased in these "Laminar Interiors: thin layers of interior sound".

A studio album from the Tamarisk free improvising trio of guitarist Andrew Weather, bassist David Menestres and Charalambides co-founder Christina Carter on vocals, the third album from this free folk trio of cathartic and unpredictable direction, here recording at Andrew Weather's recording space at Wind Tide, in Littlefield Texas in 2022.

The debut of Andrew Weather's label Editions Glomar, releasing the work of the artists he collaborates with, here in a set of electroacoustic improvisations from his Wind Tide studio in West Texas with Gretchen Korsmo on electric piano & electronics, Nathan McLaughlin on modular synth, Cody Yantis on bass clarinet, piano & synth, and Weathers on guitar, lap steel & electronics.

A 2-part work leveraging binaural recordings made in daily walks in Asheville, NC to different points of the French Broad River: Part 1 "Interior" is collaged as a room resonance study using hydrophone recordings of the French Broad, microtonal instruments by Ben Hjertmann plus piano & synth recordings; Part 2 "Exterior" is a layered alignment of the recordings from his walks.

Four journeys in passionately rich sound merging synthetics, acousmatic sources, field recordings and acoustic violin from the duo of Anne Foucher, who has worked with the Acousmaki collective, on violin and electronics, and Jean-Marc Foussat on Synthi AKS, piano, toys and voice, captured live in 2022 at rue Floreal, in Montpellier and at rue de Genac, in Bignac, France.

Portuguese pianist Luísa Gonçalves' second volume of solo improvisations extends her 2020 album Unno with eight new, lyrical works of succint and focused compositions that bring both her classical and improvisation skills to the foreground through beautifully structured and elegant works, ending with a lovely homage to "Bill Evans" that seemingly hangs in space.

A 5-CD Box set introducing the work of double bassist and composer Gašper Livk in five configurations — Gašper Livk Trio; Gašper Livk Duo; Gašper Livk Large Ensemble; Gašper Livk Double Bass Octet; and Gašper Livk Solo — released to coincide with his artist-in-residence appearance at the 2024 Jazz Festival Ljubljana.

On the active and experimental side of Creative Sources' acoustic configurations organized by label leader and violist Ernesto Rodrigues, this energetic chamber quartet with Carlos Bechegas on piccolo, flute & alto flute, Joao Madeira on double bass and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, explore the three-part title work through rapid action and highly textured reflection.

Clean Feed introduces listeners to Slovenian pianist living and working in Amsterdam, Rebeka Rusjan Zajc, through 5 CD-length "Piano Operas" of real-time compositions recorded in the studio — Fictus; Functio; Factum; Fabula; Furor — each illuminating aspects of the virtuosic artist's unique take on the tradition of solo improvised piano.

Composed using an "exquisite corpse" method during the pandemic, where each player provided a partially complete track with instructions to expand their concept, enlisting an incredible set of musicians across the US & Europe, directed by Moe! Staiano, including Jesse Quattro, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, GW Sok, Amy X Neuburg, Darren Johnston, &c &c.