Bringing together two groups of spectacular improvisers versed in free and electroacoustic improvisation for a live transatlantic performance, one group of seven musicians primarily from The UK & Europe performing from The Hot Tin venue in Faversham, Kent, UK, the other group of six musicians performing from Roulette, New York City, for this stunningly impressive group improvisation.

Recordings from the Berlin club Au Topsi Pohl where the [ism] piano trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Joel Grip on double bass and Antonin Gerbal on drums played 4 nights in a row, May 18-21, 2022, Thomas performing on a Bösendorfer grand piano, creating an omnipresent and precise sound that drove the band to great heights of interactive, warmly diverse playing.

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.

The followup to their 2020 album titled BleySchool, the trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on double bass and Tony Orrell on drums revisit and further explore the music of Paul and Carla Bley, here in a 2022 live performance at London's Cafe OTO focused on early Bley compositions, and also a cover of "Monk's Mood" which Bley included on his solo album Basics.

A diverse, upbeat and embraceable album of brass-heavy jazz from New York trumpeter Frank London's ensemble, from funky rhythms to material that would be at home in Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool, flavored with London's Klezmatics background and performed with three percussionists, taking a wide view on the role of brass, particularly trumpet, trombone & tuba, in the history of jazz music.

The seventh solo percussion album from Barcelona-based Vasco Trilla, here investigating the symbolic and historical use of bells in different regions and cultures around the world through ten unconventional observations of vibration, resonance, and rich tones performed on timpani, flat tuned bells, transducer speakers, snare drum and assorted percussions.

Saxophonist Bruce Ackley, percussionist Andrea Centazzo, pianist Tania Chen, cellist Danielle DeGruttola, and bassists Henry Kaiser and Michael Manring present a tribute to soprano saxophonist & composer Steve Lacy's 1977 album The Wire, replicating the instrumentation of that album but electrifying the bass, as they reflect twice on Lacy's incredible contribution to creative jazz.

A first time issue for these 2009 studio recordings between Paul Dunmall on tenor & soprano saxophones and bass & b-flat clarinets, Paul Rogers on 7 string acoustic bass and Tony Levin on drums, bringing to light both a great trio session that's sat on the shelf too long, and a superb example of the late great drummer Tony Levin's important contribution to UK free improv.

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!

An unusual and engrossing concert of free dialog using tightly controlled technique between two legendary free jazz improvisers: percussionist Paul Lytton performing on tabletop percussion and "bits and pieces", and saxophonist Georg Wissel performing on augmented alto saxophone and tenor saxophone, from reserved intricate detail to forcefully passionate expression.

An impressive live performance at Exploratorium Berlin in 2024 as part of the international symposium Musicians' Perspectives on Improvisation, which explores the practices, ideas, visions and theories of improvising musicians, from the trio of John Butcher on saxophones, Luigi Marino on cymbals, zarb, zarb e zurkhaneh & feedback devices, and Mark Wastell on percussion.

The third chapter in Cuban-Born, New York-based drummer Francisco Mela's tribute to his legendary mentor and bandleader Mccoy Tyner, in a trio with William Parker on bass and Leo Genovese on piano, celebrating the avant side of Tyner's work with Coltrane and his own bands, and the influence he had on Mela in encouraging him to push the boundaries of his playing.

The third chapter in Cuban-Born, New York-based drummer Francisco Mela's tribute to his legendary mentor and bandleader Mccoy Tyner, in a trio with William Parker on bass and Leo Genovese on piano, celebrating the avant side of Tyner's work with Coltrane and his own bands, and the influence he had on Mela in encouraging him to push the boundaries of his playing.

With two reeds--Paul Dunmall on tenor & soprano saxophones & clarinet, and tenor saxophonist & clarinetist Tobias Delius--and the masterful rhythm section of Olie Brice on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums, this superb collective quartet leverages the long relationships between players, particularly the trio of Sanders/Brice/Delius and Dunmall & Sanders' extensive work together.

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.

Finnish saxophonist and improviser Harri Sjöström assembles this quartet with some of the most innovative and in-demand players in Europe, the UK & Australia--Tony Buck from The Necks on drums & percussion, John Edwards on double bass, and Elisabeth Harnik on piano--captured live at Panda Platforma in Berlin in 2023 for a stellar concert of collective improvisation.

Bringing together as a trio two improvisers who have both worked previously with bassist Joëlle Léandre in various configurations--drummer Zlatko Kaučič, and pianist Elisabeth Harnik--for a magnificent concert of innovative expression through intent conversation of impressive and unusual technique, captured live at the 2023 ARTACTS Festival in Tirol, Austria.

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.

A triple CD and 24-page booklet of recordings from Italian flutist and composer Manuel Zurria performing works by luminary composers including Alvin Lucier, James Tenney, Tashi Wada, Jürg Frey, Laurence Crane, &c., with an homage to Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti, each CD punctuated with Preludes and Postludes performed with guest saxophonist Gianni Gebbia.

Performing in the liminal space between free improv, jazz & chamber-oriented improvisation, the trio of American cellist Daniel Levin with long-time Portuguese collaborators Sei Miguel on pocket trumpet and Fala Mariam on alto trombone, come together for these authoritative recordings in Lisbon, captured in the studio and at a live performance of solos & duos at Galeria Ze dos Bois.

Four sets of recordings from September, 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark from a week performing live at Club Montmarte, and a recording in Hilversum, The Netherlands for VARA Radio, collecting and remastering these vital recordings from tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler's most vital free jazz quartet with Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on double bass and Sunny Murray on drums.

Powerful free improvisation led by the words of poet K. Curtis Lyle, known for his work with Julius Hemphill, part of a sextet with trumpeter George R. Sams, a member of United Front, two double bassists — Adi Bu Dharma Joshua Weinstein and Damon Smith — and two percussionists — Henry Claude and Ra Kalaam Bob Moses — in a gatefold CD with a 10-page booklet of related poems from K.Curtis Lyle.

Active since 2016, The "Bone" in PorchBone is heard in the three trombonists who join the trio of bassist Nate McBride, drummer Eric Rosenthal, and saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra, who composed 7 of the 8 pieces on this album (Duke Ellington is the 8th, and the inspiration for their sound along with Sun Ra), with trombonists Jeb Bishop, Michael Prentky & Bill Lowe.

First vinyl pressing of this '93 Berlin concert at Townhall Charlottenburg from the quartet of Peter Brotzmann on alto & tenor saxophones & tarogato, Toshinoro Kondo on trumpet, William Parker on double bass and Hamid Drake on drums, improvising under the influence and showing their love of saxophonist Albert Ayler through quotation and fragments of Ayler's work.

Assembled by Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, this stellar quartet bridges nations with German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, Norwegian double bass player Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, and American drummer Gerry Hemingway, presenting the extended, masterful collective title track, along with two shorter works, particularly revisiting Albert Ayler's "Ghosts".

Legendary AMM drummer/percussionist and Matchless label leader Eddie Prévost meets with Earshots co-label leader and improvising synthesist Daniel Kordik for five remarkable dialogs, both using a full range of creative techniques that complement through alternating percussive and sonic approaches to their instruments, taking listeners into unforseen territories.

With more than 25 years of experience playing together in bands including Trio Kamosc, Gueuledeloup Quartet and The Achim Kaufmann Trio, alongside duo performances playing original compositions and the music of Herbie Nicols, here now in a double CD from two concerts in Berlin in 2022, with one third of the material exploring the music of Andrew Hill.

Propelled by the confidence and intimacy that a familial relationship brings to two improvisers, imbued by each player's masterful technical skills and creative drive, the husband and wife duo of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura expand their catalog with this set of magnificent dialogs, sometimes quirky, always powerful and implicitly lyrical.

After a long break from their last recording, the long-lasting (since 1977!) BassDrumBone trio of Mark Helias on bass, Gerry Hemingway on drum and Ray Anderson on trombone came together for a packed 2023 concert at Zurcher Gallery, the enthusiasm resonating into this studio session days later as the trio recorded a mix of collective improvisations and one composition from each.

The complete recording of Joëlle Léandre's Lifetime Achievement evening that opened the 2023 Vision Festival at Roulette in Brooklyn, in a box set with 4 CDs, a DVD of a 2023 interview punctuated with bass solos, and a 32-page color booklet of concert images and liner notes from John Sharpe; performances by Tiger Trio, Roaring Tree, Atlantic Ave Septet & the duo of Léandre/Moten.

The debut by a Norwegian trio comprised of Martha Lea on saxophone and flute, Jon-Rune Strom on bass and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums, solidly in the free jazz realm as they present a mix of collective improvisation, plus composition each from Lea and Strom, ending with an interpretation of late bassist Charlie Haden's "Song for Che".

Recorded at Sonoscopia, the Porto, Portugal experimental music and sound art hub under the direction of percussionist Gustavo Costa, double bassist Gonçalo Almeida leads a trio with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Gustavo Costa performing the five-part Almeida composition "Restraint", fulfilling the title through commanding cliff's-edge control.

Paying tribute to the music of Steve Lacy from the Italian trio of Danilo Gallo on double bass, banjo & guitar, Ferdinando Farao on drums & percussion, and Roberto Ottaviano on soprano saxophone, the latter having studied with Lacy during the 80s, here in seven Lacy composition and four group compositions clearly influenced by the late, great soprano saxophonist.

Led by Portuguese trumpeter Luís Vicente, his trio with double bassist Gonçalo Almeida and drummer/percussionist Pedro Melo Alves introduce a set of Vicente compositions and one traditional Brazilian piece, Vicente's frameworks and melodic structures opening to great space for all three player to shine through formidable and creative improvisation.

Since 2019 Portuguese drummer & percussionist Pedro Melo Alves has run the Conundrum series at the ZDB club (Galeria Ze dos Bois) in Lisbon, inviting a diverse set of improvisers, many for first time encounters, and recording the concerts which he presents here in this first volume: thirteen fascinating improvisations that challenge both the drummer and participants alike.

Move is the Lisbon-based trio of two Brazilian improvisers -- saxophonist Yedo Gibson (Eke, Naked Wolf) and electric bassist Felipe Zenicola (New Brazilian Funk, Chinese Cookie Poets) -- with Portuguese drummer João Valinho (Rodrigo Amado Refraction Quartet, Fashion Eternal), here caught live in a thrilling edge-of-your-seat concert at at B10Live in Shenzhen, China.

With two bass players (Wilber Morris & Rafael Garrett), two drummers (Denis Charles & Thurman Barker, violinist Billy Bang and tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe, this 1984 album covered pieces from Jackie McLean, Butch Morris, Ornette Coleman and Rashied Ali, here remastered with a previously unreleased 1984 session including a 2-part suite composed by Billy Bang.

Featuring some of composer John Zorn's most lyrical work, the duo of guitarists Gyan Riley and Julian Lage continue their collaboration in the series that started in 2015 with The Bagatelles and continues through Midsummer Moons (2017), Book Beri'ah (2019), and Quatrain (2023), as they render Zorn's beautiful merging of eclectic forms inspired by William Shakespeare.

Composed using an "exquisite corpse" method during the pandemic, where each player provided a partially complete track with instructions to expand their concept, enlisting an incredible set of musicians across the US & Europe, directed by Moe! Staiano, including Jesse Quattro, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, GW Sok, Amy X Neuburg, Darren Johnston, &c &c.

An exploration of tonal interplay and contrasting rhythms from nine electric guitars, bass, and drums by West Coast percussionist and composer Moe! Staiano (formerly of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), a work in three movements that features assertive rhythmic structures and intertwining string structures, balanced by beautifully ringing moments of introspection.

Reimagining familiar and more obscure works of Duke Ellington through the lense of contemporary improvisation, including "Mood Indigo", "Black and Tan Fantasy", "Self Portrait of the Bean", "Burmingham Breakdown", &c., from the powerful Who Trio of Michel Wintsch on piano, Banz Oester on double bass and Gerry Hemingway on drums, captured live at the 2023 Jazz Festival Willisau.

Exploring further the concepts of free jazz, saxophonist Ornette Coleman's back-to-back 1961 & 62 albums find the composer and innovator in a ground-breaking double quartet that includes Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Freddie Hubbard, Scott LaFaro & Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgns & Ed Blackwell; then with quintet with Scott LaFaro temporarily taking Charlie Haden's chair.

Titled for the length of the album (Thirty-Five Minutes & Twenty-Three Seconds) the duo of Foussat & Lazro, who have performed as a trio with Evan Parker and in the Clifford Thornton Memorial Quartet, concentrate their work into this incredible merging of transformative synthetics and textural sax expression, with moments of lyrical and alien beauty emerging from their sophisticated dialog.

The duo of French sound artists J-Kristoff Camps and Carole Rieussec, whose long-running duo project Kristoff K.Roll creates sound labyrinths of electroacoustic and acousmatic sources, meets with pianist Sophie Agnel and saxophonist Daunik Lazro for two extended works of sonic twists and turns, acoustic improvisation infiltrated with mysterious and startling sound; fascinating.

Rich in melody that's tinged with European folk music, beautifully orchestrated with viola, vibraphone, double bass, drums & percussion, Serbian violist Szilárd Mezei's compositions take listeners on a journey from melodic optimism to poignant moments of timeless history, indeed a narrative as from a timeless novel read with passion and sincerity; exquisite.

Expanding the enduring free improvising trio of Netherlands tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Luc Houtkamp, British pianist and player of electronics and objects Steve Beresford, and German drummer and percussionist Martin Blume, with Italian trombonist Sebi Tramontana for this exceptional concert captured live in 2023 at LOFT, in Cologne, Germany.

The first of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improv drummer Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, two contrasting sets from the first of a week of performances and studio recordings between three extraordinary collective players.

The second of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improvisational drummer, Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist, Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist, Rick Countryman, this energetic concert recorded after two days in the studio developing their collective sound.

Inspired by the geometric and illusory work of artist Bridget Riley, Catherine Lamb's "Curva Triangulus" borrows from Renaissance music that she "warps" by interjecting geometric musical figures, performed by the Proton Ensemble of Bern using traditional, new and historic instruments, all underpinned by the 16th century microtonal Vicentino arciorgano organ.

Two different version of Magnus Granberg's 2021 composition "Holde Traume, kehret wieder!" (Sweet dreams, come back!), first as a quartet performed by the Nattens Inbrott Quartet for which the piece was originally written, and then a second version performed with Granberg's group Skogen as a septet, adding additional parts to the original composition.

A mesmerizing and organically spiritual album of collective improv from three global travelers based around the NY and Chicago scenes--long-time collaborators William Parker, Cooper-Moore and Hamid Drake--their instrumentation on this beautiful album also uniquely global, including doson ngoni, shakuhachi, bass dudek, Serbian flute, Ney flute, ashimba, hoe-handle harp and frame drum.

A mesmerizing and organically spiritual album of collective improv from three global travelers based around the NY and Chicago scenes--long-time collaborators William Parker, Cooper-Moore and Hamid Drake--their instrumentation on this beautiful album also uniquely global, including doson ngoni, shakuhachi, bass dudek, Serbian flute, Ney flute, ashimba, hoe-handle harp and frame drum.

Led by two assertive New York improvisers, guitarist Ava Mendoza and bassist Devin Hoff, their band Revels includes extraordinary saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and drummer Ches Smith, performing compositions from both Mendoza and Hoff that facilitate wild interactions between band members and great freedom in soloing, an exceptional start to a new unit.

An extraordinary meeting in Berlin, where Portuguese cellist Guilherme Rodrigues resides, with Creative Sources label leader and long-time collaborator as a father/son duo, violist Ernesto Rodrigues, joining as a trio with US percussionist Ben Bennett, known for his work with Michael Foster and Jack Wright, for an incredibly well-balanced album of unorthodox technique and creative expresion.

Duo guitar improvisations performed on archtop acoustic guitars from French guitarists Christian Vasseur and Eric Mimosa, nine improvisations recorded in the studio in Mons en Baroeul, France using impressive technique in a well-matched duo of virtuosic playing and wildly creative ideas that run the gamut from extremely energetic discussion to spacious observation.

Paying homage to recordings from Mingus, Sanders, Thornton, &c, albums that shaped his approach to jazz composition and playing, trumpeter Frank London and his band The Elders--Marilyn Lerner, piano; Hilliard Greene, bass; Newman Taylor Baker, drums; and Greg Wall on sax on 3 tracks--perform six sophisticated London compositions that bridge modern improv with 60s post-bop lyricism.

TSSS Tapes brought together these three performers -- Belgrade violinist and sound artist Manja Ristić; Lisbon exploratory improviser and cellist Joana Guerra; and Argentine pianist and sound artist living in Rio de Janeiro, Veronica Cerrotta -- developing these two intensely detailed compositions of acoustic performance, field recordings and acousmatic sound.

British percussionist Tony Oxley returned to this piece multiple times after debuting it in the early 1970s, drawing on both European improv and contemporary composed music, heard in this previously unreleased 1992 live performance with the superb quintet of legendary trumpeter & flugelhornist Manfred Schoof, UK pianist Pat Thomas, US bassist Sirone and UK saxophonist Larry Stabbins.

Operating on the border between free improvisation and composition, the international electro-acoustic ensemble Šalter Ensemble present three incredible works composed by members of the ensemble -- Tomaž Grom; Jonas Kocher & Gaudenz Badrutt; and Elisabeth Harnik -- developed with the full ensemble, incorporating jazz, free improvisation, electronics & sound art.

Elton Dean's 1989 performance at the Covent Garden Jazz Saxophone Festival in London is reissued, bringing to light the powerful performance from saxophonists Dean on alto sax & saxello, Paul Dunmall on tenor & baritone saxophones, Trevor Watts on alto saxophone, Simon Pickard on tenor saxophone, plus the rhythm section of Paul Rogers on double bass and Tony Levin on drums.

The second release from NY guitarist Mary Halvorson's Amaryllis band of Halvorson, Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), with Laurie Anderson on violin featured on one track, for eight exquisitely optimistic, diverse and genre-merging Halvorson compositions.

Trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and drummer Sabu Toyozumi, who originally worked together in the band EEU, first played with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann as a trio in 2014, this live recording at Roppongi Super Deluxe in Tokyo captured two years later in a wild collective free jazz outing, Kondo augmenting his horn with electronics, as they explode three super-charged improvisations!

Derek Bailey's 1987 trip to Japan yielded a number of important recordings, including a duo with Mototeru Takagi, a trio with Sabu Toyozumi & Peter Brötzmann, and this concert at IMAI-Tei with Toyozumi, one of the first generation Japanese free improvisers and the only non-American to become a member of the AACM; here in three duos and Bailey's solo "Diaphragm".

A vital member of groups led by Jimmy Lyons, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, Joe Morris and William Parker, bassoonist Karen Borca is heard in two Vision Festival performances under her own name performing her own compositions in trio, quartet and quintet formations with luminaries Rob Brown, William Parker, Reggie Nicholson, Susie Ibarra, Todd Nicholson, Paul Murphy and Newman Taylor-Baker.

The first in NoBusiness' Ribea Live! series from Sam & Bea Rivers' famous and influential 1970's NYC loft series is this dynamic July 12, 1975 concert led by saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, in a quartet with Malachi Thompson on trumpet, Milton Suggs on electric bass and Alvin Fielder on drums, part of Studio Rivbea's Summer Music Festival 1975.

The lesser known hard bop trumpeter Booker Little died at just 23, but left a legacy in these two sextet albums that balance lyricism with freedom — Out Front and Booker Little and Friend — the former recorded with Eric Dophy and Max Roach, and the latter with George Coleman & Julian Priester, both albums with legendary players including Ron Carter, Reggie Workman, Art Davis, Don Friedman &c..

Bringing together two contrasting Impulse! albums from Aylers late 60's output: the exemplary free jazz release Live Greenwich Village in two sessions with core Ayler associates, brother Donald, Michael Sampson, Henry Grimes, Beaver Harris, &c.; then Ayler's challenging attempt to reach a more popular following in Love Cry, with Milford Graves taking the drummers chair.

A new take on the classic guitar, bass & drums trio line-up, bringing together three generations of improvising musicians--John Edwards on double bass, Emil Karlsen on drums and Dominic Lash, more typically a double bassist, here on a Telecaster electric guitar--in five studio recordings of great intensity and varying direction fueled by a minute attention to detail.

Based on a growing friendship and friendly improvisations developed between 2022 & '23, New York guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and saxophonist and activist Caroline Davis developed this set of ten songs--poignant, expressive, deeply personal, unconventional, illusory--performed with drummer Greg Saunier, reminding of the early Downtown NY scene in their confident fragility; beautiful.

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!

Beginning their tours as a duo in 2017 and expanded into the trio Kuzu, Bhutanese improvising guitarist Tashi Dorji and Chicago saxophone improviser Dave Rempis recorded these four exotically powerful dialogs after their 2023 tour, performing at The Sugar Maple, in Milwaukee, Rempis on multiple saxophones including the soprano sax that the late Mars Williams gifted to him.

The transatlantic trio of UK pianist Alexander Hawkins, NY drummer Kate Gentile and Canadian reedist Francois Houle are heard in four masterful spontaneous improvisations in their live performance at the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Houle performing on clarinets (sometimes two at a time) including the early, deep-note basset clarinet.

The first live recordings from 2021 in Switzerland of NY saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' Molecular concept of composition, inspired by molecular biology and yielding lyrical and sophisticated structures for his players, heard in nine compositions performed with the exemplary quartet of Brad Jones on bass, Chad Taylor on drums, Aruán Ortiz on piano and Lewis on tenor sax.

"Lovely" but also free to take some wild asides, Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov's quintet with trumpeter Ralph Allessi, saxophonist Sebastian Gille, bassist David Helm and drummer Leif Berger pivots around melodic cores from Nabatov's alluring compositions as he explores themes of love, refraining from cloying approaches through sophisticated and often edgy direction for his players.

The 3rd box set from Slovenian pianist & composer residing in Amsterdam, Miha Gantar, in five CDs collaborating with NYC improvisors and contemporary players performing Gantar compositions and collective improv, in configurations from a quintet, two trios including one with bassist John Hebert & drummer Eric McPherson, a duo with tenor saxophonist Zoh Amba, ending with Gantar solo.

Recording in the Merkin Concert Hall on a Steinway Grand Piano, New York pianist Matthew Shipp's seventeen numbered tracks of "The Data" takes listeners through a virtual history of jazz and contemporary improvisation, from beautifully lyrical moments to rapidly complex matrices of expression, balancing his approaches into an absorbing and rewarding album.

A stunningly powerful quartet of electric jazz captured live at the 2022 Freejazz Festival in Saarbrucken, Germany between German alto saxophonist Frank Gratkowski (Skein), Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Ground Zero, Altered States), electric bassist Dan Peter Sundland and drummer Steve Heather, performing four assertive, charged and cathartic collective improvisations.

A standout in the many collaborations between New York pianist Matthew Shipp and Brazil-born, NY-based tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, recording in the studio for eight elegantly lyrical improvisations that invoke both devotional and decisive dialogs, from an introspective "Prayer" to a dissipated "Lustihood", a spellbinding set of fraternal invocations.

Composer and pianist Simon Nabatov sets to music two major works of modern Russian literature — Mikhail Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog — each interpretation spanning an album's worth of material and performed with an extraordinary septet of chamber jazz performers through piano, sax, trombone, viola, cellos, bass and drums.

The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty.

Five years after their extraordinary debut album Illuminated Silence, the trio of pianist Izumi Kimura, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Gerry Hemingway present four compositions for free improv, two pieces reflecting on the current state of warfare, with two from pieces Kimura and one each from Guy and Hemingway, the liner notes from each artist explaining the impetus for their work.

During a sabbatical in London, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) renewed his friendship with percussionist Roger Turner, with whom he had performed in a trio with Urs Leimgruber; meeting at Turner's London flat, they developed the spontaneous language heard on this freely improvised album, Gallio on soprano, alto & C-melody saxophones and Turner on drums & distinctive percussive devices.

Thirteen years after his breakthrough solo saxophone album For Alto, Anthony Braxton is heard in an inventive solo concert on the same instrument, performing at the Altes Schlachthaus Theatre in Bern, Switzerland for a set of original numbered compositions, the standards "Alone Together" and "I Remember You", and two Coltrane pieces: "Giant Steps" and "Naima".

A wild "Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera" from composer & bassist Nick Dunston, performed with an ensemble of string players (including JACK Quartet) and vocalists, in a gripping hybrid of acoustic and electronic music, using the studio for post-processing to create Dunston's self-described "warped narrative", an understatement for this incredibly passionate, surreal and absolutely impressive work.

Right out of the gate one feels the energy and excitement between Japanese trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and NY drummer Jim Black, each pushing the other through strong instrumental character and outrageous technique over nine Tamura compositions recorded in the studio in Switzerland, their first recording in 25 years since their 1999 Buzz Records album White and Blue.