A strong session from formidable alto saxophonist Rob Brown, presenting six compositions performed with the extraordinary grouping of trombonist Steve Swell, double bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Chad Taylor, all beautifully recorded in the studio, showing the incisive soloing of each player as they keep their listeners swinging on the edges of their seats.

The first recording from these four exceptional improvisers--Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano saxophones, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Mark Feldman on violin, and Tom Rainey on drums--a session of collective improvisation fueled by each other's familiarity through shared projects over many years, yielding these remarkably cohesive and articulate recordings.

For their 10th album, the duo of multi-reedist Ken Vandermark and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love took inspiration from experimental cinema, enlisting producer Lasse Marhaug to scour YouTube for concerts from their past 10 years, extracting 60 seconds of audio from each and joining them into 2-minute segments, 21 of which create this unusual album of awe-inspiring performance.

An absurdly paced and spectacular album of electronic improvisation, percussion and voice, as the West Coast improvising trio Monopiece of Nathan Corder on electronics, Matt Robidoux on guitar, and Timothy Russell on percussion meet legendary improvising vocalist and electronics artist Jaap Blonk, recording at The Center for Contemporary Music, at Mills College.

Now a distinct edition of saxophonist Martin Kuchen's concept, the Angles 9 ensemble is captured live at the Zomer Jazz Fiets Tour in The Netherlands in 2018, performing Kuchen's embraceable and lyrical compositions, allowing his masterful band--including Magnus Broo, Johan Berthling, Mattias Stahl, &c.--great opportunities for collective playing and profound soloing.

Performing live at The Vortex in London and live at the DKDM studio in Copenhagen, legendary UK saxophonist Evan Parker joins Swedish pianist Jacob Anderskov's trio Kinetics with Adam Pultz Melbye on bass and Anders Vestergaard on drums, recording these four masterful improvisations of full-force momentum, concentration, exploration and exultation.

Turning to one third of his more familiar Red Trio setting, percussionist/drummer Gabriel Ferrandini enlists bassist Hernani Faustino and tenor saxophonist Pedro Sousa (Sousa/Berthling/Ferrandini, PeterGabriel Duo) to perform 9 Ferrandini compositions named after streets in Lisbon leading from Ferrandini's house to his studio and then to ZDB.

Recording live in the Namouche Studios in Lisbon in 2018, trumpeter Sei Miguel's octet performs a large work translating to "Fire Car", inspired by William Blake's "Jerusalem" (Chariot of Fire), reminding of early 70's Miles/fusion work as organist Andre Goncalves creates an atmospheric backbone over which the band introduces repetition and variation; mysterious and singular.

Saint Petersburg alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov and Lisbon drummer Gabriel Ferrandini in a studio album uniting two continents through exploratory free improvisation of exemplary skill and intense concentrative discourse, bringing Belorukov's creative approach to the instrument in close conversation with Ferrandini's powerful technique and clever interventions.

The 2nd album for East/West Coast double bassist and composer Mark Dresser's Seven band, in a diverse set of lyrically intricate Dresser compositions using unusual and compelling rhythmic structures, with Nicole Mitchell on flute, Marty Ehrlich on clarinets & sax, Keir GoGwilt on violin, Michael Dessen on trombone, Joshua White on piano, and Jim Black on drums.

The perfect foils for each other, German saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and French AKS sysnthesist Jean-Marc Foussat are heard in two complete concerts, one at the WIM in Zurich and one at the Kunsthalle in Lucerne, both exploring sound, timbre, momentum and atmosphere through extended techniques and extreme playing, and an amazing display of soundscape and sonic force.

The UK ensemble Apartment House performs two works--Olivier Messiaen's "Quatuor pour la fin du Temps" in 6 movements; and Linda Catlin Smith's "Among the Tarnished Stars"--taking a fresh modern approach to the Messiaen, drawing out its experimental character, and the sense of drama and intricate gradations of sonority in Smith's rich and mysterious work.

During the tour in support of their "Tse" release, the quartet of Cyril Bondi on Shruti box, pipe & harmonica, Christoph Schiller on spinet & effects, Pierre-Yves Martel on Viola da Gamba, pipe & harmonica, and Angharad Davies on violin, captured this performance at London's Cafe OTO, improvised over a sequence of pitches with astonishing creativity.

Violinist Mira Benjamin requested British composer James Weeks write a long-duration piece for her, Weeks evoking the image of a violin alone in a remote hill played only by the wind, using an evolving palette of timbral and harmonic material resolving with long sequences of Just Intonation three-part chords, Benjamin also whistling and singing softly.

The sophisticated compositions of New York pianist Matt Mitchell on piano, also performing on synthesizer, are heard in this quintet with Miles Okazaki on electric & acoustic guitars, Patricia Brennan on vibraphone & marimba, Kim Cass on bass, and Kate Gentile on drums & percussion, a challenging album that rewards through intensity and incredible detail.

Recording in Saskatoon in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan the day before their performance at the Sounds Like Festival, audio explorer Tim Olive brings his magnetic pickups in a first meeting with Doreen Girard performing on a prepared tsymbaly, a Ukranian hammer dulcimer, for a single, unusually evolving, and wonderfully rich improvisation.

Performing in concert at Iklectik in London in 2017, the UK and Norwegian free improvising trio of Pat Thomas on Moog Theremini & IPad based electronics, John Butcher on saxophones, and Stale Liavik Solberg on drums & percussion impress through a mix of masterful free playing and eclectic electroacoustic conversations, an adventurous and wonderfully unpredictable set.

An excellent example of modern fusion as drummer G. Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman, James Blood Ulmer), also on pocket trumpet, joins the Phoenix Orchestra, a Philadelphia-based string & electric octet, for a funk driven album of spectacular playing with melodic force and compelling rhythm, showing shades of Cobham or Mahavishnu but with its feet fully in the present.

Two works from German composer Andre O. Moller: 9 Dances for Natalie Bohrer, a visual artist and painter, in a work deriving pitches and durations from a transformation of numbers, using Christoph Schiller's album "spinet" as sources; and "ungerarde" exploring pitch relations from a recording of radio static with durations in a proportional canon structure.

Three detailed and fragile compositions from German minimalist composer Eva-Maria Houben reveal themselves over two CDs, performed by the Boston-based experimental music ensemble, Ensemble Ordinary Affects, with Houben herself on organ recording at Memorial Chapel, in Wesleyan University, CT: three movements from "echo fantasy"; "gesang XI"; and "unter anderen".

When the Zeitkratzer Ensemble was asked to perform a late ensemble work by John Cage, director Reinhold Friedl turned to composer Burkhard Schlothauer, who reworked one of Cage's Number Pieces to create this rich piece using Cage's methods; plus a composition for the dance piece "Bewegte Bauhausbilder"; and an octet commissioned for the Klangzeit-Festival Time Is On My Side.

Several of late Swiss composer Hans-Jurg Meier's works are performed in duo, trio and quartet settings, whose compositions merged baroque forms with translations of architecture, «qEndeavoring to make physically tangible the sensual qualities of the musical material (tones, intervals, texture) while exploring the interaction of nature, form and beauty.

Antoine Beuger's piece merges compositional and improvised approaches, drawing on the text "the memories of RN", as he performs on flute, voice and objects with the electroacoustic improvising ensemble Colectivo maDam, merging long instrumental phrases with words, syllables or letters, using space and detachment to create numerous possibilities to resonate.

A unique pairing of reeds, piano and spinet captured live at Le Singe Club in Biel, Switzerland in 2018 between multi-reedist Hans Koch and keyboardist Jacques Demierre, a wild ride from frenetic interaction to introspective experimental, both using unusual techniques and Demierre playing inside his keyboards, a truly excellent and thrilling concert.

After a NY session for a Giuseppe Logan album, guitarist Ed Pettersen and pianist & instrument builder Cooper-Moore recorded their own acoustic quartet with Cooper-Moore on piano, then headed to Nashville to record acoustic and electric improv sets, then finally this gospel set with "Reverend Eddie Bones", all presented on 3 CDs in a keepsake tin in a printed cloth bag.

Part of Evan Parker's 70th birthday in 2014, this album captures the super-charged quartet of Evan Parker on tenor saxophone, Mikolaj Trzaska on alto sax, bass clarinet, John Edwards on double bass, and Mark Sanders on drums, in two sets for two extended improvisations of both power playing and powerful communication, along with one shorter final statement.

Radical masters of free jazz--Spanish pianist Agusti Fernandez and British bassist Barry Guy--meet young(er) radical trumpeter Peter Evans at the Moscow Cultural Center DOM for this 2017 concert of free improvisation, a fiery and informed concert of two sets, each in three parts, and an encore, showing technical mastery, inventive interaction, and sheer excitement in performance.

Three concerts from 2016 & 2017 of different string duos anchored by Leandre's double bass, starting at rue Victor Masse 75009 in Paris in a double bass duo with Bernard Santacruz; then a bass and cello duo at Le Triton Les Lilas, France with Gaspar Claus; and completing the set, a performances at DZIK, in Warszaw, Poland with violinist and violist Theo Ceccaldi.

Three astonishing concerts on 3 consecutive nights at the Ad Libitum Festival 2017 in Warsaw, Poland from British bassist Barry Guy in 3 configurations: 1st in a duo with Spanish pianist Agusti Fernandez; 2nd in a trio with US pianist Marilyn Crispell and British drummer Paul Lytton; and 3rd in a double bass duo with French bassist Joelle Leandre.

An awe-inspiring concert between two of London's free improvisation legends, recording at Pardon To Tu [Teatr Nowy Clubroom] in Poland--percussionist Eddie Prevost and saxophonist Evan Parker on tenor sax--in an hour-long performance that starts with Prevost's reverberant bowed metal, as the two build and recede with profound concentration and masterful skill.

Two trumpeters--Nate Wooley from New York City, and Torben Snekkestad from Norway, also performing on soprano sax--met in Copenhagen in 2015 for this live concert "KoncertKirken--Blagards Plads", a monumental meeting of exploratory and investigative improvisation, using unusual and unorthodox techniques on their instruments to present 3 unique and singular dialogs.

A brilliant example of free improvisation from the performing trio of Barry Guy on double bass, Agusti Fernandez on piano and Torben Snekkestad on sax & trumpet, recording live at KoncertKirken Ð Blagards Plads in Copenhagen, merging shards of jazz and fully free playing using astonishing technique and creative intention that is as rewarding as it it intrepid.

The Quebec ensemble GGRIL of eclectic instrumentation, acoustic and electronic, with an open-minded approach to developing large-scale works bringing together approaches to improvisation and contemporary composition, here presenting three works from residencies with John Butcher, Isaiah Ceccarelli and Xavier Charles recorded from 2016 through 2018.

Don Redman was an American big band leader popular in the 1930's, responsible for work on animations, sound tracks, and recordings of pre-swing hot jazz arrangements of popular tunes; here the French Umlaut Big Band under the direction of Pierre-Antoine Badaroux pays homage to his music in rich orchestration showing the melodic, inventive, and complexities of Redman's music.

Combining the work of 18 artists chosen to interpret a series of sacred rites that took place deep within the woods by an elite shaman of an Amazon tribe, including Squidco's own Carl Kruger & phil zampino, Cheval Gris (Ryan Lewis) weaves an incredible story in sound, a virtual soundtrack of rich aural environments, concrete elements, and ritualistic sound.

Performing at St. Ann's Church in Dublin, Ireland, the trio of Japanese pianist living in Ireland, Izumi Kimura, is joined by London bassist Barry Guy and Swiss based drummer Gerry Hemingway for 8 superb improvisations, including renderings of Guy's "Blue Horizon", "Ancients" and "Finding It" and Agusti Fernandez' "How to Go Into a Room You Are Already In".

A complete, powerful performance at London's Vortex club from the indefatigable quartet led by Canadian saxophonist Francois Carrier, featuring one of the finest European young piano virtuosos, Alexander Hawkins, one of the most in-demand bass players on the Euro/London free improv scene, John Edwards, and long running partner to Carrier, drummer Michel Lambert.

The Catalan free improvising trio Phicus of Alex Reviriego on double bass, Ferran Fages on electric guitar, and Vasco Trilla on drums, continue their pursuit of 4th partners, here joined by Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen on tenor & alto saxophones for a studio album of collective improvisation with elements of ea/lowercase playing balanced with dynamic language.

Exploring the low end of the clarinet family with Jason Alder on bass, contra bass, B flat & E flat clarinets, Yoni Silver on bass clarinet, plus Caroline Kraabel on baritone saxophone & voice, Thanos Chrysakis expanding the sonic space with laptop & synthesizers, in a 5-part series of beautifully paced, absorbing and subtly detailed collective improvisations.

Downtown bassist mainstay Trevor Dunn, a vital element of many Zorn projects, alongside his own improvisation and compositional work, in his first chamber music album: quartet and trio orchestrations with Trevor Dunn on contrabass, Carla Kihlstedt, Cornelius Dufallo or Jennifer Choi on violin, Vicky Chow on piano, Yves Dharamraj on cello, and Lev Zhurbin on viola.

Devoted to the people who helped make these pieces come about, including Franco D'Andrea, Carla Bley, Mary Lou Williams, and Dizzy Gillespie, from the NY trio of Dave Douglas on trumpet and long-time collaborator, pianist Uri Caine, joined by master drummer and percussionist Andrew Cyrille for 10 sophisticated and joyful works in modern creative jazz.

Virgin vinyl gatefold remastered issue of Zorn's 2015 Dreamers album with Cyro Baptista on percussion, Joey Baron on drums, Trevor Dunn on bass, Marc Ribot on guitars, Jamie Saft on keyboards, and Kenny Wollesen on vibes, a lyrical album of tuneful compositions and superb soloing, with beguiling compositions inspired by the imaginary worlds of fantasy literature.

At around 20 years of collaboration, the duo of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman has redefined the dialog between European and American approaches to improvisation and composition, bridging traditional and modern approaches, here in a studio album of power and restraint, energy and fragility, discipline and freedom.

Weasel Walter is the constant in the no-wave influenced free improvising band Flying Luttenbachers, formed in 1991 and on hiatus since 2007; Walter reassembled the concept in 2018 for a tour in France, then again in 2019 with this lineup of saxophonist Matt Nelson, guitarist Brandon Seabrook and bassist Tim Dahl, recording this startling, demanding and excellent album.

A lyrical piano trio album from Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer and two Portuguese musicians, pianist Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva and bassist Mario Franco, recording in France for 13 sophisticated pieces of melodic compositions used as a jumping off point for nuanced improvisation and exploration, all three revealing beauty in embraceable motifs and luminous song.

Performing in Krailling-Munich at Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang+Kunst in 2018, Netherland free improvising, brilliantly mad vocalist Jaap Blonk joins the reed master for ten acoustic improvisations with Schindler on a variety of reeds and brass instruments, the dialog authoritatively informed, masterful, slightly deranged, and continuously captivating.

Through extended approaches to their instruments, Lebanese saxophonist Christine Abdelnour and NY drummer and slide clarinetist Chris Corsano create anomalous and unorthodox sound environments, Abdelnour making acoustics sound electronic through growls, smears and odd harmonics, while Corsano abuses an impressive palette of sound from every inch of his drums.

This smoking album of free jazz leads the New York trio of Steve Baczkowski on saxophone, Brandon Lopez on bass, and Chris Corsano on drums to fiery playing as they burn up the stage at Hallwall, in Buffalo, New York in 2018, over seven concise collective conversations expressing both passion, restraint, and profoundly masterful skill.

Long-time collaborators, guitarists Henry Kaiser and Eugene Chadbourne perform the compositions of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, starting with their recording from 1977 of his "Wind Crystals", then improvising over 5 other Smith compositions, ending the album with an updated, 2017 version of "Wind Crystals"; an excellent refresh and retrospective from two incredible improvisers.

Born out of Eugene Chadbourne's Twins band concepts from the 70s, which included over time saxophonist Bruce Ackley, and guitarists Henry Kaiser, and Fred Frith; fast forward to 2018 as Ackley & Frith return to the concept with Henry Kaiser and saxophonist Aram Shelton to revisit the original approach through pieces by those artists plus Steve Lacy, Eugene Chadbourne, and John Zorn.