A solo double bass album from Colombian-born, Montreal-based improviser Pablo Jiménez, recorded at the Conservatory of Music in Montreal in 2024, where his imaginative use of extended techniques and deep engagement with improvisation reveal a distinctive personal language that merges avant and contemporary traditions into a striking and sensitive exploration of the instrument.

A captivating solo recording from multi-reedist Ned Rothenberg on alto sax, clarinets, and shakuhachi, showcasing his extraordinary mastery of circular breathing, overtones, and multiphonics in works of rhythmic intensity, lyrical sensitivity, and soulful depth, culminating in a graceful rendering of Monk's "'Round Midnight" as an aural refuge of beauty and resolve.

A collection of Yoshio Machida's soundtracks for NHK documentaries on artists Shinro Ohtake, Junichiro Tanizaki, and Maruyama Okyo recorded between 2020 and 2023, presenting a wide stylistic range from acoustic chamber works and dreamy piano reverberations to glitch electronics, steel pan melodies, funk beats, and jazz, highlighting Machida's versatility as composer and performer.

An evocative solo album from Yoshio Machida, who performs and overdubs steelpan, piano, bass, drums, and electronics in serene, poetic soundscapes where the transparent timbre of steelpan and keys weave ambient textures of nostalgic beauty, influenced by Buddhist notions of emptiness and form, recalling the refined aesthetics of ECM while creating a deeply personal aural refuge.

In a fully improvised solo recording, pianist Matthew Shipp channels a lifetime of discipline and influence into an expansive and deeply personal work whose shifting architectures, sly dissonances, and luminous pacing unfold with the gravity of composed modern classical music while retaining the spontaneous intensity of free jazz, reframing his sound in a broader, genre-fluid context.

A solo journey of striking imagination, Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser channels the modernist spirit of Blaise Cendrars in eighteen original works recorded in Berlin, blending sculptural sound, melodic exploration, and poetic abstraction into a deeply personal meditation that bridges contemporary jazz, literature, and sonic art.

Finnish composer Antti Tolvi's 72-minute realization of Morton Feldman's Intermission 6 transforms the brief 1953 piano score into an extended meditation on sound and silence, his patient, quietly unpredictable interpretation revealing the work's subtle randomness and serene depth, evoking Feldman's later explorations of duration and near-stillness.

Reuniting pianist Pandelis Karayorgis with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Randy Peterson, and featuring composer-pianist Eric Moe, this microtonal project bridges jazz and contemporary composition through Werntz's Capricious Nocturnal Variations, as Karayorgis' trio expands its themes with richly textured interplay and fluid explorations of the uniquely tuned Werntz Nocturne Scale.

The debut composer album from Apartment House bassist James Opstad presents five chamber works performed by Apartment House, the GBSR Duo, and clarinettist Heather Roche, tracing his evolution from electroacoustic exploration to intricately layered instrumental writing, where overlapping tempi, gradual transformations, and subtle harmonic shifts create a sense of suspended motion and quiet intensity.

A profound statement of non-idiomatic improvisation from cellist Daniel Levin, exploring the full tactile and sonic range of his instrument through shifting timbres, raw textures, and lyrical abstraction, forging spontaneous form in real time as intuition replaces memory and each gesture navigates vulnerability, intensity, and the transformative pursuit of musical freedom.

A visionary solo exploration from tubist Ben Stapp, merging extreme extended techniques, circular breathing, and multiphonics with a science fiction narrative of consciousness and transformation, unfolding ten pieces that traverse volatile timbres, subterranean drones, and vocal-inflected abstractions in a deeply personal act of world-building beyond mere instrumental prowess.

Recorded live in Tainan, Taiwan, the ever-inventive Jason Kahn strips his sound to acoustic guitar, harmonium, and voice, weaving fragile melodies and raw textures into an intimate, exploratory performance that bridges his electroacoustic sensibility with an unvarnished eccentric vocal presence of remarkable immediacy and tension, at times invoking a Basho-like spirit.

Drawn from field recordings made in Tainan, Taiwan and recomposed in Zurich, this album by Jason Kahn transforms ambient hums, distant voices and architectural resonances into a contemplative sonic map where place becomes material, silence pulses with hidden motion and listening itself is foregrounded as gesture, inviting deep immersion rather than narrative resolution.

Recorded live at Les Instants Chavirés in Montreuil, France, across two sessions in 2023 and 2024, alto saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet's second solo release on Potlatch captures his intensely physical exploration of breath, resonance, and spatial acoustics, rendering sound as an emotional and architectural phenomenon where perception, geometry, and air intertwine in a vivid study of "the thickness of the air."

Exploring the resonant depths of the serpent, a low-pitched lip-reed aerophone, and her own voice through effects and extended techniques, Belgian musician Berlinde Deman crafts an intimate and deeply personal sound world where breath, tone, and distortion intertwine, her slow and deliberate process unfolding like a meditative journey toward balance, discovery, and quiet transformation.

Uncovering long-shelved recordings from 2006 and 2010, Paul Dunmall reveals a rare side of his artistry at piano and organ, freely improvising with harmonic collisions, lyrical fragments, and bold dynamics that echo the adventurous spirit of Charles Ives, whose humor, vision, and audacity serve as both inspiration and dedication for these spontaneous performances.

A compelling solo work from Bryan Eubanks, recorded in Berlin in early 2021, where soprano saxophone and electronics trace fragile forms and fleeting memories, shifting from intimate acoustic subtleties to fierce circuit-bent resonances in a poetic exploration of sound, presence, and the quiet suspension of time.

Guitarist John Welsh presents a deeply personal solo performance captured live at Solar Myth in Philadelphia in October 2024, bridging free improvisation with the creative tradition of Great Black Music, including an interpretation of the standard "Just Friends" alongside spontaneous explorations shaped by his ties to the NYC improv scene.

PROMO COPY

Alone with his newly acquired 1947 Steinway Model M, Downtown New York pianist Anthony Coleman crafts an intimate set of solo explorations that probe touch, resonance, and the piano's physical poetry, transforming his long-fraught relationship with the instrument into a deeply personal study of sound, nuance, and the possibilities revealed by playing at home.

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.

Reimagining sounds from his past collaborations with Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Terry Riley, and Michael Wimberly, Thollem transforms their performances into new sonic landscapes through real-time improvisation using samples from their improvisations, blending organic and electronic textures into a kaleidoscopic exploration of memory, transformation, and infinite creative possibility.

Elliott Sharp's impressive series "Never Metaguitar" with releases on Clean Feed and Klanggalerie continues in this 6th volume of 18 remarkable and diverse approaches to the stringed instrument, effected and not, with contributors including Dougie Bowne, Wendy Eisenberg, Charles K. Noyes, AndrŽ Cholmondele, Toto Alvarez, Zona Zanjeros, David Torn, &c. &c.

A profoundly personal solo recording from Ken Vandermark on tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinets, captured live at Corbett vs. Dempsey in Chicago in March 2025, performing a suite dedicated to Joe McPhee that interlaces composed and freely improvised works — each named for symbolic flowers — into a deeply expressive tribute of melody, emotion, and inventive clarity.

An extraordinary solo piano album from UK pianist Pat Thomas, recorded at London's Fish Factory Studio, presenting eight deeply focused improvisations and compositions reflecting Thomas's lifelong engagement with Sufism and spiritual expression through sound; a luminous, exploratory work that unites the traditions of jazz and mysticism into a transcendent, profoundly human statement.

An extraordinary solo piano album from UK pianist Pat Thomas, recorded at London's Fish Factory Studio, presenting eight deeply focused improvisations and compositions reflecting Thomas's lifelong engagement with Sufism and spiritual expression through sound; a luminous, exploratory work that unites the traditions of jazz and mysticism into a transcendent, profoundly human statement.

An extended work for piano by Sarah Hennies, SOVT (Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract) transforms the instrument through putty-muted strings and resonant sympathetic vibrations, performed with rhythmic precision by Richard Valitutto in a hybrid piano-percussion sound world inspired by vocal-tract exercises and Hennies' exploration of voice, identity, and embodied resonance.

A debut solo album of eight songs for voice and guitar from Japanese singer-songwriter Shoko Numao, blending poetic introspection, translucent vocal timbres, and quietly expressive melodies shaped through years of performance, as she crafts intimate, subtly shifting pieces that balance lyrical clarity with a gentle, atmospheric sense of stillness.

Recording at the historic Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum, Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt performs twelve solo piano works spanning more than three decades of Swiss composer Jürg Frey's output, revealing an evolving yet remarkably consistent compositional voice through performances of great restraint, sensitivity, and quiet intensity, balancing fragility, warmth, and crystalline clarity.

An extended 7-part solo improvisation from Swedish double bassist Johan Berthling (Angles, Fire!, Nacka Forum, Sten Sandell Trio, &c) using magnificent technique, timing and pacing in a diverse set that includes a reference to Charlie Hayden's "Turiya".

A compelling and distinctive live solo recording from cellist Daniel Levin at Firehouse 12 in 2015, using extended bowing, percussive techniques, and resonant microtonal detail to explore the cello's outer limits, presented in Smeraldina-Rima's distinctive packaging with a handmade screen-printed fold-out poster and heavy-duty printed sleeve.

A collection of solo recordings by acoustic guitarist Jim McAuley, an improviser who redefines the classic instrument and whose music embodies aspects of jazz, blues, folk, and contemporary classic.

A split cassette and art booklet from US sound artists August Traeger performing as Odd Person, and Spanish sound artist Miguel A. Garcia, presenting works of experimental electronic sound, both diverse and extensive journeys through unusual sonic worlds.

Japanese alto-saxophonist Naoko Saito living in Tokyo presents a full solo effort, shaping airy subtones, soft breath, and tentative melodic fragments into a ghostly, introspective soundscape - a contemplative and quietly expressive improvisational voice that marks her emergence as a distinctive new presence on the Deathrash Armageddon roster.

Harnessing extreme tenor-sax techniques, Yong Yandsen - known for his collaborations with Christian Meaas Svendsen, Paal Nilssen-Love, Rick Countryman, Sabu Toyozumi, &c. - delivers a solo album that immerses listeners in wet, murky textures and grainy, pressure-driven timbres, shaping breath, multiphonics, and noise into an uncompromising sound world that deepens his distinctive improvisational voice.

Recorded in two powerful live sets at Café OTO, Sophie Agnel's first solo LP channels her post-recovery reinvention into a fiercely physical language for prepared piano, unleashing dense sound masses, interior textures, and sudden moments of clarity as she reshapes the instrument into a raw, personal terrain of gesture, resonance, and fearless exploration.

On the 30th anniversary of the Victo Festival Anthony Braxton took to the stage for a magnificent solo performance on the alto sax, performing 8 spontaneous compositions and an 8+ minute version of "Body and Soul", seamlessly crossing lyrical and complex approaches to the horn using his unique intervallic, trimbral and diagrammatic language, a stunning and embraceable accomplishment.

The fourth solo piano album from British improviser Pat Thomas on Otoroku, recorded at London's Fish Factory and drawing from his Sufi faith and the legacy of Arabic scientific innovation, as Thomas explores cosmic motion and spiritual resonance through dynamic inside-piano techniques, harmonic clusters, and deeply personal, rhythmically charged improvisations.

Asked to rethink the solo sax format, Adia Vanheerentals transforms this release into a series of site-responsive improvisations, engaging the soprano sax in active dialogue with surrounding environments — echoing spaces, incidental sounds, and ambient noise — using extended techniques, breath & texture to shape concise statements where location is a partner in an open improvisational framework.

A solo journey of striking imagination, Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser channels the modernist spirit of Blaise Cendrars in eighteen original works recorded in Berlin, blending sculptural sound, melodic exploration, and poetic abstraction into a deeply personal meditation that bridges contemporary jazz, literature, and sonic art.

In a subtly detailed journey, Nate Wooley layers field recordings, trumpet, piano, sine tones, whistling, and bodily sound into a stark, reflective work that probes the uneasy coexistence of nature, machinery, and human presence, shaping a quietly political soundscape in which environmental detail, isolation, and mechanical intrusion collide in fragile, contrapuntal tension.

Performing solo piano at the 2025 New York Forward Festival, Leo Genovese delivers a strikingly fluid and exploratory set where abstract, dreamlike themes move freely between lyricism, volatility, and spontaneous invention, revealing a deeply personal improvisational language shaped by risk, intuition, and the raw immediacy of live performance.

Working alone with electronics, radios, field recordings, homemade instruments, and voice, Georgy Orlov-Davydovsky constructs immersive electro-acoustic pieces shaped by specific physical environments, layering noise, drone, and fragile gestures into meditative sound narratives that explore borderline psychosonic listening states through dense textures and unstable sonic detail.

Steven Meketa, aka Meketa Power Electronics, in a solo work of sermons and electronics channels where Meketa's power electronics evoke a raw, faith-driven expression of endurance and confrontation, using grinding textures, spoken testimony, and sustained intensity to transform personal suffering into a stark and uncompromising sonic statement.

Using self-built breath vessels alongside tuning forks, sine waves, and voice, Liz Allbee creates a form of speculative folk music shaped by respiratory rhythms, resonant drones, and tactile gestures, unfolding a quietly epic, intimate, and immersive soundworld that imagines future collectivity through shared breath, material resonance, and electro-acoustic communion.

Two expansive clarinet-centered works explore psychoacoustic perception and collective illusion, the first album a swarm-like octet performance by The Paranormal Clarinet Society built from simple instrumental language with a rigorously structured multi-track, the second a solo improvisation that imagines ensemble interplay through breath, density, spatial awareness, and finely calibrated sonic detail.