Led by two assertive New York improvisers, guitarist Ava Mendoza and bassist Devin Hoff, their band Revels includes extraordinary saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and drummer Ches Smith, performing compositions from both Mendoza and Hoff that facilitate wild interactions between band members and great freedom in soloing, an exceptional start to a new unit.

Michael Formanek's compositions run a wide range of styles and approaches to creative modern jazz, from flowing lyrical melodies to tense agitation in rapid runs, all anchored by Formanek's powerful bass and rendered with his Elusion Quartet of Tony Malaby on tenor & soprano sax, Kris Davis on piano and Ches Smith on drums & vibes; inventive jazz that continuously surprises.

Continuing his work with the Incerto quartet of Julian Lage on guitar, Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass and Ches Smith on drums, the fourth album for the group from John Zorn's compositional pen explores the artwork of Spanish surrealist/irrealist painter María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo, whose life was influenced by Paris enlightenment and the terrors of war.

Zorn expands the canon for his lyrical jazz quartet Incerto of Brian Marsella on piano, Ches Smith on drums & Haitian Tanbou, Julian Lage on guitar and Jorge Roeder on bass, composing a suite of seven subtle and passionate nocturnes inspired by the night imagery of Shakespeare, merging jazz and chamber forms with a Downtown NY sensibility; gorgeous.

Expanding on pianist/composer Matt Mitchell's 2013 duo album Fiction with Ches Smith is this double-duo release over 2 CDs, one CD with Smith performing on drums, gongs, percussion, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tam-tam & timpani, and one CD with drummer/percussionist Kate Gentile, performing Mitchell's fascinatingly convoluted works that integrate composition with improvisation.

Bringing together John Zorn's trio from Suite for Piano (Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, Ches Smith) with guitarist Julian Lage, this new jazz quartet is a versatile and flexible unit capable of instantaneous changes in direction of genre or mood with virtuosic finesse and sensitivity, as Zorn's compositions explore concepts from Freud, Sartre, and the Uncertainty Principle.

A series of powerful "séances" from the Trio-Convulsant of Trevor Dunn on bass, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Ches Smith on drums & percussion, imagining through improv the 18th century French sect of Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard, assisted by the Folie à Quatre of Carla Kihlstedt (volin), Oscar Noriega (clarinet), Mariel Roberts (cell) and Anna Webber (flute).

Expanding drummer and composer Ches Smith's working band of violist Mat Maneri and pianist Craig Taborn with guitarist Bill Frisell, who had joined the band for one live gig that felt so natural that recording as a quartet was a natural conclusion, heard here in seven compositions that allow room for band members to improvise or "Interpret" on the compositions themselves.

Drummer and composer Chess Smith in a 2-CD set of pieces merging jazz and traditional vodou rhythms, the band featuring Matt Mitchell (piano), Miguel Zenón (saxophone), Nick Dunston (bass), Sirene Dantor Rene (lead vocals), with Daniel Brevil, Markus Schwartz and Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene all on Haitian tanbou drums & vocals, released in a hardshell box with booklets.

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.

Starting in 2012 as a quartet with Oscar Noriega (reeds), Matt Mitchell (piano), and Ches Smith (drums/vibes), then expanded with guitar, saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil now moves to the Swiss Intakt label, swapping guitarists for Marc Ducret, and releasing this fantastically intricate album of Berne compositions + 1 Hemphill piece, launching points for extraordinary soloing!

Wind player and composer Anna Weber pays homage to 20th Century composers' works for percussion, using Xenakis, Feldman, Varese, Stockhausen, Babbitt & Cage as influences in compositions leaving room for improvisation from her septet of Jeremy Viner (sax & clarinet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Matt Mitchell (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), and Ches Smith (drums).

Diverse aspects of the 2011 disaster at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant brought on by a tsunami orchestrated in sound by composer/pianist Satoko Fujii and rendered in remarkable ways from some of New York finest improvisers, including Tony Malaby, Ellery Eskelin, Oscar Noriega, Herb Roberts, Joe Fiedler, Stomu Takeishi, Nels Cline, &c &c.

Guitarist Nick Millevoi leads an ensemble that includes Jamie Saft on Hammond Organ, Ches Smith on drums, Johnny Deblase on bass, Dan Blacksberg on trombone and June Bender on violin, for an album equally embracing and subverting a wealth of rock and jazz forms.

The 2nd Aggregat album expands the first release's trio of Elliott Sharp (just on reeds this time), Brad Jones (bass) and Ches Smith (drums) into a quintet with Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Terry L. Green (trombone) for an amazing set of free jazz compositions.

The debut recording from NY pianist Matt Mitchell, in a duo with drummer Ches Smith on drums, percussion & vibes, 15 inventive original compositions written to push Mitchell's technical skills in improvisational settings, each an ingenious little puzzle.

Drawing from some of NYC's finest - Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Mary Halvorson and Andrea Parks - drummer Ches Smith's band takes the Downtown NY strategy to bridge experimental rock and avant jazz in unexpected and astonishing ways.

Alessandro Bosetti provides voice and electronics on words & text from a variety of writers, as performed in a trio with drummer Ches Smith and fretless guitarist Kenta Nagai; fascinating and perplexing expression.

Two live conducted improvisations percussion for large group recorded at the Oakland Box Theater, presenting the 6 part Piece No.11: Two Orchestras in Separate Rooms.