Indian-born, currently Amsterdam-based American Rajesh Mehta expands the timbral and textural palette of the trumpet in twelve pieces with accompaniment by Paul Lovens on drums and cymbals.

The quartet of Canadian electronics composer Chris Meloche and label leader Martin Archer on woodwinds and electronics orchestrated these pieces, performed with improvsations from Gino Robair on percussion and electronics and Lyn Hodnett on voice, for a 3 part work of rich interactive loops, drones and soundscape, ranging from spine-chilling to lush and lovely environments.

Six musicians play along with Wolfgang Mitterer's one hour and fifty-four minute computer track which leaves ample room for free improvisation, mixing contemporary composition with electronic and jazz music.

Using an unusual re-tuning of the piano, saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh enlists three inventive pianists--Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, and Craig Taborn--for a set of melodically-oriented duos, Modirzadeh using alternate fingerings and embouchure adjustments to achieve intervals between major and minor, together freeing the improvisers to explore new tonal possibilities.

During their 2019 Japan Tour, the collaboration of the Norwegian experimental rock band MoE and alto sax virtuoso Mette Rasmussen extended their trio with legendary drummer Ikuru Takahashi to record this energetic, rough and tumble album exploring the boundaries between free improvisation, skronky rock, and other confrontational, conceptual crossover forms.

An unusual release from the accordion, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, placed microphones in a way to enhance the harmonics and all the particularities of every sound, layering slowly moving tones and their harmonic interaction, allowing unexpected details to emerge.

Recorded at the historic Bimhuis during the Felix Meritis festival, this was the first meeting of the Felix Quartet featuring frequent collaborators Michael Moore on sax & clarinet and trombonist Wolter Wierbos, with Wilbert de Joode on bass and Michael Vatcher on drums & hammer dulcimer, performing Moore's superb compositions written for this event & for these players.

An incredible trio of two New York improvisers - Joe Morris on guitar and trumpeter Nate Wooley - with European free improv legend pianist Augusti Fernandez, for 7 remarkable free improvisations of astounding skill.

Known for his guitar work, and more recently on the bass, here in an album of improvisation on the 5-string banjo and 4-string banjouke.

Following a string of successful live recordings on the Utech label, flutist and reedist Ras Moshe took his quartet with Dave Ross on guitar, Shayna Dulberger on bass, and Rashid Bakr on drums & percussion into the studio to record these six original compositions bridging traditional and modern aspects of free jazz and improvisation.

A single extended improvisation from the trio of Udo Schindler on reeds, brass & analogue synthesizer, Gunnar Geisse on laptopguitar & virtual instruments, and Anton Kaun on electronics, zeug & effects recorded live at Das Lihotzky/wagnis ART, in Munchen, Germany in 2017, a journey of odd intent, brilliant technique, eccentric attitude, and unorthodox dialog.

Eight improvised performances on percussion from Paris-based drummer/percussionist Seijiro Murayama recorded in 2019 using acoustic sources from snare drums, mallets, brushes, voice, steel tables, gong and voice, captured in four locations around France and in Mishima City, Japan, each exploring new compositional methods and ways to improvise within them.

A large work by the Western Australian composer Josten Myburgh, using harmonies taken from the music of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe blended with environmental field recordings, performed by Josten Myburgh on sax & electronics, Jet Kye Chong on percussion, Jameson Feakes on guitar, Djuna Lee on bass, Stuart James on piano & electronics, and Kirsten Smith on flutes.

David Lee Myers began creating feedback music in 1989, originally under the name Arcane Device, developing unique approaches to harnessing feedback between audio devices in ways their manufactures did not intend; since 2014 he has used a set of new devices that allow intense control and beauty through vibrational interactions, as heard in this, his 18th solo album of feedback music.

Using feedback matrices, oscillator banks and multi-processing, NYC sound and feedback artist David Lee Myers, A.K.A. Arcane Device, references the quote from metaphysics scholar Frithjof Schuon--"You must detach your life from an awareness of the multiple and reduce it to a geometrical point before God"--which he manifests in four focused works of rich, slowly evolving sound.

Musician and composer Max Nagl in his first release that breaks away from his standard miniaturist compositions and is played with a broad-band ensemble.

Pianist Nechusthan leads his powerful trio of bassist Ken Filiano & drummer Bob Meyers, plus clarinet legend Harold Rubin, in a Jackson Pollack-influenced action suite, 10 pieces of free improvisation following a larger structured process.

After the 2019 retrospective box-set of the late 90s, legendary band The Quintet, and after the sad passing of bassist Bjornar Andresen, saxophonist Carl Magnus Neumann, guitarist Ketil Gutvik and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love decided to form a new quartet, adding bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, commencing their organization with this outstanding 2020 live concert in Oslo.

Hard-edged free long form improvisation from the 2nd album from the Dromedaries trio of Keir Neuringer on saxophone, Shayna Dulberger on bass, and Julius Masri on drums, performing at Seizures Palace, in Brooklyn, using unusual rhythmic structures over which the trio's instrumental physicality ranges from savage playing to impressive flights of virtuosity.

Joane Hetu and Jean Derome formed Nous percons les oreilles 20 years ago, merging their expansive musical interests in idiosyncratic improvisation and orchestration using saxophones & wind instruments, objects, voice, melodica, and piano, here in their 4th astonishing album.

The second-ever solo release from Tim Olive and his first since 2008, in a distinctive set of compositions that layer and superimpose multiple, darkly intense recordings of improvisations made with magnetic pickups, metal plates, springs, wire, tuning forks, electromagnets, bow, breath, dental floss, envelope generator, fuzz, spring reverb, and preamplifier.

NYC performer Aki Onda and Yokohama sound artist Nao Nishihara began collaborating in 2015 while Nishihara was residing in NY on an Asian Cultural Council grant, returning in 2016 for this live performance exploring the architecture and acoustics of ISSUE's 22 Boerum Place theater, installing handmade instruments and analog equipment within a visually arranged set-up.

An extended work for 10 improvisers using a composite composition of graphic scores, open notations, and two trio sub-pieces titled "skelf" (electric guitar, double bass and drums) and "antiphon" (violin, viola and double bass), all directed by UK saxophonist Matt London in an ensemble with reeds, winds, brass, strings, electric guitar, and Mark Sanders on drums.

Orfeo 5 are Shaun Blezard on electronics, Keith Jafrate on saxophone, Matt Bourne on keyboards & cello, Tamlin Cook on guitar, Mary Oliver presenting spoken word, and Simon Prince on saxophone & flutes, blending jazz, improv, folk, dub, sound art and electronica to create evolving, improvised narrative music that create a sense of place and journey.

Reissuing percussionist and electronic innovator Tony Oxley's 1977 Incus album, collecting works from Oxley's evolving approaches, including a quartet with bassist Barry Guy and violinists David Bourne & Philipp Wachsmann; a trio with Barry Guy and Ian Brighton on electric guitar; and solo pieces including a piece for Evan Parker emulating his sound through electronics.

Commissioned by choreographer Jennifer Monson, the collaboration of Downtown NY electric harpist and sound artist Zeena Parkins and Chicago sound artist Jeff Kolar explore the intersection of acoustic phenonema against electronic, synthetic & radio sounds, inspired by the timing of natural phenomena like ocean currents and daylight emergence; fascinating.

Using prepared piano (Anthony Pateras), prepared guitar (David Michael Brown) and drums (Sean Baxter) this live concert of two improvisations was captured at l'Usine in Geneva, Switzerland in 2006, an exploratory conversation of dynamic structures and sound that implicitly references modern compositional approaches to keyboard, strings and percussion.

The title referring to a condition of aural hallucinations, Anthony Pateras' composition is a work of tense motion, dissonance and resolution, commissioned by the Musica Sanae project and performed at the 17th Sacrum Profanum Festival in Krakow, 2019, using a recording improvised and assembled in Australia with his tape septet that underpins the performances in concert with his live septet.

LA flutist Leah Paul began these works as through-composed chamber pieces, with lyrical content evolving as each song took shape, performed in a hybrid band of improvisers and chamber players with Afton Hefley singing about meditation of dreams and childhood memories.

Using prepared drums drums, objects, voice, and Kalimba, Italian drummer Alberto Pederneschi presents eight solo works recorded in the studio, an unhurried but authoritative set of pieces that merge composed and improvised sections, drawing and evoking a narrative sense in coherent arrangements and intimate story telling.

Tight interaction in an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess from the duo of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley, the two New York-based improvisers recording in the studio in Brooklyn in 2020 for ten dialogs, a perfect distillation of their work together after four CDs in larger group efforts; captivating.

Wandelweiser composer and pianist Anastassis Philippakopoulos presents four solo clarinet pieces performed by fellow Wandelweiser member, Swiss composer and clarinetist Jürg Frey, and three solo piano pieces performed by himself, in a beautiful album of delicately minimal and fragile music inspired by and reflecting the natural landscape of Greece.

Three layers of Chicago pianist & composer Matt Piet (Four Letter Words, Matt Piet Trio) in a virtual trio improvised sequentially in the studio in 2020, the title referring to a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer of paint on a canvas, an apt analogy for the keen interactions and wonderful labyrinths Piet performs with himself.

The duo of saxophonist Boris Hauf and pianist D Bayne team up with guitarist Martin Siewert in this collection of tracks inspired by different U.S. national parks and their representation in iconic posters.

Freely improvised, noisy chamber music performed on guitar, trombone, conch shell, drums & percussion from the trio of Swiss guitarist Beat Keller, Austrian trombonist Werner Puntigam and German drummer Georg Wilbertz, bridging genres while keeping a sense of free jazz as an implied basis, with a sly sense of humor and wonder through marvelous technique and timing.

Long-time collaborators the Quatuor Bozzini string quartet of Clemens Merkel, Alissa Cheung, Stephanie Bozzini and Isabelle Bozzini join with Slavic composer living in Montreal Ana Sokolovic, to present a series of 14 short works -- "Ghost 1" & "Ghost 2"; "Commedia dell'arte" in 10 movements; "Blanc dominant"; and "Troisieme page apres le soleil".

Active since the early 90's, the superb Montreal super-group Ratchet Orchestra under the direction of Nicolas Caloia with 19 performers presents 10 works including the title track, with soloists including Jean Rene, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Ellwood Epps, Sam Shalabi, Craig Petersen, Yves Charuest, Joshua Zubot, Scott Thomson, Isaiah Ceccarelli, &c.

Pianist Francois Raulin's trio with soprano saxophonist Francois Corneloup and double bassist Bruno Cheviloon, also providing vocals recording in the studio in France, 2000.

The husband and wife duo of New York free improvisers, Reut Regev on trombone and Igal Foni on drums, both bringing electronics to their session, in surprisingly their debut duo release after two decades of musical collaboration and shared life, their assurance and intimacy evident in the relaxed spontaneity and sheer musicality they bring to their dialogs.

Using the natural resonance of the Apodaka church in Alava, Spain, the Bilbao-based experimental improvising duo of cellist Francia Matías Riquelme and saxophonist Fernando Ulzion on soprano and alto, present an introspective and informed set of works titled as iconic jazz compositions, an implication of the impressionist approach their expansive and thoughtful playing invokes.

An interesting mixture of sound and spoken word originally recorded as a DJ set by RLW for a birthday celebration that was remixed with help from Stephen Meixner.

Composer/percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger's musical satire about capitalism, performed with some of Montreal's finest improvisers using conventional & unconventional instruments and voice, captured live at the Gesu Amphitheater, in Montreal in 2018: Michel F Cote, Andre Duchesne, Joane Hetu, Elizabeth Lima, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Alexander St-Onge, and Ida Toniato.

A 3 CD box set with a booklet and bow hair marking violinist/conceptualist Jon Rose's 60th birthday, all previously unreleased works ranging from radio documentary and radio fiction to virtuoso performances using acoustic violin and his hyperstring interactive bow system.

First recordings of composer Katharnia Rosenberger's SHIFT and other dynamic and exciting works incorporating spatialization, by an electroacoustic orchestra including Rage Thrombones, captured in 2016 at the University of California, in San Diego, California.

It was during this recording at the 2015 "zoom in" festival in Bern, Switzerland that AMM guitarist and improviser Keith Rowe made the decision to cease performing solo, affected by Parkinson's Disease, this being his final recording as he performed on lapstick guitar, Boss RC-3, Boss PS-3, six band EQ, Sony ICF-SW22 and Roberts R984 radios, 2 contact mics & a metal strip.

Pianist Steffen Schleiermacher plays six spiritual pieces by composer Dane Rudhyar that are not meant to be analyzed and thought about, but to be felt and experienced.

Sardinian pianist Claudio Sanna, versed equally in the classical, jazz, and electroacoustic traditions, in his debut recording of 8 original compositions blending composition and improvisation, revealing an enthusiastic and curious approach to music.

Recorded at the 79th Salon fur Klang+Kunst, in Krailling, Munich, the pairing of multi-instrumentalist Udo Schindler performing on alto saxophone, brass & synthesizer and Patrick Schimanski performing on percussion, live electronics & voice was inspired by the novella fragment Lenz written by Georg Büchner in 1836 based on Jean Frédéric Oberlin's diary.

Performing at the Gottfried Duren/arToxin at Galerie ar Toxin in 2019, the trio of Udo Schindler on clarinet, bass clarinet & alto horn, Damon Smith on double bass, and Karina Erhard on C flute & alto flute present a sophisticated set of free improvisations with a chamber improv feeling, using tremendous technique and intent listening through six fascinating dialogs.

Performing in Krailling-Munich at Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang+Kunst in 2018, Netherland free improvising, brilliantly mad vocalist Jaap Blonk joins the reed master for ten acoustic improvisations with Schindler on a variety of reeds and brass instruments, the dialog authoritatively informed, masterful, slightly deranged, and continuously captivating.

Pi-hsien Chen performs Arnold Schonbgergs, a small part of his oeuvre, yet significant in that they reflect the evolution and development of this great composer's compositional powers.

"Merge" aptly describes the nearly telepathic interplay between these three European Free Improv masters -- Alexander von Schlippenbach on piano, Frank Paul Schubert on alto & soprano saxophones, and Martin Blume on drums -- recorded live in 2019 at Ruhr Jazz Fest, in Bochum, Germany, for an expansive 47 minute improvisation and a brief "Forgin the Work" conclusion.

Inspired by a work by John Stevens from 1991, Mark Wastell developed this work merging narration and improvisation by transcribing the text from Steven's performance, preseanted here by an electroacoustic ensemble including Phil Durrant, Dominic Lash, Bertrand Denzler, Jennifer Allum &c, yielding an enveloping and fascinatingly mysterious piece presented in two versions.

An unflinching look at life in post-Reconstruction America, commemorating the anniversary of Nancy Cunard's 1934 collection of African-American writings, poems, and song lyrics titled Negro: An Anthology, from Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with vocalists Tracie Morris, Eric Mingus, Mikel Banks, and instrumentalist including Sharp, Dave Hofstra, recordings from Hubert Sumlin, &c.

Vocalist Jen Shyu and master bassist Mark Dresser in a duo exploring opportunities for space and sound, texture and styles, through informed songs that include texts by Li Po and Ge Hong.

An all-improvised transnational collaboration recorded in the studio and live at Les Instants Chavires in France, between Mike Ladd (vocals/synthi), Carol Robinson (clarinets/voice), Dave Randall (guitar) and Dirk Rothbrust (drum/percussion).

Having supported Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Mikolaj Trzaska, Ken Vandermark, &c., the UK rhythm section of Olie Brice on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums joined forces for their own Somersaults trio with tenor saxophonist Tobias Delius (ICP), this second album an example of their buoyant, optimistically playful and melodically charged free improvisation.

An album of explorative and restrained improvisation, primarily acoustic but also using object and an electro-acoustic octave violin, from the quartet of Nicolas Souchal on trumpet & flugelhorn, Michael Nick on violin & electro acoustic octave violin, Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone saxophones, and Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet, flugelhorn & objects.

Pianist Carlo Morena leads this lyrical and energetic piano trio with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer FŽlix Lecaros Herrera, performing 6 Morena compositions and one piece by Emil Boyd, recording at the Firehouse 12 studio in Connecticut for the 3rd album under the Step In name, and the first with drummer Herrera; upbeat but never cloying, a very compelling album.

Alternating between Stockhausen and Beethoven, pianist Pi-Hsien Chen performs solo works including "Klavierstuck", "Sonata A-Dur Op. 101" and "Sonata C-moll Op. 111", contrasting and comparing the innovations of both composers.

Three concisely plain compositions for guitar, two solo and one trio, are played only with open strings or natural harmonics, where all the tunings are respectively irregular, written by Tokyo-based guitarist and composer Taku Sugimoto and performed and recorded in St. Petersburg, Russia by guitarists Andrey Popovsky, Denis Sorokin and Alexander Markvart.

Created out of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and drummer/percussionist Moe Staiano's Mute Socialite, this 7-piece improvising rock band turns rock on it's side in mostly instrumental, energetically complex and twisted rock pieces with acerbic social narrative, the band employing three drummers, bass & two guitars, piano and trumpet from Darren Johnston.

An essential asset of the NY Downtown scene since the 70s, trombonist Steve Swell leads and composes for an exemplary and uniquely orchestrated sextet bridging generations: Jason Kao Hwang on violin, viola & electronics, Ariel Bart on harmonica, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello & electronics, Robert Boston on piano & organ, and Andrew Cyrille on drums & percussion.

One of the pioneers of live computer music, Carl Stone and guitarist, multi-reedist and electronic artist Elliott Sharp have had a long association sharing concert stages together, heard here in 2019 at Bar Ishee in Tokyo for a unique concert of syncretic improvisation, merging instrumental music with unusual concrete and acousmatic sonic manifestations.

Using Gato Libre's music as the direction for his first solo album since 2004, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura releases an album of powerful and personal playing with a surreal flow of ideas, impish humor, and restrained joy.

"Koki" translates to "rare in ancient times," referring to ones 70th birthday, a milestone that trumpeter Natsuki Tamura achieves this year, providing proof that such an age is no longer rare, nor that it has affected the tremendous creative and physical powers that Tamura applies to his playing, as heard in this inventive solo album on trumpet, piano, voice and even pots & pans!

An album of duets between trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii, the husband & wife core of Libra Records, recorded as a DIY effort during the 2020 pandemic in their own home recording space and mixed by themselves, a diverse album of intimate and impressive improvisations that find the two in uniquely deep and expressively concentrative conversations.

While on a tour of Japan in 2019, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez asked trumpeter Natsuki Tamura to join them, and to join in a challenge to write a new piece of music for the trio each day while on tour; this studio album selects the finest of those compositions, performed with nearly telepathic control in a mix of fire and lyrical beauty.

The Chicago trio of Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Ben Cruz on guitar, and Emerson Hunton on drums perform compositions from Cruz & Hunton, informed works of free improvisation that blend style and approach from textural beauty to avant aggressive fury, controlled in quick pivots or enticing in brooding atmospheres, a well-balanced and thoroughly engaging album.

As though an elegy for the departed pianist and composer, Keith Tippett does not perform on this work, which was commissioned for the 2004 Norwich and Norfolk Festival, but conducts an ensemble that includes Julie Tippetts on voice, a saxophone octet that includes long-time collaborator Paul Dunmall, and the polyphonic choir of the BBC Singers; an exquisite and stirring work.

Exploring long tones and harmonic interactions of consonance & dissonance through a slowly rotating and patiently evolving series of tones with each of the players in the Tonus trio doubling on wind instruments, as performed by Dirk Serries on soprano melodica & accordion, Martina Verhoeven on concertina & cello, and Colin Webster on clarinet & alto saxophone.

Two live sets at Tago Jazz Cafe in the Philippines in 2018 from the trio of master percussionist Sabu Toyozumi on drums, American ex-pat Rick Countryman on alto saxophone, and Simon Tan on acoustic bass, this their 3rd album of solid free improvisation of extended and masterful discourse, unusual percussive devices, and powerful rhythmic foundation.

The entire first set and the final selection from the last set of a live concert at at Tago Jazz Cafe, in Quezon City, Philippines from the trio of Simon Tan on acoustic bass, Rick Countryman on alto saxophone, and Sabu Toyozumi on drums, including the full performance of material from their Chasing the Sun album; fluid, intelligent, captivating free jazz.

A duo between Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozum and Swedish baritone saxophonist & wind player Mats Gustafsson, also performing on his own fluteophone (a mouthpiece attached to the flute), capturing five live improvisation at their 2018 performance at Jazz Spot Candy, in Chiba, Japan for an extremely inventive set of potent playing.

The fourth and final night of a series of concerts after three nights of trios and quartets, this live recording captures the duo of legendary Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi and American alto saxophonist living in the Philippines Rick Countryman, freely improvising four impresseive and creative conversations of both intricate and reflective dialog.

American pianist John Snijders performing the music of European composers Christopher Fox, Ivo Van Emmerik, Richard Rijnvos, James Rolfe, and Luca Francesconi.

A dramatic set of improvisations performed on timpani and gongs from Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla, from the quietest of moments to massively profound and encompassing events, Trilla's timing evoking both meditative passages and moments of power, in a rich and spiritual album that impresses by both technical ability and by the sense of story he reveals.

The debut album of the New York Trio Caveat of Jonathan Moritz on tenor and soprano saxophones, John McLellan on drums, and James Ilgenfritz on bass, in an unusual Christmas album taking understated and obscure approaches to tunes like "Blue Christmas" and "Dreidel", where only the attentive listener discovers the melodic and harmonic basis for each tune.