The extended horn section of the Leap of Faith Orchestra, the core ensemble of the Boston collective led by multi-instrumentalist David Peck, here in a spacious and somewhat psychedelic and embraceable performance with Bob Moores on trumpet & brass, Eric Dahlman on trumpet and winds, Duane Reed on baritone horn, and all on percussion & electronic instruments.

Using David Peck's "Broad Palate" concept to introduce frequent variation in sonorities through changing instrumental combinations, this live performance of Turbulence, the extended horn section of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra, presents the largest assemblage of performers for the group yet, and introduces the 17-string bass to the Evil Clown arsenal.

Changing approaches to his music with new quartet of Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Alan Silva on double bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums, pianist Cecil Taylor's incredible 1966 concert in Paris presented four extended compositions, here remastered and reissued with a track from a compilation LP--"With (Exit)"--extending his quartet with Bill Dixon on trumpet and Henry Grimes on double bass.

An offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble, this Evil Clown collective features David Peck on reeds, percussion and electronics, Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar, and electronics, Eric Woods on analog synth and Joel Simches on real-time electronics, "synesthesia" a perceptual phenomenon where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a 2nd.

A working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments, improvising with a rock-leaning edge and exploiting a large part of the Boston Evil Clown collective's percussion arsenal, along with analog synth, drum & Chos kit, reeds & winds and bass, manipulated in real-time through signal processing, with occasional narration from Dante's Inferno.

The first Leap of Faith set in a quartet lineup expanding the core of David Peck on reeds, winds & percussion and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic with trumpeter Vance Provey and percussionist Michael Knoblach, in an introspective livestreamed set that balances the strings of Lomon against two horns while bringing out a wealth of unusual percussive interactions.

The core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, joined by the Reverend Grant Beale on guitar and Eric Woods on analog synth, subtly merging electronic elements into the primarily acoustic sound of the group as they amble through unusual soundscapes.

A new quartet lineup for the Boston-based Evil Clown Collective group Leap of Faith, expanding the core duet of David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice with multi-reedists Melanie Howell and Todd Brunel, all four employing their extensive arsenal of percussive instruments.

A tongue-in-cheek album packaged like a Deutsche Grammophon release of a string quartet by fictional composer Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdys (1878-1907), which is instead a superb live ea-improv performance at the 2018 Music Unlimited Festival in Austria by Gaudenz Badrutt (electronics), Kai Fagaschinski (clarinette), Jonas Kocher (accordion) & Christof Kurzmann (electronics).

Featuring the poetry and words of Cecil Taylor-associated poets Albey OnBass and Jane SpokenWord, the Boston collective improvising band Axiom of David Peck on reeds, winds and percussion, Steve Niemtiz on drums & percussion and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic + OnBass & SpokenWord, focus on "Discourse", wakefullness and freedom in an age of social unrest.

A new trio from NY bassist Max Johnson with Anna Webber on tenor saxophone & flute and Michael Sarin on drums, performing five lyrically inclined yet inventive compositions from Johnson, allowing distinction for each performer as they bridge sections between fluid straight-ahead playing and spaciously singular experimentation, keeping player and listener on their toes.

Beginning with a reimagining of the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome", trumpeter Dave Douglas' album is an emotional and powerful statement of human engagement towards justice--Racial justice; Climate justice; Voting justice; Gender justice--performed with Ryan Keberle on trombone, Fay Victor on voice, Camila Meza on voice, guitar, Jorge Roeder on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

Trickster, the stellar quartet of New York guitarist Miles Okazaki with Matt Mitchell on piano, Fender Rhodes & synth, Anthony Tidd on electric bass and Sean Rickman on drums, in a sequel to The Sky Below, blending acoustic and electric jazz in four captivating compositions that Okazaki describes as striving towards something like collective dreaming.

Cuban/NY pianist David Virelles in his first solo album, 14 original compositions and 2 from Cuban composers, blending modern jazz with Cuban, African and European influences, a tour-de-force of clear and balanced, irrepresible rhythms and elegant ballads, an inspired album opening on marimbula and expanded with percussion from Julio Barreto on three tracks.

Recorded a year after Volume 1, alto saxophonist Steve Coleman's Five Elements band with Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Anthony Tidd on bass, Sean Rickman on drums and, replacing guitarist Miles Okazaki, improvising vocalist Kokayi credited as "wordsmith", performing at The Village Vanguard for a sophisticated, rhythmically fascinating and energetic concert; exemplary!

Recording in real-time during the pandemic, UK improvisers, baritone saxophonist Cath Roberts (Favourite Animals, Madwort Sax Quartet) and double bassist Olie Brice (Olie Brice Quintet, Tobias Delius, &c) recorded these extended improvisations simulateously at their homes, beautifully paced and intently listening as they keep the conversation going despite a world of restrictions.

Recorded using the natural resonance from the base of a stone double spiral staircase in the Castle of Chambord, France, improvising soprano saxophonist Alexandra Grimal explores her own personal language and the affect the ambience brings to her adept playing, through beautifully melodic lines, long arpeggiations, or short bursts of penetrating utterance.

Working inside and out of the piano and sometime evoking wild sounds that seem to have no relationship to the instrument, Polish-born and Amsterdam-based pianist Marta Warelis explores the concepts of realities beyond our perception, and a thought that we are a part of a big organism where everything goes endlessly bigger and smaller in scale of size, time and speed.

Inspired by Miles Davis, particularly his album On The Corner and Davis' respect and interest in the work Karlheinz Stockhausen, LaPlante wrote Wild Tapestry as a commission from Seth Knopp of Vermont's The Yellow Barn Music Festival in 2021, exploring how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into musical composition and strategy.

A determined set of electric jazz from the Brooklyn, NYC trio of Nathaniel Morgan (Buckminster) on alto saxophone, Dustin Carlson on guitar & bass and Kate Gentile on drums & vibraphone, bringing driving rock and experimental music approaches to their improvisations, a uniquely voice and tenacious trio of unorthodox improvisers.

Drawing on previous collaborations between Amsterdam pianist Kaja Draksler and wind player Ab Baars, here on tenor sax, clarinet & shakuhachi, and two duo albums between Baars and guitarist Terrie Ex, this meeting as a trio took place at the 2018 Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria for a diverse journey from uniquely introspective to wildly energetic conversation.

An incredible solo concert from legendary New York pianist Cecil Taylor in October, 1968 at the Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall, Palace of Culture and Science) in Warsaw during the Jazz Jamboree, recorded by Polski Radio and remastered in 2021, an excellent example of the nimble mind and quick technical skills of Taylor's personal take on improvisation; stunning!

The Polish piano trio RGG of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums & percussion are joined by vocalists Marta Grzywacz, trumpet player Artur Majewski and block flutes virtuoso Dominic Strycharski to close out the 2020, 15th Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw Poland, presenting seven improvisations in a beautifully informed journey.

Blurring free improvisation and compositional strategies in this encounter at the "First Meeting Series" at FAB Music Studio Chicago between New York violinist Mark Feldman and Chicago cellist Katinka Kleijn, a remarkable concert in two parts showing imaginative skills of phenomenal technical expertise and experience, instant compositions of the highest order.

Joyfully assertive and somewhat twisted, the first of three improvisations on this live album at Wels Unlimited 2020 is the duo of Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and drummer Didi Kern, starting at high speed then shifting to unusual approaches in a quirky dialog, made quirkier with Jaap Blonk adding wonderfully nonsensical vocalizations on the last two pieces.

Six potent duo improvisations for cello and piano by composer & pianist Ernstalbrecht Stiebler and fellow-Berlin resident Tilman Kanitz, who have been developing their dialog together for several years in studio, focusing much of their momentum on pitch and harmony, their work all the more remarkable for Stiebler only having begun improvising in his mid-80s.

Borrowing from traditional music notation, Jessica Pavone's compositions for her string ensemble with Aimée Niemann and Abby Swidler alternates between metered and time-based scores allowing the performers freedom to move between long tone sounds and clusters at the performer's chosen rate, responding to each other while creating a "collaboratively sewn musical fabric".

An album of raw and emotional "love songs", 17 unique solo violin improvisations and vocal utterance as the New York improviser runs her bow with passionate openness and intimacy through raspy edges, ardent plucking, introspective aching, and moments of beauty, all displayed through immense technique and powerful control over her instrument.

Six raw instrumentals bridging free jazz and free rock forms, clearly influenced by both Brötzmann and Sunn O))) (as referenced in the track "SunnA)))") from the French Hippie Diktat trio of Antoine Viard on amplified baritone sax, Julien Chamla on drums and Richard Comte on guitar, recording at l'Ecluse, in Reims in 2013 for six ruggedly inspired tracks.

The long-standing duet of guitarist Richard Comte and tenor saxophonist Julen Pontvianne (Onze Hours Onze) is a conversation of introspective and resonant repetition around silence, tonal decay, slow call and response and submerged themes, here symbolically immersed as they explore four sunken islands from around the world: Vordonis; Lohachara; Semionovski and Elugelab.

Taken from concerts during Thollem's 3-month European tour, at Centro d'Arte dell'Università di Padova; AngelicA at Teatro San Leonardo in Bologna; and Rassegna di Nuova Musica 39, performing on acoustic pianos or a Korg Wavestate, showing his technically impressive, creative drive over a diverse set of approaches to solo piano improvisation.

A fully acoustic set of creative free improvisation from the Survival Unit III trio of Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Joe McPhee on tenor saxophone & pocket trumpet and Michael Zerang on percussion, performing at the 2018 The Instigation Festival in New Orleans in a set of concerts that also was drummer Alvin Fielder's last concert, to whom this album is dedicated.

The Summer 2022 issue of Canada's essential music magazine exploring improvised, compositional, experimental and other musical hybrids, this issue with composer Gayle Young on the cover, articles on violist Ig Henneman, composer Du Yun, Mark Ellestad, plus reviews, interviews and a 10-track CD with music from artists covered in the magazine.

Quartet, the masterful grouping of Rachel Musson on tenor sax, NO Moore on electric guitar, Olie Brice on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, an improvising ensemble of wonderfully unpredictable momentum, from passages of quiet introspection to thunderous density, but always with attentive listening and imaginative responses, heard in this spectacular 2021 concert at Iklektic.

Two sessions from the free improvising electroacoustic trio of Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics, Martin Hakett on synthesizer and Emil Karlsen on drums & percussion, first for three studio recordings in 2019, and then in concert at the 2020 "Sounds Like This" festival at Leeds College for two wonderfully idiosyncratic and masterful conversations.

Determined and ardent playing like the powerful creep of lava flow as the Brazilian & Portuguese trio of Felipe Zenicola (Chinese Cookie Poets, Paal Nilssen-Love) on bass, Jose Lencastre (Lencastre Nau Quartet) on saxophones and João Valinho (Creative Sources) on drums evolve their tumultuously articulate journey through a molten world of smoldering free jazz.

"The Demon of Analogy", reedist Udo Schindler on clarinets & saxophone and Michel Withsch performing on a Pleyel piano, take inspiration from the concepts of French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallamé (1842-1989), who considered his texts as instruments of harmonic complexity and ambiguity, interpreted in eight improvisations recorded live at Krailing, in Munchen, Germany in 2016.

Free string improvisations from Philipp Wachsmann on violin, David Leahy on double bass and Bruno Gustralla on cello, creating subtle and spacious intersections of strings that focus on unusual techniques, melodic fragments spliced over resounding bowing, plucking and instrument errata, while percussionist Trevor Taylor adds sparse punctuation; inscrutably authoritative improv.

Performing on tenor, alto and C-melody saxophones plus alto flute, Paul Dunmall's trio brings together drummer Taymotusz Joziwiak (heard on One Became Many, Unmasked and Awoto) and younger generation bassist James Owswon, for an album of expressive and lyrical free jazz, a well-paced example of tempered collective interplay highlighting all three musicians.

From the same 2017 session that was released as the album Estuary, this concert in the Philippines between American expatriate saxophonist Rick Countryman and visiting Swiss drummer Christian Bucher expands on the free playing of these two empathetic improvisers, presenting a mix of textural, conceptual, melodic and rhythmic interplay steeped in their personal histories.

A collective West Coast trio from double bassist Kyle Motl (Treesearch) with cornetist Dan Clucas, also on violin and moxeno (an Andean wind instrument) and drummer Nathan Hubbard, imbued with a spiritual and natural chamber jazz feeling, their improvisations influenced by concepts of daydreams, incandescence and zephyrs; a beautiful and open-minded album.

Recording in the studio in Hornchurch, UK in 2022, the open-minded, innately lyrical and freely improvising trio of pianist Dan Banks, long-time collaborator with drummer Trevor Taylor at the latter's Jazz825 club in Southend-on-Sea, and Portuguese double bassist Jose Canhas, are heard in five impeccable contemporary jazz recordings, warm collective conversations of adept skill.

The 2nd release from the UK collective quartet of Jose Canha on double bass, Trevor Taylor on drums, percussion, Dan Banks on piano and Josh Ison on saxophone, exploring the intersection between freely improvised music and free-jazz, drawing out energetic and subtle moments in lyrical interactions through energetic and focused momentum with a full range of character.

Dave Tucker, a one-time member of The Fall and long-time free improviser involved with the Alan Tomlinson Trio and his own School of Velocity quartet with Evan Parker, John Edwards & Steve Noble, in a duo with double bassist Pierpaolo Martino for 11 succinct and assertive dialogs titled "Melophobia" I - XI, diverse works from active Crimson-esque playing to dark & introspective ruminations.

A fully free improvisation of subtly disruptive, extended electroacoustic mastery, recorded during the Svensk Musikvår Festival at Aliasteatern, Stockholm in 2021, in a piece conceived by Mats Gustafsson who performs on saxophone & flute, with Anna Lindal on violin, Mats Lindstrom on electronics, effects & sampler and Joachim Nordwall on analog synths, effects & tapes.

Joining the Chicago ensemble of Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer/percussionist Avreeayl Ra is pianist & synth player Jim Baker, performing at Elastic Arts in July 2021 as the venue reopened after pandemic shutdowns, the significance clear in the spiritual power and inspired performances of all 4 players.

A scorching studio recording from 2011 recently discovered in the archives from the trio of Elliott Sharp on guitar, Tim Dahl on bass guitar, Weasel Walter on drums, a raging album of free improvisation in the Downtown NY style from three players steeped in expressing instrumental agitation with clarity and conviction - a truly burning power trio!

Phil Venable, the Chapel Hill, North Carolina bass player known for his work in the free jazz outfit Tragic Assembly, pairs up with Tragic Assembly drummer Charles Chace for an excursion into the outer limits of improvisation, the album title a reference to a medicinal clay and a riff off of the Charles Mingus song "Moanin".

The 3rd album from this young Norwegian piano trio led by composer Kjetil A Mulelid with double bassist Bjørn Marius Hegge and drummer Andreas Skår Winther, presenting ten lyrical compositions of strong melodies and solid and expressive rhythmic foundations, a thoughtfully beautiful and sophisticated album of exquisite modern jazz.

A dark trio of NYC heavyweights Tim Dahl and Trevor Dunn on bass and Nandor Nevai ( _ (Underscore)) on drums and conducting, in Nevai's fifth iteration of the _ ("UNDRSKOR") project, following a fusion of forms referred to as 'Neauxtheque' invoking "Danger Classical", the Martial Pop subgenre of Industrial and the virtuosic demands of Technical Death Metal.

The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.

An unusual blend of jazz tradition, spoken word and soundscape, presenting mostly as a jazz album with spoken narration from Steve Piccolo (Lounge Lizards) guiding the album with abstract comments that interject with Sergio Armaroli's virtuoso vibe playing, Elliot Sharp adding both acoustic sax elements and inventive sonic environments underpinning many moments; conceptually fascinating.

Including three previously unreleased live tracks, one of Downtown NY's supergroups of drummer Samm Bennett, reed & wind player Ned Rothenberg and guitar & bass player Elliott Sharp's 2nd album is reissued, bringing this collection of seemingly endless possibility in improvisation back to the foreground, sounding as modern today as it did in the percolating creativity of 1987.

Drummer Federico Ughi is heard in three duo configurations of three improvisations each with British improvisers Steve Buckley on alto saxophone and bass clarinet; Rachel Musson on tenor saxophone; and Matthew F. Morris on baritone saxophone, recording in the studio in London, 1998.

One of a pair of complementary CDs (Navajo Sunrise and Navajo Sunset) this 2010 trio recording of a live performance at Area Sismica, Ravaldino in Monte, Italy between Daniel Carter on alto sax & piano, William Parker on bass & shakuhachi and Federico Ughi on drums, is a solid example of the sensitivity and collaborative power of the Downtown NY creative jazz scene.

Inspired by the work of Lennie Tristano, Brooklyn-based saxophonist and wind player David Schnug steps out as a leader in the first of three albums (along with Aella and Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala) in a trio with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Max Goldman, each of the 7 amusingly titled pieces employing a different compositional concept.

After years of collaboration through New York's Downtown scene, multi-reed & wind player Daniel Carter (also on piano) and drummer Federico Ughi recorded this 2012 studio album, their 3rd duo album together and a great example of their spontaneously lyrical give and take, ability to anticipate each other's momentum, and the deep jazz roots that each brings to their music.

One of three albums in a series curated by saxophonist David Schnug and released by 577 Records, trumpeter Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala presents an inventive and adventurous set of compositions, from a succinct 16 seconds to more than 7 minutes on the title track, in a mix of composed and improvised approaches using modern syntax and compositional strategies to compelling effect.

Well-recorded performances of Coltrane's most noted works--"Naima", "My Favorite Things" and "A Love Supreme"--in superb concerts from Berlin in 1963 and Antibes in 1965 with his classic quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, revealing the expansion and freedom these compositions receive through the flexibility of live performance.

Essential to any collection charting the transition from Birth of the Cool era jazz to the modern explosion of harmonic and compositional forms, are pianist George Russell's two most essential albums from 1961 & 1962--Ezz-thetics and The Stratus Seekers--in a sextet & septet including Eric Dolphy, Don Elliss, Steve Swallow, &c., remastered to reveal their vital clarity.

Canadian improvising clarinetist François Houle and Swiss trumpeter Marco von Orelli are heard live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, in Basel, Switzerland, 2020 for eleven dialogs reminiscent of the work of John Carter and Bobby Bradford, though uniquely in their own modern language of chamber-oriented jazz through original compositions from both artists.

Three muscular and inventive solo improvisations on the acoustic upright bass from North Carolina bassist and composer Phil Venable, a member of Tragic Assembly and The Phil Venable - Paul Swest Duo, recorded in the studio in 2022, the three "Basswork" parts are mostly demonstrating his strong walking and plucking skills, at times applying objects to his strings.

The trio of North Carolina Triangle free jazz players Crowmeat Bob on bass clarinet, clarinet, alto & tenor saxophones, Phil Venable on upright bass, and Charles Chance on drums, Venable and Chance known from The Paul Swest band, here in a studio album of seven collective free improvisations using open and often abstract approaches to melody and rhythm.

The 3-headed monster Khimaira--a lion head in front, a goat head at its back and a snake head at its tail--is rendered by the transatlantic trio of NY saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos, Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Swedish bassist Torbjourn Zetterberg, using profound technique, snarling interaction and contemplative patience to coax the beast in masterful interplay.

A solo album from Austrian-born, NY-based pianist Elias Stemeseder, a member of the Jim Black Trio and Dre Hocevar, here presenting 14 original compositions, succinct works of inventive structures and insightful improvisation along with a traditional Austrian tune "foeggslia'l", an album revealing great skill, quick wit, and a complex mind that yields delightfully intrepid discovery.

A beautiful trio album of compositions from pianist Yuko Fujiyama and presented in a mix of solo pieces and duets & trios with cornetist Graham Haynes and electronic improviser Ikue Mori, for a subtle set of elegant improvisations balancing spacious moments with responsively relaxed interplay rich with anticipation, punctuated with two poems by Shutaro Tankikawa.

Percussionist, drummer and improviser Federico Ughi performed this live recording in Brooklyn, 2001 using field recordings captured in Rome on a journey from Piazza S. Cosimato, Trastevere to Via Alberico, Borgo Pio, using those recordings, live sampling and live editing along with drum and percussion techniques to create a unique journey in sound.

Reflecting on the tragic events of 9/11, New York poet Steve Dalachinsky and drummer Federico Ughi performing also on sampler and voice, present seven poems about vulnerability, powerlessness and fear, accompanied by Ughi's deep drumming and sonic approach to his kit and samples, a profound example of Dalachinsky's insightful choice of words and images.

Recently discovered last copies of this album, presenting the very first time that Federico Ughi and Daniel Carter played together, recorded in Queens, NY around 2001, the drummer also performing on live sampling and voice, and the multi-instrumentalist Carter on saxophones, trumpet, flute and clarinet; an essential element in their now long history of collaboration.

Soundscapes, drones, disruptive aberrations, textures and perplexingly absorbing interactions btween French guitarist and sound artist Xavier Mussat and saxophonist Quentin Rollett (Red Krayloa, Nurse with Wound), performing live at Instants Chavires, in Montreuil, France in 2020 for eight diverse and unusual improvisations.

Each track of the Meridian, or Eastern desert land's traditional noon-time middle of the day, represents various stages, chronologically understood, of the day of an ανθρωπός (human), represented through deep double bass, drums, objects and electronics from Turin, Italy improvisers Michele Anelli and Nicholas Remondino.

Collaborating since 2004, Berlin alto saxophonist Anna Kaluza and double bassist Jan Roda--a member of Kaluza's Quartet with trombonist Christof Thewes and drummer Kay Lübke--in a studio album of duo improvisations, documenting their live performances in the same configuration since 2020 through ten succinct dialogs of informed affinity.

Revealing 40 years of collaborations between late trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and West Coast guitarist Henry Kaiser, in configurations of duos between Kondo & Kaiser--most notably a beautiful and extended 2016 improvisation--then earlier duos from 1978, a 1980 trio with pianist Greg Goodman, a 1979 trio with saxophonist John Oswald, ending with a wonderfully idiosyncratic 2020 duo.

This album was developed to present Daniel Carter, typically a wind/reed/trumpeter player, on an album that included his piano playing, which then advanced by adding the goal of both Carter and long-time collaborator, drummer Federico Ughi, to record with bassist William Parker, who rounds out this excellent trio on bass, tuba and shakuhachi.

Continuing NoBusiness' archive series of late reed & wind player Sam Rivers, this wild and sophisticated concert from 2002 was recorded at the Freeport-McMoRan Theatre in New Orlean's Contemporary Arts Center, by the long-standing Sam Rivers Trio with Doug Matthews on upright & electric bass and bass clarinet, and Anthony Cole on tenor sax & piano.

This single extended performance brings together a collective of improvisers playing low range instruments in order to build an acoustic sonic sculpture, from the quintet of Daunik Lazro on baritone saxophone, Jouk Minor on contrabass sarrusophone, Thierry Madiot on bass trombone & telescopic tubes, and both David Chiesa and Louis-Michel Marion on 5-string double bass.

Having collaborated as a duo first at Goldsmiths College in 1981, UK pianists Howard Riley and Keith Tippett met for this spectacular 2016 concert as part of The Steinway Spirio Two-Piano Festival in Soho, London, each bringing decades of experience as lyrical and inventive players, together complementing each other in merging disparate forms from Joplin to Debussy to Mujician.

A live performance at the 2010 GIO Fest III in Glasgow, UK, from three of the UK's leading free improvisers--late guitarist John Russell, John Butcher on saxophones and Dominic Lash on double bass--a superb concert in five improvisations of incredible technical skill through both energetic and restrained passages, a brilliant example reminding us of the loss of the great guitarist.

A truly wild concert of free jazz from Cecil Taylor's transatlantic orchestra, captured live at the 1984 Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, Poland, bringing together impressive improvisers from the US--William Parker, John Tchicai, Jimmy Lyons, Karen Borca, Frank Wright, & Henry Martinez--with European Free Jazz leaders Tomasz Stank, Enrico Rava, Conrd Bauer & Günter Hampel.

The project and ensemble "Songs" brings together Swiss trombonist & composer Samuel Blaser and pianist & composer Oscar Strasnoy, taking the instrumentation and concept of Lucio Berio's Folksongs and expanding it into Blaser's "Worksongs", a set of songs around Mississippi Delta blues, and Strasnoy's "Chanzuns Popularas Rumanchas" based on the traditional music of the Canton of Grisons.

Recorded during the 2002 studio sessions that yielded the albums A Short Visit to Nowhere and Broken English, this unreleased recording of a Mars Williams composition is issued as a 1-sided LP with the stellar lineup of Brötzmann with Williams, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Mats Gustafsson and Joe McPhee.

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 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).

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".

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.