The first volume of powerful free playing and intimate conversation bringing together two New York-based improvisers, Cuban native drummer/percussionist Francisco Mela and Tennessee native reed & wind player Zoh Amba, both sharing a mountain region upbringing that brings a uniquely reflective quality to their playing, fortified by the exploratory NY improv scene.

Bringing together two acclaimed German improvisers who met in Nuremberg in 1982 as teens--reedist Rudi Mahall and drummer/vibraphonist Michael Griener, "bumbling" around to learn free jazz together, heard now 40 years later as authoritative players recording as a duo in 2020 & 21 in Kotzlin and Berlin for eight energetically creative and buoyantly upbeat dialogs.

A reissue of the 2008 double LP, part of the continuing collaborations between great improvisers from around the globe with the Turkish Konstrukt quartet of Korhan Argüden on drums, Özün Usta on percussion, Umut Çağlar on guitar and Korhan Futacı on tenor & baritone saxophone, here joining with European Free Jazz legend Peter Brötzmann on alto & tenor saxophones and clarinet for this formidable studio recording from Istanbul.

An extraordinary set of solo double bass improvisations captured in the warm Booklyn Conveyor Recording Studio, Johnson showing his strength with his fingers on the large strings or a bow in his hand, in five turbulent and superb solos under reflection of personal struggles and the strain of pandemic, bringing a new sense of self and determination to his playing.

Only the second vinyl LP of Swiss trumpeter Samuel Blaser's career and released on drummer Pierre Favre's 85th birthday, this is their second duo album, well reflecting the extensive collaboration and touring these improvisers from two generations of free jazz have made, bringing nuance, virtuosity and humor together through original free improv and two notable standards.

Four months before his death, saxophonist Albert Ayler's power as a free jazz innovator is heard in these two complete concerts of definitive Ayler compositions, performing in France at The Fondation Maeght with the quartet of Allen Blariman on drums, Mary Parks on soprano saxophone & vocals, and Steve Tintweiss on double bass, with pianist Call Cobbs joining for the 2nd night; essential.

A collection of three modified solo pieces and one collective performance with a minimalist aesthetic through compositions by David Ryan, performed by William Crosby on guitar, Luca Innocenti on church organ & Hammond organ and Dominic Lash on contrabass, each score allowing for interpretation and improvisation, particularly the final collaborative piece.

The French duo of bassoonist Sophie Bernado and sound artist Céline Grangey expand on the rich timbre of Bernado's bassoon, starting solo in beautiful etude improvisations only to have Grangey's sound designs expand around her playing, developing rich environments through electronics, field recording & voice, a beautiful intersection of experimental, composed and improvised music.

Working with sound designers, cinematic and theater artists along with free improvisers, percussionist and composer Didier Lassere's performance project focuses on the relationship between sound and silence, composing entry, exit and superimposition points that the members of his septet improvise around, reconfiguring to smaller groupings throughout the work.

Based in New York at the time of this recording, Swiss trombonist and composer Samuel Blaser's quartet with Thomas Morgan on double bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Scott Dubois on guitar explore rhythmic and tonal approaches to improvisation, bridging modern compositional forms with traditional jazz in energetic playing of an engagingly relaxed mood.

Archie Shepp's second album for Impulse! merges the fire of free jazz with an incredibly eclectic set of styles, his inclusive approach to composition integrating a vast source of styles from Ellington to Ipanema; this is paired with Shepp's octet release, including an epic 20 minute work for American artist Robert Thompson reflecting his paintings in powerful thematic and abstract expression.

Culled from two concerts on Norman Granz's Spring 1960 European tour, Miles' seminal 50s band was on the point of dissolution, Coltrane soon to leave to form his own classic quartet, and the distinction between the old and new is evident in Coltrane's expansive and intricate soloing over standards and Kind of Blue material including "So What" or "On Green Dolphin Street".

Originally organized for a tour of China, the "Made in China" band of Michael Blake on saxophones, Samuel Blaser on trombone and Michael Sarin on drums, recorded this album in Brooklyn, performing compositions by Blake and Blaser including a tribute to free-jazz icon Ornette Coleman, and Louis Moholo's "You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me".

A series of reed and wind improvisations, including two pieces with electronics, from Southern California composer and improviser Rob Magill, each of the 9 tracks on this album focusing on a different instrument: alto saxophone, soprano saxpohone, clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, bass recorder, sheng and tenor saxophone, plus a multi-instrumental "misc".

Extended and captivating improvisations using complex and extended techniques from the duo of prepared pianist Annie Lewandowski (London Improvisers Orchestra, Powerdove, Xiu Xiu) and guitarist Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Skeleton Crew, &c &c) in a thoroughly modern improvised conversation, here reissued with 11 minutes of previously unreleased material.

An unusual set of electroacoustic improvisations recorded at Firehouse 12 from a New York trio led by trumpeter Forbes Graham, also on laptop and drum machine, Cecelia Lopez on analog synth, and bassist Brandon Lopez, Graham mutating his trumpet through sound processing, complemented by Cecelia Lopez's synthetic punctuations, all grounded by Brandon Lopez' solid bass work.

Sorollets i catxarros—noises and rattles—from Barcelona electric guitarist and free improviser Amidea Clotet, who explores unusual possibilites from the instrument through textural approaches and amplification, evoking unusual soundscapes of inexplicable sound from the body, hardware and strings of the guitar, in seven unusual and fascinating expositions.

A magnificent solo performance for Swiss Radio captured at Salle Faller, Conservatoire de La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in 2007 from trombonist Samuel Blaser, performing seven original, melodically inclined compositions performed with masterful technique and powerfully clear tone, along with an assertive reading of Ellington's "Mood Indigo".

After twenty years of collaboration including bands BleySchool, The Locals and Valid Tractor, this is surprisingly the first duo recording between British improvisers, pianist Pat Thomas and Dominic Lash, the latter more typically on double bass but here on electric guitar, and Thomas on the grand piano at St. Anne's College in Oxford, as the two improvise six fascinating dialogs.

Dedicated to the memory of reed & wind players Perry Robinson and Mark Whitecage, both of whom have passed since they took part in this tremendous 2015 live recording recorded at the 20th VisionFest in NYC, in a quartet with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Lou Grassi for three collective free improvisations, particularly the extended first piece dedicated to late trumpeter Roy Campbell.

The 3rd album from the touring trio of Joe McPhee on trumpet & tenor sax, John Edwards on double bass and Klaus Kugel on drums, following their previous NotTwo releases A Night In Alchemia and Journey To Parazzar, here captured live at FreeJazzSaar 2019, in Saarbrucken, Germany for a boisterously exciting set of three collective improvisations, including a tip of the hat to Charles Gayle.

Uniquely orchestrated with all three members bringing a trove of objects & percussion, the trio of Martin Küchen on saxophones, Agustí Fernández on piano and Zlatko Kaučič on drums are heard in this two-part live concert at BUMF festival in Smartno, Slovenia, for a superb example of intent listening and use of space around confident, stunningly creative & virtuosic playing.

Featuring compositions from both trombonist Steve Swell and tenor saxophonist & bass clarinetist Gebhard Ulmann, the second album from The Chicago Plan with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Michael Zerang is captured in the studio in Augsburg, Germany for six exceptional modern jazz recordings from a profoundly masterful and experienced transatlantic band.

Expanding drummer and composer Ches Smith's working band of violist Mat Maneri and pianist Craig Taborn with guitarist Bill Frisell, who had joined the band for one live gig that felt so natural that recording as a quartet was a natural conclusion, heard here in seven compositions that allow room for band members to improvise or "Interpret" on the compositions themselves.

The second outing for trumpeter and composer Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield band with Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, Ryan Sawyer on drums, plus violist Mat Maneri and bassist Trevor Dunn joining for one track; an album of sublime and subtly complex sondscapes in beautiful abstractions that evolve to exceptional group and solo interplay.

The Durham, NC free improvising trio of Crowmeat Bob on alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet & guitar, Phil Venable on double bass and Charles Chance on drums notch up their playing, with Crowmeat Bob performing on both reeds and electric guitar as the band explores breaking down the barrier between subconsciousness and expression through collective improv.

Six etude studies originally written by Steve Lacy in the 1980s, with whom NY baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton collaborated in the early 2000s, and who gave his blessings to Sinton's approach and adaption of each, developed subsequently for 20 years and recorded in 2021 for this album, demonstrating Sinton's personal approach to both Lacy's material and with the deep reed saxophone.

Taking the place of both bass and horn in this uniquely orchestrated piano trio, the long friendship of NY improviser Josh Sinton on baritone sax, bass clarinet & flute with Boston-area improvisers, pianist Jed Wilson and drummer Tony Falco, is heard in the intimate and warm dialog the three share in their 2021 performance at the Soul Shop in Medford, Massachusetts.

The fourth and final record of solo guitar works from German guitarist and instrument inventor Hans Reichel, perhaps the most lyrical of the lot as he improvises on an unusual set of guitars, including a fretless Spanish guitar, 6 & 12 string guitars with extra frets, and an electric pick-behind-the-bridge guitar; fully restored artwork includes Reichel's amusing insert.

The first reissue in three decades of the 1985 SAJ Series FMP album bringing together legendary saxophonists Steve Lacy and Evan Parker, both on soprano saxophone, for two extended improvisations of magnificent reed interactions and a final coda, performed live during Summer Music at Haus am Waldsee, in Berlin, 1985; an essential album of masterful musicianship.

A year and a half after their live debut on FMP, the German free/hard-bop quintet led by pianist Georg Graewe with Horst Grabosch on trumpet, Harald Dau on saxophones, Hans Schneider on bass and Achim Kramer on drums, recorded this studio album of extraordinary free improv presenting brilliantly intricate and exciting compositions, here in its first fully remastered reissue.

First-ever reissue of the 1976 FMP album from the adventurous German hard-bop quintet led by pianist Georg Graewe, with Horst Grabosch on trumpet, Harald Dau on saxophones, Hans Schneider on bass and Achim Kramer on drums, embracing post-bop, freebop, free jazz, and free improvisation in an exciting live recording from "Jazz Now" at the Quarter Latin in Berlin, Germany in 1976.

A mix of original compositions and collective improvisations from the NY trio of cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp, in a double album of exemplary creative jazz from three players steeped in both tradition and forward-thinking approaches to improvisation, filled with spectacular playing from enthusiastic to introspective; a superb release.

The ever-shifting lineup of jazz/no-wave/avant/aberrant improvisers The Flying Luttenbachers, anchored by drummer Weasel Walters, brings multi-reedist Matt Nelson, two guitarists (Brandon Seabrook & Henry Kaiser), bassist Tim Dahl and Brad Laner on synth for an aggressively informed and excitingly unpredictable album of superb playing and possibly bad intention; recommended!

A one-side EP with a screen print on the B-Side, of a raucous, dark and incredibly epic journey in heavy electric jazz from Fire! configured as the quintet of Mats Gustafsson on bass saxophone, organ & live electronics, Johan Berthling on electric bass, Andreas Werliin on drums, Stephen O'Malley on guitar and David Sandstrom on drums; awe inspiring!

A seeming contradiction in terms, the unison voices and divergent polyphony that emerges best describes the subtle interactions between these two Swiss reed players--Markus Eichenberger on clarinet and Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) on soprano and C-Melody saxophones--their "harmony of coherence" strategies guiding their melodic interlacing and fragmentation.

Combining the two Italian ESP/BASE LPs from 1982 and the 1995 ESP reissues, this spectacular concert with perhaps Ayler's most essential band--Ayler on tenor sax, Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, Lewis Worrell on double bass and Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums--is fully remastered to bring out more details from the complete, ecstatic 1966 concert.

Trio & Octet compositions from UK double bassist Olie Brice: "Fire Hills" in five parts, commissioned by Jazz South and performed by the trio of Brice, Tom Challenger (sax) and Will Glaser (drums); then three pieces including the title track, with Alex Bonney & Kim Macari (trumpets), Jason Yarde, George Crowley, Cath Roberts & Rachel Musson (saxophones), and Johnny Hunter (drums).

Blurring the lines between composed and improvised music, John Zorn's ten-part composition in his "Suite for Piano" was inspired in part by the Goldberg Variations and Schoenberg's solo piano music, set in the classic piano trio format and performed by extraordinary New York musicians and improvisers, Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Ches Smith on drums.

Two exceptional live performances of John Zorn's interactive "Fencing" concept leading free improv into unusual directions, from the early Downtown NY scene in 1978, first at Zorn's own loft in the trio of guitarists Eugene Chadbourne, Duck Baker and Randy Hutton; then at Bard College, in Kingston, NY with Zorn on multiple reeds, Chadbourne on guitar and Polly Bradfield on violin.

The first recording between French improvisers, guitarist Guillaume Gargaud and double bassist Patrice Grente, who began their work together in 2016 performing noise and minimalist music, increasing the frequency of their collaborations until a forced 1 year break, meeting again in 2021 to record this beautifully complementing set of all-acoustic duos.

Inspired by and recorded at the basilica of a former monastery overlooking a valley in southern Spain, the duo of Wade MatthInspired by and recorded at the basilica of a former monastery overlooking a valley in southern Spain, the duo of Wade Matthews on digital synthesis & field recordings and Carmen Morales on prepared piano, present improvisations with a unique palette of timbres, contrasting spacious moments against rapid interaction as they "Plunge and Tumble" through five captivating dialogs.ews on digital synthesis & field recordings and Carmen Morales on prepared piano, present improvisations with a unique palette of timbres, contrasting spacious moments with rapid interaction as they "Plunge and Tumble" through five captivating dialogs.

Unusual interactions between electronically manipulated violin and an AMPIRI--an electronically enhanced Korean double reed instrument--from the Brooklyn duo of Leo Chang and Adrianne Munden Dixon, seven improvisations numbered "Sixteen" to "Twenty-Two", each a uniquely idiosyncratic exchange from quick slippery dialog to raspy dissonance of unexpected directions.

Mysterious and beautiful, the compositions of Norwegian improvisers, saxophonist, trumpeter and clarinetist Torben Snekkestad and pianist Søren Kjærgaard, are influenced by the peaceful western coast of Norway where they recorded these 12 pieces, with titles adapted from the texts by Torben Ulrich in the work Meridiana: Lines Toward A Nonlocal Alchemy.

Two long-standing duos--Isabelle Duthoit on clarinet & voice and Franz Hautzinger on quarter tone trumpet plus Chicago percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, both on percussion and frame drum--joined together in 2020 for a European tour, recording this wildly informed homage to the Mesopotamia city Uruk live at Artacts in Alte Gerberei, St. Johann, Austria.

Two long-standing duos--Isabelle Duthoit on clarinet & voice and Franz Hautzinger on quarter tone trumpet plus Chicago percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, both on percussion and frame drum--joined together in 2020 for a European tour, recording this wildly informed homage to the Mesopotamia city Uruk live at Artacts in Alte Gerberei, St. Johann, Austria.

Recorded for radio for the series Jazz in der Kammer Nr 71, this 1974 concert was the first in East Germany for Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, and Han Bennink, bridging the divided German states through an energetic set of improvisations that extended traditional jazz with outrageous approaches to improv in an exciting, quirky and profoundly masterful set of European Free Jazz.

An absolutely intense sax drum duo recorded in Chiba Prefecture, Japan at Kashiwa Church in 1986 between free improvising saxophonist Akira Sakata and drummer Takeo Moriyama, two influential performers whose work began in the Yosuke Yamashita Trio in the early 70's, here in concentrated form for 18 improvisations, including a burning version of Albert Ayler's "Ghosts".

Contemporary German painter Albert Oehlen invited Steamboat Switzerland — Lucas Niggli on drums; Marino Pliakas on electric bass; Dominik Blum on drums& voice — to create music for his solo exhibition Tramonto Spaventoso at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, these extended compositions that connect to Oehlen's work the result, from dark ea-improv to hardcore Hammond free jazz.

A series of impressive improvised solo drum performances by AMM/Matchless leader Eddie Prévost performed at Network Theatre in London, 2012, three pieces with each demonstrating a different characteristic of his remarkably creative and technically virtuosic playing, first with drum sticks, then with "Hands, brush, hands", and finally "Sticking it too".

A confluence of masterful playing through two soprano & two tenor saxophones plus one pocket cornet, as Evan Parker and Joe McPhee perform live in 2003 at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music, weaving lines with intricately relaxed confidence and coming together for beautiful moments of lyrical connection.

Referencing Ornette Coleman in the group name, Portuguese tenor saxophonist engages three US free jazz players--legendary saxophonist and pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee, double bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Chris Corsano--for this 2017 concert at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, capturing four exemplary, at times explosive, and always tightly interactive collective improvisations.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.

Two works from Austrian pianist and composer Elisabeth Harnik sharing a subtle and complex aesthetic balancing acoustics & electronic instruments through extended approaches while accommodating composed and improvisation sections: Holding Up A Bridge commissioned by Viennese ensemble Studio Dan; and Superstructure performed by ALL Ears Area Ensemble.

A mix of original compositions and collective improvisations from the NY trio of cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp, in a double album of exemplary creative jazz from three players steeped in both tradition and forward-thinking approaches to improvisation, filled with spectacular playing from enthusiastic to introspective; a superb release.

Performing live at Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Austria in 2018, the trio of Conrad Bauer on trombone, Georg Graewe on piano and John Lindberg on double bass present eight free improvisations based around compositionsal structures from all three musicians, their tight interaction, intent listening and powerful technical skills a testement to their long history in European Free Jazz.

A tremendous concert from the 1974, 105th NDR Jazzworkshop at the Funkhaus Hamburg from the influential free jazz ensemble Globe Unity Orchestra with a who's who of European Free Jazz players (Brotzmann, schoof, Parker, Rutherford, Bailey, Kowald, Bennink, Lovens, Schlippenbach, &c) in a Satirical Oratorio in seven parts with the NDR Choir, plus Schoof's "Kontraste Und Synthesen".

A wonderfully idiosyncratic and masterful live recording from the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin, 1979, in this reissue of the 1979 FMP LP from the trio of Peter Brotzmann on alto & tenor saxophones, E flat & A clarinets & bass clarinet, Misha Mengelberg on piano and Han Bennink on drums, with a bit of free bop, some free insanity, and passages of stark beauty.

Part of his 80th Anniversary celebration and subtitled "The Art Of The Trumpeter And Drummers", this 5-CD box set brings legendary improviser Wadada Leo Smith together with four long-time collaborators and masterful drummers--Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Pheeroan akLaff and Han Bennink--with Smith performing on both piano and trumpet.

The chameleonic configuration of Angles is here an octet, in a powerfully building and passionate set of three recordings performed by Martin Kuchen (alto sax), Magnus Broo & Goran Kajfes (trumpets), Mats Aleklint (trombone), Mattias Stahl (vibraphone), Alexander Zethson (piano & synth), Konrad Agnas (drums) and Johan Berthling (double bass); exemplary.

Finnish/Norwegian guitarist Juhani Silvola describes the music on this fascinating solo album, performed on acoustic and prepared acoustic guitars (using objects below and above the strings) and augmenting his playing with electronics & amplifiers, as "speculative sonic archaeology" or "ritual music made by a civilisation that could have stepped off the pages of a Jorge Luis Borges story.

Portuguese legendary rocker and experimenter Flak (Rádio Macau, Maquina do Almoco Da Pancadas) invited an ensemble of rock, free improvisors and electronic musicians--Rodrigo Amado, José Lencastre, Luís Lopes, Guilherme Rodrigues, Francisco Rebelo and Rui Alves--for this improvised live performance in Lisbon, merging genres in inventive and intriguing ways.

An introduction to Amsterdam-based, Slovenian pianist & composer Miha Gantar in a specially priced 5-CD box, performing his diverse and sophisticated compositions in a variety of configurations from solo, duo, trio, quartet & large ensemble, with notable participants including Gerry Hemingway, Christian Lillinger and Axel Dorner; liner notes by Nate Wooley.

Saxophonist & electroacoustic improviser Pedro Sousa (Pao, Lisbon Freedom Unit, Sousa / Berthling / Ferrandini) was commissioned by Lisbon's Jazz in the Park to create this hybrid work of jazz, electronica and dub, performed with collaborators, drummer Gabriel Ferrandini (PeterGabriel, Red Trio), Simão Simões (electronics), Bruno Silva (electronics), and Miguel Abras (bass).

A short book of fiction depicting dark scenes from the ambience of extraordinary normalcy, descriptive texts insinuating horror from everyday occurrence, written by double bassist Nat Baldwin and published by Calamari Press in 2017, here in an audio version of excerpts narrated by Baldwin himself, performing on double bass through two panned tracks of unusual improvisations.

Combining elements of neo-soul, jazz fusion and hip hop, the Cordoba genre-bending sextet from Chicago use their warm, slightly off-center grooves to present vocalist Brianna Tong's articulate lyrics that observe and reflect on the state of world, the band's arrangements extended on five songs with the Latin America-influenced Kaia String Quartet.

Experimental improvisation driven by the foundations of electric piano, organ & electronics of Chicago keyboardist Daniel Van Duerm, fueled by the flexible and unusual drumming of Alexander Adams and passionately expanded by the cathartic tenor sax wrangling of Danny Andrade, dark and light come together to form an "anti-glow" from this intriguing young trio.

A diverse and confident set of solo drums improvisations, acoustic or in tandem with metal and wooden objects, microphone amplification, drum feedback manipulation and close-microphone use on a detuned floor tom, in the first solo release from Chicago drummer and Amalgam label leader Bill Harris recording live at the Music Garage, in Chicago.

Part of cellist Ishmael Ali's Chi Away Project recording small ensembles of new collaborations between Chicago musicians of diverse backgrounds, this live recording of energetic and unique free jazz and ea-improv was captured at Marmalade in 2021, bringing together Ali, drummer Bill Harris, saxophonist & flutist Wills McKenna and sound artist Normal W. Long.

Part of the Chi Away project bringing together new collaborations of Chicago improvisers, Akjai is the unique experimental chamber jazz quartet of Brianna Tong on vocals, Johanna Brock on voice & violin, Ishmael Ali on cello and Andrew Scott Young on double bass, blurring 20th century classical music, art song and free jazz with texts by Brianna Tong, Octavia Butler, and RA Washington.

Unusual textures, unlikely orchestration and unconventional rhythmic directions from the Chicago electroacoustic improv trio of Allen Moore on turntables & records casted with various material, Ishmael Ali on cello, guitar & electronics and Bill Harris on drums & percussion, captured live at Marmalade in Chicago in 2021 for a diverse set of experimental and absorbing improvisations.

Borrowing from jazz/improvised music, new compositional forms and avant reductionist traditions, the Montreal quartet Success Pistol release their debut album of compositions by saxophonist Dustin Finder, oral instructions including game pieces that leave room for improvisation; with Scott Bevins on trumpet, and husband and wife duo Eli Davidovici on bass and Mili Hong on drums.

Covering vast approaches to improvised and experimental music, based around scrabbly free playing, dark rock intensity, experimental and abstract tapestries of sound and unexpected transitions,the Minneapolis quartet of guitarists Luke Polipnick & Erik Fratzke, bassist Brian Courage and drummer Tim Glenn tell a consistent narrative of urgently creative exploration; gripping.

The second album from the Hydra Ensemble (Goncalo Almeida on double bass, Lucija Gregov on cello, Nina Hitz on cello, Rutger Zuydervelt on electronics) is a live recording with no audience from the Worm club in Rotterdam during the pandemic, reaching deeper into their masterful world of darkly intense chamber improv and electronics, slowly yielding to a spaciously brighter ending.

A truly fascinating and seamless hybrid of improvised and composed music, alongside an exploration of feedback and "its acoustic double, a harmonic noise", from the merging of two projects--LAMIEE and Dròlo Ensemble--plus Italian poli-instrumentalists Nicholas Remondino and Andrea Giordano (OTONN), yielding wonderfully complex and enveloping sound worlds.

The first quartet album for electronic improviser Rafael Toral's Space Quartet is a live album from Casa das Artes Bissaya Barreto in Coimbra, performed with Hugo Antunes on double bass, Nuno Morao on drums & percussion, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone & electronic instrument, with Toral using acoustic & electronic feedback to bring the classic jazz quartet lineup into new spaces.

With one foot in 60s free jazz and the other in contemporary improvisation, the pianoless Italian trio Fade In of Federico Calcagno on bass clarinet & clarinet, Pietro Elia Barcellona on contrabass and Marco Luparia on drums perform original compositions, spirited pieces with inventive elements, solid melodic foundation and surprising twists and turns.

Amsterdam-based bass clarinetist Ziv Taubenfeld's sextet perform the leader's innovative compositions that include a tribute to alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, and a graphic composition for Sunny Murray, in a band with Michael Moore (sax & clarinet), Joost Buis (trombone), Nico Chientaroli (piano), Omer Govreen (double bass) and Onno Govaert (drums & percussion).

The Tarbaby trio of pianist Orrin Evans, drummer Nasheet Waits and double bassist Eric Revis, is joined by trumpeter Josh Lawrence and as with previous albums, featuring acclaimed alto saxophonist Oliver Lake (+ percussionist Dana Murray on track) in an album mixing post-bop, free and lyrical approaches to jazz, with compositions from all four plus a Prince cover.

Performing the embracingly angular compositions of Russian-born, German-based saxophonist Yaroslav Likhachev that pivot on hard bop transformed through inventive approaches, since 2016 Likhachev's Quartet with Yannis Anft on piano, Conrad Noll on bass and Moritz Baranczyk on drums have pursued new forms of expression while maintaining jazz, traditions here in nine well-defined "sketches".

Active collaborators for six years at the time of this recording, this is the first time Swedish improvisers Cornelia Nilsson on drums, Johnny Aman on double bass and Mathias Landaeus on piano & keys have recorded together as a trio, performing seven engagingly lyrical compositions from leader Landaeus, on several tracks adding an unusual edge through the use of synths.

"As Frogworth says in one review: 'Two giants of Australian avant-garde music getting together here, dedicating their record to Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, whose house in Paddington, Sydney is used for residencies/sabbatic...

The first studio recording for the performing quartet of New York improvisers, Cecilia Lopez (synthesizer), Michael Foster (tenor & soprano saxophones), Sean Ali (double bass) and Eli Wallace (upright piano), taking listeners on an inflating journey from "Stratosphere" to "Exosphere" through unorthodox approaches, from sparse intensity to dense textural interaction.

Formed in 2011, this 2nd album from WeFreeStrings led by violist and composer Meland Dyer is at its core the trio of Dyer, violinist Gwen Laster and bassist Ken Filiano, expanded on two of the four pieces with cellist Alex Waterman, violinist Charles Burnham and drummer Michael Wimberly, in an impressive collection of exquisite string interactions influenced by social issues.