An extended improvisation interweaving acoustic and electronic instruments in a beautifully coherent evolution of mysterious and approachable sources, from the trio of Jan Bang, David Toop and Mark Wastell, combining tam tams, gongs, flutes, lapsteel, live sampling, gongs, brushes, elastic, paper and more to captivate the curious listener.

Reissuing their limited 2014 release on Joachim Nordwall Editions, the Oceans Of Silver & Blood duo of Joachim Nordwall on analog synthesizer, effects & tape and percussionist Mark Wastell on tam tam and timpani present two pieces, the first an environmental work underpinned by subtle percussion, the second a richly resonating work of threatening warmth.

"When it was released in 1992, Toronto Töne was one of the first albums by trombonist Konrad Bauer to see the light of day outside Germany (West and/or East). This solo set was recorded live in Toronto in October 1991. Bauer's tromb...

"Recorded (and released) one year after Konrad Bauer's Disques Victo debut Toronto Tone, a solo-trombone-with-electronics affair, Three Wheels: Four Directions features his favorite trio at the time. Bauer, bassist Peter Kowald, and dru...

"Sombre is an unlikely pairing yielding unexpected results. The classically trained harpist Helene Breschand meets the maverick avant rock guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros. She plays an electro-acoustic harp, which -- unlike Zeena Parkin...

"Music for Three Rivers presents four improvisations (totaling 45 minutes) from British pianist Chris Burn's performance at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1996, as well as five studio recordings f...

"The long-standing improvisation outfit CCMC recorded sparsely. A short tour of Quebec in May 1997 opened the door for a live album on the label Disques Victo. The CD aCCoMpliCes culls excerpts from shows at the Festival International de...

"The background: Xavier Charles has recorded an album (La Pièce) with the duo Kristoff K. Roll (Jean-Christophe Camps and Carole Rieussec); Diane Labrosse and Martin Tétreault record and perform together as the duo Parasite...

"Even though Canadian saxophonist Paul Cram has led his orchestra for years, first in Toronto and then Halifax, Campin Out is the first recording by this ensemble since the 1987 LP Beyond Benghazi. One cannot accuse Cram of being too pr...

"Taken from a 1987 solo date at Quebec's venerable Festival Musique Actuelle, Labyrinths finds avant garde jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell balancing Cecil Taylor's cataclysmic and staunchly free piano style with her own melodic and spacio...

"Even though J.A. Deane has collaborated with many American avant-garde musicians, his solo albums are few. Sadly, his most accessible is also one of his less interesting. Nomad is an untypical release in the catalog of the label Disques...

"Elevations is one of the very rare albums on which bassist Lisle Ellis assumes leadership. It was recorded in a San Francisco studio in June 1993. At the core of the instrumentation is Ellis' quartet, which includes Christopher Cauley a...

"The first completely solo Charles Gayle recording was recorded during a break in the Victoriaville Festival in 1994. Gayle went into a Montreal studio and played tenor on three tracks and bass clarinet on one, and preached while accomp...

"Recorded in studio in November 1996, Ben Goldberg's project Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin was his second composition for sextet (after Twelve Minor, released by Avant in 1998). Rubin, who died tragically at the age of 35, was one o...

"The Hard Rubber Orchestra is a funkier incarnation of the NOW Orchestra. Led by trumpeter John Korsrud, it uses a similar pool of Vancouver musicians, although the instrumentation here focuses on brass and a rhythm section. Cruel Yet Fa...

"The quality of an album roughly depends on material for 75 percent; the other 25 percent is pacing. Rub Harder scores a hundred. The Hard Rubber Orchestra's first CD (Cruel Yet Fair, 1998) suffered from improper inclusions, a lack of fo...

"This weird little album was made by a quartet of improvisers from all ends of the improvisational planet, who came together in 1993 for a recording date. Edited by Oswald in Toronto, the result can be found here. With two guitarists (K...

"Prior to the release of this CD, Mexican flutist/pianist Roberto Morales Manzanares was virtually unknown in North America. He met Japan-born violinist Mari Kimura when she played at Callejon del Ruido, a new music festival Manzanares ...

"What Is the Difference Between Stripping and Playing the Violin? contains two compositions by West Coast avant-garde artist Miya Masaoka. Although an accomplished koto player, Masaoka does not play on this CD: her hands are full conduc...

"One of the greatest records to come out of Victo's (the record label of the Victoriaville Festival in Quebec) catalog is this 13-selection set by the Art Ensemble of Chicago multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell. Issued ion 1991, it co...

"On her debut album for Victo, the former Michigander and downtown New York music stalwart enlisted the skills of three of her four sisters, producer David Shea, electronic percussion maestro Ikue Mori, and guitar hero Chris Cochrane. T...

"Noir is one of Canadian pianist Paul Plimley's best trio sessions. It was recorded in a Montreal studio over two days in October 1992. Longtime partner Lisle Ellis is on bass, more recent encounter Gregg Bendian on drums, and saxophoni...

"Vancouver pianist Paul Plimley and his comrades, bassist Lisle Ellis and drummer Scott Amendola, have issued a tough little gem of a recording in Safe-Crackers. Plimley's pianism ranges in voice from fierce avant-garde improvisation to...

A live concert at the 11Th Festival International De Musique Actuelle De Victoriaville on May 19th, 1994, from the free improvising trio of Frederik Alarie on contrabass, Paul Leger on drum, Yannick Rieu on tenor saxophone.

"Recorded live at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1996, In the Land of Milk and Honey features trombonist Anne-Marie Roelofs' Waste Watchers trio, which also features Johannes Krämer (electric ...

The West Coast Rova Saxophone quartet in a 7 track studio album from 1995, from Jon Raskin on alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, sopranino saxophone, Steve Adams on alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone, Bruce Ackley on soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone and Larry Ochs on tenor saxophone, sopranino saxophone.

"Recorded live at the Victoriaville Festival in 1996, this disc features the Italian saxophone and improvisation master surrounded by a band from heaven -- or hell, depending on your view of modern free jazz -- ensuring his own "social s...

"Psycho-Acoustic is guitarist Elliott Sharp and harpist Zeena Parkins, and Blackburst is their first album together under that name (their first album was titled Psycho-Acoustic and simply credited to Sharp and Parkins). As with their f...

. Live recording from 1988.

"The avant rock/improv quartet Slawterhaus was invited to the 1990 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. The first 50 minutes of Live come from their performance, the last ten from a con...

"In October 1987, keyboardist/computer wiz Richard Teitelbaum and violinist Carlos Zingaro performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. The next year the label Disques Victo released The Sea Between, comp...

Francisco Lopez initiated this project in 2006 with the Pogus CD "Montreal Sound Matter", now expanded into an acousmatic group of linked tracks from a group of impressive sound artists.

"To document the 1989 edition of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, the label Disques Victo released a compilation album -- a one-time project. Dix Improvisations Victoriaville 1989 culls short to medium-len...

Vibraphonist Emilio Gordoa leads this superb quartet with Don Malfon on alto & baritone saxophones, John Edwards on double bass and Dag Magnus Narvesen on drums, in an incredible live performance at the 2019 Alte Gerberei Artacts Festival in Austria, a captivating set of creative techniques yielding well-controlled passages of both intense activity and unique introspection.

Two distinct session, the first CD presenting free improv trio perfomances in St. Louis, MO between Paul Hartsaw on soprano & tenor saxophones, Damon Smith on double bass and Jerome Bryerton on percussion, the 2nd CD finding Hartsaw and Smith in the studio in Oakland CA for a more experimental session, Smith adding laptop & field recordings and both employing extended techniques.

Few quintets deserve the designation of super-group more than pianist Myra Melford's quintet with Mary Halvorson on guitar, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano saxophones, Tomeka Reid on cello and Susie Ibarra on drums & percussion, performing Melford's wonderfully inventive 10-part composition.

A superb, inventive duo collusion between percussionist Ra Kalam Bob Moses and double bassist Damon Smith, continuing their collaborations that started with "Astral Plain Crash" with Vinny Golia, Henry Kaiser & Weasel Walter, here in concentrated form, recording and layer in the studio for 14 diverse dialogs using advanced techniques on drums, gongs, spring drums and double bass.

Live recordings from the trio of Chicago improvisers Jason Stein on bass clarinet and Adam Shead on drums & percussion in a trio with double bassist Damon Smith, 3 tracks recorded in the studio at Chicago's Elastic Arts and then 2 live performances captured at The Hungry Brain that same night, an album of rich proportion through the deep strings, dark drums and deep reeds.

14 musicians from 9 different countries in various collaborative groupings performing acoustic & electronic free improvisations, the focus on soundscape and limited to 15 minute performances, developed by saxophonist Harri Sjöström in 2013 as "SoundScapes Festivals" and presented in Helsinki and now in Munich as part of the art-project "Aspects of Free Improvisation 2021".

A set of dramatic improvisations of incredible technical skill and creative drive from the working trio of Luis Vicente on trumpet, Seppe Gebruers on unprepared piano and Onno Govaert on drums, unedited improvisations presented as played, "composed by an interaction between the musicians and instruments, a nameless room, audience, microphones and you."

With titles for the album and all compositions from a poem by US poet E.E. Cummings, guitarist Samo Salamon developed these structured improvisations during the pandemic, inviting a set of masterful improvisers including Martin Küchen, Luis Vicente, Vasco Trilla, Emanuele Parrini, &c. &c. to contribute to these magnificent long distance collective improvisations.

Two extended sound collages and cut-ups from field recordings and percussion recorded during tours from 2014 to 2017, the title taken from a sign in one of the hotels that Jerman & Barnes stayed at, apt for the mix of punctuating locations, dissipating noise and unusual percussive passages, a fascinating journey that expands and contracts to make captivating stories.

A series of live recordings and related materials that trace the development of turntable artist Marina Rosenfeld's tactile approach to experimental sound, using dub plates--vinyl albums she has had pressed to develop a personal library of sound for performance--here in six improvisations accompanied by a 24-page book with a discussion between Rosenfeld and Lawrence English.

New generation New York tenor saxophonist Zoe Amba, a Tennessee transplant whose spirit is illuminated with free styles that harken back to Ayler, recording in the studio with a trio of luminary players--William Parker on bass and Francisco Mela on drums--performing three Amba compositions, one featuring Amba on flute; the CD edition contains one bonus improvisation.

Ensemble Supermusique, Montreal's premiere open-minded improvising ensemble, here led by saxophonist & vocalist Joane Hetu and conducted by percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger, present a live concert of graphic scores dating back to 1920, with works from Fred Frith (Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire), Luigi Russolo, Maxime Daigneault, Emilie Girard-Charest & Anestis Logothetis.

A set of trio improvisations on acoustic strings and drums from the Dutch trio of Henk Zwerver on acoustic guitar, Wim Janssen on drums and Aaron Lumley on double bass, performing live at Zaal 100, in Amsterdam in 2021 as the trio expand their sound through superb technique, their music balanced between energetic scurries and introspective contemplation.

Featuring cellists Nina Hitz and Lucija Gregov, double bassist Goncalo Almeida and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) on electronics, recording in Old Church, in Rotterdam Charlois for six pensive improvisations, a collective conversation of concurrently layered, minimalist melodic and textural lines expanded with drones, evoking the mythical Greek multi-headed monster.

A newly commissioned suite of ten pieces requested by the City of Gent and Handelsbeurs Theater to commemorate 600 years since the creation of the Gent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck performed with an international group of younger musicians, orchestrated with an unusual mix of instruments including serpent, lute, organ and sampler; a discerning and accomplished major work.

John Zorn composes for, conducts and plays saxophone with his Simulacrum group with Kenny Grohowski on drums, Matt Hollenberg on guitar and John Medeski on organ & electric piano, a scorching band that combines Downtown NY jazz and metal forms as they explore the life and thoughts of Dutch 17th century Age of Enlightenment philosopher Baruch Spinoza.

David Bennet & Vilhelm Bromander is a Stockholm-based duo exploring microtonal soundscapes and timbral relations, focused on subtle relations between sounds using texture, intonation and timbre, beating, common partials and difference tones, creating sonic landscapes often based on triggering psychoacoustic phenomena, here following a semi-open score in a four part work.

An extended 7-part solo improvisation from Swedish double bassist Johan Berthling (Angles, Fire!, Nacka Forum, Sten Sandell Trio, &c) using magnificent technique, timing and pacing in a diverse set that includes a reference to Charlie Hayden's "Turiya".

The first release on the Swedish label Association For Free Improvised Music (FRIM) is the trio of Gustaf Hielm (Mats/Morgan Band) on bass, Elin Forkelid (Anna Högberg Attack!) on saxophones and Erik Carlsson (Swedish Azz, Skogen) on drums, a free-blowing session of heavy collective playing in the European Free Jazz tradition for two extended "Question" & "Answer" sessions.

The literal album title belies the subtle interplay between Swedish improvisers, cellist My Hellgren and Peter Söderberg, the latter known for his work on classical lute but here on guitar, oud and theorbo (a long-necked lute that adds additional bass notes), recording an extended, warmly beautiful and intricate acoustic dialog of gentle tension and masterful skill.

Ultimately it's Martin KŸchen's saxophone improvisations that lead these sensitively moody environments built around multi-tracked tapes of ambiance from snare, speaker, radio and tambora (a 2-headed drum) used unusually to create subtle and spacious drone environments over which KŸchen performs, hauntingly, emotionally and beautifully captivating his listeners.

Two very different but openly creative improvising duos on a split CD, initiating the Swedish label and concert organizer FRIMS's split recording series: first 4 improvisations from legendary free improvisers Raymond Strid on drums & percussion and guitarist Mattias Windemo; then an extended dialog from new generation players Marcus Warnheim on alto saxophone and Karin Ivgves on piano.

Quebecois guitarist Bernard Falaise of Miriodor, Klaxon Gueule, Papa Boa and Les Projectionnistes fame, continues his solo series with the fifth note of the scale, "Sol (G)", reflected in a series of eight inventive guitar improvisations using timbral effects and looping structures to expand his virtual ensemble as does in his live performances.

The collective ensemble Supermusique featuring key performers from Montréal's musique actuelle scene, including Jean Derome, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Joane Hetu, Danielle Palardy, &c. perform "Sounding the Image", three animated scores composed through the creation of moving images and rendered live in a remarkable concert at Amphiteatre de Gesu, in Montreal in 2019.

A fully free, quirky and marvelous set of virtually indescribable improvisation from the trio of French vocalist Clara Weill (known from her work with Fred Frith), Olivia Scemama on bass and Tom Malmendier on drums, three active international collaborators with powerful technical skills and a strange sense of humor willing to take their music where ever it oddly leads.

Perhaps the darkest and most experimental album from the Flying Luttenbachers, the 4th from the NYC-based version of Weasel Walter on guitars & drums+bagpipe chanter & electronics, Tim Dahl on bass, Katie Battistoni on guitar, Matt Nelson on sax & live electronics and Sam Ospovat on drums, in two extended, terrific collective improvisations.

An aggressive album of ballistic free improvisation recorded live at Seizures Palace, in Brooklyn in 2021 from the trio of Martin Escalante on saxophone, Tete Leguia on bass guitar and Weasel Walter on drums, three tracks of sax multiphonics, altissimo shrieks and subtones, bass feedback, magnetic field disruption, found objects, and distortion and high impact drumming.

An absolutely avant piano trio of masterful playing that pushes the envelope on melodic, harmonic and rhythmic interaction, from Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion, Kaja Draksler on piano and Petter Eldh on bass, performing live at the 2021 Unheard Of Festival at Rote Fabrik, in Zurich, Switzerland for 13 concise and energetic collective improvisations.

Expanding on his live album "Zurich Concert" with trumpeter Jaimie Branch, Swiss guitarist Dave Gisler's trio with Raffaele Bossard on bass and Lionel Friedli on drums release this studio album with Branch returning, and adding New York tenor saxophonist David Murray for a mix of demanding jazz and introspective improv environments, a beautifully balanced album of avant jazz.

Reissuing two albums showing trumpeter Don Cherry's musical evolution through the 1960s, recorded two years apart--Where is Brooklyn from NY in 1966, and Eternal Rhythm recorded in Germany in 1968--demonstrating the development of his style from Ornette-influenced free jazz into music influenced by Northern Indian music and the percussion of Southeast Asia.

Two live recordings from Miles Davis in the 1960s, first from Stockholm in 1967 with the classic 60s quintet of Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams; then two years later also in Stockholm with the "Lost Quintet" of Miles, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, pushing new directions with tracks including "Bitches Brew".

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

Hailing from Rotterdam's rich underground scene, the trio of Hugo Costa on alto sax, Goncalo Aleida on bass, and Philipp Ernsting on drums, with all 3 doubling on electronics, in a dramatic and energetic album blending free jazz, improv, metal, and punk music.

Swiss musicians Marco Von Orelli (trumpet, slide trumpet) and Sheldon Suter (prepared drums) and by their Portuguese partners, Luis Lopes (electric guitar) and Travassos (electronics) release a new chapter in their project Big Bold Back Bone, all players embracing a unique electro-acoustic improvisation through transformation of their instruments.

With a discography of both contemporary and improvised music, Beligan pianist residing in Norway Jonas Cambien (Platform, Karokh) joins forces with Norwegian double bassist Adrian Myhr (Delius, Dorner, Buck) for an album that balances concentrative and muscular interplay, influenced by Cambien's piano preparations and Myhr's sophisticated techniques.

Leveraging influences in improvisation and contemporary compositional music, Belgian/Oslo pianist Jonas Cambien, a member of Simiskina and Platform, extends his own trio of saxophonist Andre Rolighete and drummer Andreas Wildhagen with trumpeter Torstein Lavik Larsen on 2 tracks, as they balance jazz, avant, free improv and other hybrid forms in a compellingly creative album.

A 2-part single improvisation recorded live at la Maison Peinte, Labarthe-sur-Leze in 2014 from Jean-Luc Capozzo on trumpet & flugelhorn, and drummer Didier Lasserre, showing a great range of style and dynamic in gutsy playing using powerful technique and creative interaction.

Using material from solo live performances in San Francisco, Berlin, Zurich and London between 2010 and 2015, composer and sound artist Antoine Chessex developed the two compositions of this album, extracting his electroacoustic altered saxophone work and developing them into larger works that bridge extreme and psychoacoustics approaches with great sonic depth.

The Norwegian quartet formerly known as "Damp" with baritone guitarist Asbjorn Lerheim, tenor saxophonist Atle Nymo, drummer Torstein Lofthus, and double bassist Roger Arntzen, blend expressive forms of jazz with blues and rock in an expansive and rich set of tunes that both pay homage and look to new and inclusive formations of emotional and effusive music.

Cortex propels their persuasive, groove oriented approach to jazz with this swinging album that blends free jazz styles with great hard bop, in line with a band like The Thing, this Scandinavian group wants to make your body move without indulging in excess or pandering, instead following a muse that's solidly in the exuberant free jazz tradition.

The Toronto-based duo of Colin Fisher on woodwinds and percussion and Carl Didur on keyboards and bass bridge acoustic and electronic improv with science fiction sensibilities in their two part "Exegesis", a critical exposition of un-genred music that borrows from global sources in service to their unusual and exotic tale; a wonderfully perplexing album.

An hallucinogenic and commanding blending of improvisation, song, spoken word, and tonal/timbral music from double bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen's Filosofer, creating beautiful sonic environments out of which voice and message emerge and submerge, buoyed by a string quartet (two violins and two double basses), computers, turntables, synths and samplers.

An assertive album of free playing from the trio of Peter Van Huffel on alto sax, Roland Fidezius on electric bass, and Rudi Fischerlehner on drums, giving the music punk-jazz overtones in sound and rhythmic approach while clearly adhering to the heavy free jazz styles of the European masters.

The 4th album from German saxophonist Peter Van Huffel's Gorilla Mask, the 3rd on Clean Feed, is another powerful blending of jazz and rock forms in restless and profoundly determined music, energetic but intelligently structured, with great riffs and melodic grooves from Roland Fidezius (electric bass) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drums and percussion).

Saxophonist and composer Crowmeat Bob's ensemble, Judge Schreber's Avian Choir, is a project name he's used to present his large ensemble pieces involving composition, improvisation, and conduction, here in a conducted collaboration with 15 bowed string players, a heavy metal rhythm section and Bob's own overdubs on reeds and guitar.

The 2nd release from Jason Kahn, here on voice and resonator guitar, with Christian Wolfarth on Chinese Cymbal, an antique marching snare and objects, recorded after a series of concerts across Europe in the fall of 2019, Kahn applying a percussionist's perspective to his guitar by playing it as a lap slide, as the two invoke an unusual incantatory spirit from their improvisations.

Two unconventional and experimenting improvisers--French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot and Swiss percussionist Christian Wolfarth--in a deceptive album of acoustic improvisation that elusively takes on electric qualities in the hands of these two innovators, seducing the listener through unusual twists and turns of perfectly paced interactions.

With a list of projects including Shagma, The Core, Zanussi 5 and Mopti, the trio of Jorgen Mathisen (sax), Christian Meaas Svendsen (bass) and Andreas Wildhagen (drums), "Momentum" is an apt name for their uniquely building, unpredictable and atypical improvisations.

Recording live in the Namouche Studios in Lisbon in 2018, trumpeter Sei Miguel's octet performs a large work translating to "Fire Car", inspired by William Blake's "Jerusalem" (Chariot of Fire), reminding of early 70's Miles/fusion work as organist Andre Goncalves creates an atmospheric backbone over which the band introduces repetition and variation; mysterious and singular.

A raucous and passionate concert led by the trio of Juozas Milasius on guitar, Tomas Kutavicius on piano, and Dalius Naujokaitis on drums, with the Lithuanian Young Composers Orchestra assisting on voice, cymbals, clapping, and "trampling", creating moments of adventurous disorder that lead to beautiful passages of heartfelt playing, in what must have been a marvel to experience.

A stunning album of electroacoustic improv that truly pushes the envelope, from the MKM trio of Gunter Muller on iPods & electronics, Jason Kahn on modular synthesizer, mixer & radio, and Norbert Moslang on cracked everyday electronics, three masters of the form in their 5th Mikroton release after decades working together in configurations on labels like For4Ears.

A Russian-Swiss collaboration between Boris Shershenkov (St. Petersburg), Kurt Liedwart and Mikhail Myasoedov (Moscow), Thomas Korber (Zurich), Christian Kobi (Berne) and Christian Muller (Biel), recording in the remote Vallée de Joux, on the border between Switzerland & France, leveraging diverse approaches to sound to create these six detailed electroacoustic improvisations.

Naples tenor saxophonist Antonio Raia's album of solo saxophone improvisations employs a mix of traditional and unusual techniques in 12 concise pieces that fragment "scraps" of melody into a diverse ruminating streams, recorded at the city's Filangeri Asylum by sound artist Renato Fiorito, using ten microphones to capture the unique qualities of the space.