Three vicious improvisers from some of Montreal's most ferocious and fascinating practicioners: drummer Michel F. Cote, trumpeter Ellwood Apps, and bassist Alexandre St-Onge.

Claude St-Jean's band, Les Projectionnistes (Tommy Babin, Bernard Falaise, Pierre Labbe, Remi Leclerc), plays an ecletic mix of songs ranging from alternative jazz, rock, and improv.

Quartetski Does Stravinsky with drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli, guitarist Bernard Falaise, reedist Phillipe Lauzier, viole de gamaba player Pierre-Yves Martel and violinist Joshua Zubot reinterpret Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in honor of its 100th anniversary.

Composed between 1926 and 1939, "Mikrokosmos" was Bela Bartok's attempt to solve certain technical problems in the art of piano playing, here adapted by the 5-piece Quartetski into a fascinating series of progressive exercises and etudes, oddly enough presented without a piano.

Montreal saxophone quartet Quasar (Jean-Marc Bouchard, Marie-Chantal Leclair, Mathieu Leclair, & Andre Leroux) in their 3rd incredible album of contemporary saxophone compositions, presenting 14 rich and varied compositions, including commissioned and premier works.

The Canadian Council for the Arts commissioned this work by Hungarian composer Gyula Csapo, a student of Morton Feldman amd John Cage, realized by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini quartet, "Deja? Koja?" meaning "Already? Where to?" is a three-part work with two intermissions, an epic work that references the same basic materials in a variety of perspectives.

Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini string quartet worked with composer Christopher Butterfield, who wrote two of these pieces ("Trip" and "Fall") specifically for QB, alongside three other works from 20 years of composing that use unusual instructions and scores for the performers.

Intelligent and inspired compositions by saxophonist Evan Shaw and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud performed with Jean Martin (drums and laptop), Wes Neal (double bass), and Tomasz Krakowiak (percussion).

The Ratchet Orchestra is a large ensemble of 30 fringe musicians from Montreal headed by director Nicolas Caloia whose compositions allow for improvised chamber jazz and showcase the talents of the orchestra's most passionate players.

This Toronto quintet spent two years researching and performing the music of Steve Lacy, focusing on the vocal works, which they play with precision, imagination and love.

Jocelyn Robert's first release on Ambiances Magnetiques in a four-disc set that shows off his solo work and highlights the contributions from other artists who have worked with him through the years.

Composer Danielle Palardy Roger presents a work for a 13-voice mixed choir, two speakers, two soloists, and two percussionists in a satirical elegy that is an account of a man's last agonizing moments.

Percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger's first major solo composition in 13 pieces which is performed by Claude Beaugrand, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, and Martin Ouellet.

Written in 1998, Danielle Palardy Roger's game piece composition was performed at the first Ensemble SuperMusique concert, here in 7 versions recorded at various locations in bands including Joelle Leandre, Joane Hetu, Guido Del Fabbro, Jean Derome, &c. &c.

3 live recordings from 3 ensembles - GGRIL, Ensemble SuperMusique and ECM+ - exploring relationsips between early music and contemporary creative music; with Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Diane Labrosse, Bernard Falaise, &c. &c.

Tenor and baritone saxophones in an exchange of spectral interactions that emphasize harmonic overtones and intersections, unusual emanations from both instruments in a perfectly paced improvisations, each of the 12 dialogs named aptly for locations and crossing in Englad and France, adding a sense of journey to these mysterious and wonderful expeditions.

The fifth CD in the Canadian Composers Series is also the debut appearance on Another Timbre by the Jack Quartet, performing works by composer Marc Sabat--two string quartets and a violin/cello duo--all combining an exploration of the soundworld of Just Intonation with a strong underlying lyricism.

Italian drummer Mirko Sabatini on a solo album that explores different aspects of his instrument's sound and mechanics through interesting improvisation.

The chamber rock 8 piece Saint Dirt Elementary School ensemble in their second release on Barnyard, superb sophisticated compositions reminiscent of L'Ensemble Raye or Conventum.

Guitarist and composer Myk Freedman's little big band, a salon orchestra that's both entertaining and remarkably sophisticated, a playground of styles and ideas.

Presented at the Vancouver International Improvisation Festival and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, guitarist Ron Samworth's conceptual work explores the life and dreams of a dog, with narration from Barbara Adler and an incredible ensemble including cellist Peggy, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, trumpeter JP Carter, drummer Dylan van der Schyff, etc.

Singer/songwriter Julie McGeer leads a band of some of Western Canada's foremost players from the jazz and indie scene including Peggy Lee, JP Carter, Paul Rigby, Cole Schmidt, Darren Parris & Barry Mirochnik in an embraceable album combining jazz, indie pop and folk roots.

Montreal/Actuelle turntablist Martin Tetreault and Berlin turntablist Ignaz Shcick in two sets of recordings from two encounters in Belgium and Switzerland, 2006.

Montreal free improvisers in an album straddling improvisation, actuelle, and rock influences, with drummer Michel F. Cote, guitarist Sam Shalabi, and bass/electronicist Alexandre St-Onge.

Verge Music founder Daniel Kernohan aka Dee Kay and radio host Dan Lander developed this album of electroacoustic interaction between 1987-1989 in a dilapidated row house on "the wrong side of the tracks" in Toronto, using "instruments, toys, stuff, sound" to create an amusing, sometimes startling, and insightful series of interactions; unpredictable and interesting.

A richly refined and sophisticated album drawing on improvisation, experimenation and rock elements from the collaborative Vancouver ensemble Sick Boss of core members guitarist Cole Schmidt, bassist James Meger and drummer Daniel Gaucher, with guests including guitarist Tony Wilson, cellist Peggy Lee, trumpeter JP Carter, synth player Tyson Naylor, &c. &c.

Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith's extended composition for violin and percussion in 15 parts, performed by percussionist Simon Limbrick and violinist Mira Benjamin, a unique orchestration that reveals a journey of steady pace, tension and beauty.

Ten pieces dating from 1995 to 2015 from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith, performed by Quatuor Bozzini and Apartment House, the first in Another Timbre's Canadian Composer series, a 2-CD release focusing on Smith's "equal and simultaneous drive toward abstraction and lyricism" in slowly developing, lush and sophisticated compositions.

Vocalist and guitarist Jerry Snell in his first album of twelve songs that are based on a text he wrote about social and political conflicts around the world.

Songwriter/singer John Southworth, supremely crafted, elegiac songs featuring Barnyard artists Justin Haynes on guitar, Jean Martin on drums and Andrew Downing on bass.

The 2nd release from the Montreal free improvising trio Joshua Zubot (violin), Bernard Falaise (guitar) and Isaiah Ceccarelli (drums/percussion) is a magnificent example of open-minded improvisation using unusual and sparkling approaches to sound and discourse.

Montreal artists Isaiah Ceccarelli on percussion, Bernard Falaise on electric guitar and Josh Zubot on violon, impressive textural music from contemplative soundscapes to frantic climaxes.

The duo of Arthur Bull on guitars & harmoia and Eric Normand on electric bass and tenor banjo, and both on voice, taking on American rural songs--delta blues, cajun music, and Quebecois laments, &c--with a modern eye and a good sense of humor.

Three works from Canadian composer Chiyoko Szlavnics, two electroacoustic compositions incorporating sinewaves, one with a saxophone quartet and the other with two accordions, two flutes and two percussionists; and a string trio of long sustained tones and slow glissandi.

T H O M A S is the ongoing brainchild of Toronto's Thom Gill, since 2009 exploring the world of song, at home and abroad, through pieces that blur the lines between pop and avant-garde.

Geographic improvisations from this trio of string and percussion players, with each track named by location and distance between Montreal and Chelsea, Ontario.

Percussionist Ziya Tabassian plays solo tombak, the main percussion instrument used in Persian classical music, in 9 pieces that explore the large range of tones and nuances of the instrument.

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq in a bizarre and amazing performance at the Victoriaville Festival in 2010 with Drip Audio director Jesse Zubot on violin and Barnyard boss Jean Martin on drums, computer, trumpophone.

The trio of Montreal percussionist Pierre Tanguay with Belgian saxophonist Erwinn Vann and bassist Michel Mergaerts in spirited an polyrhythmic improvisations.

The duo of Pierre Tanguay on drums and percussion and Tom Walsh on trombone in a release of minimalist construction that blends composition and improvisation.

The solo debut album from electronic artist and composer Pierre Tanguay is a collection of dark ambient background music that is minimalist in nature but also very impressive.

The meeting of Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide, two turntable master manipulators, in a studio recording from Montreal, in a collection of 21 improvisations that explore different themes.

Picking up where 1. Grrr leaves off, this album is the second addition of the turntable duo of Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide in a collection of live, improvised recordings.

Following 1. Grrr and 2. Tok, this is the third and final part of a series of live recordings from the improvising turntable duo of Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide.

Using extended and unsual techniques of cutting up, scratching, scraping, sanding grooves, even ironing his records, turntabilist Martin Tetreault approaches new music in audacious ways.

Two CDs from experimental electronic artist Martin Tetreault; one a studio work from 1991-92 using sampling, the second a collection of various experimental works recorded between 1984 and 86.

Co-founder of the Association of Improvising Musicians in Toronto (AIMToronto) and a member of The Rent, Scott Thomson presents a solo trombone release of explorative approaches to the instrument, masterful work from one of Canada's leading improvisers.

Bassist Nic Caloia (Ratchet Orchestra) with his Montreal based quartet of pianist Guillaume Dostaler, drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli and Jean Derome on baritone sax and bass flute, in an album of great compositional mood and creative playing.

Montreal's great jazz trio of saxophonist Jean Derome, bassist Normand Guilbeault, & drummer Pierre Tanguay, in an album of original compositions and work by Dolphy, Ellington, Kirk, Mengelberg & Strayhorn.

Sax and flute player/Ambiances Magnetique label leader Jean Derome's excellent jazz trio with bassist Normand Guilbeault and drummer Pierre Tanguay, in their 4th release, with three Derome originals and 4 standards including a Dolphy number.

An anthology of 24 unreleased works by various members of Ambiances Magnetiques: Michel F Cote, Jean Derome, Andre Duchesne, Joane Hetu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcl Lepage, etc..

A live concert recording from 1992 featuring five groups of fifteen total musicians playing 17 previously unreleased tracks.

A compilation of seventeen tracks featuring artists such as Rene Lussier, Jean Derome, Pierre Tanguay, Robert Marcel Lepage, Andre Duchesne, Joane Hetu, &tc.

An incredibly informed instant-composing ensemble drawing on free jazz and post rock sensibilities with nods to Indian ragas, jazz-inflected minimalism, Zappa-esque bouts of sonic anarchy, and German rock music from the 1970s, captured live at Toronto, Guelph and Hamilton, Canada in 2012.

The UK and Vancouver meet for a second release under the Way Out Northwest name - British saxophone master John Butcher with bassist Torsten Muller and drummer Dylan van der Schyff - recording for Sonarchy Radio.

1st release for the duo of wind player Linsey Wellman and percussionist Mike Essoudry embracing stasis and movement, meditation and exuberance, delicacy and amplitude.

Calgary's saxophonist Darren Williams, who has worked with Mats Gustafsson, Cody Oliver, Eugene Chadbourne, and Han Bennink, in a solo album of remarkable power using extended techniques in composed and improvised pieces that push Williams into astounding territory.

The first recording of Tony Wilson's music inspired by the plight and lives of the homeless and drug addictied in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, in a band with P Carter on trumpet, Jesse Zubot on violin, Peggy Lee on cello, Russell Sholberg on bass and Skye Brooks on drums.

Tony Wilson Sextet's was formed almost 20 years ago to perform his original compositions and arrangements, here performing Benjamin Britten's Lachrymae and 4 original works.

XYZ is the trio of Pierre-Yves Martel (feedback & static), Martin Tetreault (turntable), & Philippe Lauzier (reeds) improvising with post-industrial sound orchestration using electronic and acoustic sources.

Guitarist and singer Sylvie Chenard in duet with musician/performance artist Jon Asencio, joyfully exploring the energies of resistance and anarchy, in shades of science-fiction and totalitarian reality.

Drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli's debut album is inspired by voyages in the French Alps and the Pyrenees and features artists Jean Derome, Francisco Lozano, Steve Raegele, and Clinton Ryder.

A live recording from the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in 2009 of extended improvisations between guitarist Fred Frith, French clarinetist Louis Sclavis, and percussionist Jean-Pierre Drouet.

The transatlantic string trio of Amsterdam-based cellist Tristan Honsinger (also on voice) with Montreal free improvisers violinist Joshua Zubot and double bassist Nicolas Caloia in an album of informed improvisation that bring an upbeat approach to authoritative dialog which is both sharp-witted and irreverent, but never less than engaging.

The trio of Frantz Loriot (violin), Sean Ali (contrabassist) and Carlo Costa (percussion), a grouping named for still life paintings that concentrate on composition and color, presenting three extended compositions of rich acoustic sound, extending their instruments through masterful technique to create exquisitely detailed and compellingly self-controlled conversation.

The Canadian trio of clarinetist Francois Houle, pianist Alexander Hawkins and drummer Harris Eisenstadt first met in 2014 for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, taking several years to get them together again for this beautifully lyrical and sophisticated album of chamber jazz, with compositions from all three plus pieces by Steve Lacy, Andrew Hill and Charles Ives.

Canadian guitarist Rene Lussier formed this quintette in 2016, with Julie Houle on tuba & euphonium, Luzio Altobelli on accordion, and drummers Marton Maderspach & Robbie Kuster, to play the intricate and lyrical pieces he developed, where up to five parts are overlaid at any given time, though the listener only hears the wonderful interplay and exultation of the resulting music.

Two concerts, one at l'Klectik Art Lab in London, one at the 20th Festival Jazz Cerkno, 2015, from the free improvising trio of Quebec saxophonist Francois Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert, and UK bassist John Edwards, three exemplary examples of modern free improvisation taking an excursive approach that reveals earnest lyricism and propulsive rhythm.

Slyly crossing modern improv and EAI approaches in a surreal take on early bottleneck, banjo and slide blues styles from the Quebec quintet of Arthur Bull on harmonica, voice, guitar & electronics, Eric Normand on banjo, voice & bass, Ben Grossman on "old wheel", Anne-Francoise Jacques on engines, and Gabriel Rochette on trombone; sincere and eccentric.

Separated by 1,000 KMs and speaking a different language, the collaboration of Quebec bassist Eric Normand and Australian saxophonist Jim Denley, both dedicated experimenters, share a common aesthetic in free improvisation as they release their third album: five dialogs using reeds, electric bass, drums, objects and tools to create unusual sonic conversations.

The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Vertrek Ensemble of Vadim Budman on guitars and trumpet and Ron de Jong on percussion, in their first album, collecting solos, duos, and trios with guests Mark Kelly on banjo and Ian Birse on guitar & effects, predating their albums with legendary improvisers Derek Bailey and Euguene Chadbourne.

Acoustic guitar intermeshes with electric guitar as Canadian guitarist Pascal Landry and New York guitarist Mick Barr, both of whom play in heavy rock and free improvisation settings, meet in Queens, NY to record this intense album of free playing using a diverse set of approaches, intertwining their strings in an insectile swarm of notes and timbres.

The meticulous and magnificently creative mind of wind player and composer Jean Derome used a 2010 Sudoko puzzle as a guide for his "Sudoko Pour Pygmees", presented alongside "7 Dances (for 15)" and "5 Thoughts (for hard rubber)", performed by an octet of Montreal mainstays including Pierre Tanguay, Pierre Cartier, Guido Del Fabbro, Bernard Falaise, &c.

Prepared piano and percussion from Ofer Pelz and Preston Beebe, the percussionist using a diverse set of approaches to drums, cymbals and devices, blurring the sonic distinctions with Israeli-born Montreal-based pianist Ofer Pelz, whose preparations transform the piano in remarkable ways as the two focus on time, texture, space, and ambiance through seven fascinating improvisations.

A fun, odd and eccentric album constructed from extracts of hours of tape reels and audio cassettes by Montreal turntablist Martin Tetrault, a mix of plunderphonic sources, unusual turntable technique, and experimental audio collage drawn from an insanely diverse set of sources, in this sequel to his 1992 "Snipettes!" cassette, here with 31 new fascinating miniatures.

Legendary UK drummer Roger Turner and Canadian guitarist Arthur Bull, seasoned improvisers since the 70s and already working as a duo, joined with Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson during Thomson's 2017 residency in Halifax through suddenlyListen, touring and recording this album of propulsive and dynamic creative improvisation during their 2018 tour of Eastern Canada.

The Montreal string quartet Quatuor Bozzini of Alissa Cheung on violin, Clemens Merkel on violin, Stephanie Bozzini on viola, and Isabelle Bozzini on cello is extended with double bassist Pierre-Alexandre Maranda as they perform composer Simon Martin's work of long tones and timbres, exploring the nature and philosophy of sound, and our relationship to it.

Named for the city in which it was recorded, the trio of Karoline Leblanc on harpsichord, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, and Paulo J Ferreira Lopes on gongs & cymbals, is a mysterious and ritualistic album, Lopes' gongs slowly intoning as the strings use unusual techniques, much of the harpsichord played inside; a subtle and beautiful reflection of historic Montreal.

Retrospective of Terry Rusling, a Canadian composer of electronic music working for the CBC in the 60's, who was introduced to the Electronic Music Studio at the University of Toronto, where he was awarded the title of Research Associate, receiving a Canada Council Grant to travel and work in Belgium, Utrecht, Paris, &c.; 2 of his graphic scores are part of John Cage's "Notations" project.

Premiere recordings of two major works from Canadian guitarist Tim Brady: "Desir" in 3 movements, a concerto for electric guitar and large chamber ensemble that showcases Brady's playing; and "Eight Songs about: Symphony # 7" where each song is a character in a fictional, subtle and ironic commentary about Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 premiered on August 9th, 1942.