Continuing her series of large works inspired by the dystopic writings of Octavia E. Butler, composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell assembles Chicago improvisers including cellist Tomeka Reid, percussionist Avreeayl Ra, trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay and interdisciplinary artist Lisa E. Harris to explore facets of Butler's Parable of the Sower.

The first meeting for the trio of Tuvan free improvising vocalist & throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak, saxophonist Ned Rothenberg and turntablist Dieb13, captured in performance at Music Unlimited 33, at Alter Schlachthof Wels, Austria in 2019 for 2 improvisations — the 40 minute "Shave and a Haircut" and the 11 minute "Two Bits" — in incredibly creative and formidable music.

With three percussionists--JC Maillard, Franco Pinna, and Thierry Aprino--Maillard also playing bass & stringed instruments, plus vocalist and frequent Zorn collaborator Sofia Rei, Zorn's series "The Book Beri'ah" presenting the final 92 compositions in his Masada series initiates with this compellingly beautiful and propulsive album of song.

The trio of drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, electronic and turntable artist Lasse Marhaug and vocalist/electronic artist Maja Solveig Kjestrup Ratkje met at Cafe Mono during the Oslo Jazz Festival to perform these excellent and disturbing recordings.

French vocalist Claudia Solal provides the lyrics--sung-spoken narratives, prose and poetic forms--performed with pianist Benoit Delbecq, who uses internal preparations and a variety of creative approaches to keys, both intricate and melodic, setting the fascinating and insightful stories that Solal spiels; a wonderful union of instrument and word.

Distilling their larger group work on albums "Kumuska" and "Marmara Sea" to the duo of creative New York bass clarinetist & guitarist Elliott Sharp, and Bosporus vocalist Saadet Turkoz, whose free improvisation is influenced by European, Indian, Asian, jazz & blues forms, in an album of 9 songs about the familiar focused through a world view.

Twins of El Dorado is NY trumpeter Joe Moffett (Ad Faunum, Inzinzac) in a duo with jazz vocalist Kristin Slipp (Art Bears Songbook) performing original work and a text setting by composer Wes Matthews.

Originally developed for the soundtrack to Sean Martin and Louise Milnes 2011 documentary, "A Boat Retold", vocalist Maggie Nichols and pianist Peter Urpeth revisited the material for album release, creating this wonderful pair of extemporaneous, otherworldly narratives.

The first meeting of Austrian improviser Christof Kurzmann (The Magic I.D., Schee) and Montreal sound artist Elizabeth Millar (Sound of the Mountain, Ensemble Supermusique) in two tremendous multi-part performances live at the 2019 Suoni Per il Popolo Festival in Montreal, works of mysteriously vibratory backdrop, insinuating narrative voice and unsettling sonic interaction.

(Tama)Risky free improvisation with a free folk core of cathartic and unpredictable direction from the trio of guitarist Andrew Weather, bassist David Menestres and Charalambides co-founder Christina Carter on vocals, captured live at CO-OPt Research + Projects, in Lubbock, Texas in 2022 for an extended performance of unique expression and utterance.

Elliott Sharp's opera is a visceral meditation about the universal search for a safe neutral place, told through text reflecting moments and situations in cosmic and human history that resonate with current events of great urgency, and through creative sound performed by the vocal group Voxnova Italia, and the instrumental ensemble Musikfabrik.

Contrasting the explosively experimental side to his guitar work honed through the No Wave band DNA with glimmers of the lyrical approaches to his work heard in his acclaimed songwriting albums, Brazlian/Downtown New York legend Arto Lindsay shows his wide range of interests through thirteen succinct pieces of noise and thoughtful reflection.

Two large-scale compositions from "Through-Composer of Brutal Classical" Nandor Nevai, scored for 35 brass players and a vocalist, accomplished through 10 layers of Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), 9 of Steve B (tenor trombone), 7 of Ron Stabinsky (bass trombone) and 10 of Nevai himself on tenor trombone & voice; plus "Gospel Power Walls" for a chorus of 5 (bad) people.

Planning a duo album since 2019, this was to be pianist Keith Tippett & vocalist Julie Tippett first new studio album in 30 years, but tragically pandemic and Keith Tippett's passing prevented that, Julie instead turning to unreleased live solo piano recordings from 1979 through 1996 to which she added new vocal performances in the studio, creating eight impressive virtual duos.

Two percussionists--vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli and drummer/percussionist Roger Turner-- and two brass players--trombonist Giancarlo Schiaffini and trumpeter Phil Minton, who doubles on voice improvisation--are heard in these studio recordings from Udine, Italy for nine "Dreams" that turn introspective slumber into restless visions through profoundly paced playing.

A unique concert even by the standards of Victoriaville from The Growlers, a vocal ensemble who interpret heavy metal, known for their epic work "Hate.Machine" and "The Dayking" with participation from poet Fortner Anderson, performed here along with a comprovisation backed by an electronic track originated from electric guitar recordings.

A beautiful and contemplative performance of "Raga Marwa", a a hexatonic Indian raga and the eponymous raga of the "Marva thaat", peformed by Dutch-Czech master vocalist Marianne Svašek, and recorded in Stockholm, with Svašek and Swedish bass player Vilhelm Bromander both performing on the tanpura, a long-necked plucked string instrument used to create a sonic canvas behind the raga.

Formed in 1992 by UK keyboardist Pat Thomas, originally with the intention of exploring the energy of rock forms within non-idiomatic ea improv, this 2017 album with Dave Tucker on acoustic & electric guitars, Roger Turner on drums & percussion and Phil Minton on voice, was captured live at Cafe OTO in London for two extended, sometimes perplexing, but consistently amazing improvisations.

First recordings of composer Frank Denyer's "Melodies" series from the mid-1970s, arising from his ethnomusicological studies that explored the concept of what makes up a melody, or a note, creating a series of compositions with melodies of one note, then two, building up to a final work of 14- and 15-note melodies; includes a 24 page booklet by Denyer detailing the concept.

A unique exposition of an 1893 text by Robert Charles Hope exploring the legends of England's "holy wells", the water of which was purported to have healing properties, adapted to atmospheric songs by Drake and performed on a 1940 Hammond model BC organ and a Challen upright piano; delicate and descriptive songs that detail the legends and the hope they inspired.

A tour-de-force solo concert from the masterful improvising French double bassist Joëlle Léandre, performing at Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich in 2022, mostly performed through an astounding bowing exposition, accompanied at times by her worldless vocal improvising, the five parts of this concert evoking passion, power, and a lifetime of profound expression.

Meeting in Minneapolis, home of saxophonist & guitarist George Cartwright (Curlew), the quintet of Cartwright, Steve Hirsh on drums, Chad Fowler on stritch, Kelley Hurt on voice and Christopher Parker on piano have many collaborative and friendly connections, heard in their easy-going and informed dialog, with some quirks & comments tossed in to personalize these excellent studio sessions.

Having collaborated with EUPHORIUM_freakestra and Gunter Baby Sommer, narrator and actor Friedrich Kettlitz presents a 4-CD set of sound poetry using a language that pretends to be German but expands upon his native tongue, his deep voice carrying innuendo, humor, seriousness and articulate expression that fascinates regardless of the listener's own language.

Confidently forceful German free improvisation with an eccentric approach, from multi-instrumentalist Udo Schindler on clarinets, cornet & tuba and artist & improviser Etienne Rolin on basset horn, Glissotar (a continuous wind instrument) & a Bansuri flute, as they improvise over Schindler's poem (jetzt/now) from his cycle frequenz schaukelt / frequency swings.

The album title translating to Humanity, Polish improvising vocalist Natalia Kordiak demonstrates her skills both as a jazz singer and as part of the continuum of creative free improv vocalists, with a tremendous quartet of young musicians: Przemyslaw Chmiel on tenor & soprano saxophones, Mateusz Kolakowski on piano, Alan Wykpisz on double bass & bass guitar and Grzegorz Palka on drums.

Two movements from a live score for the classic silent film Terje Vigen by Sjöström composed and produced by Swedish pianist & keyboardist Alex Zethson (Angles 9, VÖ, Fire! Orchestra), two long-form tracks of dark and sombre, pulsating folk-drone featuring Norwegian vocal ensemble EMBLA plus appearances by, i.e., Christer Bothén, Kristin Amparo Sundberg and Goran Kajfeš.

The second part of Umlaut's Cartographie de rythmes, a sound exploration guided by an imaginary map of rhythm, here investigating the relationship between text and music through mysteriously breathing clarinet lines & harmonics by Fabrice Arnaud-Cremon, and patient narration by Julien Gaillard, Karl Naegelen and Aurélie Maisonneuve.

In the midst of pandemic, NY pianist & keyboardist Gordon Beeferman jumped on an opportunity to record in the studio, assembling saxophonist Michael Foster and drummer/percussionist Michael Evans to record with free improvising vocalist and story-teller Shelley Hirsch, whose nimble narratives guide these eleven interesting vignettes of far-ranging musical and sonic sources.

Scott Field's 9-part Sands for 20 instrumentalists, three singers, and a conductor, in this case Fields himself, employs a modular performance system that integrates composition and improvisation, the conductor selecting modules from melodies, phasing patterns, long tones, improv elements, fragmented short stories, &c., spontaneously assigned live; a fascinating accomplishment.

A mix of chaos, awe and humorously inspired improvisation from the quartet of Don Malfon on alto saxophone, Fernando Barrios on drums & objects, Marco Albert on voice and Misha Marks on latarra (a form of home-built guitar), recording in Colonia Buenavista de San Pedro Ixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 peculisar and absorbing improvisations.

Wandelweiser founder and composer Antoine Beuguer and French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos in a work for voice (Philippakopoulos) and breath (Beuguer), employing spaces of silence against utterance and sibilant expression, a patiently developing work that floats by in deceptively simple ways, captivating through each articulation that seems perfectly placed.

Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.

A study of language through the repetition of fragmented sound, demonstrating how repetition brings alienation of meaning, Cole creating a synthetic alphabet within an unsignified musical context of electronic responses, repeated until the listener loses contact or reference to the original word; a challenging series of transformations rewarding to the engaged listener.

The third volume in this free improvising series, starting with the collaboration of Polish violinist Patryk Zakrocki and guitarist Marcin Olak, varying the additional players as they explore chamber-oriented free improvisation, here with the impressive vocal improvisation of Anna Gadt and cellist Annemie Osborne, ripping apart the calendar in 14 monthly machinations.

PROMO HOLE PUNCHED THO BAR CODE

A diverse set of conversations between Austrian improvisers, drummer/percussionist Fredi Pröll (Trio Now!, Lull) and free vocalist Mara Kolibri, recording in the studio for seven concise and far-ranging dialogs, from cantankerous interactions to controlled incoherence of absurdly implied vocalization punctuated with creative percussive reaction, often returning to lyrical jazz-influenced moments.

Vocalist Savoldelli in an exquisitely-crafted album of overdubbed vocal work, with help from trumpeter Paolo Fresu and bassist Jimmy Haslip; elaborite harmonies, interlocking rhythms, exultant influences.

Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.

"The album is a studio version of a chamber opera prepared by Joanna Halszka Sokolowska at Opera// REMIX at Komuna// Warszawa. The...

A series of unusual compositions originally written by Jacques Demmiere and Vincent Barras, here reworked by Demmiere and violinist Anouck Genthon, each piece focusing on sounds, breaths, frictions, silences, vowels and consonants, weaving and complementing each other through a mix of traditional, extended and unconventional techniques; fascinating.

The pairing of German trumpeter Axel Dorner, and NY-born experimental artist Jason Kahn living and performing in Zurich, brings the tradition of avant free jazz and nonidiomatic improvisation into an unusual merging of techniques and approaches, each applying their advanced virtuosity to this intense concert, recorded during Hamburg's Zoom In Festival, 2017.

A musical theatre in 3 acts using texts, songs, free improvisation and compositional textures, "an evocation of the fusion between opposite forces-tight and flexible, male and female".

Joker brings together 12 vocalists, many core members of the Ambiances Magnetiques/Musique Actuelle collective including Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Michel F Cote, Lori Freedman, &c, performing unusual works of voice and narration composed by Joane Hetu.

German vocalist Birgit Wunsch leads this improvising trio with Edith Steyer on clarinet & saxophone and Alberto Cavenati on guitar, using abstract and atonal melodies in a chamber improvised setting for freely improvised voice, text and sound, crossing a sense of pop music with non-idiomatic improvisation of great technical and creative intent.

Recorded in the mid-90s, Livebatts! was a project of John White (Cornelius Cardew, Scratch Orchestra) developed to exploit "toy" keyboards of the 80s--cheap battery-driven instruments that hold tremendous potential for "serious" music-making--used here in a playful quartet with vocalist MJ Coldiron, Andrea Rocca (guitar & samples) and Nancy Ruffer (electrified flute).

A momentous 2020 concert at London's Cafe OTO, presented in two discs, the 1st with label leader Jean-Marc Foussat in a solo improvisation on synth and voice, the 2nd in a trio with Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone sax, and Evan Parker on soprano sax, the 2 saxophones weaving and responding to Foussat's remarkable alien soundscapes and vocalization in an immersive extended improvisation.

A ritualistic narrative work from multidisciplinary artist Dorian Wood and percussionist Thor Harris (Swans), with Carla Bozulich and Jarboe contributing their voices in an ensemble of contemporary and experimental arrangement, alongside guests David Coulter, Heather Trost, Jeremy Barnes, Michael Corwin, Ignacio Carvajal, Andrea Calderon, Elizabeth Warren and Patrick Shiroishi.

Two works written for a group of Australian performers living in Berlin--Jon Heilbron, Rebecca Lane, Jess Aszodi & Sam Dunscombe--by Australian composer and pianist Anthony Pateras, A Dread Of Voids developed for a residency at the Archipel Festival in Geneva after enduring a pandemic quarantine; and Patterned Language, composed for the Astra Chamber Music Society.

A collection of original songs recorded in NY & Paris from vocalist Hélène Breschand, also performing on acoustic and electric harp, in a duo with Elliott Sharp, who creates grooves and instrumental environments on guitar, analog synth, bass, toy piano and drum programming; unusually structured and richly detailed, from idiosyncratic to sensuous.

The title and text drawn from Samuel Beckett's last poem and meditation on language, "what is the word" and also his "Brief Dream", plus a poem from Barra O Seaghdha and two 18th century Edo Haikus, Barry Guy's exquisite work about life in transit through eight movements is performed with a stellar ensemble including Agusti Fernandez, Maya Homburg, Lucas Niggli, Percuy Pursgolve, &c.

Active in both contemporary music and as an improviser, Portuguese accordionist João Barradas is heard live at the 2022 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France, performing solo on a chromatic accordion, MIDI chromatic accordion and voice for an expansive, un-interrupted six-part improvisation that showcases both his technical skills and his emotional passion.

Quick-witted and intensely detailed improvisations between Japanese drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and pianist Chihiro Owada (Karasutou!), who also performs on pianica, with both free vocalizing, in eleven recordings captured at live performances between 2021 and 2013 in Ogikubo, Maebashi and Youtsuya, Japan, plus a bonus studio composition combining unused sources.

Active since 2008, the PLASMA 8 duo of German pianist & vocalist Thomas Reuter and saxophonist Andreas Krennerich explore the geological deposits of porphyr, a hard igneous rock containing crystals, through free improvisation, expressed here in 20 concise interactions of piano keys & strings, soprano & baritone saxophones plus unusual vocal utterance.

Ute Wassermann adds a unique expressiveness to this Berlin studio session, bringing her impressive talents as a free improvising vocalist along with her bird calls and objects, providing an unusual yet extremely complementary foil to the intertwined strings of the father/son collaboration of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues; idiosyncratically wonderful!

A 2022 live performance at The Vortex in London from the trio of Maggie Nicols on voice, Caroline Kraabel on alto saxophone & voice and Charlotte Hug on viola & voice, reuniting the partnership from their 2002 Emanem album, Transitions, each track taking its titles from an observational poem by Jenny Xie, rendered in expressive, mostly wordless vocalization.

A CD EP from North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, the first African American and third woman to receive the appointment, persenting her work "I Want to Undie You" expressing her sorrow at the unexpected death of her daughter Imani and a celebration of her life, with audio arrangements by Alec Ferrel, plus versions of the text and music only.

Irish guitarist and composer Scott Fields has worked with the poems of late New York writer Steve Dalachinsky over the years, here bringing together an ensemble of improvisers, electronic and contemporary classical performers to set a suite of six poems by Dalachinsky sung by soprano Barbara Schachtner, with interludes between each weaving them into a larger and satisfying opus.

A live recording at the famous Meteo Festival from the trio of Sophie Agnel (piano), John Edwards (double bass) and Steve Noble (drums), three of Europe's most active improvisers in an intense extended performance.

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.

Percussionist Michel Blanc's astounding 12-part work was composed around news events that occurred between 1972-89, in a tour-de-force of music drawing from improvised music, RIO oriented rock, and concrete sound; with Marc Ducret, Annabelle Playe, Anne Gimenez, & Antonin Rayon.

Lapsteel guitarist and electronic artist Mike Cooper and percussionist Mark Wastell, employing a paiste 32" tam tam and a shruti box, pay homage to the large acoustic sound mirrors used in Britain from 1916 to 1930 as an early form or radar, each of their detailed improvisation referencing one of the locations on the British south and northeast coasts.

Fred Frith's West Coast Cosa Brava with Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, and Matthias Bossi playing all Frith compositions driven by his love of the (improvised) rock format.

New York poet Steve Dalachinsky, indelibly linked to the creative Downtown NY jazz scene, in duos with French double bass player, improviser and composer Joelle Leandre, recorded live at Rogueart in Paris, May 2012.

Drawing on the work of Steve Lacy's quintet, Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome pays homage to the late saxophonist through a selection of 9 Lacy pieces with lyrics from Brion Gysin, Lao Tseu, Herman Melville, &c, in a quintet with Derome on alto sax, bass flute & voice, Karen Young providing vocals, Alexandre Grogg on piano, Normand Guilbeault on bass, & Pierre Tanguay on drums.

A surreal and sophisticated work with a 9 piece electroacoustic ensemble composed by sampling and computer artist Roberto Fega, with audio interludes and vocal aberrations, plus text by Jennifer Scappettone.

A commissioned work by Stanser Musik-Tage created during Frith's residency at the Benediktinerinnen-kloster Maria-Richenbach and premiered at the Festival on April 22, 2004.

Having played in trio settings before, pianist Satoko Fujii and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez seized the opportunity to record as a duo in the studio in NY, bringing just two Fujii compositions to guide them, they began freely improvising, creating this stunning album of elegant interaction, peaceful yet detailed, intuitively beautiful and sophisticated music.

The Normand Guilbeault Ensemble with Jean Derome, Matthieu Belanger, &c. continue to create incredible interpretations of the music of Charles Mingus.

Drummer Gerry Hemingway in a CD & DVD release, 15 audio tracks and accompanying video and interview, dividing the program into "mist, dust, light, and sex", highlighting aspects of this prominent percussionist that expand our understanding of his prodigious abilities.

Pieces in 4 movements - Snow; Never Cold; Gusts; Landscapes - performed by Ensemble SuperMusique: Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Tanguay, Scott Thomson & Alexandre St-Onge.

The unlikely combination of tuba and spinet from Carl Ludwig Hubsch and Christoph Schiller (Millefleurs) taking each instrument beyond their traditional sound through extended technique and style.

Petr Vrba and Veronika Mayer use non-idiomatic improvisation to research the combination of textural materials, crossing them with vibrations of objects on the speakers, pure sound waves, feedbacks, tones coming from trumpet, accordion, electronics, and laptop, culminating in the creation of a muscular frenetic soup of tense energy fields.

The Little Village Foundation run by keyboardist Jim Pugh assembled this band through Indian blues harmonica player & singer Aki Kumar, who brought drummer June Core and guitarist Rome Yamilov, deciding to make the release a "crazy guitar album" by adding Henry Kaiser; along with vocalist Lisa Leuschnet they hit the mark in an exuberantly diverse set of blues performing the music of J.B. Lenoir.

Pianist Dirar Kalash is a Palestinian performer, whos concerts combine free improvisation, text, sound, image, video and movement; opportunities to record and perform are rare, but on a visit to the UK in 2020 Simon Reynell (Another Timbre) was able to record these two extended and exemplary improvisations at St Paul's Hall at the University Of Huddersfield.

Two suites recorded in 1978 from the French improvising quintet of Jouk Minor on baritone saxophone & contrabass clarinet, Josef Traindl on trombone, Jean Querlier on alto saxophone, Christian Lete on drums and Dominique Regef on hurdy gurdy, two journeys guided by waves of drone from Regef's hurdy-gurdy as each player emerges and subsides in billows and surges of collective expression.

One of the pioneers of laptop electronics, Mori here features her idiosyncratic take on contemporary dance rhythms and electronica in instrumental tracks and an animated video.

A beautifully paced and uniquely voiced album of electronic soundscapes from luminary New York performer Ikue Mori, 10 works including a realization of Izumi Kyoka's story "Koya Hijuri", 3 pieces for Mozu birds, the 2-part "Pomegranate Seeds", and one of Zorn's Masada compositions.

Tonewheel organ meditations along with feedback and sound forms using processed guitar, keyboards and field recordings from sound artist Jamie Newton, 2 slowly evolving tonal works sandwiching three more turbulent pieces in a journey of drone, noise and reflection.

As part of the Polish website Jazzarium.pl's 5th anniversary celebration, UK tenor saxophonist Evan Parker joined the Polish RGG free-improvising piano trio of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass, and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums, for this four-part sophisticated collective improvisation recorded at the legendary Alchemia club in Krakow.

The Ratchet Orchestra is a large ensemble of 30 fringe musicians from Montreal headed by director Nicolas Caloia whose compositions allow for improvised chamber jazz and showcase the talents of the orchestra's most passionate players.

"As Frogworth says in one review: 'Two giants of Australian avant-garde music getting together here, dedicating their record to Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, whose house in Paddington, Sydney is used for residencies/sabbatic...

San Francisco Bay Area guitarist John Schott (Junk Genius, T.J. Kirk, Tom Waits) in his 3rd release on Tzadik with his trio of Dan Seamans on bass and John Hanes on drums, 8 upbeat compositions including one for James Blood Ulmer; lyrical pieces with tight interplay.

Live recordings in 2015 from Bim Huis, and in Quintavant/Audio Rebel in Rio de Janeiro, the first a tribute to the late saxophonist Ornette Coleman in a 3 part suite of fast-paced and insightful improv; the 2nd "Quantum Illusion", an introspective and rich 2-part work.

The Norwegian & Danish freejazz-noise-rock trio Yes Deer of Anders Vestergaard on drums, Karl Bjora on guitar and Signe Dahlgreen on sax, in their second album of high energy, cacophonous and brutally joyful (they say "enthusiastic despair") collective improvisation.

The final night of Otomo and Sachiko's first residency at London's Cafe OTO in 2009 saw the pair joined by the long-running trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards and Tony Marsh and special guest John Butcher, for an exceptional set of creative improvisation.

An outrageous interpretation of Alfred Jarry's fictional character Ubu performed with with the International Contemporary Ensemble and core Downtown New York performers Ikue Mori, Ches Smith and Zorn himself, using Zorn's quick cut approach to composition; presented along with a work inspired by French poet Charles Baudelaire and an elegy to painter Paul Gauguin.