An intense concert of collective European Free Jazz in two extended improvisations recorded at naTo in Leipzig, German in 2019 from the quintet of Peter Brotzmann on tenor saxophone, clarinet & tarogato, Oliver Schwerdt on grand piano, percussion & little instruments, John Edwards and John Eckhardt on double bass, and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion.

Two recordings from naTo in Leipzig, Germany, the first an energetic free jazz romp from the Big Bad Brötzmann Trio of Peter Brötzmann on tenor sax & taragato, Oliver Schwerdt on piano & percussion and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion; then a furtively powerful double bass duo between John Edwards and John Eckhardt, a tour de force of extended technique and deep sound.

After the earliest versions of the Euphorium_freakestra toured in Weimar, Leipzig, Dresden, Krakow & Gottingen in 2000, pianist Oliver Schwerdt and guitarist Friedrich Kettlitz came together to develop a suite for grand piano, acoustic guitar and free vocals, a prelude to the album Gay - Saunawirt ten years later, and the start of the professional recording history of the EUPHORIUM ensembles.

In many ways a prelude to the EUPHORIUM_freakestra to come, this double album of Oliver Schwerdt's open-minded ea-improv big band was recorded in Eisenach, Germany in 2000, in Bellers, Germany in 2001 and finally in Leipzig in 2001 & 2002; despite the vastly different band configuration the concepts of the Freakestra are clear in these spectacular recordings.

An early assemblage of the EUPHORIUM_freakestra led by pianist Oliver Schwerdt in a 2000 concert at Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Leipzig, each work part of a fictional narrative of a figure called Birg Borgenthal, realized through a combination of improvisation and contemporary chamber music, orchestrated for 3 pianists, 2 guitarists, and 3 singers and narrators.

Two drummerless trios meet two drummers in this incredible 2006 concert at naTo, in Leipzig, one from trumpeter Matthias Mainz, cello player Matthias Lorenz and bass player Michael Haves, the other from Fabian Niermann on tenor saxophone, Konrad Gruneberg on double bass and Oliver Schwerdt on the grand piano, the drummers Christian Lillinger & Gunter Baby Sommer.

The curious album of Friedrich Kettlitz, co-founder of Euphorium_Freakestra, reciting his poems (in German) set in 25 miniature recordings, also performing on english worker's flute, pling, metal kettle, felt head mallet, temple bell, in a duo with Oliver Schwerdt on piano, as well as small percussive devices, voice, slide whistles, a zither, and little cubic cardbox.

Three duos--"Tandem Spaces"--and two solos--"Dry Swing"(s)-between drummer Gunter Baby Sommer, who was celebrating his 70th birthday the year of this recording, and younger generation pianist and Euphorium label-leader Oliver Schwerdt, the duos an exciting set of exchanges often building to high speed, with Schwerdt's solo work engrossingly intricate and quick-witted.

A 3" CD of three technically impressive, intricate improvisations: first in a solo piano piece by pianist Oliver Schwerdt, followed by a duo with drummer & percussionist Christian Lillinger with Schwerdt also on small instruments, ending in a piano trio format with double bassist Robert Landfermann, a high-speed affair of quick-witted interplay and almost telepathic communication.

A double CD of pianist, Euphorium label-leader and EUPHORIUM_freakestra leader Oliver Schwerdt in a double CD of solo recordings in the studio in Leipzig, 3 extended improvisations and 1 concise piece titled "Prestige" I & II and "No Smoking" I & II, remarkably concentrative work displaying an acute and extraordinarily inventive approach to improvisation.

Eschewing his many monikers (Birg Borgenthal, Elan Pauer and Ra Ra da Boff) pianist Oliver Schwerdt steps away from EUPHORIUM_freakestra, uses his given name, and takes the stage of the Bauhaus building in Dessau where such legends as Fred van Hove and Alexander von Schlippenbach have played, to record these four exemplary and extended, kinetic & free solo piano improvisations.

A truly diverse set of improvisations, from solo work to large scale ensemble, as Euphorium_Freakestra are joined by European Free Jazz legends, drummer Baby Sommer and double bassist Barry Guy, in a band with leader & pianist Oliver Schwerdt, plus Bertrand Denzler, Burkard Beins, John Eckhardt, Pierre-Antoine Badaroux, Patrick Schanze, Daniel Beilschmidt & Freidrich Kettlitz.

A trio sounding much larger than its three contributors--Oliver Schwerdt on grand piano, percussion & little instruments, Baby Sommer on drums, cymbals & percussion and Barry Guy on double bass--captured in concert at naTo, in Leipzig, Germany in 2019 for a joyful and assertive album of collective free improv that merges contemporary, free and jazz idioms seamlessly.

A companion 3" CD to the Karacho! album, with an additional dynamic improvisation from the same concert, the Big Bad Brotzmann Trio bringing together master multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann, here on tenor saxophone & clarinet, with pianist Oliver Schwerdt, also playing percussion & little instruments, and drummer/percussionist Christian Lillinger.

A superb example of European Free Jazz tradition, modern and amazingly creative, from the quintet of pianist Oliver Schwerdt and reedist Peter Brotzmann performing on tenor sax, tarogato & clarinet, with Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion and dual double bassists in John Edwards and John Eckhardt, performing a 50+ minute free masterpiece at club naTo in Liepzig, 2017.

Since 2002 this large ensemble electric supergroup or "freakestra" has performed uncompromising free improvisation that draws on the best of modern approaches in a staggering display of style and technique.

The Ember quartet's 2nd release recorded during the 2008 Ahornfelder Festival in Leipzig, an amazing live/studio album of distinct and clearly separated structured improvisations.

The first album from 2006 of the Ember electro-acoustic improvising chamber jazz-oriented quartet of Urs Leimgruber on soprano & tenor saxophones, Alexander Schubert on guitar, electronics & percussion, Oliver Schwerdt on piano, percussion, guitar & electronics, and Christian Lillinger on drums & percussion; an album of insightful and meticulous interaction.