A three part solo improvisation from pianist and composer Joel Futterman, also performing on Indian flute and curved soprano saxophone, each track a complete unedited first take with no overdubs, presented in the order performed, the first part a nearly 53 minute epic of powerful and consequential playing, from vigorous technical runs to beautifully languid moments; stunning.

NY double bassist Sean Ali presents an engrossing journey in seven pieces that depict an inner journey through tone, technique and words, using the double bass to create deep sonic environments through interactively playing and layering, using extended approaches that support and contrast his narration; a compelling and descriptive observation on the nature of self.

While on vacation in Rome in 2018, NY percussionist Carlo Costa took his portable recorder inside a grain silo in the countryside north of the city, eschewing traditional percussion for found bricks, pipes, rocks and branches found nearby, recording in the resonance of the silo with the sounds of cicadas and other ambiance permeating the silo as he unfolds this engrossing, thoughtfully paced improvisation.

The title referencing police tactics used to subdue a suspect, the 2nd solo album from NY trumpeter Joe Moffett finds the imporoviser approaching the instrument with atypical technique and a sense of sonic power in five engrossing works of technical prowess and creative imagination, producing "mangled, oscillating, chittering noises, a collision of muscle, bone, and metal".

An exotic album of tradition-spanning improvisation from the trio of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perleman, oud player Gordon Grdina and percussionist Hamin Honari on tombak and daf, avoiding any cliches of "world fusion" as the effusive Middle Eastern rhythmic devices propel Perelman and Grdina into joyful flights of ecstatic playing that bridge the East and West.

An articulate and important collection of songs devoted to the marginalized voices of women around the world from NY vocalist Jen Shyu, performed in a masterful quintet with Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Mat Maneri on viola, Thomas Morgan on bass, Dan Weiss on drums, Shyu singing and performing on percussion, piano, Taiwanese moon lute, and Japanese biwa.

Drum and percussion improviser Barry Altschul leads his trio with Jon Irabagon on tenor, sopranillo saxophones & alto clarinet and Joe Fonda on bass in their fourth release since forming in 2013, here with five original compositions in free jazz form with strong melodic heads that manifest in tremendous soloing from his players and outstanding drum work.

The third of a 3-album trilogy, Playfield offers the musical equivalency of a walk through the diversity of New York in a loft-style extended improvisation from the octet of Daniel Carter on horns, reeds, Luisa Muhr on voice, Ayumi Ishito on saxophone, Eric Plaks on Nord piano, Aron Namenwirth and Yutaka Takahashi on guitar, Zach Swanson on bass, and Jon Panikkar on drums.

Reissuing two essential and innovative piano trio albums: Paul Bley Trio's 1965 album Touching with Bley on piano, Kent Carter on double bass and Barry Altschul on drums, plus the title track from the 1967 Bley album In Haarlem - Blood with Altschul and Mark Levinson taking the double bass roll, performing compositions by Paul Bley, Carla Bley and Annette Peacock.

The 2nd of two 3-CD sets released as trumpeter Wadada Leo nears his 80th birthday, these albums were recorded in 2015 & 2016 in bassist Bill Laswell's studio, the first presenting the duo of Smith and late drummer Milford Graves, the second a duo with Laswell, those discs leading to the expansive and outstanding full trio of Smith, Laswell & Graves on the final disc.

Pure Wadada Leo Smith in a 3-CD box set of solo recordings from 2016 captured at and using the natural resonance of the St. Mary's Church in the town of Pohja, on the Southern Coast of Finland, presenting fourteen new compositions, including four extended multi-part works, as Smith demonstrates his incredible authority, investigative spirit and spiritual approach to the horn.

Drummer Gerald Cleaver continues his explorations in electronic music, taking his compositions of modular electronics, synthesis, FM tones, and muted drum machines into intricate and wide-ranging territory, compelling through the solid and natural rhythms he imparts to each piece, many of which are titled for musicians who have influenced him.

Drummer Gerald Cleaver continues his explorations in electronic music, taking his compositions of modular electronics, synthesis, FM tones, and muted drum machines into intricate and wide-ranging territory, compelling through the solid and natural rhythms he imparts to each piece, many of which are titled for musicians who have influenced him.

Reissuing clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre's 1963 Columbia album Free Fall, presenting trio performances with bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley recorded after their 1961 European tour, along with duos between Giuffre and Swallow and several solo tracks from the clarinetist himself, propelling himself and his band into his sophisticated, risk-taking chamber jazz compositions.

Using Rosa Barba's cello and the celluloid of a film projector as an alternative bow to create rich drones, and Chad Taylor's drum kit along with his incredible prowess with a mbira, this NY duo create an incredible set of rhythmically active soundscapes that draws their listener into a wonderfully vivid and richly flowing improvisational world; stunning!

Led by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and peformed by his Red Lily Quintet with Kirk Knuffke on cornet, William Parker on bass & gimbri, Christopher Hoffman on cello and Chad Taylor on drums & mbira, Lewis' work explores and reflects on the legacy of scientist George Washington Carver through 7 remarkable free jazz compositions.

The first concentrated duo of two improvisers who have worked together in other groupings since 2006 from guitarist Joe Morris and double bassist Damon Smith, recording a set of five extended and technically stunning conversations, a mesh of texture and motion through charged creative drive, merging their strings among often inexplicable technique to create thrilling dialogs.

A "document of sonic purging" from New York sound artists Merche Blasco and Gryphon Rue, a combination of compositions and electroacoustic improvisation using an unusual collection of instruments--EMS Synthi AKS, modular synth chain, harmonium, voice, percussion and musical saw--applied through diverse approaches to create inspired landscapes and curious constructions.

In July 1968 trumpeter Don Cherry assembled a group of Swedish musicians--Bernt Rosengren (sax & winds), Tommy Koverhult (saxophone & winds), Leif Wennerström (drums), Torbjörn Hultcrantz (bass), Jacques Thollot (drums) & Kent Carter (bass)--recording their session with the intention of releasing an album that never happened, the tapes now re-discovered 50 years later and finally available!

The second of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Live in Japan, Speechless, Prints, Step Across the Border, Impur 2, Art of Memory II, Skeleton Crew, Helter Skelter.

The first of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Guitar Solos, Gravity, Cheap at Half the Price, Killing Time, Impur , Middle of the Moment, Keep the Dog; Dropera.

The third of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Technology of Tears, Propaganda, Allies, Accidental, The Previous Evening, Happy End Problem, Nowhere, Sideshow, Field Days; Inimitable (previously unreleased).

577 Records' experimental, electronic sub-label Positive Elevation releases this remix of Gerald Cleaver's Signs album, itself an innovative album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, here reworked by producer Hprizm, aka High Priest of Antipop Consortium, channeling Cleaver's work into dream-like territory that re-thinks and re-paces the original.

Taking its title from the rum-running yacht on which McPhee's father sailed from Nassau to Miami, this free electroaoustic improvised concert with Joe McPhee on pocket cornet & alto saxophone, Jen Clare Paulson on viola and Brian Labycz on electronics was captured live in 2014 at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during Okka Fest 6, released as CvsD's first vinyl LP.

Somewhere between Acid Mothers, 70s Miles or Sun Ra's Arkestra, NY-based Japanese saxophonist Ayumi Ishito's first Spacemen volume with Theo Woodward on synth & vocals, Nebula and the Velvet Queen on theremin, Jake Strauss on guitar & bass and Steven Bartishev on drums, lives up to it's cosmic moniker through exploratory improv blurring jazz, electronica and psych.

With cinematic moments and dark, rich grooves, Italian bassist Danilo Gallo leads a quintet with fellow Italians Massimiliano Milesi on tenor & soprano saxophones, Francesco Bigoni on tenor saxophone & clarinet, American drummer Jim Black, and Lorenzo Corti on guitar, through a set of 10 Gallo compositions, melodically centered but surprising in detail and direction.

In the final stages of cancer, late double bassist and composer Mario Pavone recorded this lyrically warm and beautifully sincere album of modern jazz in a quartet with his son Michael Pavone on guitar, Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone and Michael Sarin on drums, written as a tribute to his granddaughter Isabella, who died in 2020 when she was only 23 years old.

Taking guitar and flute into very strange territory informed by vast experience and technical skill, NY flutist Robert Dick and electric guitarist Nicola L. Hein create truly unique and dramatic sound worlds, sometimes tense, sometimes beautiful, but always fascinating in momentum and expression; unique musical structures that refuse to be easily categorized: extraordinary!

A "travelogue" of Swedish composer and songwriter Adrian Knight's guitar explorations, works originally released on his digital-only and now dormant label Pink Pamphlet, drawing from work recorded in his home studio that developed from sketches and experimentation, along with new recordings including one with saxophonist David Lackner; beautifully moody and elegant music.

A double CD of the complete Cecil Taylor Ensemble's 1990 performance at Junges Theater in Gottingen, Sweden, with personnel similar to his 1989 Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble album Legba Crossing, here in an adventurous concert of large group improvisation with Taylor performing on piano while directing and conducting the extended orchestration that includes balafon & elephanthorn!

Extended reissue of the 1997 album bringing jazz and rock artists from 5 decades of ground-breaking work into a mysteriously lyrical band presenting 9 powerful compositions of jazz/rock fusion, led by drummer Tony Williams and bassist Bill Laswell with the stellar personnel of Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, Nicky Skopelitis, Graham Haynes, Peter Apfelbaum, & Byard Lancaster.

Music inspired by artist, teacher, writer and civic protestor Robert Henri (1865-1929) who in the early 1900s exhibited against the restrictive academic requirements of the National Academy of Design, from the free improvising trio of bassist Michael Bisio, Kirk Knuffke on cornet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello & electronics, in a mix of Bisio compositions and collective improvisations.

On their first concert as a duo in 2014, alto saxophonist Michael Attias and pianist Simon Nabatov recorded these five creatively lyrical improvisations at iBeam in Brooklyn, Nabatov on the keys and inside the piano and both using tremendous technique in a mix of perky and introspective free expression, including an extended work that melds into Herbie Nichol's "Spinning Song".

NY drummer Devin Gray provides the compositions for this EP with his Cloudsounds trio of Ingrid Laubrock performing on tenor and soprano saxophones and Corey Smythe on piano, the sophisticated structures leading the improvisers into almost chamber jazz territory, with a light playfulness and warm interaction, Gray's intriguing rhythms shifting and propelling their music.

A uniquely voiced free improv trio of strings and drums from the New York City trio of violinist Jessica Pavone, guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and drummer Devin Gray, each a distinctive leader in their own right who use their instruments in unusual and technically superb ways, here in a concise set of collective improvisations of an edgy and exploratory style.

Recorded in the fall of 2019 as a statement to help expand awareness and work for a future free from gun violence, composed in response to several gun violence incidents, performed at Douglass Recording in Brooklyn with the trio of Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Angelica Sanchez on piano, and Devin Gray on drums and providing the compositions, each title expressing his concern.

After moving to NYC in the early 60s, filmmaker Michael Snow was introduced the music of saxophonist Albert Ayler's Trio with bassist Gary Peacock & drummer Sunny Murray, inviting them and trumpeter Don Cherry, trombonist Rudd and altoist John Tchicai to record these three brilliant freely improvised tracks, parts of which would be used in his art film "New York Eye and Ear Control".

A powerful and effusive jazz rocking and danceable album of instrumentals and songs from the Italian/International J & F Band of drummer Tiziano Tononi, bassist Joe Fonda, plus guitarists David Grissom, Bobby Lee Rodgers & Scott Sharrard, keyboardist Pee Wee Durante, violinist Emanuele Parrini and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, recording in New Haven, CT; get it on!

Following their first record with this powerful blues rock & jazz album, the Italian/US J & F Band of Tiziano Tononi (drums), Joe Fonda (bass), drummer/percussionist Jaimoe and Pach, Peewee Durante (keys), Alberto Mandarini (trumpet), Beppe Caruso (trombone) and Gianluigi Paganelli (tuba), with guest guitarist David Grissom and vocalist Lamar Williams Jr.

A member of pianist McCoy Tyner's Trio and Joe Lavano's Quartet, New York drummer Francisco Mela's own career as a leader is heard in this energetic trio album with two of NY's finest--pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker--recording in the studio in Brooklyn in 2020 for two extended and powerful collective improvisations and a brief "Dark Light".

Developed over outdoor sessions performed during the summer of 2020 around NYC, this is the first release from the duo of multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and acoustic guitarist Jessica Ackerley, their warm collaboration heard in effortless interactions inspired by the dream-like, meditative approach in both improviser's playing; lovely.

Performing at Bimhuis in 2013, the trans-Atlantic quintet of Roy Campbell on trumpet, flugelhorn & flute, John Dikeman on saxophone, Raoul van der Weide on cello & percussion, Peter Jacquemyn on bass & voice and Klaus Kugel on drums, perform an extended, energetic and dynamic set of free improvisation, with intricate melodies and beautifully rich transitions.

Reminding of Downtown NY bands in the vein of No Safety or Curlew, this Chicago/NY 7-piece blurs rock, jazz and funk forms with intelligent and often satirical lyrics, upbeat and joyful music that defies categorization through groove-based songs that playfully critique while keeping it all danceable and fun, in a wonderfully talented and enjoyable album.

The title referencing a Blind Willie McTell entreaty to himself, Elliott Sharp's contemporary blues project Teraplane truly "kicks" in 8 burning pieces of concentrated guitar work from Sharp, solo and in overdub, recording in Studio zOaR while performing on electric guitar, vong co guitar, lap steel guitar, console steel guitars, mandocello, mandola, basses & drum programming.

Known as a percussionist, Bay Area improviser Charles K. Noyes' first part of his Crimes In High Places is performed on electric & resonator guitars plus amplified guqin, expanding on the innovations of Derek Bailey in free-form non-idiomatic playing as he works to create a personal language on the instrument, presenting a dark and creatively foreboding vision.

An algorithmic composition for Elliott Sharp's Orchestra Carbon modeled on biological paradigms of growth and reproduction, recorded at Tonic in 2001 with a large ensemble of instrumentalists including Ned Rothenberg, Steve Swell, Jim Pugliese, Andy Laster, &c. and programmers and sampler performers including David Weinstein, R. Luke Dubois, and Zeena Parkins.

An insightful look at the history of New York composer, saxophonist and guitarist Elliott Sharp, "Sixteen Pieces in the Shape of a Memoir" as Sharp looks back at his musical influences and approach to playing and composing, with observations on music, art, politics and technology, a fascinating set of essays from a vanguard artist's point of view.

A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.

Elliott Sharp's 1998 Knitting Factory album finds the saxophonist, guitarist & electronic artist in a solo setting of rhythmic works using MAX/MSP and DSP applications to create rhythmic and sonic environments over which he improvises, with assistanceÊon one track each from Zeena Parkin on "little green drone guitar" and Frank Rothkamm providing drums sequences.

Like a blanket of twilight sound and insidiously fragile detail, the results of two days of uninterrupted sonic exploration between New York multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound artist & recording engineer Joseph Branciforte and German vocal innovator & electronic artist Theo Bleckmann are heard in four compositions from their collaboration: gorgeous, lulling and edgy.

Essential performers on the 80s Downtown NY scene, cellist Tom Cora and percussionist & vocalist David Moss released this album in 1983 on Fred Frith's Rift label, ten active and often absurd duo improvisation of informed interaction, intertwining strings, drums, odd rhythmic sources and strange vocal utterances, yielding to both serious improv and whimsical notions.

A live recording at Instants Chavire's, in Montreuil, France in 2020, and a studio recording 5 days later in Malakoff, France, in the 2nd album from the Judson Trio of Joelle Leandre on double bass, Mat Maneri on viola, Gerald Cleaver on drums & small percussion, the entwining of viola and bass strings propelled with assertive restraint and accent from Cleaver.

The kind of conversation only two profoundly accomplished jazz artists such as pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker could have, steeped in the history of the creative form and founded on a long history of collaborations between the two, here in four engaging extended dialogs recorded in the studio Sextan in La Fonderie, Malakoff, France.

Bringing together the rhythm section of frequent collaborators, percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, with London's improvising duo Black Top of Orphy Robinson on marimba and electronics & Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, plus improvising vocalist Elaine Mitchener, for a passionate and often ecstatically cathartic live concert at Cafe OTO.

A definitive album of modern creative jazz and free improvisation, from confident lyrical exchanges to creative interaction and rock solid foundations from a bedrock rhythm section, heard in these studio recordings from the New York quartet of Matthew Shipp on piano, Allen Lowe on alto & tenor saxophones, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Kevin Ray on bass.

Woodwind player Michael Marcus' duo with drummer Jay Rosen performed with fellow reedsman Joe McPhee and a 2nd drummer at the Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf in 2018, the concept so appealing that he took it to the studio in New York, with Warren Smith handling the 2nd drum part and cementing this unusually orchestrated and elegantly passionate band as "The Blue Reality Quartet".

In various configurations of her ensemble--from trios to 12 performers--composer, saxophonist & flutist Anna Weber composed these six pieces based around specific wind techniques, including the use of multiphonics, alternate fingerings, buzzes, air sounds, key clicks & overblown notes, explored through an exuberant and embraceable balance of improvised and composed "Idioms".

Calling his music jazz and not jazz, bassist Brandon Lopez demands of his listeners to dance, as the quartet of Lopez, Steve Baczkowski on saxophones, Gerald Cleaver on percussion and Cecilia Lopez on synthesizer are heard in this energetic live concert at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, blurring free jazz with experimental sound that never loses its strong grooves.

Music with "no restrictions, no guidelines, no imposed intention, no expectation" from keyboardist John Medeski, in an album that evolves static noise into rich and fascinating soundscapes, a blend of improvisation and composition using electric and acoustic keyboards, synthesizers, mellotron and early electronic gear, masterfully unfurled in riveting ways.

The Simulacrum trio of John Medeski on organ, Kenny Grohowski on drums and Matt Hollenberg on guitar, with prior releases Inferno, Unspeakable Depravity..., Beyond Good And Evil and Baphomet, continue composer John Zorn's investigation on the dark side of swinging jazz merged with rock & compositional attitudes, as he explores the written works of Antonin Artaud.

The second volume of this rich and exotic quartet in a sublime merging of jazz, electronics and compositional approaches yielding melodically dream-like music and environments, from reedist, flutist && trumpeter Daniel Carter, Tobias Wilner (Blue Foundation) on synth and keys, Wu-Tang Clan bassist Djibril Toure and Italian/NY drummer Federico Ughi.

Merging Tiger Hatchery's tenor saxophonist Michael Forbes and bassist Andrew Scott Young and newly arrived to NYC Flying Luttenbacher leader & drummer Weasel Walter, for classic hardcore free jazz of articulate and demanding improvisation; this a recently unearthed studio recording from 2010, captured two years after their first encounter in a quartet with Jeb Bishop.

During the early 80s saxophonist and wind improviser Sam Rivers formed his quartet around electric instruments, with the core rhythm section of drummer Steve Ellington and electric bass guitarist Rael Wesley Grant, the other lead instrument on guitar during that time, sometimes with Kevin Eubanks, and on this previously unreleased, superb live performance in Florence, Italy, guitarist Jerry Byrd.

Five major works in a Creation Series concept from pianist Joel Futterman, each disc presenting from 2 to 4 parts in an ambitious and accomplished set of solo improvisations that start simply with monophonics and evolve into increasingly complex and inspired works of incredible creative control; a masterful release reflecting a lifetime of innovation and inventiveness.

The 4-night engagement at the Village Vanguard in November 1961 with sidemen Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Jimmy Garrison & Elvin Jones resulted in saxophonist John Coltrane's 1962 "Live at the Village Vanguard" album, his evolving freedom surprisingly divisive and even decried as "anti-jazz", here reissued and remastered with a bonus version of "Spiritual".

Adhering to the tenets of "Dissonance, Speed, Aggression, Weirdness, and Singularity", Weasel Walter leads his Flying Luttenbachers in their 15th album of no wave, punk jazz & brutal prog, Weasel switching to guitar and yielding the drum chair to Sam Ospovat, as the band rips through ridiculously complex twists and turns, even taking on Albert Ayler's strange '66/'67 musical suites.

Beautiful long-form drones and harmonic interactions develop and are then shaken up with sonic deformations and collisions, returning to beautiful environments and then reversed once again, from the duo of sonic explorers Bob Bellerue and Christian Ronn, recording in Copenhagen using organs, electronics, winds, and feedback to create these wonderfully alien domains.

Recorded primarily at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn and leveraging the natural resonance of that performance space, the New York trio of innovative improvisers Henry Frase on double bass, John McCowen on Bb and contrabass clarinets and Sam Weinberg on tenor & soprano saxophones explore the peripheries of their instruments in intense and reflective interplay.

From fractured and fragmented to assertively raw improvisation in the unusual pairing of saxophone and cello from Chris Pitsiokos on alto and Argentinian cellist Violeta Garcia, using intense approaches to their instruments in a reactive set of 11 concise dialogs, a well-matched meeting of innovative improvisers uniquely responding to and clearly enjoying an eccentric conversation.

Focusing intently on multiphonics and long-form statements on the saxophone, the second solo album from Canadian-American saxophonist based in New York City, Erin Rogers, is a tour-de-force of unusual language on the instrument, exploring every inch from the reeds to the pads in manners uniquely harrowing, ingenious, awe-filled, unorthodox, and always inspired.

An extended electroacoustic composition from composer Phil Niblock based on recordings captured at Marcus Schmickler's Piethopraxis studio in Koln of bassoonist Dafne Vicente-Sandoval, layering her playing and using multiphonics to create beautifully rich textures that slowly evolve, shifting in hypnotic ways as the pieces arches and descends through harmonic interaction.

Beginning with an 8-member vocal incantation led by Taylor himself, this incredible reunion concert between pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Sunny Murray was recorded by the FMP label in 1996 at the Total Music Meeting in Podewil, Berlin, an incredible display of pyrotechnical playing with an exultant excitement through three "sector" improvisations; extraordinary!

The first live album from the CP Unit led by alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos and his quartet with Sam Lisabeth on electric guitar, Henry Fraser on electric bass and Jason Nazary on drums & electronics, captured live at the 2018 Moers Festival in Germany in 8 compositions drawn from previous studio tracks and two new pieces; thrilling and brilliant modern jazz!

Taking an angular approach to modern jazz that reminds of Steve Coleman/Five Elements, New York alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos provides the compositions for the six improvisations on this live album recorded at Seizure's Palace, in Brooklyn in a quartet with Andrew Smiley on electric guitar, Henry Fraser on electric bass and Jason Nazary on drums.

NY percussionist Billy Fox in a septet playing compositions influenced by music from South Asia, The Middle East and Africa, filtered into compelling compositions for jazz ensemble.

Interpreting trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Ankhrasmation graphic score--the term joining the Egyptian symbol for life, the Ethiopian word for leader and the universal term for mother--Smith and guitarists Alex Varty & Henry Kaiser use the rich combination of visual cues and musical notation to record this rapturous and unduplicable album of profound and engaging improvisation.

Active since 2013, David Sanford's powerful 20-piece big band based in New York City presents six Sanford originals, along with an effusive arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's bop composition "Dizzy Atmosphere", the focal point of the album a large and spiritual work composed by trumpeter Hugh Ragin dedicated to and inspired by late trumpeter Lester Bowie.

"Chaos Magick" is a contemporary magical practice based on the ideas of Austin Osman Spare, influencing the work of William Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, and Aleister Crowley, and here inspiring the compositions of John Zorn for his Simulacrum ensemble of Kenny Grohowski on drums & percussion, Matt Hollenberg on electric guitar, Brian Marsella on electric piano and John Medeski on organ.

The followup to John Zorns' 2019 CD The Hierophant, exploring the single Tarot card of the same name, this album performed by pianist Brian Marsella's Trio with Kenny Wollesen on drums and Trevor Dunn on bass, continues Zorn's exploration into the mystery of the occult through the remaining 13 cards, rendered as lyrical and sophisticated jazz compositions.

A mix of lyrical, free and traditional compositions, the majority from leader, New York bassist Sean Conly, along with pieces from long-time collaborator Michael Attias, Sam Rivers and Paul Motian, performed in the piano trio format with drummer Francisco Mela and pianist Leo Genovese, in a great balance of jazz steeped in tradition but living fully in the present.

Reissuing two essential albums from saxophonist Marion Brown--Why Not? (ESP, 1968) and Porto Novo (Polydor, 1969)--the first recorded in NY in a quartet with pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali, the second recorded in The Netherlands in a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Maarten Van Regteren Altena on double bass; essential.

Referring to the brass saxophone and the piano's ivory keys, Brazilian saxophonist based in New York City Ivo Perelman celebrates his 60th birthday with this 9-CD set of diverse approaches to sax & piano duos, performed with some of world's finest improvising pianists: Dave Burrell, Marilyn Crispell, Aaron Parks, Augusti Fernandez, Craig Taborn, Angelica Sanchez and Vijay Iyer.

Following a 1964 Albert Ayler tour, trumpeter Don Cherry remained in Europe, working on new concepts of improvising based on form itself, developing his concepts with saxophonist Gato Barbieri, vibraphonist Karl Berger & bassist J.F. Jenny Clark, composing two brilliant albums: 1966's Communion with Barbieri, Henry Grimes & Ed Blackwell; and in 1967 Symphony for Improvisers as a septet.

First recording in 2012 as a trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby as a guest, 9 years later Toronto drummer Nick Fraser's quartet with Malaby as a permanent member, Rob Clutton on double bass and Andrew Downing on cello show their long collaboration's strength in a set of improvisations plus compositions for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and the DJD production, Juliet & Romeo.

The sixth album in saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill's Zood small ensemble project Zooid, a quintet with guitarist Liberty Ellman, tuba & trombonist Jose Davila, cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee, following Threadgill's serial intervallic language compositions to create an amazingly intricate yet warmly embraceable avant jazz; exceptional!