Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Berlin with saxophones, trumpets, trombone, synthesizer, bass and dual drums builds a five-part suite from cued fragments, collective improvisation and open-form structures, balancing composed materials with spontaneous ensemble invention, including a striking section performed with newspapers that extends Fujii's ongoing exploration of freedom within large-ensemble composition.

"On Korekara (October 2, Libra Records) Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Nagoya celebrates the musicians and arts community that make the central Japanese city's culture scene so special. Fujii composed the four-part suite to honor the 20th ann...

Reuniting for their first Japanese performances together since 2019, Martin Taxt on tuba, Tetuzi Akiyama on guitar and Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board present two extended 2024 live improvisations from Tokyo and Kamogawa, balancing low brass resonance, tactile guitar detail and unstable electronic feedback through patient, spacious interaction shaped by a collaboration dating to 2006.

Ken Ikeda on synthesizer and Roger Turner on a reduced kit of snare, floor tom, hi-hat, and cymbals reunite for two extended live improvisations in Tokyo, developing a finely balanced electroacoustic dialogue of hovering electronic tones, metallic resonance, sparse percussion, and sudden dynamic shifts shaped through close, responsive listening.

Japanese improviser Junji Hirose documents two 2024 solo sessions at Tokyo's Pool using his evolving self-made SSI sound instruments � including bicycle-wheel and metal-tray constructions � plus a final piece directing compressed air onto microphones, producing five works that move between metallic resonance, white noise, subtle textures and explosive acoustic force.

Four major electroacoustic improvisers — Bryan Eubanks on soprano saxophone, electronics and modular synthesizer, Gert-Jan Prins on electronics and percussion, Tetuzi Akiyama on guitar, and Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board — each recorded separate solo performances, assembled by Prins, Eubanks and Nakamura into four distinct collective works of shifting textures and sonic interplay.

Vocalist Tenko, pianist Satoko Fujii and no-input mixing-board pioneer Toshimaru Nakamura form Ten-Toh-Maru for three extended free improvisations balancing wordless vocal expression, resonant and percussive piano textures, and finely controlled electronic feedback, unfolding through patient collective listening into sparse, ritualistic, abrasive and dreamlike sound environments.

The second collaboration between Ukrainian sound artist Tungu and guitarist Henry Kaiser, layering field recordings, samples and electronics with Kaiser's exploratory guitar across ten shifting electroacoustic environments, moving from atmospheric drift to fractured abstraction, with cellist Hui-Chun Lin joining the extended "Shadows That Slowly Catch Up."

Uniting Otomo Yoshihide on guitar and turntable with alto/soprano saxophonist and electronic musician Kei Matsumaru, this live Tokyo duo moves fluidly between free jazz, noise and electroacoustic abstraction, their quicksilver exchanges, abrasive textures and sudden shifts of density evoking the album's theme of the unstable, hallucinatory passage between sleep and wakefulness.

Legendary Japanese guitarist Keiji Haino and London drummer/percussionist Steve Noble meet live at Cafe OTO in 2012 for a volatile duo performance moving between near-silence, blues-tinged reflection, dense feedback and explosive free improvisation, with Haino on electric guitar, electronics and wooden flute against Noble's expansive percussion setup, balancing raw intensity with spacious, highly responsive interplay.

Satoko Fujii conducts her 14-piece Orchestra Kobe through a four-part work composed during the pandemic as an optimistic vision of shared humanity, joining layered reeds and brass with Takumi Seino's volatile guitar, Keishiro Saito's bass and dual drummers Yoshikazu Isaki and Hiromasa Sadaoka in a sweeping progression from stately melody and intimate subgroups to dissonant mass, fiery improvisation and a jubilant final theme.

Bringing together Greg Kelley's extended-technique trumpet with Yoona Kim's non-traditional approach to the ajaeng, this Boston duo explores breath, bow, friction, resonance, and near-silence through taut improvisations where fragile tones, coarse strings, microscopic air bursts, and sudden ruptures forge a focused, unpredictable shared language.

A fierce studio document from the Japanese free-improvising trio of Makoto Kawashima on alto saxophone, Louis Inage on bass, and Naoto Yamagishi on drums and percussion, moving through charged silences, abrasive eruptions, fractured melody, dark bass resonance, and scattered percussive force in a raw, intuitive exchange rooted in underground intensity and collective risk.

A rediscovered 2014 live recording captures Satoko Fujii leading a specially assembled Bielefeld orchestra of professionals and young regional musicians through her monumental Shiki and works by Andreas Kaling, Natsuki Tamura, Luise Volkmann, and Fujii, blending conduction, written structure, collective improvisation, electronics, dual drums, and volatile large-ensemble energy.

Uniting the intersecting musical worlds of Satoko Fujii on piano, Taiko Saito on vibraphone and marimba, and Yuko Oshima on drums, this live debut from Trio SAN draws on their histories in duos and first European tour to shape a delicate yet resonant collective language of shifting timbres, prepared piano colors, ringing percussion, and freely developing melodic forms.

Japanese K Trio unites Kei's poetry with Takao Miyazaki's electric guitar and objects and Yoichi Ichikawa's piano, objects and subjective stereophonic recording, preserving performances from three differently scaled rooms as language, improvisation and environmental resonance interrupt and reshape one another, shifting between intimate spoken detail, unstable acoustic perspective and exploratory sound.

Recorded live at Zippy Hall in Japan in 1999, this extraordinary duo unites pioneering free jazz drummer Sunny Murray (Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler) with Japanese free music innovator Sabu Toyozumi for two extended improvisations, their overlapping rhythmic languages creating a vivid exchange of rolling cymbal fields, sharp attacks, spacious resonance and explosive momentum.

Two days across 2 CDs capture trio sessions featuring Pauline Oliveros on Roland V-accordion, Miya Masaoka on 21-string koto, and Issui Minegishi on ichigenkin (a single-string koto), in a richly textured and immersive dialogue of cross-cultural instrumentation unfolding with patient sensitivity and Deep Listening, where expressive interplay balances tradition, experimentation, and sonic intimacy.

Documenting a ferocious live performance from the 2018 Victoriaville Festival with additional recordings from 2025, the trio of Merzbow (electronics), Mats Gustafsson (bass & baritone sax, electronics), and Balázs Pándi (drums) unleash a volatile collision of noise, free jazz intensity, and crushing rhythmic force of towering electronic textures, blistering sax blasts, and wildly inventive percussion.

Myra Melford and Satoko Fujii meet in a rare two-piano encounter rooted in decades of friendship, their live performance unfolding as the heart-to-heart conversation suggested by the title, with both artists so deeply attuned that individual lines dissolve into a shared language of spontaneous form, lyrical intensity, emotional openness and beautifully balanced collective invention.

Composed for the Seoul experimental space Dotolim and originally realized in 2009, Jason Kahn's graphic score is revisited here with a new generation of Seoul-based experimental musicians, combining voice, electronics, tape devices, film projectors, and resonant objects in a subtle electroacoustic performance shaped by texture, space, and collective interpretation.

Recorded live at Tago in Quezon City, the trio of Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, Filipino bassist Simon Tan, and American expatriate alto saxophonist Rick Countryman deliver four extended collective improvisations, balancing Dolphy-inspired alto lines, resonant bass foundations, and fluid percussion in a dynamic set of spontaneous free jazz shaped through deep listening and long-standing musical rapport.

The 2nd REMEDY release unites the core trio of Thomas Heberer, Joe Fonda and Joe Hertenstein with trailblazing pianist Aki Takase in a quartet session balancing composed frameworks and collective improv, weaving trumpet, piano, bass, flute & percussion into a fluid, conversational interplay that blends structural clarity with spontaneity shaped by the shared history of Berlin's experimental jazz community.

Japanese alto-saxophonist Naoko Saito living in Tokyo presents a full solo effort, shaping airy subtones, soft breath, and tentative melodic fragments into a ghostly, introspective soundscape - a contemplative and quietly expressive improvisational voice that marks her emergence as a distinctive new presence on the Deathrash Armageddon roster.

Classically trained yet bound by neither jazz nor tradition, Lao Dan joins master percussionist Vasco Trilla at Old Heaven Books in Shenzhen, China for a fiercely attuned duo where tenor saxophone, DIY and Chinese flutes meet textured drums and percussion in seven spontaneous explorations that shift from meditative restraint to high energy abstraction in a uniquely expressive statement of free improvisation.

Founded in 2001 and reunited after their last album in 2007, the quartet of Satoko Fujii (piano), Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Hayakawa Takeharu (bass), and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums) unleashes a high-energy blend of avant jazz-rock, shifting from atmospheric fragments to dense, electric-edged turbulence, driven by sharp contrasts, ferocious rhythms, and the group's volatile, genre-bending interaction.

Recorded in Quezon City, Philippines during Typhoon Crising, the long-running trio of Christian Bucher (drums), Simon Tan (double bass), and Rick Countryman (alto saxophone) capture urgent and agile free improvisation between canceled gigs and storm delays, their 13 years of collaboration driving vibrant exchanges that balance volatility with poised, spontaneous form.

The tenth duo recording from pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura presents eight compositions of slow, lyrical beauty-seven by Tamura and one by Fujii-crafted with exquisite restraint and intimacy, as the long-time collaborators sustain a dignified atmosphere of quiet intensity and emotional depth, shaping silence and subtle detail into music of profound elegance.

A relentless duo of Japanese drummer, vocalist and electronic artist Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei), with Mexican saxophonist Martín Escalante on alto and voice, captured live in Tokyo in fourteen explosive improvisations of blistering energy, searing noise, and sudden precision shifts, balancing chaotic abandon with uncanny control.

Capturing their first UK appearance since 2016, the duo of Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai unleash two blistering sets of "hard noise" at Cafe Oto, forging scorched-earth tape loops, feedback vortices, and pedal-chain eruptions into a ferocious, fire-music-level onslaught that channels pure chaos into a gripping, cathartic sonic upheaval.

The fifth collaboration between composer-performers Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke, reshaping material from their 2023 European tour into a vivid electroacoustic dialogue, layering live improvisations, acoustic fragments, and evolving digital textures into a kaleidoscopic sound world of subtle juxtapositions and fluid, unpredictable structures of color, resonance, and playfully reimagined form.

A joyful and unpredictable meeting of Japanese quartet Kaze — pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost, and drummer Peter Orins — with avant-rock icon Koichi Makigami, recorded live in Lille in a kaleidoscopic blend of free improv, surreal humor, textural exploration, and exuberant interplay that celebrates spontaneity and sonic invention.

Exploring a vivid spectrum of sound, the duo of Ayako Kanda (voice) and Elliott Sharp (baritone guitar, electronics) pairs Kanda's kaleidoscopic shifts between linguistic and nonverbal expression with Sharp's baritone guitar textures and electronic detail in an improvisational dialogue that moves fluidly between abstraction, color, and visceral intensity.

A remarkable first meeting between legendary Japanese pianist Masahiko Satoh and Greek guitarist Giotis Damianidis, recorded live in Chiba, Japan, where their distinct musical voices — acoustic piano steeped in classical and post-bop cadences and effects-laden electric guitar with rock overtones — intertwine in a boundary-erasing, expressive free improv set of intensity, elegance, and mutual discovery.

A rare meeting between Japanese minimalist Sachiko M and AMM's Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury, recorded in 2004 at London's Museum of Garden History, where sine wave precision meets tactile percussion and spacious piano in an intricate electroacoustic improvisation that explores silence, texture, and the fragile tension of deep collective listening.

Harnessing extreme tenor-sax techniques, Yong Yandsen - known for his collaborations with Christian Meaas Svendsen, Paal Nilssen-Love, Rick Countryman, Sabu Toyozumi, &c. - delivers a solo album that immerses listeners in wet, murky textures and grainy, pressure-driven timbres, shaping breath, multiphonics, and noise into an uncompromising sound world that deepens his distinctive improvisational voice.

A rare 1993 live duo between Japanese avant-garde pioneers Motoharu Yoshizawa on electric bass and Kim Dae Hwan on percussion, this profound and genre-defying recording explores sound itself, blending space, silence, and spontaneous interaction into a philosophical, boundary-pushing acoustic journey that evokes elemental, organic sonic landscapes.

Previously unreleased, this remarkable 2000 duo performance from Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg and Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi captures their playful and philosophical interplay in two extended improvisations, a Monk tribute, and a touching solo dedicated to Mengelberg's wife, blending wit, dynamic textures, and deep mutual respect in a session Toyozumi calls a personal tribute to his "guru."

Recorded solo in Hangzhou, China, saxophonist and suona player Lao Dan merges Chinese folk motifs with the raw energy of punk, the spontaneity of free jazz, and the abrasiveness of noise and rock forms, creating a fiercely expressive and unpredictable improvisational landscape driven by aesthetic tension and fearless experimentation.

A wild solo performance recorded at GOKsound in Tokyo by Japanese alto saxophonist Makoto Kawashima, whose intense and introspective improvisations balance fierce tonal expression with fragile silences, drawing from the lineage of Abe and Shiraishi while establishing his own haunting and highly individual voice in the realm of free improvisation.

A richly textured exploration of acoustic and electronic soundscapes, fully displaying Philip Gayle's multi-instrumental prowess alongside contributions from Japanese vocalists and woodwind artist Shogo Oshima, at times with a number of improvising vocalists, culminating in a collaborative work that blurs the lines between folk, avant-garde, and ambient music.

A tour de force third release from pianist-composer Satoko Fujii's trio This Is It!, recorded in Tokyo with long-time collaborator Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and kinetic percussionist Takashi Itani, blending angular composition, fierce improvisation, and creatively spirited interplay into inventive, high-energy, and emotionally rich performances.

A powerful and ritualistic session from South Korea's free improvisation scene, with tenor and soprano saxophones (Jung-Jae Kim & Sunjae Lee) and dual drum kits (Junyoung Song & Sunki Kim) channeling ancestral Korean shamanic ceremony through raw, primal energy, breath-driven phrasing, and a spiritual aesthetic that bridges indigenous tradition and contemporary free jazz expression.

A first-time meeting in the studio for alto saxophonists Tim Berne and Masayo Koketsu with percussionist Nava Dunkelman, captured in a dynamic session of collective free improvisation where contrasting approaches — Berne's grounded tone, Koketsu's extended techniques, and Dunkelman's textural percussion — intertwine with clarity and spontaneous expression.

Bridging Chinese folklore and avant-garde exploration, yangqin innovator Liang YiYuan and multi-instrumentalist Li Daiguo conjure an entrancing tapestry of shadowy textures and melodic splinters on this long-form collaboration — recorded in Yunnan and blending traditional Eastern timbres with free improvisation and experimental form in a deeply narrative, otherworldly sonic journey.

Pianist Satoko Fujii's Tokyo Trio, featuring bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura, expertly balances structured compositions with intuitive improvisation on their third album, recorded in Paris after touring the material across Japan and Europe, exploring shifting moods and intricate interplay through richly lyrical piano lines, subtle rhythmic dialogue, and inventive collective expression.

The trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Richard Allan Bates, and Rick Countryman delve into a contemplative exploration anchored by Bates's electric upright bass, whose resonant tones foster rich harmonic dialogues between Toyozumi's textured percussion and Countryman's fluid alto saxophone, emphasizing the nuanced interplay of sound and space.

The trio of Toshiji Mikawa on electronics, Jun Numata (Doubtmusic) on guitar & electronics and Martin Escalante on saxophone for a superbly noisy and chaotic attack captured in Tokyo at Bar Isshee in 2023, two all-out assaults of clear electronic mayhem that would sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Borbetomagus and their kind; terrifyingly awesome!

David Peck leads an expansive sextet with Bob Moores, John Fugarino, Jiaxin Wan, Ziyi Gao, and Michael Knoblach, blending Western and Chinese instrumentation as clarinet, saxophones, & space trumpet intertwine with guzheng, pipa, electronics, & percussion, creating a richly textured, dynamic improvisation that reflects the ensemble's ongoing exploration of spontaneous composition.

Reuniting after their acclaimed Mantle album, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, and drummer Ramon Lopez return with Yama Kawa Umi (Mountain River Sea), a powerful exploration of musical landscapes where wild seas crash into cliffs, rivers flow with melodic clarity, and peaceful mountains rise in serene, introspective moments, reflecting the deep, dynamic interplay from years of collaboration.

A compelling collaboration featuring improvising vocalist Ellen Christi alongside pianist Yuko Fujiyama, trombonist Masahiko Kono, and drummer Mauro Orselli, recorded in the studio in 1993 and live at Roulette in 1996, weaving dynamic free improvisation and exploratory soundscapes that showcase Christi�s innovative vocal techniques and deep engagement with spontaneous composition.

Emerging from an improv session during the pandemic, Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Satoko Fujii (piano), and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums) formed Amanojaku, named after the contrarian demon of Japanese folklore, embracing a balance of composition, improv and mischievous interplay with a uniquely Japanese sensibility through virtuosic spontaneity and irreverent humor, captured live at Koen-dori Classics.

An electrifying 1st-time meeting between guitarist Keiji Haino and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, captured live at Tokyo's Shinjuku Pit Inn, where the duo shape an unpredictable set that veers from reflective stillness to wildly passionate outbursts, their extended techniques and visceral vocals — sometimes urgent, sometimes outrageous — fueling an exhilarating and uncompromising sonic adventure.

Known for her ensemble Ryorchestra and as half of SaxRuins with Yoshida Tatsuya, Nagoya-based saxophonist, flutist, and composer Ryoko Ono steps out on her own with a solo album featuring saxophone, mouthpiece, duck whistle, and voice, capturing the dramatic contrasts of life through her dynamic, genre-defying improvisations and emotionally resonant compositions.

Reflecting their evolution as a trio, Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, Filipino bassist Simon Tan, and American alto saxophonist Rick Countryman present a powerful statement of collective freedom, with the album title capturing their progression as a cohesive and expressive unit, highlighted by Bucher's rhythmic mastery, Tan's solid foundation, and Countryman's soulful, dynamic lead.

A confluence of contrasting strings recorded in the studio in NYC, bringing bassist Brandon Lopez and gayageum master DoYeon Kim together in an acoustic dialogue of free improvisation, blending Lopez's explosive intuition with Kim's dynamic reinterpretation of tradition, resulting in a fascinating sonic journey that bridges ancient melodies and avant-garde exploration.

Picking up from their 2018 album Bright Force, the quartet of Libra label leaders Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, with Australian improviser Alister Spence on Fender Rhodes electric piano, and now with Magaibutsu/Ruins legend Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, are heard in two wildly powerful 2024 concerts at Koendori Classics in Tokyo and at Jazz Inn Lovely, Nagoya, with compositions from each member.

One of Satoko Fujii's wildest groups, the quartet of Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Hayakawa Takeharu (HAYAKAWA, Dr. Umezu Band) on bass and Magaibutsu label leader & Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida present their first album since 2007, expanding their assertive approach to improv in an adventurous set that merges rock and jazz forms with lyricism and power.

After Dinner vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Haco undertook her first North American tour in 2002, bringing with her an irregularly tuned electric mandolin, two samplers, a mini-drum synth and her "Howling [tea]Pot" feedback instrument, here in seven uniquely Haco performances of sonic instrumentals and song, performed at Mama Gaia's in Cambridge.

Legendary Japanese free jazz saxophonist Akira Sakata joins with frequent collaborator, younger generation sound and installation artist Rie Nakajima, for a live concert at Ftarri's Tokyo venue in 2023, Sakata performing on alto sax, clarinet, bells, singing bowl and vocals, Nakajima on objects and motor, capturing two sets of unique detail and expressive restraint.

With two guitarists split between the left and right sides of the head--Kazuhide Yamaji and Mitsuru Tabata, also on vocals--in a trio aTwo guitarists split between the left and right sides of the head--Kazuhide Yamaji and Mitsuru Tabata, also on vocals--in a trio with Ruins drummer and Magaibutsu label-leader Tatsuya Yoshida, for a an energetic album of mostly instrumental post-prog "no-wave" improvisations, nine wild tracks captured live from four 2024 concerts in Japan.with Ruins drummer and Magaibutsu label-leader Tatsuya Yoshida, for a an energetic album of mostly instrumental post-prog "no-wave" improvisations, nine wild tracks captured live from four 2024 concerts in Japan.

Two itinerant and unique performers in solo and small group configurations--Japanese saxophonist Katsura Yamauchi, who has recorded & performed with Voice Crack, Tatsuya Nakatani, Otomo Yoshihide, &c. &c., and Swiss electroacoustic improviser Jason Kahn--meet during Kahn's 2023 visit to Japan, recording these perceptively subtle duos live at HALL, in Oita and at IAF SHOP, in Hakata.

Paris-based musician Seijiro Murayama (percussion, voice) and French alto sax and organ player Jean-Luc Guionnet continue their collaboration with this 2023 recording of a 50-minute performance at the Taborkirche church in Berlin, using the resonance of the space to expand Murayama's snare drum, cymbal and voice in tandem with Guionnet's improvisation on the pipe organ.

The trio of Japanese saxophone legend Akira Sakata with the Scandinavian rhythm section of Johan Berthling on double bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, plus a second drummer with Takeo Moriyama (Yosuke Yamashita Trio), perform six wildly exciting improvisations, Sakata's vocalizations at times pushing the band as they are heard live in this 2019 recording at Tokuzo in Nagoya, Japan.

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.

Thirteen high-speed rock improvisations on drums, synth, piano & voice from the continuing collaboration of Magaibutsu label leader & drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and synthesist & pianist Risa Takeda, each track titled for Nordic mythology, the album title a reference to the World Tree, a giant ash supporting the universe; dramatic, amazing, unconventional instrumental music.

The duo of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and keyboardist Risa Takeda take to the road in a 2023 summer tour, their rock-based improvisations energetically wild and masterfully controlled as they run through 11 pieces in a concert at Environment 0g in Osaka, the title referencing the capacity for some proposition or theory to be proven wrong; in contrast, this concert is quite right!

The Swedish trio of South Korean tenor saxophonist Jung-Jae Kim, Joel Haag on guitar and Henrik Wartel on drums, recording in the studio for a mix of five original compositions from Jung-Jae Kim, often based around a motive or idea which is developed and expanded upon by each member of the trio, and five collective improvisation borrowing from a variety of styles.

The first of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improv drummer Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, two contrasting sets from the first of a week of performances and studio recordings between three extraordinary collective players.

The second of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improvisational drummer, Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist, Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist, Rick Countryman, this energetic concert recorded after two days in the studio developing their collective sound.

Derek Bailey's 1987 trip to Japan yielded a number of important recordings, including a duo with Mototeru Takagi, a trio with Sabu Toyozumi & Peter Brötzmann, and this concert at IMAI-Tei with Toyozumi, one of the first generation Japanese free improvisers and the only non-American to become a member of the AACM; here in three duos and Bailey's solo "Diaphragm".

A unique and fascinating edition of the Leap of Faith Orchestra, bringing special guests Jimmy Zhao, Yazhi Gao, Jiaxin Winky Wan, Ziya Gao, and Kaixin Hou performing on Chinese instruments to join with the core duo of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, along with percussionist/drummer Michael Knoblach and bassist Scott Samenfeld.

The first album from the Japanese improvising quartet of electric guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Altered States), cross-media violinist Keisuke Ohta, bassist Shinobu Kawai (Yoshihide Otomo Special Big Band, Akira Sakata) and drummer Akira Sotoyama (Tipographica, Koichi Matsukaze Quartet), in three avant jazz improvisations captured live at Knuttel House in Tokyo.

A burning album of improvised rock and noise with members from Incapacitants, Keiji Haino + Masataka Fujikake Duo, Zeni Geva, &c., part of a free improv series organized by Doubtmusic and recorded at Tokyo's Knuttle House in 2023, from the quartet of Toshiji Mikawa on electronics, Jun Numata on guitar& electronics, Yusuke Nishimura on bass and Masataka Fujikake on drums.

Known for his band Blacksheep, along with Gatos Meeting, OKHP, Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo, The Silence, and Missing Link, &c., Japanese baritone saxophonist steps out solo for twelve works — eight improvisations and four compositions — blurring the line between approaches, executed with Yoshida's rich tone, multiphonic accents, and powerful sonic pressure on the big reed.

A stunningly powerful quartet of electric jazz captured live at the 2022 Freejazz Festival in Saarbrucken, Germany between German alto saxophonist Frank Gratkowski (Skein), Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Ground Zero, Altered States), electric bassist Dan Peter Sundland and drummer Steve Heather, performing four assertive, charged and cathartic collective improvisations.

Part of a concert to mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of Ftarri's physical store in Suidobashi, Tokyo, drawing on performers from the Improvised Music From Japan imprint, turntable and sonic legend Otomo Yoshihide performed this solo concert in two sets, first using a turntable and the Ftarri store's harmonium (pump organ), and then on the turntable alone.

Right out of the gate one feels the energy and excitement between Japanese trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and NY drummer Jim Black, each pushing the other through strong instrumental character and outrageous technique over nine Tamura compositions recorded in the studio in Switzerland, their first recording in 25 years since their 1999 Buzz Records album White and Blue.

Thirteen realizations of sound artist Rubén Turba and violist Minami Saeki's concept for two musicians or more, where each performer chooses five sounds as a "gift" to one of the others, played up to three times during the realization before moving to the next sound; these recordings were made independently in Tokyo & Madrid and then combined without editing.

A trio of leaders in their own right performing pianist Satoko Fujii's demanding compositions, bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura rise to the challenge in a set of six exciting works that push and pull this remarkable piano trio in unexpected directions, responding to the twists and turns of Fujii's intense and intricate directions; superlative!

The Kaze quartet of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeter & flugelhorn player Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, continues its avant-embracing and uniquely voiced project with this live performance at Lille, France, an episodic and spontaneously diverse set of three collective improvisations of intuitive, adventurous interaction.

Captured as a live stream recording in 2023 at Tonehouse Studios in Singapore, after 26 days of touring South East Asia by the 12 year collaborative trio of Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, American ex-pat living in the Philippines Rick Countryman on alto sax and Filipino bassist Johnny Gaerlan, a great free jazz session summing up a satisfying tour.

Following their 2009 release of the same title, this album of primarily free improvisation is a well-paced presentation of two 3-movement works between Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama providing precise rhythmic abstractions, and French sound artist Eric La Casa using field recordings of recurring and curious sound sources plus objects to expand Muriyama's punctuations.

A wild live improvisation at Apollo, in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo from legendary Japanese reedist Akira Sakata on alto sax and clarinet, Raiga Hayashi on drums, and Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board, the latter adding unusual electronic elements to otherwise characteristically energetic free jazz from the Tokyo scene, making this a wonderfully unique album.

Emulating the Korean river Taedong through it's undulating flows, uproar, flux and treachery in eleven succinct chamber-oriented improvisations from the quartet of South Korean tenor saxophonist Jung-Jae Kim, French-born South Korean-based drummer Quentin Cholet, with the Portuguese father/son duo of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello.