Two long-standing duos--Isabelle Duthoit on clarinet & voice and Franz Hautzinger on quarter tone trumpet plus Chicago percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, both on percussion and frame drum--joined together in 2020 for a European tour, recording this wildly informed homage to the Mesopotamia city Uruk live at Artacts in Alte Gerberei, St. Johann, Austria.

Two long-standing duos--Isabelle Duthoit on clarinet & voice and Franz Hautzinger on quarter tone trumpet plus Chicago percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, both on percussion and frame drum--joined together in 2020 for a European tour, recording this wildly informed homage to the Mesopotamia city Uruk live at Artacts in Alte Gerberei, St. Johann, Austria.

Titled for the landscape and vineyards of his native Lower Austrian countryside, "Landschaft in Niederösterreich", this recording of composer Hermann Nitsch's serene and evocative Weinviertel Sinfonie for 27 string players in six parts was recorded in 2021 at the Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach by the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna conducted by Michael Mautner.

Recorded for radio for the series Jazz in der Kammer Nr 71, this 1974 concert was the first in East Germany for Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, and Han Bennink, bridging the divided German states through an energetic set of improvisations that extended traditional jazz with outrageous approaches to improv in an exciting, quirky and profoundly masterful set of European Free Jazz.

Recorded for radio for the series Jazz in der Kammer Nr 71, this 1974 concert was the first in East Germany for Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, and Han Bennink, bridging the divided German states through an energetic set of improvisations that extended traditional jazz with outrageous approaches to improv in an exciting, quirky and profoundly masterful set of European Free Jazz.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.

Focusing on the compositions of Swedish pianist Per Henrik Wallin, the energetic piano trio of Simon Sieger on piano, Joel Grip on double bass and Michael Griener on drums puts new life into Wallin's 1998 trio album Coyote with the intention of putting Wallin's music in front of a new audience while clearly reveling in his compositions amid their own impressive mastery.

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").

Their group name Die Hochstapler translating to "The Impostors", the fourth exuberant free jazz album from the Berlin quartet of Pierre Borel on alto saxophone, cymbals & bird calls, Louis Laurain on trumpet & vocals, Antonio Borghini on double bass and Hannes Lingens on drums & vibraphone was recorded during their February 2022 residency at Au Topsi Pohl.

Founded by violinists Amaryllis Billet and Anna Jalving, with Fanny Paccoud on viola and Sarah Ledoux on cello, Quatuor Umlaut presents their first recordings, joined by clarinetist Joris Ruhl for two pieces: "Calques" by composer Karl Naegelen using effects of transparency and fusion of tones; and Morton Feldman's highly textured "Clarinet and String Quartet".

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 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.

A seeming contradiction in terms, the unison voices and divergent polyphony that emerges best describes the subtle interactions between these two Swiss reed players--Markus Eichenberger on clarinet and Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) on soprano and C-Melody saxophones--their "harmony of coherence" strategies guiding their melodic interlacing and fragmentation.

Combining the two Italian ESP/BASE LPs from 1982 and the 1995 ESP reissues, this spectacular concert with perhaps Ayler's most essential band--Ayler on tenor sax, Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, Lewis Worrell on double bass and Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums--is fully remastered to bring out more details from the complete, ecstatic 1966 concert.

Changing approaches to his music with new quartet of Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Alan Silva on double bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums, pianist Cecil Taylor's incredible 1966 concert in Paris presented four extended compositions, here remastered and reissued with a track from a compilation LP--"With (Exit)"--extending his quartet with Bill Dixon on trumpet and Henry Grimes on double bass.

"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...

An expansive double album from Australian violinist and mad genius Jon Rose, in solo, duo and odd orchestral settings, including tracks with Jim Denley, Clayton Thomas, Robbie Avenaim, &c.; a project with a 32-string automaton violin + string ensemble; a work for a casino-music driven player-piano; a dueling banjo and interactively bowed violin, &c. &c.; masterfully inexplicable!

Inspired by Miles Davis, particularly his album On The Corner and Davis' respect and interest in the work Karlheinz Stockhausen, LaPlante wrote Wild Tapestry as a commission from Seth Knopp of Vermont's The Yellow Barn Music Festival in 2021, exploring how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into musical composition and strategy.

A determined set of electric jazz from the Brooklyn, NYC trio of Nathaniel Morgan (Buckminster) on alto saxophone, Dustin Carlson on guitar & bass and Kate Gentile on drums & vibraphone, bringing driving rock and experimental music approaches to their improvisations, a uniquely voice and tenacious trio of unorthodox improvisers.

Composer Michael Pisaro-Liu asked guitarist Jameson Feakes and saxophonist Josten Myburgh to each select a location in Western Australia and make a set of field recordings at different times of day, providing the basis for a musical scroll akin to Chinese scroll paintings, each musician then a poetic character placed into the virtual landscape of their recordings.

Australian sound poet and vocalist Sage J Harlow aka Sage Pbbbt, whose innovative vocal work takes inspiration from Tuvan and Mongolian overtone singing and Inuit throat singing, created this mysterious set of electroacoustic compositions on the unceeded lands of the Whadjuk People of the Noongar Nation, developing four works of spellbinding spectral ambience.

An album of evocative electronic and acousmatic soundscapes from German composer, electronic artist and keyboardist John Franek, who performs the four pieces on this album on organ and electronics, interweaving rich harmonics with stark tones, melding his sounds in slowly evolving interaction, like beams of light piercing peaceful atmospheres.

An album of concentrated expression for solo piano in three works from French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos and meticulously performed by Serbian pianist Teodora Stepancic, exploring intervals through minimalistic progressions, titled "Piano 1", "Piano 2" & "Piano 3", each in two or three parts as they build to explosive moments in the final movement.

Starting with a systematic variation of polyphony in each of the three movements of "Bis 4-Stimmung", German composer and pianist Florian Wittenburg deviates from strict structures through a component of randomly generated core notes which he then makes coherent through harmony and melody, each part punctuated with layers of Wittenburg reciting Dutch poet Cees Noteboom.

A work for percussion in thirty-four succinct movements from German composer Eva-Maria Houben and performed by the Frantic Percussion Ensemble of Markus Behn, David Gutfleisch, Simon Gutfleisch, Gunnar Kötke and Jonathan Szegedi, each section using broad and patient spacing to highlight a fascinating mix of traditional and unusual percussive devices.

The first recording between French improvisers, guitarist Guillaume Gargaud and double bassist Patrice Grente, who began their work together in 2016 performing noise and minimalist music, increasing the frequency of their collaborations until a forced 1 year break, meeting again in 2021 to record this beautifully complementing set of all-acoustic duos.

The first volume of powerful free playing and intimate conversation bringing together two New York-based improvisers, Cuban native drummer/percussionist Francisco Mela and Tennessee native reed & wind player Zoh Amba, both sharing a mountain region upbringing that brings a uniquely reflective quality to their playing, fortified by the exploratory NY improv scene.

The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.

An epic story in symphonic rock style from pianist, drummer and composer Risa Takeda, telling the fantastic tale of a dramatic confrontation between an Emperor and a Sorcerer, through eleven compositions of a contemporary classical and theatrical nature, using modern synthetic sources in active and complex orchestration as the plot advances.

Well-recorded performances of Coltrane's most noted works--"Naima", "My Favorite Things" and "A Love Supreme"--in superb concerts from Berlin in 1963 and Antibes in 1965 with his classic quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, revealing the expansion and freedom these compositions receive through the flexibility of live performance.

Essential to any collection charting the transition from Birth of the Cool era jazz to the modern explosion of harmonic and compositional forms, are pianist George Russell's two most essential albums from 1961 & 1962--Ezz-thetics and The Stratus Seekers--in a sextet & septet including Eric Dolphy, Don Elliss, Steve Swallow, &c., remastered to reveal their vital clarity.

Canadian improvising clarinetist François Houle and Swiss trumpeter Marco von Orelli are heard live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, in Basel, Switzerland, 2020 for eleven dialogs reminiscent of the work of John Carter and Bobby Bradford, though uniquely in their own modern language of chamber-oriented jazz through original compositions from both artists.

The 3rd 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.

Trickster, the stellar quartet of New York guitarist Miles Okazaki with Matt Mitchell on piano, Fender Rhodes & synth, Anthony Tidd on electric bass and Sean Rickman on drums, in a sequel to The Sky Below, blending acoustic and electric jazz in four captivating compositions that Okazaki describes as striving towards something like collective dreaming.

Cuban/NY pianist David Virelles in his first solo album, 14 original compositions and 2 from Cuban composers, blending modern jazz with Cuban, African and European influences, a tour-de-force of clear and balanced, irrepresible rhythms and elegant ballads, an inspired album opening on marimbula and expanded with percussion from Julio Barreto on three tracks.

Inspired by the work of Lennie Tristano, Brooklyn-based saxophonist and wind player David Schnug steps out as a leader in the first of three albums (along with Aella and Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala) in a trio with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Max Goldman, each of the 7 amusingly titled pieces employing a different compositional concept.

One of three albums in a series curated by saxophonist David Schnug and released by 577 Records, trumpeter Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala presents an inventive and adventurous set of compositions, from a succinct 16 seconds to more than 7 minutes on the title track, in a mix of composed and improvised approaches using modern syntax and compositional strategies to compelling effect.

"This 'Aella' release is one of three in a series curated by myself and released by 577 Records. The other two records are of my trio and of Alan Bjorklund's Amygdala. This trio displays the amazing potential of improvised music. Whenev...

"Concrete Science is not a stiff, cerebral test of complex music. It is the natural unfettered dialogue between three masterful improvisers: saxophonist Daniel Carter, trombonist Steve Swell, and drummer Federico Ughi. Though cerebral i...

"On the first piece of this album, "Talk in Play, People On Mercy", you will hear a rare wall of sound created by two acoustic instruments : Federico Ughi's drums and Gene Janas' bass. For close to nine minutes they bury every aspect of...

One of a pair of complementary CDs (Navajo Sunrise and Navajo Sunset) this 2010 trio recording of a live performance at Area Sismica, Ravaldino in Monte, Italy between Daniel Carter on alto sax & piano, William Parker on bass & shakuhachi and Federico Ughi on drums, is a solid example of the sensitivity and collaborative power of the Downtown NY creative jazz scene.

A unique collective jazz album drawing on science and math in 5 improvised works from the New York quintet of Daniel Carter on alto & tenor sax, clarinet and trumpet, Demian Richardson on trumpet, Matthew Putman on piano, Dave Moss on upright bass, and Federico Ughi on drums, in a limited edition LP with a download code; superlative playing in rich layers of interaction.

After years of collaboration through New York's Downtown scene, multi-reed & wind player Daniel Carter (also on piano) and drummer Federico Ughi recorded this 2012 studio album, their 3rd duo album together and a great example of their spontaneously lyrical give and take, ability to anticipate each other's momentum, and the deep jazz roots that each brings to their music.

"Bonus material from the album Songs For Four Cities. Exclusive limited edition of 20 hand-numbered copies."-577 Records

The first volume of powerful free playing and intimate conversation bringing together two New York-based improvisers, Cuban native drummer/percussionist Francisco Mela and Tennessee native reed & wind player Zoh Amba, both sharing a mountain region upbringing that brings a uniquely reflective quality to their playing, fortified by the exploratory NY improv scene.

Downtown NY pianist Anthony Coleman (John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Glenn Branca), and drummer Brian Chase (Jeremiah Cymerman, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Drums and Drones) present their debut collaboration, balancing jazz-influenced improvisation with avant compositional forms to forge a chamber jazz album of thoughtful interaction informed by profound technique and creative drive.

The soundtrack to the documentary Loving Highsmith about thriller novelist Patricia Highsmith, with music composed by Belgium guitarist Noël Akchoté along with pieces by Cole Porter, Mancini, Johnny Mercer, Frank Sinatra, Hildegard von Bingen, Carl Fischer, &c, presented in two CDs, one each of duets between Akchoté and New York guitarists Mary Halvorson and Bill Frisell.

The 2nd Derviche album on Ayler Records from the French electric bass and drum improvising duo of Eric Brochard and Fabrice Favriou, in five sequences of assertive and masterful instrumental improvising rock, ecstatically heavy material of thick detail and ominous overtone, intended to be played as a continuous suite and clearly intended for maximum amplitude!

Two innovative sonic luminaries--Japan's Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, and New York City's David Lee Myers, aka Arcane Device--remix each other's work, bringing Myer's unique approach to feedback and ethereal electronics to harness Akita's agressive sounds, and in reverse, Akita's sense of disruptive sonics explode Myer's more contemplative feedback music.