Extended harmolodic free-jazz following the classic models of Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy using odd time signatures, beats, and quirky turn-arounds.

The beautiful and introspective duo of guitarist Scott Fields and Jeffrey Lependorf, a certified master of the shakuhachi, performing new works for guitar and shakuhachi that combine written and improvised material, lovely and intelligent music.

Frequent collaborators Fields and Schubert on electric guitar and tenor saxophone performing innovative and virtuosic material in ways that sound much larger than a duo setting would imply.

Originally released in 1995 on Field's own Geode label, these compositions for choreographer Li Chiao-Ping use complex rhythms and tonalities in a serial pitch "system of circles".

A live concert of Fields' Quite Large Orchestra (aka Multiple Joyce Orchestra) with Frank Gratkowski, Christina Fuchs, Thomas Lehn, Carl Hubsch, &c. &c. performing modular compositions for improvising chamber group, plus an homage to Merzbow.

Recorded in 1996 and first released by Music and Arts, this is perhaps Scott Fields' most important recording session to date: intricate compositions and superior interplay with his Chicago peers of Hamid Drake, Marilyn Crispell, and Hans Sturm.

A series of brief guitar improvisations based on the visual art of Thomas Hornung, who creates chalk artwork that usually takes less than 1 minute to create.

The NY trio of Steve Lehman, Vijay Iyer and new drummer Tyshawn Sorey in their 3rd Pi release, with wide influences from M-Base, Ornette Coleman, Art Ensemble, &c.

Matthew White's collective Fight the Big Bull nonet utilizes the history of jazz in compsitions that refer to Blind Willie Johnson, Charles Mingus, Art Ensemble, &c. &c.

The debut release of bassist Ken Filiano's quartet, Quantum Entanglements, with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby and Michael T.A. Thompson, playing all Filiano original compositions.

The minimalist duo of Klaus Fili performing on sinus-waves and Dafne Vicente-Sandoval on bassoon, performed deconstructively and amplified with miniature microphones, in two extended recordings of introspective and austere dialog.

Two slowly unfolding improvisations from trumpeter Leonel Kaplan using extended and unconventional techniques, and electronic artist Klaus Filip performing on sine waves, in a two part extended piece recorded in Buenos Aires after the two met in live performance.

An excellent reissue of reedist/drummer/pianist Milo Fine, bringing together material released on Hat Hut in 1976 & '7 ("Hah!" & "The Constant Extension Of Inescapable Tradition") plus his never-issued '78 album "When I Was Five Years Old, I Predicted Your Whole Life".

Pianist Milo Fine in a two part release of his "Ananke" work in trio and solo settings, playing inside and outside the piano, and with electronics and voice.

A member of alto saxophonist Steve Coleman's band Five Elements, this is the debut album from a trumpeter widely admired for his ability to tackle cutting-edge musical concepts with confidence and great skill.

28 of Northern Europe's finest jazz and improvising musicians join the Fire! Trio of Mats Gusfasson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werliin (drums) for a remarkable four part work directed by Gusfasson, blending improvised & rock forms with 3 vocalists.

The Swedish trio of Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin collaborate with twenty-eight prestigious guests to form the Fire! Orchestra, an incredible free-jazz big band.

The incredible Fire! Orchestra in a 21-piece rendition performs in the studio for an ecstatic album of free improvisation and song, with an amazing lineup including Mats Gustafsson, Mette Rasmussen, Johan Berthling, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lotte Anker, &c. &c.

Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werlin are joined by Jim O'Rourke to add a driving guitar & electronic layer to the "hypnotic jazz psychedelia and sonic mayhem" of Fire!

The Swedish trio of Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin collaborating with Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi for an album of hypnotic, psychedelic rock'n'jazz exploration (CD has 1 track not included on the LP edition).

The 5th album from the Swedish trio of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin, drawing on influences from free jazz, psychedelic rock, and noise, here joined by guitarist Oren Ambarchi and Leo Svensson on cello.

The 5th album from the Swedish trio of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin, drawing on influences from free jazz, psychedelic rock, and noise, here joined by guitarist Oren Ambarchi and Leo Svensson on cello.

The fifth album from the powerful Swedish trio Fire!, comprised of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums), with Mats playing keyboards and electronics on selected tracks.

2007 release from the quintet of guitarist John Lindblom, reedist Fredrik Ljungkvist, trumpeter Magnus Broo, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Kjell Nordeson, performing live at Sweden's Glenn Miller Cafe.

The long-running trio of alto saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet and drummer Edward Perraud (Hubbub) and bassist Benjamin Duboc in a studio album of intense and expressive free jazz in the Albert Ayler tradition.

For more than 25 years the duo of saxophonist Paul Flaherty and drummer Randall Colbourne have performed as a duo, here captured in the studio for six tracks of exceptional and telepathic free improvisation.

Recorded after a tour in Netherlands, Germany & Belgium, Jorrit Djikstra's Flatlands Collective crosses Europe and Chicago with players Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Fred Lonberg-Holm, &c.

The debut studio recordings from Calgary, Canada's Mark Fleischhaker and Scott Munro, electronically manipulated vocals with a loose sense of the word.

The first studio release for the trio of tenor saxophonist Louis Belogenis, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Charles Downs, profound NY free improvisation.

Live recordings from NYC's Stone of the trio of saxophonist Louie Belogenis, bassist Joe Morris, and drummer Charles Downs, excellent free-flowing jazz from three masterful players.

Since 2003 this Vancouver septet has merged jazz, improv, electro-acoustic, and progressive/avant musics into an exhilarating ordered chaos of highly listenable music.

American noise from 910 Noise Collective artists August Traeger and Ryan Lewis, a mix of harsh and atmospheric sound in an EP of wild, untamed and surprising sound work.

Forro is a NY East Village rock ensemble that reinterprets forro--traditional Brazilian folk music--using modern Downtown language, here taking on the compositions of John Zorn in rhythmically rich melodic approaches that's equal parts tribute and collaboration.

The improvising quartet of Canaries on the Pole (Foschia / goyvaerts / Irmer / Wissel) in their second release after their self-titled debut on the Free Elephant label.

London Improviser Orchestra peer Jacques Foschia in a double CD of solo clarinet works extending the instrument's range, performed in the studio & live in Brussels & London.

Another slab of basement strangeness from this Hamilton, Ontario-based trio/duo that pivots around sound artist David Payne; a baffling work of sound and noise.

French drummer Denis Fournier's open structure compositions are performed by the magnificent quintet of flutist Nicole Mitchell, saxophonist Hanah Jon Taylor, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Bernard Santacruz.

This very strange CD-ROM-enhanced recording combines 20 tracks of what can only be called deliciously weird music coupled with surreal visual images.

Pianist Danny Fox's trio with bassist Chris van Voorst van Beest and drummer Max Goldman in an album showing how the tight rapport this touring band has developed on the road, performing Fox's melodic and inventive compositions with a wealth of influences and style.

A 2006 concert recording at London's legendary Vortex by Evan Parker (sax), Steve Beresford (piano), John Edwards (bass) and Louis Moholo-Moholo (percussion) with guest Kenny Wheeler for a 2nd set.

Double bassist Alexander Frangenheim, peer to Phil Durrant, Evan Parker, Phil Wachsman, Thomas Lehn, Roger Turner, &c., in a 17 part solo work of gripping and exhilarating playing.

Toronto drummer and composer Nick Fraser in a superb trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis, performing Fraser originals that merge free improvisation, jazz and avant compositional approaches with astonishing solos from all three.

Three exquisite electro-acoustic compositions by the New York-based duo of Anne Guthrie (french horn, electronics, recordings) and Billy Gomberg (bass guitar, recordings), using a combination of field recordings, electronics and improvisations on French horn and bass guitar.

In their first studio recording, Alan Wilkinson (saxes, voice), Marcio Mattos (double bass, electronics) and Steve Noble (drums) play a diverse set with moments ranging from fervid to serene.

Two studio recordings recorded 2 years apart (1969, 1971) of "Frictions", a 6 part work, and the additional 2 part "Frictions Now" from the quartet of Michael Sell (trumpet), Dieter Scherf (sax & winds), Gerhard Konig (guitar & flutes) and Wolfgang Schlick (percussion).

The quartet of Paul Rutherford, Harrison Smith, Tony Moore and Eddie Prevost from a concert in Bristol, UK in 1992, intricate and informed interplay from Euro free jazz masters.

A recording of wide-ranging, freely improvised solos and duets by Montreal clarinetist and bass clarinetist Lori Freedman & Toronto trombonist Scott Thomson.

Bass clarinetist Freedman, with help from pianist Brigitte Poulin, interprets the works of modern composers including Giacinto Scelsi, Georges Aperghis, Monique Jean, &c.

Solo clarinetist Lori Freedman in 13 new pieces of improvisation for soprano and bass clarinets that are vibrant, captivating, and full of texture.

The duo Contour of Stephen Altoff (trumpet) & Lee Forrest Ferguson (percussion) perform Antoine Beuger's "dedekind duos" dedicated to mathematician Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind; and Jurg Frey's "22 Sachelchen" or "small things", 22 focused miniature compositions.

Two works, one each from trombonist Radu Malfatti and clarinetist Jurg Frey, also credited with "instruments", field recordings and couterpoints; electroacoustic reductionist work of beautiful character that unfolds slowly and rewards attentive listeners in morphing sound.

The Ensemble Grizzana (Ryoko Akama, Mira Benjamin, Richard Craig, Emma Richards, Philip Thomas and Seth Woods) performs a series of delicate and beautiful chamber pieces by Swiss composer and clarinetist Jurg Frey, who also performs on clarinet.

Five new or recent pieces from composer Jurg Frey, alongside his 1993 work "In Memoriam Cornelius Cardew", all performed by pianist Philip Thomas, presenting slowly unfolding compositions emphasizing the physical space and time within which sounds are situated.

Two works from composer Frey performed by Montreal's string ensemble Quatuor Bozzini: "String Quartet No. 3", a minimal work of colors, sensations, shadows, durations; and "Unhorbare Zeit" exploring durations without sound, or empty volumes, to achieve lucidity and transparency.

Composer Jurg Frey's 1988 work "String Quartet" realized by Nadia Francavilla, Clemens Merkel, Stephanie Bozzini and Isabelle Bozzini, exploring ideas of audibility: the moment when sound waves move in space and the air touches the body.

"Zwirn" means "twine" in German, an apt description of the interweaving sound that double bassists Daniel Studer and Peter Frey play together, in 7 freely improvised works of unusual technique and new musical structures.

Friction, one of the most important and longest running underground bands in Japan, is currently the trio of Reck (bass, guitar & vocals), Iami Akinobu (guitar) and Sato Minoru (drums), in a hard-edged album of original songs and remixes; demanding and powerful modern rock.

Cellist Erik Friedlander provides the 8th in this series of interpretations of the Masada songbook, a lovely and technically remarkable set of music.

Taking their band name from an Ornette Coleman album, this European quintet presents new compositions in the style of Ornette, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and John Carter, ecstatic free jazz with a hard bop foundation, extended with modern technique and experience.

A remarkable solo guitar CD from Bill Frisell, filled with complex harmonies, bizarre voicings, rich orchestral sonorities, intense screams, delicate phrasing, wild noises and an incredible simultaneity.

Explosive, psychedelic music from the trio of Jean Derome, Fred Frith, and Pierre Tanguay recorded and mixed by Myles Boisen.

Live recordings from this great pair of improvisors, selected from their performances at Festival des musiques de creation in Saguenay and at La Sala Rossa in Montreal.

Bay Area trumpeter Darren Johnston meets improvising guitar legend Fred Frith for an incredibly well-paced series of duos, remarkable improv that uses space, skill, extended techniques and unexpected approaches to both instruments in vivid and beautiful discourse.

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.

Two masters who rarely play together--guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist Evan Parker--performing together as a duo at the 30th Musique Actuelle Festival in Victoriaville, Canada for an amazing exchange of ideas and intensely subtle dialog.

Amazing guitar and percussion duo on this first encounter between Frith and Glennie, recorded for the filming of Thomas Riedelsheimer's documentary Touch the Soundabout Scottis.

Since 2007 NEXMAP has produced "Binary Cities", a performance series bringing together artists from different cities; in 2009 they brought guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist Michel Doneda together in San Francisco for the first time for an incredible night of improvisation.

Idiosyncratic improvisation with a strange set of tools from two master musicians, fascinating recordings from 1983-85 in the blossoming downtown NY scene.

Fred Frith's leads a quartet of electric guitars (Rene Lussier, Nick Didkovsky, Mark Stewart) through 10 different journeys that explores the dynamic potential of this unique group composition.

Classical chamber music from Fred Frith featuring virtuoso cellist Joan Jeanrenaud (Kronos), percussionist William Winant, pianist Stephen Drury, &c.