The 5th installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.

The foundational work of composer and pianist Thelonious Monk is heard in these six remastered studio sessions for Blue Note Records recorded between 1947 to 1952, performing twenty three original compositions in bands from trios to sextets with a who's who of emerging jazz leaders including Art Blakey, Max Roach, Lou Donaldson, Kenny Dorham, and Milt Jackson.

Remastering pianist Andrew Hill's distinct and exemplary albums issued on Blue Note Records in 1965 & 1967: Point of Departure, illustrating Hill's complex and exciting compositions in a front line with Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham and Tony Williams & Richard Davis; and the percussively rich Compulsion with John Gilmore, Freddie Hubbard, Cecil McBee, & Joe Chambers.

Working only with a cowbell from a charity shop in NYC, percussionist Sean Meehan, whose performances often take place in locations of unique resonant properties, discovered the Fort Jay powder magazine at Governor's Island--a compartment once used to store ammunition and explosives--using its sonic properties to capture these two recordings reflecting the original purpose of that space.

A multi-channel sound work by Turkish-American composer Cenk Ergun, Cenk Ergün, first realized as an installation for six loudspeakers at Zionskirche, Berlin in March 2021 using the vocal work of UK countertenor Rupert Enticknap, who recorded long tones and melodic fragments that Ergün composed into works of dense choirs contrasted with periods of silence.

Better known for his work in avant compositional forms, both his own and as an interpreter of Xenakis and Toru Takemitsu, pianist Yuji Takahashi joined Japanese free jazz legendary percussionist Sabu Toyozumi in 1998 for this fully improvised live concert at C・S・Aka Renga, in Yamaguchi City, Japan, released in a collaboration with the Chap Chap label.

A free jazz trio session from 1995 at Cafe Amores, in Hofu City, Japan from the trio of late tenor saxophonist Mototeru Takagi with Korean improvisers, late percussionist Kim Dae Hwan and Choi Sun Bae on trumpet, performing five thoughtful and expressive conversations with an often Ayler-esque flavor; inventive playing from lyrical charges to pointillistic interaction.

A free jazz trio session from 1995 at Cafe Amores, in Hofu City, Japan from the trio of late tenor saxophonist Mototeru Takagi with Korean improvisers, late percussionist Kim Dae Hwan and Choi Sun Bae on trumpet, performing five thoughtful and expressive conversations with an often Ayler-esque flavor; inventive playing from lyrical charges to pointillistic interaction.

Three reed & wind players and a drummer, from Japanese saxophonist Mototeru Takagi's collective free improvising quartet with fellow saxophonist Susumu Kongo, Nao Takeuchi on tenor sax plus flute & bass clarinet, and drummer Shota Koyama, recorded live in 1999 at Little John in Yokohama, Japan for three well-paced conversations of weaving winds and rhythmic intervention.

An extended, warm and lyrically rich conversation between New York cornetist Kirk Knuffke and bassist Michael Bisio, recorded in the Park West Studio in Brooklyn, comfortably adept and filled with accomplished technical skill, their dialog flows easily through a variety of moods and topics, a joyful convergence of adventurous playing that never leaves the listener behind.

The third release from the Portuguese trio of Rodrigo Amado on tenor saxophone, Gonçalo Almeida on double bass and Onno Govaert on drums in a studio album of assertively exploratory improvisation that builds from stark clarity to impressive hard blowing soloing and group interaction, an outstanding album of modern free jazz.

Fall 2022 issue of Canada's most fascinating and diverse music magazine; Montreal Violinist And Composer Jessica Moss; Musical Repatriation and Reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous Peoples; sound artist Tona Walt Ohama; Interdisciplinary Artist Chloe Alexandra Thompson; electronic artist Mariana Vieira; Jordan Dykstra; Sabarah Pilon; The London Contemporary Music Festival, &c. &c.

Led by New York wind and reed player Chad Fowler, who performs here on stritch, saxello & alto flute, this collective free jazz album brings together frequent collaborators, bassist William Parker (with whom Fowler plays in Dopolarians) and drummer & trumpeter Anders Griffen (heard on Thinking Unthinking and the Music of Frank Lowe) for two extended improvisations from contemplative to assertive.

Focusing on lyrically inclined grooves with a relaxed pace, the details and thoughtfully "unthought" playing from the NY trio of Chad Fowler on stritch, saxello & alto flute, William Parker on bass and Anders Griffen on drums, are heard in the Park West Studios in Brooklyn for three extended collective improvisations of passionate, expressive and empathetic playing.

Finding common ground through independent work in Asheville, NC, drummer Jeff Arnal and modular synth experimenter Curt Cloninger started exchanging musical ideas, developing their concept to add powerful rhythmic elements into patterned energetic synthetics, building a language to improvise together and rework their material into these rich and exciting compositions.

Using extended techniques, Baltimore-based saxophonist John Berndt--director of Multiphonic Choir ensemble, a member of the Red Room collective and curator of their experimental performance series, and creator of the "Relabi" style of arrhythmic pulse--presents 15 succinct improvisations pushing his reed instruments to their outer edges in astonishing ways.

Assertively probing like a squid raging out of the sea, Street Tentacle is the trio of Chicago tenor saxophonist Jeff Chan, guitarist Da Wei Wang also on electronics, and drummer Jerome Bryerton on drums, cymbals, gongs, bowed metal & assorted percussion, in five assertive improvisations of an everything including the kitchen sink style; daunting and domineering!

A double album of electroacoustic improv sessions from Sommerville, MA, centered around electronic artist Andrew Neumann on the Buchla Music Easel--a complex additive analogue synth--heard in quartet and trio sessions with Forbes Graham (trumpet), Sandy Ewen (guitar & objects), Junko Fujiwara (cello), Damon Smith (double bass) and Eric Rosenthal (drums & percussion).

During a 1985 stay in Montreal, iconic German double bassist Peter Kowald asked alto saxophonist Yves Charuest to perform a series of duos with him, after which Charuest invited Michel Ratté to perform as a trio live at Le Bruit Court, recording in their studio these solid free jazz recordings that remained in storage for 37 years prior to this release!

The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.

Having originally met in 2016 when Viennese trumpeter Franz Hautzinger and Quebec electric bassist Éric Normand formed Torche! with Michel F Cote, Philippe Lauzier and Xavier Charles, the two improvisers developed this collage during the pandemic from asynchronous recordings, creating six dramatic and explorative compositions of incredible and unusual technique.

TOC, the trio of Ternoy, Cruz & Orins respectively on keyboards, drums and electric guitar, celebrate fifteen years of free improvisation with this expansive 4-CD set of recordings from the 2021 Spontaneous Music Festival in Poland; Lumen in Budapest in 2021; the 2021 Festival la malterie in Lille, France; and reissuing their 2008 CD on the Circum-Disc label, Le Gorille.

Exploring the Venus Flytrap (dionée attrape-mouche) through a trio of electroacoustic improv, with the acoustic elements from Clarisse Beriault on oboe and acoustic bass and Robin Servant on accordion, bassist Éric Normand providing the electric foundation to their sly and savage improvisations, all three using electronics & effects to emulate the thigmonastic carnivore.

With a common passion for the jazz guitar, from Jim Hall to Bill Frisell, from Rene Thomas to Brandon Ross, the core duo of Canadian improvisers, guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere and bassist Éric Normand, are joined by drummer Tom Jacques for a set of original compositions plus a Paul Bley piece, one by Gilles Vigneault, and two collective improvisations.

The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.

Drummer and conductor Nandor Nevai's NY trio with bassist Tim Dahl and bassist Trevor Dunn in the fifth iteration of his _ ("UNDRSKOR") project, championing a novel fusion-idiom referred to as 'Neauxtheque' which may be said to invoke "Danger Classical", the Martial Pop subgenre of Industrial and the virtuosic demands of Technical Death Metal.

A curious book of images from artists including Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Richard Dawson, &c. photographed in a location familiar to a touring musician--a budget hotel room--pictured laying on the bed with each artist's head covered by that room's hotel wall painting, from typically insipid to perplexingly unexpected.

The French Dark Tree label continues its curation of the unreleased material of West Coast pianist and band leader Horace Tapscott with this exuberant and substantial collection of live sessions at Catalina's Bar & Grill in Hollywood with Michael Session on saxophones, Thurman Green on trombone, Roberto Miranda on double bass, Fritz Wise on drums and vocal stylist Dwight Trible.

Two recording sessions yielding 15 recordings of solo harp improvisations in Rhodri Davies' fifth release on his Amgen imprint, beautifully intricate works from exuberant to introspective, with titles borrowed from the works of Lisa Jarnot, Ed Luker, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, Sun Ra, Nisha Ramayya, Sarah Riggs and Leslie Scalapino, and cover art by Jean-Luc Guionnet.

Influenced by bassist Simon H. Fell since first hearing him in 1994 in a quartet with Peter Brotzmann, harpist Rhodri Davies approached Fell to work together, enjoying 20 years of collaborations in many group settings; in 2020 Simon H. Fell became seriously ill and passed in June of that year, this extended improvisation being Rhodri Davies' heartfelt tribute to the great improviser.

A tribute to controversial and outrageous Quebec sculptor and installation artist Rose Drummond, through a collection of unusual, diverse, absurdist and absolutely remarkable instrumental & vocal songs drawn from saxophonist and composer Jean Derome's musical career, performed with Musique Actuelle luminaries including Michel F Coté, Joane Hétu, and Éric Normand.

A prime example of the early Bristol, UK jazz scene and saxophonist Paul Dunmall's association with it, this trio born out of the band Spirit Level where Dunmall and drummer Tony Orrell first worked, and double bassist Paul Rogers with whom Dunmall would go on to work in Mujician, here in two live recording with Dunmall on soprano and in a burning Coltrane mode; exceptional!

Reflecting on the 1952 Van Gelder studio sessions of The Thelonious Monk Trio with bassist Gary Mapp and drummers Art Blakey or Max Roach, 2021 pianist Frank Carlberg and drummer Francisco Mela revisited those recordings with bassist John Hebert in new compositions absorbing and quoting those icon works, and on two tracks, improvising conversations with the one and only Monk.

Stockholm pianist Alexander Zethson invited Greek saxophonist Nicky Kokkoli and guitarist Giannis Arapis to take part in his 13-piece Thanatosis festival ensemble VÖ; they then asked drummer Nils Agnas, bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg and trombonist Mats Äleklint to join them for this sublimely flowing sextet studio session, which includes works by Mingus and Coltrane.

Assertively dynamic solo piano improvisations captured live at the 2021 Monopiano Festival in Fylkingen, Stockholm from French-Filipina pianist Margaux Oswald, generating huge block chords over which she runs intricate and complex lines of clear and cohesive expression, pausing for delicate moments of space and introspection; wonderfully exuberant and well balanced.

Following saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski Octet album on Clean Feed interpreting Polish composers of the 20th Century, he continues his work in a quartet setting with original compositions inspired by 19th & 20th Century composers, including Schubert, Britten & Lachenmann, performed with Elias Stemeseder on piano, Max Mucha on double bass and Max Andrzejewski on drums.

The rhythmically rich Red Desert Orchestra assembled by pianist and composer Eve Risser is an ensemble made up of nine European musicians joined by African musicians and configured in several distinct ensembles, here as Eurythmia, collaborating with three Burkinabe musicians living in France for irresistible music at the intersection of jazz, West African and dance music.

Following their 2007 Clean Feed release Delphinius and Lyra the duo of Gunter Baby Sommer and Raymond MacDonald reach deeper into their collective creative conversation for sixteen succinct improvisations--confident, boisterous or introspective--including a 5-part series of "Miniatures", performed on alto & soprano saxophones, drums and an eclectic set of percussive devices.

Seeking to create an original repertoire for collective composition in a small group format, Portuguese wind improviser Bernardo Tinoco on alto & tenor saxophones, duduk & flute, and pianist Tom Maciel, also on synths and drum machine, sought to influence their playing with electronics and audio processing, on three tracks joined by drummer João Pereira.

The third release from the collaboration between the American avant-metal rock trio Sumac of guitarist Aaron Turner, drummer Nick Yacyshyn and bassist Brian Cook with Japanese legendary guitarist and vocalist Keiji Haino, for six rugged free rock improvisations captured live at the Astoria Hotel in Vancouver BC during Haino's 2019 tour of North America.

With one foot in fusion-oriented improv and the other in psychedelic/prog rock, the 4th album from the Norwegian quartet of Per Steinar Lie on lapsteel & electric guitar, Oystein Braut on guitar, organ & Mellotron, Julius Lind on double bass and Orjan Haaland on drums are joined by keyboard wiz Sigbjorn Apeland and percussionist Stale Liavik Solberg.

The of trio of Lisa Cameron on percussion, Damon Smith on double bass and Alex Cunningham on violin, continue their work after 2020's Dawn Throws Its First Knife with this cassette and download releases of five collective improvisations, using extended techniques amidst cogent conversation, from assertively exciting to darkly moody atmospheric interplay.

A well-balanced early 80s album in it's first reissue from Sun Ra with a 16-piece Arkestra, recording at Squat Theater in New York City, 1982 for a mix of Ra original numbers and songs including "Children of the Sun" and "Cosmo-Party Blues", plus a wild Sun Ra solo synthesizer improv, blues and traditional jazz numbers, and a layered percussion jam.

Ydivide is Swiss drummer Clemens Kuratle's multi-national quintet with Dee Byrne on alto saxophone, Elliot Galvin on piano & electronics, Chris Guilfoyle on guitar and Lukas Traxel on bass, a dynamic young band performing Kuratle's structured compositions allowing for energetic and enthusiastic soloing amidst collective group work and lyrically introspective moments.

A series of sixteen succinctly expansive, dramatic and moody collective improvisations, evocative music of rich melodic and rhythmic foundation that coax inspired tempests from misty lands and seas, at the intersection of Austrian Hurdy Gurdy master Matthias Loibner and Zurich-based West Kamerun drummer Lucas Niggli; absolutely impressive and beguiling.

Using musique concrète techniques, ECM-inspired jazz, rich layers of synths and hints of pop into immersive and affecting structures, composer Eiko Ishibashi, along with collaborators including Jim O'Rourke on guitar & acoustic bass, create a musical portrayal in two parts plus a coda of the character Jack McCoy, portrayed by Sam Waterston in the TV show Law & Order.

Both members of Evan Parker's Electro Acoustic-Ensemble and Colourscape, the ea-improv duo of Philipp Wachsmann on violin & viola and Lawrence Casserley using a signal processing instrument and percussion, are heard in these 2012 studio recordings in Buckinghamshire in 9 wide-ranging dialogs exploring permutations of playing, processing and transforming their instruments.

Philipp Wachsmann's acoustic violin is routed through his own electronics and then fed into the Live Electronic Sampling & Transformations (LiSa) systems of Michael Bunche, processed and re-performed using time-based transformations shaped by gestural input or as static samples, creating new and unexpected trajectories, sounds snd forms for Wachsmann's playing.

Beginning their collaboration during the 1970s in the Chamberpot Ensemble, the duo of violinist Philipp Wachsmann and keyboard and electronic improviser Matthew Hutchinson are heard in live recording from three London Concerts in 2002 & 2003, Wachsmann's violin extended via live signal processing and transformations, extending their dialogs in expansive ways.

Recordings from a unique concert at the Synagogue in Oerlinghausen, Germany in 1996 between long-term collaborators Philipp Wachsmann and artist Sarah Brigitte Eckel, Wachsmann improvising in the resonance of the synagogue on violin, viola, electronics & tape in response to Eckel's exhibition extemporizing five canvas painting and a floor installation.

The 2nd album from the duo of Japanese circuit bender Kayu Nakada, using circuit boards from electronic instruments short circuited for new effects, and Japan-based Canadian electronic instrument maker Tim Olive (845 Audio) on shortwave radio, magnetic pickups & undokai, recorded together in Kobe, Japan and then edited and composed into these two intriguing works.

An incredible performance recorded at Roulette in NYC by a large ensemble of 16 jazz luminaries of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds, led by composer and bassist William Parker, who explains that Universal Tonality is another name for love, the profusion of which is interpreted by vocalist Leena Conquest in a profoundly inspired concert of magnificent artistry.

A 2022 concert of acoustic and electroacoustic interaction at The Jazz Centre UK from the Trans Map duo of Evan Parker on soprano saxophone and Matthew Wright on laptop processing, the "+" in Transmap+ being trombonist Robert Jarvis, a versatile collaborator since London Improvisers Orchestra and here a 3rd voice expanding their spectacular open collective free improv.

Udo Schindler follows his duo album with drummer Eric Zwang-Eriksson @ Salon fur Klang+Kuns, Poetry?? Ein Wurfelwurf with this recording at BASIS_Sound_Space at MUCCA - Munich Center of Community Arts in Munich, Schindler on sopranino & tenor saxophones and the deep TUBAX, interacting with Eriksson's rapid-fire and uniquely voiced drum & percussion work.

A fascinating chamber jazz trio performing in a 2021 live concert in the Galerie at arToxin, in Munich, Germany from the collective free improvising trio of Udo Schindler on alto & sopranino saxophones & bass clarinet, Sebastian Gramss on double bass and Gunnar Geisse on laptop guitar, subtitled RESILIENT PERSPECTIVES... a real fact? [LowToneStudies#9+]

The MMM Trio of Carlo Mascolo on prepared trombone, Miguel Mira on cello and Marcello Magliocchi on drums & percussion recorded this album during a concert series in Puglia, Italy, placing each musician in a separate room with headphones, promoting the close listening and concentrated interaction each brings to their unusual approach to free improvisation.

With shared background in Slovik groups and ensembles including work with Szilárd Mezei and the Olfamoštvo ensemble, the Lih Kadim sextet of electroacoustic improvisers is heard in an exceptional 2021 concert of innovative and exploratory interaction, each recording taken from a successive night performing at the Cultural Centre, Bistrica Ob Sotli in Slovenia.

Reissuing the limited 2003 release on saxophonist Paul Dunmall's DUNS label, this wonderfully sophisticated concert at Victoria Rooms in Bristols featured collaborators and jazz luminaries Philip Gibbs on guitar, Neil Metcalfe on flute, Andrew Ball on piano & celesta and Hilary Jeffrey on trombone, a quintet of tempered intensity and incredibly expressive power.

Two 2022 live free jazz sessions from Malaysia, the first a saxophone duo between US ex-pat based in The Philippines, Rick Countryman on alto and Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen, appropriately recorded at The Saxophone Store in Kula Lumpur; then 5 trio improvisations recorded in concert at Live Fact in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia on the same tour.

The continuing collaboration from the collective free jazz trio of Philippines-based American alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, Philippines bassist Simon Tan and Swiss drummer Christian Bucher is heard in this studio session of eight lyrically inclined tracks of spontaneous interaction, a well-balanced mix of energetic grooves and contemplative group conversation.

Their first album after a 6-year break, the collaboration of vocalist Julie Tippetts and multi-reedist & electronic artist Martin Archer is heard in two distinct presentations: a large and stunningly complex suite with an ensemble of acoustic and electronic artists; and a sequence of 13 separate and contrasting songs, performed by various small groups drawn from the JTMA Ensemble.

Meeting in the studio with an open mind to approach, guitarist Justin Purtill and long-time friend, pianist Leo Genovese, are joined by bassist Sean Conly to record this set of original Purtrill songs, along with songs by John Hurt, Joe Price, and the title track by Bob Dylan, a relaxed and expressive session of jazz-based originals and interpretations.

An exhilarating departure from saxophonist Paul Dunmall's Coltrane-esque approach to free improvisation with this electrified quintet of Steven Saunders on guitar, Richard Foote on trombone, James Owston on bass and Jim Bashford on drums, playing with upbeat urgency through a set of Dunmall compositions, often letting Saunder's riffs take the foreground around a first-rate set of solos.

A flowing twilight electro-jazz cover of the standard "Stardust" from Japanese guitarist Bun Itakura and vocalist Mishio Ogawa, expanding the melody and Ogawa's phrasing with encompassing electronics and percussion from Takefumi Kobayashi; backed with an experimental "Mystery Making Factory" using paint brush, harmonic tone guitar, and mbira.

The second album from Argentinian cellist, composer and improviser Violeta Garcia, exploring the amplified, prepared, expanded and extended violoncello through 15 succinct solo expositions in an album that she describes as a "very hyper-sensitive monster", using unconventional, extended and sometimes terrifying technique amidst powerful creative expression.

Known for his resonant solo alto saxophone work, often recording with the New York City subways, this album presents ten unusual duos between Tamio Shiraishi and improvisers on piano, voice, cello, electronics, bass, guitar and sax, with Tim Dahl, Steve Baczkowski, Mico, Mike Sidnam, Austin Sley Julian, Nina Dante, Tara Fenamore, Leila Bordreuil, Chris Libutti, and Ami Yamasaki.

Fred Moten, prolific poet, theorist, critic, English Professor and 2020 MacArthur Fellow, provides the insightful and incisive text fueling the improvisation of New York drummer Gerald Cleaver and contrabass player Brandon Lopez, the synergy of Moten's words reminding of Gil Scott-Heron or Amiri Baraka; issued on LP by Reading Group, this CD edition adds two tracks.

Relentlessly playing through the pandemic, the husband & wife duo of tenor & soprano saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey honed their skills, developing this album of primarily composed pieces worked out through improvising; thirteen succinct, fascinating and sometimes quirky dialogs, displaying a depth that only two such close collaborators could achieve.

Each of the eight tracks on NY saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos' 2nd solo release for Relative Pitch is named for a type of stone--"Obsidian", "Feldspar", "Anthracite", &c.--each a unique take on its mineral counterpart through incredible technique and concentration, taking the alto saxophone into extreme or reflective territory complementing the nature of each element.

Swedish guitar improviser Jon Lipscomb (LOPLOP, Swedish Fix) takes his listeners on a rugged trip across the strings, using distortion, tremolo and rapid-fire technique as he mines territories between free improv, noise and rock, his nimble mind stopping to explore areas of interest then cascading into new, turbulent environments; frightfully powerful.

Wild, nearly unprecedented and an exhilarating direction in European Free Improvisation heard in the 1st recordings from 1966 of pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity band, a 14-piece ensemble that included young saxophonists Peter Brötzmann, Gerd Dudek & Kris Wanders, bassist Peter Kowald, bass clarinetist Willem Breuker, trumpeter Manfred Schoof, &c.

Wild, nearly unprecedented and an exhilarating direction in European Free Improvisation heard in the 1st recordings from 1966 of pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity band, a 14-piece ensemble that included young saxophonists Peter Brötzmann, Gerd Dudek & Kris Wanders, bassist Peter Kowald, bass clarinetist Willem Breuker, trumpeter Manfred Schoof, &c.

A superb chamber jazz trio from NY improviser and violinist Sana Nagano, with Karl Berger on piano & vibraphone and Billy Martin on drums & percussion, Nagano having a long history with each through Berger's Improvisers Orchestra and with Martin through Creative Music Studio, their connections evident in their articulately energetic and confident collective conversations.

A superb chamber jazz trio from NY improviser and violinist Sana Nagano, with Karl Berger on piano & vibraphone and Billy Martin on drums & percussion, Nagano having a long history with each through Berger's Improvisers Orchestra and with Martin through Creative Music Studio, their connections evident in their articulately energetic and confident collective conversations.

The free swinging Dutch piano trio of Michiel Scheen on piano, Raoul van der Weide on contrabass, cracklebox & objects and George Hadow on drums, in a set of buoyant and ebullient improvisations, a mix of composed and collective works that bring together tradition and freedom, melody and abstraction, while clearly enjoying their playful approach to creative jazz.

Originally released by Woof Records in 1982 on cassette, this double CD reissues an essential lo-fi document from The Work (Bill Gilonis, Mick Hobbs, Tim Hodgkinson and Rick Wilson) in live performances from gigs and rehearsals assembled in cut-up form, adding new pieces and expanding on others, joined at times by Catherine Jauniaux, Bob Ostertag, Chris Cutler, &c.

An album of intensive listening through concentrated improvisation from the long-running collaboration of French improvisers, Cyprien Busolini on viola and Bertrand Gauguet on alto saxophone, both using unfaltering techniques as they metamorphose their instruments from delicate silence to forceful tones, oscillating and vacillating across two extended improvisations.

Three recordings from percussionist Hans Lingens in his 2nd solo album on Umlaut, working at the intersection between improvised and composed forms of experimental music: "Nacht", a montage of prerecorded layers of mostly rolls and brush sounds; and two recordings in one take using close miking as he performs on a single cymbal with mallets ("Hund") and a bass bow ("Manatee").

An influence on the next generation of small band and bop players, vibraphonist and Band Leader Lionel Hampton's programs included both crowd-pleasers and sophisticatedly complex sections, heard here in this 1958 studio recording from Stuttgart, Germany while touring Europe, Ghana and Israel with his exceptional band expanded by three German jazz musicians.

Evoking images of Indigenous Filipinos through free improvisation, with titles referencing the rivers, rains and environment that define them, the multi-national River People quartet of Christian Bucher on drums, Johnny Alegre on guitar, Tetsuro Hori on bass and Rick Countryman on alto saxophone are captured in the studio in Manila for seven superb collective conversations.

Translating to "Voices from Heaven and Hell", the meeting of two Berlin artists--Amelia Cuni, whose vocal work is described as in/voluntary singing; and Alex Mendizabal, a sound artist who here electronically manipulates the voice of Cuni--using texts from poet Erin Honeycutt as the two apply diverse, fascinating and sometimes unnerving approaches to voice, utterance and expression.

The second release from the Chicago chamber-oriented, collective free jazz trio of Dave Rempis on alto & tenor saxophone, Tomeka Reid on cello, and Joshua Abrams on bass, expanding on their highly concentrative and contemplative approach to group dialog, a powerfully assured and seemingly composed set of nine impeccable improvisations.

Having previously released outdoor live performances integrating the sounds of NY into their expansive improvisations, the Playfield octet led by Daniel Carter with Ayumi Ishito (Sax), Eric Plaks (Piano & Rhodes), Aron Namenwirth (Guitar), Yutaka Takahashi (Guitar), Luisa Muhr (voice), Zachary Swanson (Bass) and Jon Panikkar (Drums) step inside to record three far-reaching and inclusive studio improvisations.

Recording in Detroit in 2021 the ruggedly extreme free jazz quartet New Monuments of Don Dietrich (Borbetomagus) on saxophone, Ben Hall on percussion, Camille Dietrich on cello and Tony Gordon on electric bass guitar shred through six collective improvisations, taking time for burning solo moments and electrically-fueled exchanges; scorching!

A handsome spiral-bound book to accompany experimental sound artist and turntablist Marin Rosenfeld's roygbiv&b project riffing on the title through performance memory exercises, with text including a "User's Manual", a foreward by musicologist Benjamin Piekut, color & b/w images from the performance & exhibition, and four fold-out pages with scores.