"Dennis Palmer left this earthly plane in 2013. This is what I found on Tiny Mix Tapes, which took this from a site called Creative Loafing, based in Atlanta; the original message isn't available on that site anymore: "Sad news came yest...

A refined and nuanced collaboration between vocalist Ellen Christi and guitarist Claudio Lodati, recorded in Ivrea, Italy in 1990, blending lyrical vocal improvisations with fluid electric and acoustic guitar work in an intimate, expressive dialogue — relaxed and unforced, yet deeply engaging, avoiding both histrionics and weightless ambience to create a grounded yet exploratory listening experience.

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A striking exploration of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation, this 1992 session unites vocalist and pianist Ellen Christi with Steve Buchanan (electric guitar), Tomas Ulrich (cello), William Parker (bass), and Lefferts Brown (loops), weaving dynamic vocal phrasing, bold instrumental textures, and evolving electronic layers into an immersive and unpredictable sonic landscape.

The companion album to Sharp's Mandocello, a tour-de-force exposition of the mandocello, acoustic and electronic, an instrument evolving out of the 18th century mandalone into a louder instrument intended to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles, here with tributes to Srinivas, Yank Rachell, Alvin Lucier, Frank Wakefeld, Tiny Moore, Ira Louvin, and Benoit Mandelbrot.

Revisiting and remastering two albums from Paul Bley's formative trio years with Steve Swallow on double bass and Pete LaRoca Sims on drums, recorded in Newark, NJ, from 1962-63 but unreleased until the 1980s on Savoy Jazz, as Bley explores Carla Bley's compositions alongside his own, reshaping the piano trio dynamic with a balance of free and lyrical approaches to jazz.

Performing the lyrical compositions from the band's leader, this quartet — featuring Joe Fonda (bass), Michael Rabinowitz (bassoon), Jeff Lederer (clarinets & flutes), and Harvey Sorgen (drums) — explores a uniquely chamber-like soundscape, blending jazz and classical influences through intricately arranged compositions and inspired improvisations with a distinctively rich and unexpected ensemble voice.

Taking six years to compose through collaborative retreats, this five-part opus blends precision composition and improvisation, with saxophonists Nathaniel Morgan and Travis Laplante, guitarist Andrew Smiley, and drummer Jason Nazary crafting intense, cerebral jazz-rock influenced by art-rock, free jazz, and European experimentalism, resulting in a bold and immersive debut.

Highlighting the profound skill and musical connection of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Tom Rainey, and guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, in a captivating journey through meticulously composed pieces, dynamic improvisation, and structured arrangements of spontaneous creativity in a studio recording that emphasize their exploratory artistry and evolution within creative jazz.

Highlighting the profound skill and musical connection of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Tom Rainey, and guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, in a captivating journey through meticulously composed pieces, dynamic improvisation, and structured arrangements of spontaneous creativity, across 2 CDs contrasting live and studio recordings that emphasize their exploratory artistry and evolution within creative jazz.

Displaying remarkable technique on a 6-string electric guitar, New York improviser and composer Chuck Roth, also known as watergh0st, explores a vast palette of sounds and textures, bending and twisting the guitar's raw tones without effects or pedals, across 11 succinct improvisations, Roth delivers an engaging spectrum of styles and moods, showcasing his emotional depth and inventive approach.

Recording in the Mills College Concert Hall in Oakland, the quartet of Zeena Parkins (harp), Chris Brown (piano and electronics), William Winant (percussion), and Ben Davis (cello) work in an ethereal mode of electro-acoustic improvisation, drawing unconventional sounds from their instruments as they weave a virtuosic and intricately creative sonic tapestry evoking the rugged unpredictability of the album's title.

Inspired by fireflies, birds, and the flow of the Hudson River while living in Germantown, NY, Elliott Sharp developed these compositions using traditional, graphic, & conceptual scores, presented here in a collage of sessions featuring Sharp on reeds & strings with Anthony Coleman, Nate Wooley, Shayna Dulberger, Hao Jiang, Terry L. Greene, Don McKenzie, Terry L. Green II, Sara Salomon, and Judith Insell.

Captured live in Berlin in 1991, this album showcases John Lurie's Lounge Lizards at their creative peak, featuring Michael Blake, Steven Bernstein, and Bryan Carrott in a powerful ensemble blending jazz, avant-garde, and wit; recorded over several nights, it documents their evolution from satirical beginnings to a genre-defying force of sophisticated improvisation and bold musicianship.

Israeli trombonist Reut Regev and drummer Igal Foni join with legendary American composer and percussionist Doug Hammond, blending Hammond's reflective compositions and six-decade legacy — spanning blues, jazz, M-Base, and modernist works — with the boundary-pushing energy of the R*time quartet, for an engaging fusion of bold improvisation and musical insight.

New York creative scene stalwarts drummer Andrew Barker, bassist William Parker, and saxophonist Jon Irabagon debut as a trio, delivering five collectively improvised explorations that emphasize call-and-response dynamics, weaving and reacting with technically impressive, extended, and unconventional techniques and expressions delivered with confident assertion.

With an ear to detail, Michaël Attias spent a year mixing and refining these four tracks, recorded after a post-pandemic concert at Barbes in Brooklyn, bringing to light four intricately melodic compositions performed with Michael Attias on alto sax, Santiago Leibson on piano & Wurli, Matt Pavolka on bass, Mark Ferber on drums and Christopher Hoffman on cello.

The 2nd night of the superb, extended live performance from 1980 at NYC's Fat Tuesday jazz club, from the outstanding sextet of forward-thinking free improvisers, Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Ramsey Ameen on violin, Alan Silva on double bass & cello, Jerome Cooper on drums & African Balaphone and Sunny Murray on drums, led by Cecil Taylor on piano in an ecstatic concert never previously released.

Drawing inspiration from the archives of philosopher Walter Benjamin, Zeena Parkins leads an extraordinary ensemble of experimental and avant-garde musicians — including William Winant, Tony Buck, Magda Mayas, and Joan La Barbara — in two intricate multi-part compositions that weave acoustic and electronic textures through improv, experimental, and contemporary forms.

With alliterative titles beginning with "To blowe wyth the nose and to snorce", percussionist Ben Bennett, saxophonist Michael Foster, and trumpeter Jacob Wick create an uncompromising tapestry of extended techniques and visceral interplay, through raw and dynamic exploration of texture, space, and sound that blurs boundaries between energy, silence, and collective improv.

Expanding and remastering the 2019 single CD of John Coltrane's Quartet from its European tour in the fall of 1962, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass, and Elvin Jones on drums, performing at Stefaniensaal in Graz, Austria, beautifully recorded by ORF Steiermark and now presented in both volumes, showcasing Coltrane's lyrical roots and growing free inclinations.

The debut release from NY bassist Max Johnson's new trio with Neta Ranaan on tenor saxophone and Eliza Salem on drums, featuring five Johnson compositions that explore the post-bop tradition, from the hard-driving "Barbarous Jape" to the sweeping ballad "Tiny Beautiful," plus an elegy originally written for mandolinist Matt Flinner"s trio, and our clear favorite, "Chestnut Squid"!

A 2009 live performance at the 15th Magyarkanizsa Jazz Festival in Serbia between Hungarian violist and composer Szilárd Mezei and US saxophonist Charles Gayle, an evocative meeting of transcendent free jazz and compositional precision, weaving Mezei's intricate scores with Gayle's profound, soul-searching improvisations; a dynamic and fiery celebration of freedom and expression.

Superlative duo work from pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Harvey Sorgen, recording in the studio in Woodstock, NY, blending deeply attuned free collective dialogs with one composition from each artist, in an album of dynamic and evocative improvisation that moves from vivid storytelling to introspective meditations of vision and masterful artistry.

Dreamlike and evocative, Dream Walks is the second duo album from Michael Attias and Simon Nabatov, following 2021's Brooklyn Mischiefs, inviting listeners to transcend the physical world through telepathic improvisations, uncanny encounters, and surreal visions, capturing the essence of nocturnal wanderings and the ethereal interplay between two masterful musicians.

The companion album to Sharp's Mandocello, a tour-de-force exposition of the mandocello, acoustic and electronic, an instrument evolving out of the 18th century mandalone into a louder instrument intended to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles, here with tributes to Srinivas, Yank Rachell, Alvin Lucier, Frank Wakefeld, Tiny Moore, Ira Louvin, and Benoit Mandelbrot.

Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard.

Drawn from two absolutely energetic and exciting concerts in France, saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman's Five Elements ensemble — Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Sean Rickman on drums, and new electric bassist Rich Brown — blend spontaneous rhythmic and tonal transformations with Coleman's inventive, biologically-inspired compositions; exhilarating!

Bringing together trumpeter Michael Sarian, keyboardist Matthew Putman, drummer Federico Ughi, and Cuban bassist-vocalist Ledian Mola to pay heartfelt tribute to Sun Ra's cosmic Afrofuturism, blending improvisational brilliance with Mola's folklore-inspired vocals and Putman's Rocksichord - the same keyboard model Sun Ra played - in a first-time collaboration and celebration of innovation.

Bringing together trumpeter Michael Sarian, keyboardist Matthew Putman, drummer Federico Ughi, and Cuban bassist-vocalist Ledian Mola to pay heartfelt tribute to Sun Ra's cosmic Afrofuturism, blending improvisational brilliance with Mola's folklore-inspired vocals and Putman's Rocksichord - the same keyboard model Sun Ra played - in a first-time collaboration and celebration of innovation.

A confluence of contrasting strings recorded in the studio in NYC, bringing bassist Brandon Lopez and gayageum master DoYeon Kim together in an acoustic dialogue of free improvisation, blending Lopez's explosive intuition with Kim's dynamic reinterpretation of tradition, resulting in a fascinating sonic journey that bridges ancient melodies and avant-garde exploration.

Joe McPhee recounts his journey from his formative years and time in the army to his evolution as a creative free jazz saxophonist and trumpeter, sharing experiences and encounters with artists such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann, and Pauline Oliveros; featuring a foreword by Fred Moten and an afterword by Moor Mother.

Possibly Joe McPhee's earliest recording, this session with bassist Tyrone Crabb's band, The Jazzmen, features McPhee on trumpet alongside saxophonists Harry Hall and Reggie Marks, pianist Mike Kull, and drummer Charlie Benjamin, performing two extended pieces, including the politically charged 'Killed in Vietnam' that evolves into a passionate interpretation of Miles Davis' 'Milestones'.

Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Alfredo Colon's debut album presents an engaging set of enthusiastic works rooted in the blues tradition, featuring a cover of Delta blues singer Son House and performed with his Brooklyn quartet: Lex Korten (piano, Klavins Una Corda), Steve Williams (upright bass), and Connor Parks (drums), blending lyrical expression and balanced dynamics.

New York trumpeter Kenny Warren leads a trio with cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell through eighteen Warren compositions that draw on diverse musical elements from around the globe — without being 'world music' — crafting succinct, creatively engaging works marked by eclectic references, unconventional time signatures, and a free-flowing lyrical spirit.

A beautifully contemplative collection of vignettes performed on solo Hardanger d'amore, a sympathetic-stringed relative of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, from Brooklyn improviser and composer Zosha Warpeha, in 13 works of thoughtfully spacious playing utilizing the resonance and rich texture of the Hardanger fiddle, seemingly suspending time despite beguiling momentum.

Originally formed in 1991, the legendary PainKiller trio, known for merging jazz, metal, grindcore, ambient, and dub, returns after more than 25 years to explore an intense new direction, as electronic artist Mick Harris crafts a rich tapestry of beats and sounds, drawing inspired performances from bassist Bill Laswell and alto saxophonist John Zorn.

St. Louis violinist Alex Cunningham and Brooklyn pianist Eli Wallace debut as a duo with five extended improvisations, engaging in dynamic conversations that explore rapid melodic passages, complemented by textural piano preparations, creating diverse soundscapes ranging from intense energy to moments of thoughtful, unhurried interaction.

"Transoceanico" signifies the global reach of Rome, Italy-born improvising drummer Federico Ughi, celebrating 20 years since his first album recorded in London while residing there, leading to his current Brooklyn launchpad for many global tours and albums, this impressive LP realized in a superb free jazz trio with bassist Adam Lane and tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson.

The eighth album from the Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibraphone, Michael Formanek on double bass and Mary Halvorson on guitar, developed during the trio's three-week residency in Pittsburgh for the community-based City of Asylum project, each member contributing three compositions, along with Charles Mingus' "Orange was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk".

Following the digital release of Roboquarians Volume 1, the trio of Ayumi Ishito on saxophone with effects, George Draguns on guitar and Kevin Shea on drums return with four wild jazz compositions by Draguns, their electrified performances infusing ferocious improvisations with an intense psychedelic energy and an avant-punk sensibility; wild!

Brooklyn saxophonist Dan Black and guitarist Kevin Miller present a duo album featuring three improvisations using pre-conceived time-based structures, one work using a particular kind of ambience, and an abstract take on a classic jazz tune, all reflecting their years of collaboration and exploration through free improvisation based around jazz standards.

One of alto saxophonist and composer Arthur Blythe's earliest recordings as a leader, this 1976 session at Sam & Bea Rivers' Studio Rivbea in New York City features four Blythe compositions performed by an exemplary quartet: Steve Reid on drums, frequent Blythe collaborator Muhammad Abdullah on congas, and long-time Sun Ra bassist Juini Booth.

Rotterdam-based collaborators, alto saxophonist Hugo Costa and drummer Philipp Ernsting, invite legendary bassist William Parker to join them in a Netherlands studio for threeimprovisations that emphasize emotional spontaneity and raw intensity, creating music that finds beauty in exploration and a transformative journey through expressive conversation.

A "solo" guitar album of unparalleled creativity and technical prowess, blending virtuosic banjo and guitar performances with inventive compositions and experimental use of effects and overdubs through multiple instruments and cassette additions, a genre-defying exploration of layered soundscapes, intricate fingerpicking, and bold sonic textures that is absolutely fascinating.

A tribute to six extraordinary female pianists — Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier & Renne Rosnes — through compositions from New York pianist Kris Davis and one by drummer Johnathan Blake, melodically rich and intricately challenging pieces as Davis stands shoulder to shoulder with those who inspired her.

The second installment from New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates the strong affinity between the two players, highlighting their impressive mastery of their instruments with a creative drive and quick responsiveness that sparks unique dialogs, full of powerful and sometimes unconventional technique and expression; a truly gratifying and remarkable set of improvisations.

Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary.

Building on their collaborations in the Noah Kaplan Quartet albums on Hat Hut/ezz-thetics — Descendants, Cluster Swerve, and Out of the Hole — bass guitarist Giacomo Merega (also of Dollshot) and guitarist Joe Morris (with pedals) explore intricate and dichotomous interplay, weaving parallel and divergent lines into richly complex interactions, suffused with a deep and resonant sonic richness.

The second of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Savoy label in New York City between 1945-48, performing with jazz greats including Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Lewis, Curley Russel, Max Roach, &c. for some of be-bop's finest and best known compositions.

Bringing together two essential and impeccably remastered 1960's Cecil Taylor albums — Cecil Taylor Unit Structures and Cecil Taylor Unit Mixed — presenting both traditional influences and Taylor's unique approaches to modern jazz, featuring two septets with musicians including Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes, Archies Shepp, Ted Curson, Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, Sunny Murray, &c.

A tour-de-force exposition of the mandocello, acoustic and electronic, an instrument evolving out of the 18th century mandalone into a louder instrument intended to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles, which Sharp demonstrates through strings that ring with powerful resonance as he performs original compositions with references to Derek Bailey, Kinshi Tsuruta, and Harry Partch.

Led by pianist Brian Marsella, the sonic theater supergroup iMAGiNARiUM unites a remarkable cast from the Downtown NY scene for a wildly creative 3-CD set that blends jazz, fusion, psych, experimental, and contemporary forms with a sense of awe, humor, and effortless ingenuity, resulting in a captivating journey filled with wonder and, yes, imagination.

The third volume in John Zorn's New Masada Quartet — Zorn on alto sax, Jorge Roeder on bass, Kenny Wollesen on drums, and Julian Lage on guitar — captures a packed 2024 concert at Roulette in Brooklyn, where fervent interplay and exceptional soloing bring six Zorn compositions to life in a single, seamlessly indexed track before an enthusiastic audience.

An exhilarating trio with bassist Petter Eldh and drummer Jim Black, recorded in Lisbon in 2023, capturing inventive synergy across eight original compositions by Peter Evans, ranging from the fiery intensity of "Freaks" and "Boom" to the surprising twists of "The Lighthouse", as their close-knit rapport fuels rhythmic depth and jaw-dropping improvisation.

An exhilarating trio with bassist Petter Eldh and drummer Jim Black, recorded in Lisbon in 2023, capturing inventive synergy across eight original compositions by Peter Evans, ranging from the fiery intensity of "Freaks" and "Boom" to the surprising twists of "The Lighthouse", as their close-knit rapport fuels rhythmic depth and jaw-dropping improvisation.

The debut album of NY composer & pianist Matt Mitchell's long-running trio with bassist Chris Tordiniand and drummer Dan Weiss, an adventurous and accomplished group that brings an optimistic buoyancy to Mitchell's complex compositions, exploring multiple asynchronous cycles using polyrhythm and polymeter through multiple lines that the players have freedom to choose and improvise around.

Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard.

Honoring the courage of the survivors of atrocities experienced in China during World War II, including that of his own father, New York improvising violinist Jason Kao Hwang presents twelve solo pieces performed on the pizzicato violin, works that embrace the struggle of his antecedents with a narrative sense of presentation and extraordinary technique.

Performing the unique compositions of Brooklyn-based bassist & composer Kim Cass with the technically superb quintet of Matt Mitchell on piano & synthesizer, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Laura Cocks on flutes and Adam Dotson on euphonium, Cass' intricate and unconventional works, influenced by 20th century contemporary classical, are complex structures that require precision and wit; impressive!

Emerging from a series of improv gigs and sessions, the trio of Sally Gates on guitar, Steve Hirsh on drums, and Daniel Carter on saxophones, flute, and trumpet present five studio recordings of spontaneous composition, weaving together a diverse range of sounds with intricate detail and complexity, transitioning seamlessly from fluid, flowing passages to sharp, jagged explorations.

An intimate duo at Brooklyn's IBeam performance venue in November 2023 between visiting Argentine-born, Berlin-based tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia and New York pianist Angelica Sanchez, performing six freely improvised and sophisticated dialogs that highlight the implicit lyricism of each player and the finesse of their virtuosic skills in subtle expression.

With an extensive discography of collaboration together in a wealth of groupings, New York bassist Formanek and alto saxophonist Tim Berne are heard in this 1991 live duo performance at The Parlour in Providence, Rhode Island, a powerfully confident concert of informed dialogs captured seven years before their only other duo album from 1998, Ornery People.

A remarkable concert in 2023 at The Loft in Cologne, Germany, a superb example of collective free improvisation using extraordinary and masterful technique between UK saxophonist John Butcher, Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner and NY drummer Chris Corsano, also performing on half clarinet; nine conversations of sophisticated and astute communication.

The next angle from the collective Geometry group of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar, exploring their "Geometry" first of "Caves", then "Distance", "Trees", and now "Phenomena", through highly attuned exploration of sonic complexities and intersecting approaches to their respective instruments.

Her 5th solo viola album finds NY improviser & composer Jessica Pavone extending her exploration of music based on the pitches of the open strings, accentuating the natural sympathetic resonances of the instrument and expanded through the use of electronic effects to create a virtual duo, on one track performing on a Ken Butler hand-crafted hybrid instrument, the Sword Viola.

Recording on a vintage reel-to-reel tape deck in his own warehouse living room during a lunar eclipse, saxophonist Steve Baczkowski (Brandon Lopez Trio, Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Ensemble MIA) captures thirteen explorations on tenor and baritone saxophones, plus a homemade wind instrument, for an intimately challenging album of outrageous technique and overtones.

Brooklyn-based Eva Novoa's new trio with sax legend Daniel Carter and drummer Francisco Mela debuts with their first volume, featuring compositions inspired by the four elements — earth, wind, fire, and water — and a Cuban piece, blending Novoa's piano, Fender Rhodes, electric harpsichord, and gongs with Carter's sax and Mela's rhythms for vibrant, free-flowing interplay.

Brooklyn-based Eva Novoa's new trio with sax legend Daniel Carter and drummer Francisco Mela debuts with their first volume, featuring compositions inspired by the four elements — earth, wind, fire, and water — and a Cuban piece, blending Novoa's piano, Fender Rhodes, electric harpsichord, and gongs with Carter's sax and Mela's rhythms for vibrant, free-flowing interplay.

Four singular improvisors from the US and UK -- Faith Heleene Brackenbury on violin, John O'Gallagher on alto sax, Anthony Bianco on drums, and John Pope on bass -- are heard in this live performance of spiritually rich, intellectually deep and powerfully articulate collective free jazz, captured live in 2024 at The Vortex, in London, UK in two extended conversations.

A 4-CD box set collecting 8 albums under Steve Lacy's name from 1957 to 1965, with sidement including Don Cherry, Mal Waldron, Kent Carter, Carla Bley, Louis Moholo, &c: Soprano Sax; Reflections; The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy; Evidence; Disposability; Jazz Realities; Sortie;The Forest and the Zoo.

Continuing his series of hommages to classical composers, New York trombonist Steve Swell assembles his sextet to improvise under the influence of Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006), whose truly unique "out of the box" approach to structuring sound brings force and intensity to Swell's compositions, yielding inspired performances from all musicians.

Brooklyn Saxophonist and Park West Studios founder is the common thread to this quartet with Steve Hirsh on drums, Steve Swell on trombone and William Parker on bass, all frequent collaborators in innumerable projects, here in three extended improvisations beautifully recorded, showing the wealth of experience each has alone and in collective expression.

A formidable sonic duo of guitar, bass, electronics, prepared bass, and drums, featuring Downtown NY pioneer Dougie Bowne and Brooklyn-based experimental rock bassist Matt Nelson (tUnE-yArDs, Weasel Walter Large Ensemble), delivering twelve intense and startlingly inventive improvisations, using every inch of their instruments to create a heavy, captivating set of soundscapes.

The second volume of John Zorn's vocal compositions, performed by virtuoso Barbara Hannigan alongside returning pianist Stephen Gosling, expands with orchestration for string quartet, a dynamic work for voice, cello, vibes, electronics, and drums, a lively piece for voice, piano, and rhythm, and Zorn's unique interpretation of the classic 'Pandora's Box.

Austrian pianist Elias Stemeseder and German percussionist Christian Lillinger expand their partnership into a quartet with brilliant New York trumpeter Peter Evans and double bassist Russell Hall, in this all-acoustic follow-up to their 2023 album Umbra in 13 avant jazz compositions, inventively lyrical and unpredictably impressive, recorded in the warmth of the Van Gelder studios.

Following his 2017 trio album with guitarists Marc Ribot and Mary Halvorson, New York guitarist Elliott Sharp returns to his Manhattan studio with two different guitarists--Bhutan guitarist Tashi Dorji living in Asheville, and New Zealand guitarist living in New York Sally Gates--for ten far-ranging improvisations of inspired technique and creative intent.

An "auditory exploration of the fragile balance between creation and destruction, echoing the forces that sculpted Earth's geological history" from the collective free improvising trio of two New York luminaries--Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, flugelhorn & trombone and Joe Morris on guitar & effects--with Boston double bassist Brad Barrett, also on cello & effects.

An energetic set of collective studio improvisations between three transatlatic travelers — Brazilian-born / New York-based tenor saxophonist Ivo Perlman, Cuban-born / Brooklyn-based pianist Aruán Ortiz and Spanish-born / French-based drummer Ramon Lopez — recording in Barcelona for eight substantial conversations of vivacious and expressive free jazz.

For her third album as a leader, NY vibraphonist and composer Patricia Brennan expands her band to a septet with bassist Kim Cass, drummer Marcus Gilmore, percussionist Mauricio Herrera, saxophonists Jon Irabagon and Mark Shim and trumpeter Adam O'Farrill also on electronics, for an exciting, widely embracing and fully modern album of compelling modern jazz, bound to be a 2024 top 10!

DINGED COPIES

Allen Lowe's 2-volume 4-CD set evokes through original music the musical eras that Louis Armstrong lived through, from ragtime to early jazz, swing, bebop, avant garde jazz, Dada and rock & roll, a rollicking, perceptive and fun set of compositions with contributors including Marc Ribot, Ray Anderson, Frank Lacy, Lewis Porter, Elijah Schiffer, Matt Shipp, Ursula Oppens, &c.