A focused and highly collaborative session from multi-reedist Steve Adams, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, and drummer Jason Levis, whose long-standing connections through the Bay Area's creative music scene — including Mezzacappa and Levis's duo B and their co-led Experimental Band — inform these concise and sensitive 2022 improvisations with a compositional approach to form and balance.

Ten years after their last release, Northern CaliforniaÕs Bristle returns with a richly inventive chamber jazz album blending virtuosic improvisation and playful composition, as saxophonists Randy McKean and Cory Wright join violinist/oboist Murray Campbell and bassist Lisa Mezzacappa in a dynamic, Threadgill-esque ensemble sound full of counterpoint, wit, and imaginative sonic twists.

A sophisticated and delightful cinematic work from Seattle multi-instrumentalist Amy Denio, who composes and leads a 12-piece ensemble in a dynamic new soundtrack to the 1925 silent film Varieté, blending electric guitar, accordion, voice, and hammered dulcimer with a chamber orchestra of woodwinds, strings, and percussion in a rich, genre-defying studio recording.

Celebrating 30 years of collaboration, pianist Georg Graewe, cellist Ernst Reijseger, and drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway present an unedited 2009 live performance recorded straight to two-track analog tape at Schloss Elmau, capturing their deeply intuitive interplay in five dynamic and acoustically rich chamber improvisations.

An electrifying session of genre-defying free improvisation from the international quartet of Gabriele Mitelli (trumpet & electronics), Mette Rasmussen (sax), Mariam Rezaei (turntables), and Lukas Koenig (drums & bass synth), delivering an explosive, high-energy album that blurs the lines between noise, jazz, and avant-electronic intensity with visceral spontaneity and tightly channeled chaos.

The final recordings of Un Drame Musical Instantané with co-founder Bernard Vitet, compiling sessions from 1998 to 2000 with the Machiavel Quartet and guests including Baco Mourchid and Nem, blending free jazz, electroacoustic experimentation, and multimedia spontaneity into cinematic improvisations that showcase the ensemble's enduring commitment to collective creation and sonic innovation.

A previously unreleased 1988 live performance from the legendary partnership of pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Tony Oxley, recorded at the Outside In Festival in the UK just months after their initial collaboration, presenting a fiercely dynamic and poetic duo of free improvisation, revealing the spark and spiritual force that would define their decades-long artistic relationship.

The debut of guitarist Ava Mendoza, violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul, and drummer Carolina Perez as a power trio, invoking the Inca moon goddess Mama Killa through eight electrifying tracks that fuse free improvisation with the raw energy of doom, death, and black metal, channeling country, blues, and psychedelia into a ferocious and feedback-laden sonic onslaught.

The first solo album from West Coast violist Amy Cimini, blending amplified distortion, percussive textures, and spacious effects into a deeply personal and genre-blurring performance that channels experimental noise, tuneful abstraction, and the spirit of feminist rock and protest music into a resonant and evocative sonic journey.

Only the second solo album from Swiss-born pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier, now based in New York, presenting twelve studio recordings that explore the full range of the piano inside and out, recorded in Germany and showcasing the breadth of her expressive power and spontaneous creativity, shaped by decades of work in innovative transatlantic ensembles.

Drawing on deep collaborative history and shared risk-taking instincts, the trio of alto saxophonist Signe Emmeluth, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Axel Filip deliver a debut of fierce, textural improvisation, recorded in Trondheim and shaped by dynamic interplay, shifting atmospheres, and a fearless drive to chart new sonic terrain.

Mary Halvorson leads her Septet with Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto sax), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), Jacob Garchik (trombone), John Hebert (bass) & Ches Smith (drums) through 6 original compositions and a Robert Wyatt cover!

Celebrating the profound compositional legacy of Julius Hemphill through inventive string adaptations of his saxophone quartet and sextet works, violinists Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld, violist Stephanie Griffin, and cellist Tomeka Reid channel Abdul Wadud's expressive spirit, transforming Hemphill's blues-inflected jazz into vividly textured chamber improvisations with lyrical intensity.

A powerful and ritualistic session from South Korea's free improvisation scene, with tenor and soprano saxophones (Jung-Jae Kim & Sunjae Lee) and dual drum kits (Junyoung Song & Sunki Kim) channeling ancestral Korean shamanic ceremony through raw, primal energy, breath-driven phrasing, and a spiritual aesthetic that bridges indigenous tradition and contemporary free jazz expression.

The seventh chapter in Darius Jones' visionary Man'ish Boy series, this powerful trio recording with Gerald Cleaver and Chris Lightcap presents five new compositions and a Lomax-arranged spiritual, confronting themes of Black mental health, trauma, and healing through richly expressive alto saxophone, deep rhythmic interplay, and emotional resonance.

The seventh chapter in Darius Jones' visionary Man'ish Boy series, this powerful trio recording with Gerald Cleaver and Chris Lightcap presents five new compositions and a Lomax-arranged spiritual, confronting themes of Black mental health, trauma, and healing through richly expressive alto saxophone, deep rhythmic interplay, and emotional resonance.

Recorded live in Berlin, the debut from Camila Nebbia's working trio with Kit Downes and Andrew Lisle captures six dynamic, unrestrained pieces that navigate shifting textures and rhythms, fractured lyricism, and tightly woven interplay, avoiding individual soloing as the group explores contrast and transformation through raw energy, deep listening, and collective momentum.

A stunning 1981 live performance at Internationales Jazzfestival Zurich, from pianist Irene Schweizer's short-lived but explosive quartet with Rüdiger Carl, Johnny Dyani, and Han Bennink, blending theatrical flair, fierce intensity, bold humor, and spontaneous surprises in a powerhouse set that channels the spirit of Mingus, the wit of Waller, and the raw energy of punk jazz.

Two trombones free improvising in the studio in Koln from the Duo of Chicago's Jeb Bishop and Cologne's Matthias Muche, both members of the trombone trio Bone-Crusher with Matthias Muller, this album recorded in the studio in Koln just before Bone-Crusher's "Konzert Fur Hannes" (NotTwo), elucidating this facet of the trio in 10 insightful dialogs of awesome technique and wit.

Four string improviser convene at Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon, in Germany in 2021, two of them from Germany--Dietrich Petzold on violin, viola, clavichord & bowed metal, Matthias Bauer on double bass--and the Portuguese father/son complement of improvisers--Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello--for three works of delicately sinewy intersection & counterpoint.

Recorded live in 2019 at Burgbachkeller in Zug, Switzerland, the international trio Jorge's Orbe creates tapestries of sound, bringing together free improvisers from three different parts of the world: Switzerland through trombonist George Francis Marti, Japan through pianist Tsukiko Amakawa, and Spain through Pelayo Fernandez Arrizabalaga on turntables and voice.

Italian and Portuguese musicians meet in the studio in Berlin for a set of studio free improvisations, from Creative Sources father/son collaborators Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello meeting trombonist Davide Piersanti and vocalist Ligia Liberatori for twelve exceptionally open, informed and unusual conversations.

A reductionist set of spartan improvisation performed live at Casa da Cultura, in Setubal, Portugal in 2021 from the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, João Silva on trumpet and Andre Hencleeday on piano, applying extended techniques on their instruments in a dark night, quiet but intently close listening conversation from three authoritative voices.

Subtle acoustic improvisation from a global set of improvisors--Yu Lin Humm on cello, Pedro Frazao on euphonium, Ryoko Imai on marimba, percussion, Andre Hencleeday on piano, Philippe Trovao on tenor saxophone, and Ernesto Rodrigues on viola--in an attentive and tension-filled single movement, each player adding and reacting as ideas percolate and subsume.

A live recording of free improvisation recorded at Theater im Viertel, in Saarbrucken, Germany in 2021 from the SteDaJoDa quartet of Daniel Studer on double bass, Stefan Scheib on double bass, Daniel Weber on drums and Johannes Schmitz on guitar, the dark double bass foundation and floating ("Schwebend") percussion work balanced by Schmitz' blues oriented electric.

Six "Segments" A to F of powerful restraint and extended technique, recorded at Ausland in Berlin, Germany from the free improvising quartet of Quentin Tolimieri on piano, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Fyodor Stepanov on double bass, the close associations between the Rodrigues' and Tolimieri & Stepanov evident through their shared aesthetic.

The Virtual Balboa trio of Philadelphia improvisers Zachary Darrup on guitar, Evan Lipson on double bass and Ben Bennett on percussion, all performers associated with Spring Garden Music & saxophonist Jack Wright, are joined by open-form trumpeter Greg Kelley for this wonderfully scrabbly and tenacious live set captured at Vermillion in Seattle in 2019.

A strange album of vocal improvisation from the the VocCoulours quartet of Brigitte Kuepper, Gala Gabriele Hummel, Norbert Zajac, and Iouri Grankin, performing live with Koichi Makigami on (voice & theremin), Yoichiro Kita (trumpet & laptop), Keiko Komori (bass clarinet), and Morgan Fisher (keyboards & toys); a truly unique album of startling utterance, texture, and environment.

Guitarist Ed Williams, active in the experimental music scene of Marseille, France, is heard here in two concerts presenting a triptych of solo performances on bowed classical and electric guitar, improvised with no effects, with two parts on electric guitar recorded at the concert series "Aux Soirs Du Chercheur De Noises", the 2nd, "Spectrum, NY" on classical guitar.

A fascinating exploration of human-machine collaboration from UK trio Sveio — James Mainwaring on saxophone, Federico Reuben on laptop improvisation and live coding, and Emil Karlsen on drums — using AI in real-time to generate uncanny textures and forms, resulting in a spontaneously composed and constantly evolving electroacoustic sound world.

Integrating live coding, field recordings, IFM synthesis, and an array of electroacoustic instrumentation, the trio of Al Margolis, Walter Wright, and Sara Bouchard craft an unbounded and exploratory work that embraces technological transformation and sensory disruption, channeling Marshall McLuhan's insights into a richly layered and prophetic sonic landscape.

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Aptly described as chiaroscuro--a veritable play of light and shadow in quick-witted--through nearly microscopic and highly interactive acoustic improvisation from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Maria da Rocha on violin, Bruno Parrinha on clarinet & bass clarinet and Jose Oliveira on percussion, performing live at Galeria Monumental, in Lisbon in 2022.

A joint release with the Berlin record label Maybee Records run by cellist Hui-Chun Lin & Shuichi Chino and Creative Sources, this 2021 concert at Berlin's Kuhlspot Social Club brings together four cellist for an incredible and somewhat vicious display of free improvising string interaction using incredible technique, texture, and intent listening; wild!

Continuing Rodrigues' post-Cage series of single-track acoustic improvisations, this 2025 quintet with Miguel Mira, Flak, Tiago Varela, and Manuel Guimaraes blends viola, cello, electric guitar, fan organ, melodica, and piano in an evolving tapestry of mysterious breath, subtle continuity, and fragile sonic space recorded live in Lisbon with profound delicacy and restraint.

A dynamic debut from multi-talented saxophonist Eric Shorter, joined by pianist David Shields and percussionist Gregg Bendian in a spirited trio session that replaces the traditional bass role with open, aleatoric freedom, creating an engaging interplay of spontaneous composition, expressive lyricism, and inventive harmonic exploration.

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A remarkable live recording from Einstein Kultur in Munich, reuniting British free improvisation masters John Butcher on saxophones and John Edwards on double bass in four expansive, detailed, and often breathtaking duets, exploring abstract soundscapes with razor-sharp interplay, extended techniques, and an uncompromising sense of sonic exploration.

Recorded at Firehouse 12 Studios, Canyon brings together four exceptional improvisers — drummer Jerome Deupree, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, bassist Joe Morris, and cellist Lester St. Louis — for a double album of fluid, high-stakes interaction, balancing volatility and restraint as they carve out richly detailed sonic terrain with spontaneous precision.

Recorded live at Dublin's National Concert Hall, the trio of Izumi Kimura (piano), Lina Andonovska (flutes), and Dominique Pifarély (violin) weave a poetic and deeply intuitive improvisational performance, blending extended techniques and refined sensitivity into a dreamlike suite of tactile, intimate, and emotionally resonant sound worlds.

The debut from the international Lava Quartet — Almut Kühne (voice), Jordina Milla (piano), Gonçalo Almeida (bass), and Wieland Möller (percussion) — capturing the ensemble's dynamic interplay and fearless improvisation across two European venues, blending extended techniques, expressive freedom, and unconventional sonic textures in a deeply creative and spontaneous journey.

A fiery and tightly woven 2004 quintet session led by alto saxophonist and composer Marco Eneidi, recorded before his move to Europe, with trumpeter Darren Johnston, guitarist John Finkbeiner, bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Vijay Anderson performing dynamic, sharply articulated compositions that balance exuberant improvisation with finely honed structure.

Recorded live at the 2023 Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria, this powerhouse quartet of Joe McPhee, Susanna Gartmayer, John Edwards, and Maria Portugal delivers an electrifying set of spontaneous composition, blending fierce improvisation, commanding technique, and bold interplay in a dynamic performance brimming with vitality and creative approaches to improv.

A summit of master improvisers as tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman joins the Matthew Shipp String Trio — Shipp on piano, Mat Maneri on viola, and William Parker on bass — for a profound studio session of dynamic, four-way conversation that balances drama with hope, forging a richly textured and deeply expressive work of improvised chamber jazz.

A collaboration between two towering improvisers — soprano saxophonist Evan Parker and synth/voice experimentalist Jean-Marc Foussat — presenting two incisive live duo performances from the 2023 Improtech Festival, paired with archival solo works from the early 1980s, in a release that bridges free improvisationÕs enduring quest for expressive freedom across decades.

A formidable trio debut from Irish double bassist Alan Niblock with British improvisers John Butcher on saxophones and Mark Sanders on drums and percussion, recorded live at The Black Box in Belfast and unfolding across five tectonically inspired pieces that channel collective intuition, dynamic interplay, and seismic shifts of intensity and form.

"To me, improvised creative music means expressing myself "in the moment". We live in the illusion of our daily routine, but we don't know what the future holds. Each day only happens once, and the real challenge is learning to live in ...

A double CD of inventive and richly textural improvisation from the BlueRing Improvisers, a ten-member ensemble inspired by the radical material aesthetics of artist Alberto Burri, recorded during a creative residency in Tuscany where the group explored sound as substance through composed and improvised works emphasizing gesture, timbre, and interdisciplinary expression.

A captivating set of freely improvised duos bridging experimentation and jazz forms from pianist and electronics artist Chris Brown and cellist-percussionist Ben Davis, recorded at Wide Hive Studios in California, where the duo explore dynamic textures and shifting rhythmic pulses in an organic and deeply communicative exchange that embraces spontaneity and collaborative openness.

A powerful acoustic studio session from flutist Massimo De Mattia's Suonomadre ensemble with Zlatko Kaucic on drums & percussion, Giorgio Pacorig on piano, and Luigi Vitale on vibes, marimba & percussion, shifting from prior electronic approaches to explore urgent themes of loss and displacement through raw, unfiltered improvisation that merges expressive virtuosity with politically reflective intensity.

Elton Dean's 1989 performance at the Covent Garden Jazz Saxophone Festival in London is reissued, bringing to light the powerful performance from saxophonists Dean on alto sax & saxello, Paul Dunmall on tenor & baritone saxophones, Trevor Watts on alto saxophone, Simon Pickard on tenor saxophone, plus the rhythm section of Paul Rogers on double bass and Tony Levin on drums.

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 stunningly powerful quartet of electric jazz captured live at the 2022 Freejazz Festival in Saarbrucken, Germany between German alto saxophonist Frank Gratkowski (Skein), Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Ground Zero, Altered States), electric bassist Dan Peter Sundland and drummer Steve Heather, performing four assertive, charged and cathartic collective improvisations.

Continuing their exploration of isotopes, here focusing on the unstable element Uranium, the Portuguese Isotope Ensemble led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues presents two stunningly detailed concert performances from the 2021 CSFest XV at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, with some of Europe's leading improvisers taking on U92 in both "Electroacoustic" and "Acoustic" properties.

An assertive duo of piano and trumpet from Canadian improvisers Marilyn Lerner playing inside and out of the piano, and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud performing with powerful and unusually expressive technique, this the first meeting between the two in a set of seven studio recordings, creative interactions of wide-ranging and cohesive approaches to their dialogs.

A transcendent duo improvisation between soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo and low-reed multi-instrumentalist Ove Volquartz, who sculpt spontaneous sound into shifting forms and textures, crafting an immanent and unadorned expression that unfolds in dynamic interplay, breath, and resonance without narrative, embracing the moment with unwavering intensity.

While NY trombonist Steve Swell and alto saxophonist Rob Brown were in Paris, flutist Michel Edelin, who has recorded and performed with Swell over more than a decade, organized this session with Paris-based American ex-pats, drummer John Betsch and bassist Peter Giron, recording three Swell compositions, two by Brown, one from Edelin and four collective improvisations; magnifique!

Eight free improvisations from the German duo of Markus Reineke on contrabass, bass recorder, objects & electronics, and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen on electric guitar, violin, virtual bass clarinet & electronics, creating an unusual language that merges electronics with acoustic instrumentation in quirky yet natural ways, each track named impressionistically.

The third Spiegel, or mirror, takes the Portuguese acoustic octet led by violist Ernesto Rodrigue through an extended improvisation and its reflection, captured live at the 2021 CSFest XV, at O'Culto da Ajuda, by performing and recording their performance in a first pass, and then playing over the first improvisation, layering and extending their work.

A four-part suite from the Creative Sources string core of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigue, recording in Berlin in 2021 with free jazz trombonist Matthias Muller and trumpeter Brad Henkel, through each movement approaching their playing through a balance of nonidiomatic and free jazz, subtly understated and meticulously intricate.

Performing live at SMUP, in Parede, Portugal in 2022, the bass-oriented chamber quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Joao Madeira on double bass, Hernani Faustino on double bass and Jose Oliveira on percussion balance jazz and contemporary compositional approaches to their sophisticated and extremely detailed improvisations.

An unusual trio configuration for violist Ernesto Rodrigues, joined by Bruno Parrinha on soprano & alto saxophones, and by electric guitarist Flak, who brings an experimental almost ea- approach to their 3-part improvisation, aptly named for it's deceptively calm setting, gradually becoming intricate and active through colored motion like a curious breeze that builds and recedes.

Improvising over strings, winds & percussion from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Joao Madeira on double bass, Bruno Parrinha on flute & bass clarinet and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, in a studio session of active, often pointillistic interaction offset with periods of introspection, reflecting concepts of Baudelaire & The Surrealists.

15 short improvisations from this trio formed out of the Munich Instant Orchestra, using extended techniques and understated restraint on reeds, cello and electric guitar.

Baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton continues his deep engagement with Steve Lacy's saxophone etudes in this 2-CD release, presenting fifteen spontaneous solo improvisations on Couloir, alongside a meticulous yet personal interpretation of Lacy's Book of Practitioners Vol. 2 "W", a suite of six structured études that explore sonic character through repetition, variation, and improvisation.

The sixth release by Creative Sources' detailed electroacoustic improvising group Suspensão led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues, with Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Nuno Torres on alto sax, Antonio Chaparreiro on electric guitar, Carlos Santos on computer and Jose Oliveira on percussion & inside piano, is this impressive performance at "Temporada Miso Music 2009" in Lisbon.

A uniquely configured electroacoustic trio recording live in the studio in Lisbon in 2018 between Mexican flutist and founding member of the improv collective Generación Espontánea, Wilfrido Terrazas, and Portuguese improvisers Mariana Carvalho on prepared piano and Abdul Moimeme using two electric guitars and objects, balancing introspective moments with periods of uninhibited excitement.

Reuniting after more than a decade, the Chicago-rooted trio of Dave Rempis (saxophones), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), and Nate McBride (bass) rekindle their distinctive free-improvising chamber aesthetic in this live recording, blending texture-rich interplay and deep personal history into a resonant, nuanced return that reflects years of evolution, distance, and reconnection.

Reuniting after more than a decade, the Chicago-rooted trio of Dave Rempis (saxophones), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), and Nate McBride (bass) rekindle their distinctive free-improvising chamber aesthetic in this live recording, blending texture-rich interplay and deep personal history into a resonant, nuanced return that reflects years of evolution, distance, and reconnection.

"I recorded Open Space with in a single continuous take: my cello, an amp, and a distortion pedal. I was watching a film that was a static shot across a very large canyon, the light slowly shifting. I hope it offers the listener roo...

"In late 2022 I became a father and lost my own father in quick succession. This music represents a conversation between my selves who met at that nexus of birth and death, sharing what they felt about the past, the present, and the fut...

"I had the privilege of meeting Wadada Leo Smith after a show, 'Everyone thinks the trumpet is made out of brass - it's really made out of air.' This recording is my exploration of that concept."-Relative Pitch

"Looking back I remember still" is a graffito I saw on an electrical box near my house and as I prepared for this recording I reflected on my time living in New York and my involvement in the improvised music scene there. My decision t...