Melodic and texturally rich jazz from the trio of pianist Jackson Harrison with Ben Waples on double bass and brother James Waples on drums, a lyrical album of original compositions named for the process of coalescing a powder into a solid by heating it without liquefaction.

Chicago tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, known for his duos with Anton Hatwich and with Julian Kirshner, the improvising trio Devouring the Guilt with Eli Namay & Bill Harris and a trio with Mars Williams & Lia Kohl, is heard here in three extended solo improvisations, with strong tone riffing on grooves, exuding warm melodies, and running demanding technical passages on his horn.

French flutist Sylvaine Helary's new quartet explores a more electric branch of her work as a composer, in compositions that bridge improvisation and rock forms with song-like structures and narrative, performed with Antonin Rayon on Hammond Organ B3, Moog, piano & clavinet, Benjamin Glibert on electric guitar & bass, and Christophe Lavergne on drums.

The Montreal-based Chorale Joker ensemble directed and conducted by Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy, and Jean Derome, who are also participants, is one of the most unusual and fascinating improvising vocal ensembles active, heard here in a concert coordinated with Productions SuperMusique at Le Vivier, Amphiteatre du Gesu, Montreal in early 2020; indescribably fascinating!

A musical theatre in 3 acts using texts, songs, free improvisation and compositional textures, "an evocation of the fusion between opposite forces-tight and flexible, male and female".

An amazing journey in sound and voice from saxophonist/vocalist Joane Hetu with five singers/narrators/musicians/noise-makers and layered field recordings, a remarkable and sophisticated work about sex, loss, death, art, & politics.

Pieces in 4 movements - Snow; Never Cold; Gusts; Landscapes - performed by Ensemble SuperMusique: Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Tanguay, Scott Thomson & Alexandre St-Onge.

Three days of improvisations from the the 2019 meeting of Osaka-based musicians mizutama, Tadashi Yonago and Kayu Nakada, plus Tokyo residents Junji Hirose, Toshimaru Nakamura, Daysuke Takaoka and Yuma Takeshita in duos and trios, all using original sound-producing devices or creating sound by repurposing instruments or electronic devices in unique ways.

Focusing on melody, rhythm, harmony, and texture, violinist/composer Jason Kao Hwang's Sing House employs a perceptive and swinging blend of Western and Eastern influences as his impressive band with Andrew Drury on drums, Ken Filiano on bass, Chris Forbes on piano, and Steve Swell on trombone present four lyrical, propulsive and wonderfully embraceable "songs".

This NYC quartet with Josh Sinton, Reuben Raddin, Tomas Fujiwara, & Kirk Knuffke pays tribute to the music of Steve Lacy through reworkings of his compositions.

Three consummate improvisers--Catherine Jauniaux on voice, Xavier Charles on clarinet and Jean-Sebastien Mariage on electric guitar--met at la Muse en Circuit in Alfortville, France after touring, recording this authoritative version of their profound and extended work, which uses lyrics excerpted from Marguerite Duras' 1971 cinematic novel L'amour.

Using an imaginative set of piano preparations, Auckland, New Zealand pianist Hermione Johnson draws unusual timbral and tonal qualities from the prepared piano, deftly improvising with dexterous technical skills to create unusual rhythmic and timbral environments, each a marvelous, miniature universe of unexpected voicings, evoking gongs, guitars, kotos, &c.

Twelve studio improvisations between Kadima-label leader JC Jones playing on a lap-steel plugged in Spanish guitar and French guitarist & improviser Raymond Boni, also performing on harmonica and electronics, where Jones, leveraging his history of work as a double bassist, often takes on the role of percussive/rhythmic foundation against Boni's incredible explorations.

The fifth in bassist, guitarist and Kadima label-leader JC Jones "Distance Series", works assembled through virtual sessions with associated artists, Jones performing on Spanish guitar which he plays as a lap guitar, on Nucleous creating a set of five unusual vocal works with internationally reknown vocalists Meira Asher, Esti Kenan-Ofri, Anat Pick and Josef Sprinzak.

Taking its album title and the titles for three compositions from poems by Laura Winter, the German jazz quartet led by clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann with Christopher Dell on vibes, Christian Ramond on double bass and Klaus Kugel on drums present an advanced example of modern creative, chamber-oriented collective free jazz with a stunning level of communication.

Theo Jorgensmann's Trio recorded live at the Klub Alchemia in Cracow, Poland in 2006 playing a set of original compositions with 'ecstatic and elastic freedom.'

While contrabass player Matija Schellander was performing a residency at the 2017 music Festival Artacts in Austria, this quartet formed with Paris saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet, percussionist Seijiro Murayama and Beijing-based vocalist Yan Jun, developing this work of quiet tension and sudden release, here from one of four performances, recorded live at Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Merging two Boston-based trios--Cliff of bassist Damon Smith, drummer Eric Rosenthal and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, and Pools of bassist Nate McBride, drummer Luther Gray, and Karayorgis--performing Karayorgis compositions with collective input from all five, creating profoundly great music in a shared language fueled by long collaborative relationships.

With mystery and drama the duo of clarinetist Sylvain Kassap and double bassist Benjamin Duboc start their performance with whisperings, Kassap's expanded range and vocabulary on the clarinet evocative against Duboc's strong bowing and plucking, as they both take their listeners across a tightrope of carefully balanced, masterfully evolving free conversation.

A diverse, unique and sometimes explosive saxophone quartet from Lithuania founded by Arminas Bizys, Kazimieras Jusinskas, Algirdas Janonis, and Danielius Pancerovas, using extended techniques, the saxophones themselves, and found objects as they articulately merge structurally free improvisation, academic approaches and motives from Lithuanian folk music.

Using the natural resonance of the Liepkalnis underground water reservoir in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Katarsis4 saxophone quartet of Arminas Bizys, Algirdas Janonis, Danielius Pancerovas and Kazimieras Jusinskas merge free improvisation, both melodic and through extended tetechniques, with composed forms and folk music, capturing this extended work of beguiling and powerful music.

Improvised music using traditional Alpine horn music as its roots, as performed by a quartet of alphorns, büchels, and voice.

A diverse set of electroacoustic improvisations, including pointillistic interplay, free explorations merging contemporary compositional cues, pieces composed around specific parameters and evolving experimental soundscapes, from the Michigan trio Kimmel.Ali.Harris of Jeff Kimmel on clarinet & electronics, Ishmael Ali on cello, guitar & electronics, and Bill Harris on drums & synth.

The Earshots duo of Daniel Kordik on modular synthesizer and Edward Lucas on trombone reprise their meeting a year earlier with free improvising percussionist and AMM legend Eddie Prévost, drawn by the natural resonance of the All Saints Church in Essex, England, recording these electroacoustic improvisations of astonishing sonic properties and astounding technique.

Selected from several hours of real-time interaction and presented as recorded with minimal editing, this album presents the first-time meeting of Kobe, Japan sound artist Tim Olive with St. Petersburg, Russian synthesist and electronic musician Sergey Kostyrko, recording in the studio together, the title aptly referencing the season of spring when roads are laid bare.

Honing their conversation in their third release as a band, British double bassist Dominic Lash's Quartet with Javier Carmona on drums & percussion, Ricardo Tejero on alto saxophone and Alex Ward on electric guitar are heard live at Cafe OTO in London, Lash providing all compositions and arrangements over six wide-ranging, edgy and innovative improvisations; outstanding!

The 2007 solo debut of New York free improvising trumpeter Matt Lavelle, here performing on the hybrid instruments, the Bass-Trumpinet and Bass-Clarumpet, introduced and punctuated with spoken word insight and declarations, and using overdubs on selected tracks, making for an intimate and accomplished album of modern free jazz.

Double CD of bassist Joelle Leandre perforing Solo in Israel, then in duos, trios and a sextet with JC Jones, Assif Tsahar, Albert Beger, Ariel Shibolet, &c.

An embraceable & explorative example of the core duo of the Boston-area free improvising ensemble Leap of Faith (the foundation of the Leap of Faith Orchestra) of David Peck on reeds and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, both employing the enormous Evil Clown arsenal of percussive and sonic devices, in two large works recorded at their headquarter studio.

An upbeat and energetic performance at the Konfrontation Festival, Ulrichsberg in 2006, featuring six early compositions by Anthony Braxton, arranged by pianist Pat Thomas and performed by the quintet of superb improvisers and interpreters Alex Ward on clarinet, Evan Thomas on electric guitar, Dominic Lash on electric bass, and Darren Hasson-Davis on drums.

Argentinian sound artist based in NYC Cecilia Lopez engages fellow Brandon Lopez Trio double bassist Lopez and drummer Gerald Cleaver for a performance of improvisation, installation and architecture, using woven wire nets filled with instruments and hung from Roulette Intermedia's ceiling to act as a complex feedback organism with which the trio interacts.

Performing solo on violin with surrounding effects that emphasize the dramatic tension in her extended sequences, Samara Lubelski presents two substantial journeys into the infinite, swirling in delays and reverb as her bow transitions from rapid up and down to long drawing and sustaining, pulling a variety of sounds that elate her listeners in spirals and eddies.

A warm and relaxed saxophone trio album led by Finnish tenor saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen (Raoul Bjorkenheim's eCsTaSy), Polish double bassist Maciej Garbowski and drummer Krzysztof Gradziuk (RGG), the three focused on deeply expressive interaction and lyrical finesse, while performing live at Institute of Music Performance, in Katowice, Poland, in 2019.

Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and clarinetist Rudi Mahall have been exploring the music of jazz and free improvisation for decades in their own bands or together in Globe Unity Orchestra; here they are heard in their essential element as a duo, pushing their music in rapid runs and elegant and emotional moments with imposing technique and authoritative confidence.

Working together since 2015, the Polish guitar trio of Marek Malinowski on guitar, Robert Rychlicki-Gasowski on double bass & bass guitar, and Wojciech Zadruaynski on drums, present Marek Malinowski's embraceable mix of lyrically inclined modern jazz compositions with an explorative side, balancing structure with free space for sprightly spontaneity; a trio to keep track of.

Michael Marcus composed these lyrical jazz works to create a message about "New York City realities", recorded in two studio sessions with Marcus on soprano & tenor sax, octavin, A clarinet & tarogato, along with Denton Darien on piano, John Austria on Fender Rhodes, Tyler Mitchell on bass, Warren Smith on drums & percussion, and Lawrence Feldman on alto flute.

Double bass and hyperpiano meet in a transatlantic collaboration between pianist Denman Maroney and bassist Dominc Lash, a combination of exhilarating technique and invention from two remarkable players.

The first solo record for NY violist Joanna Mattrey, performing also on the Stroh violin, in a deep exploration of the sound possibilities for both instruments, using preparations to alter the resonance of the viola, masking its overtly singing and beautiful nature and allowing for unexpected and unusual textures which weave around melodic lines; unique and fascinating.

Composed by pianist Magda Mayas for an octet of superb avant improvisers including Rhodri Davies, Zeena Parkins, Michael Thieke, Angharad Davies, &c. and performed live at the 2019 Music Unlimited 33, in Wels, Austria, this extended work uses a graphic score to interpret 12 photographs taken over an hour observing the merging waters of the Rhone and the Arve rivers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.