Beautifully lyrical compositions filled with a sense of wonder and mystery in the 4th Clean Feed release from double bassist and composer Hugo Carvalhais, improvising in a sextet with Emile Parisien on soprano saxophone, Liudas Mockunas on tenor saxophone & clarinet, Fabio Almeida on alto saxophone & flute, Gabriel Pinto on piano & keys and Mario Costa on drums.

A unique album of oddly metered yet highly rhythmic jazz from guitarist and composer Mané Fernandes, a member of Pedro Alves Melo Omniae Large Ensemble, but more importantly, part of a scene he refers to as Post-Beat Aesthetics, merging electronic and synthetic elements into jazz form, a serious and diverting direction for creative improv and studio play.

Using simple motives to guide remarkably complex and lyric collective improvisations clearly in the jazz tradition, the Portuguese quartet of João Mortágua on alto & soprano saxophones, Carlos Azevedo on piano, Miguel Angelo on double bass and Mário Costa on drums approach their music with concise expression and a clear exuberance for the music they create.

A recently discovered 2007 live concert from Portuguese pianist & composer Bernardo Sassetti's Trio with Carlos Barretto on double bass and Alexandre Frazao on drums, celebrating the trio's then 10th anniversary in a performance at Grande Auditório da Culturgeste in Lisbon, an excellent example of the great skill and dexterity of this much-missed pianist and trio's work.

Known for his The Rite of Trio, guitarist Andre B. Silva releases his 2nd solo album featuring compositions in a chamber jazz mode, including long passages of composed music that open into improvisation, performed with Jose Soares on saxophone, Raquel Reis on cello, Sophie Bernado on basson, Paulo Bernardino on bass clarinet, Andre Carvalho on double bass & Ricardo Coelho on drums & vibes.

Referencing Thomas Chapin, Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell & Evan Parker, Spanish saxophonist Liba Villavechia's trio with drummer/percussionsit Vasco Trilla and double bassist Alex Reviriego explore the "tentacles that stem from the great Jazz octopus" through five Villavecchia compositions, one collective improv, and Thomas Chapin's "Bypass".

Recording at Studio CCAM Scene Nationale de Vandaeuvre-les-Nancy in France, the freely improvising duo of contemporary saxophonist Violaine Gestalder and double bassist Louis-Michel Marion approach the five improvisations on Marges with an ear to patient sonic interaction through extended and unusual techniques on their instruments.

A strangely agitated garden sculpted from melody, dissonance and instrumental abberation through profound technique and unusual approaches to their instrument, by French double bassist Louis-Michel Marion and pianist Françoise Toullec, bringing a sense of wonder and turbulent environment through a shared passion balancing ominous space with astute activity.

The core Rekon trio of multi-instrumentalist and wind player Daniel Borgegård Älgå, guitarist Leif Jordansson and drummer Perry Vallgren are joined by guests, cellist Helena Espvall, bassist Niklas Billstrom, trumpeter Mike Lloyd and pianist Lisa Ullen, for four lyrical and experimentally inclined improvisations, a beautiful balance of diverse approaches to modern jazz.

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.

Recording in Berlin in 2021, the quartet of English saxophonist Simon Rose, here on baritone sax and German double bassist and Evil Rabbit label leader Meinrad Kneer join with Creative Sources father/son string improvisers Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello for seven delicately commanding, chamber-oriented free improvisations.

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.

German vocalist Birgit Wunsch leads this improvising trio with Edith Steyer on clarinet & saxophone and Alberto Cavenati on guitar, using abstract and atonal melodies in a chamber improvised setting for freely improvised voice, text and sound, crossing a sense of pop music with non-idiomatic improvisation of great technical and creative intent.

Two strings, sax, bass and percussion from the free improvising chamber jazz quintet of Mia Dyberg on alto saxophone, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Johan Moir on double bass and Jose Oliveira on percussion, in an interactive and dynamic live performance recorded in 2018 during the CreativeFest XII at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal.

"March" refers to the foundation of repurposed march rhythms NY drummer Tomas Fujiwara employs for the compositions in his second release with his Triple Double sextet, actually two trumpet-guitar-drum trios brilliantly interacting, with fellow drummer Gerald Cleaver, both Mary Halvorson & Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & Ralph Alessi on trumpet.

2003 release of the Lisbon improvising trio of Bruno Pedroso on drums, Joao Paulo on piano and Paulo Curado on saxophone, merging jazz and world styles from Lisbon, America, Arabic and Jewish forms with lyrical strength, clear communication and an experimental attitude between the three players, a great example of the Portuguese free improvising scene.

The second in Discus Music's "Unreleased" series selected from percussionist and electronics legend Tony Oxley personal collection, here in three configurations: a quintet with Barry Guy, Dave Holdsworth, Howard Riley and Paul Rutherford; a quintet with Howard Riley, Larry Stabbins, Phillip Wachsmann and Hugh Metcalfe; and a duo with Stefan Hoekler.

Jean Derome's extended Dangereux Zhomes opened the 25th Victo Festival in 2008, adding Joane Hetu, Lori Freedman, Bernard Falaise, &c. for an incredible and expressive orchestra.

This incredible trio, recorded at the 25th Victo Actuelle Festival, play complex music using shared ideas about articulation, timbre, and methods of interaction.

"Active for over a decade, the trio New Windshas carved a distinctive niche in the arena of New Music by exploring the ambiguous territory in-between composition and improvisation while employing the particular tonalities and timbres of ...

"... I regard the NOW Orchestra as one of the finest large creative ensembles active in the last decade. The combinations of high levels of individual creativity and virtuosity with a strong sense of collectivity is a rare and treasured combination that the NOW Orchestra manifests very strongly..."-George Lewis, Earshot Jazz

"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...

"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...

"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...

"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...

"Anamnesis: Ecumenical Mysteries was Yugoslavian saxophonist/composer Boris Kovac's first release out of Europe (on the Canadian label Disques Victo). It was also his first work recorded in Yugoslavia following the war that forced him t...

"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...

"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...

"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...

"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."

This is the third release from Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, which, like the two preceding it, was created from Derome's personal travel journal.

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.

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.

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 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".

The trio of Belgian reedist Joachim Badenhorst, French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot, and French-German bassist Pascal Niggenkemper formed the Baloni trio in Brooklyn in 2008, presenting a blend of chamber and free jazz; reserved to frenetic playing that consistently surprises.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

A deluxe 2 album release: "Glassware" on CD was composed by Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio for a commission by the Art Council Of The Canton Aargau, performed with Raphael Loher (piano), Ernst Thoma (synth), Dominique Girod (bass), and Nicolas Stocker (drums); then reworked into something creatively experimental in the 2 LP "As If You Were Here"; engaging and spellbinding!

SNIK IS led by trombonist Kristoffer Kompen and bassist Ole Morten Vagan, who provide the compositions for their quartet with saxophonist Kristoffer Berre Alberts and drummer Erik Nylander, in an album that ranges from meditative free playing to hard swinging bop oriented jazz.

Rapid fire playing and a wicked humor fuels drummer Olie Steidle's album with guitarist Frank Mobus, keyboardists Kit Downes and Dan Nicholls, and bassist Phil Donkin, mashing together electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music into upbeat and twisted music, building up to a narrative "Speed Junky on Funny Human Darts"; insanely embraceable and stunning.

Recorded at the same time and influenced by the recording of their 2020 album The Anthony Braxton Project, the NY Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass & electric bass present 9 original compositions, three pieces from each of the musicians, of melodically inclined forward thinking, creative jazz.

The fourth ECM album from NY Saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Ches Smith, here in a trio with textural guitarist David Torn in three extended compositions merging jazz, rock and ambient forms, the middle track augmented with the Scorchio String Quartet and Craig Taborn, as they ebb and flow intense energy, fascinating compositional turns, and superb playing.

After percussionist and composer Gerry Hemingway migrated to Luzern, Switzerland he joined forces with the creative improvising community in that city, in particular with guitarist Manuel Troller and saxophonist and bass clarinetist Sebastian Strinning, the trio taking the name Tree Ear, blending free and idiomatic improv in bold, uncommon and spellbinding ways.

The followup to their 2019 Corbett vs. Dempsey album and formalizing their trio name as "The Underflow", is an epic double LP of diverse and inspired free-ea from the trio of Mats Gustafsson on flute, fluteophone, baritone saxophone & live electronics, David Grubbs on electric guiar & voice, and Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, wooden flute, electronics, percussion & voice.