Nearly a decade after their first duo collaboration, Ape Green on the Creative Sources label, Wuppertal-born and Berlin-based double bassist Alexander Frangenheim joins again with Baltimore-based trombonist Patrick Crossland for two live performances of wildly creative interaction: first at the 2022 Livewire 12 Festival, then at The Record Shop in Brooklyn.

Working with German jazz and "third stream" musician, vibraphonist & composer Gunter Hampel, New York alto saxophonist Marion Brown is heard in two live recordings from 1968 & 1969 in Munchen, Germany and Wurzburg, in quintet and sextet configurations with superb supporting musicians including Steve McCall (drums), Ambrose Jackson (trumpet), Daniel Laloux (bass) and Jeanne Lee (voice).

After three Luten and two Brotzmann quintets, pianist Oliver Schwerdt, drummer Christian Lillinger and two double bassists--John Eckhardt and Antonio Borghini--invite Japanese multi-reedist and vocal improviser Akira Sakata to join them in concert at naTo, in Leipzig for a wild concert, releasing a monumental improvisation in a full length CD and a 2nd set on 3" CD.

After three Luten and two Brotzmann quintets, pianist Oliver Schwerdt, drummer Christian Lillinger and two double bassists--John Eckhardt and Antonio Borghini--invite Japanese multi-reedist and vocal improviser Akira Sakata to join them in concert at naTo, in Leipzig for a wild concert, releasing a monumental improvisation in a full length CD and a 2nd set on 3" CD.

A new improvising trio from Berlin by Meinrad Kneer on double bass, Rudi Fischerlehner on drums & percussion and Olaf Rupp on electric guitar, an energetic project that borrows from free jazz with electroacoustic elements and clamorous intersections from Fischerlehner, as the trio runs the gamut from nearly chaotic interaction to deep contemplation in four diverse movements.

Recording in Switzerland at La Becque Residency Center, the experimental improvising duo of Francisco Meirino on synth & field recording and Jerome Noetinger using electronics, tape, reel to reel player & radio, create a 6-part series of unusual sonic interactions, patiently exposing unidentifiable sounds and synthetic punctuation, neither subtle nor explosive but wonderfully engaging.

The soundtrack to the 2022 German documentary film This Stolen Country of Mine directed by German filmmaker Marc Wiese about Ecuadorian resistance fighters and journalists opposed to the sale of the country's resources to Chinese investors, in 19 subtle, elegantly passionate electronic works from sound artist Carsten Nicolai, aka Alva Noto.

An album of transporting drones and industrial soundscapes from Chicago experimental artist Kevin Drumm, drawing the listener into his soundspace slowly through distracted studio clatter and then journeying deep into textures and tones, maintaining a natural quality to synthetic and obscure sources in this fine addition to his expansive discography.

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.

Referencing Maxim Gorky's plays Children of the Sun, Alva Noto, aka Carsten Nicola, developed this music for a theater piece titled Komplitzen (Accomplices) by Simon Stone, presented in fourteen compositions of lush electronics, rich atmospheres of tones & timbre, detailed glitch and glacial rhythms that create a wonderful sense of tension and release.

Referencing Maxim Gorky's plays Children of the Sun, Alva Noto, aka Carsten Nicola, developed this music for a theater piece titled Komplitzen (Accomplices) by Simon Stone, presented in fourteen compositions of lush electronics, rich atmospheres of tones & timbre, detailed glitch and glacial rhythms that create a wonderful sense of tension and release.

Recording in France in 1970, the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Malachi Favors on bass, Joseph Jarman on saxophone, Roscoe Mitchell on saxophone, Lester Bowie on trumpet) recorded the soundtrack to director Moshé Mizrahi's movie Les stances à Sophie, joined by vocalist Fontella Bass, releasing a classic and exciting album that stands as a great testament to the versatility of its players.

Interdisciplinary Spanish percussionist Núria Andorrà whose background includes contemporary music and improvisation with performers including Agustín Fernández, Joëlle Léandre, Mats Gustafsson, Nate Wooley, and Joe Morris joins Fred Frith in Santa Maria de Palautordera for studio and concert recordings of eleven far-ranging dialogs of unusual and imaginative technique and concept.

A beautifully recorded session at Germany's Club Lila Eule for Radio Bremen from 1969 by the Marion Brown Quartet, his touring band at the time with AACM legendary drummer Steve McCall and German double bassist Siggi Busch and trombonist Ed Kröger, performing eight solid free jazz pieces including "Ode to Coltrane" and "Juba Lee"; a spectacular addition to Brown's discography.

The incredibly creative EUPHORIUM_freakestra as a mid-size ensemble performing at naTo in Leipzig, Germany are joined by legendary free jazz players, Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet and Barre Phillip on double bass, extending the incredible assemblage of players including Oliver Schwerdt, Axel Dorner, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Urs Leimgruber, Christian Lillinger, Gunter Baby Sommer & Michael Haves.

Aural Terrains label-leader, composer and sound artist Thanos Chrysakis presents six new pieces merging electronic composition with field recordings and other electro-acoustic sources, in five rich and beautifully paced works of a diverse nature, evolving a consistent sound world where each piece draws the listener into the composer's detailed and engaging concepts.

Describing their improvisation as a chemical reaction of positive and negative ions, the central trio of the ensemble Skein--Achim Kaufmann (piano), Frank Gratkowski (winds) and Wilbert de Joode (bass)--are heard in this incredible 2018 concert at Konfrontationen Festival as a septet with Tony Buck (drums), Richard Barrett (electronics), Liz Allbee (trumpet) and Uchihashi Kazuhisa (guitar).

Working only with a cowbell from a charity shop in NYC, percussionist Sean Meehan, whose performances often take place in locations of unique resonant properties, discovered the Fort Jay powder magazine at Governor's Island--a compartment once used to store ammunition and explosives--using its sonic properties to capture these two recordings reflecting the original purpose of that space.

Netherlands pianist Martina Verhoeven's quintet with Goncalo Almeida on double bass, Onno Govaert on drums, Dirk Serries on guitar and Colin Webster on saxophone is captured live in their debut performance at the Roadburn Festival 2022 Paradox in Tilburg for an extended 2-part improvisation of both dense and thrilling interaction and deep introspection, a spectacular and informed set.

The soundtrack to the German film The Painter by director Oliver Hirschbiegel in collaboration with Oliver Hirschbiegel, the first side a diverse set of compositions from electronic musician Gudrun Gut, a one-time member of Einstürzende Neubauten; the second side a set of assertive acoustic improvisations from trumpeter Nate Wooley, alone or in duo with drummer Chris Corsano.

Only the second vinyl LP of Swiss trumpeter Samuel Blaser's career and released on drummer Pierre Favre's 85th birthday, this is their second duo album, well reflecting the extensive collaboration and touring these improvisers from two generations of free jazz have made, bringing nuance, virtuosity and humor together through original free improv and two notable standards.

Based in New York at the time of this recording, Swiss trombonist and composer Samuel Blaser's quartet with Thomas Morgan on double bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Scott Dubois on guitar explore rhythmic and tonal approaches to improvisation, bridging modern compositional forms with traditional jazz in energetic playing of an engagingly relaxed mood.

A multi-channel sound work by Turkish-American composer Cenk Ergun, Cenk Ergün, first realized as an installation for six loudspeakers at Zionskirche, Berlin in March 2021 using the vocal work of UK countertenor Rupert Enticknap, who recorded long tones and melodic fragments that Ergün composed into works of dense choirs contrasted with periods of silence.

A reissue of the 2008 double LP, part of the continuing collaborations between great improvisers from around the globe with the Turkish Konstrukt quartet of Korhan Argüden on drums, Özün Usta on percussion, Umut Çağlar on guitar and Korhan Futacı on tenor & baritone saxophone, here joining with European Free Jazz legend Peter Brötzmann on alto & tenor saxophones and clarinet for this formidable studio recording from Istanbul.

Performing live at Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Austria in 2018, the trio of Conrad Bauer on trombone, Georg Graewe on piano and John Lindberg on double bass present eight free improvisations based around compositionsal structures from all three musicians, their tight interaction, intent listening and powerful technical skills a testement to their long history in European Free Jazz.

Extended and captivating improvisations using complex and extended techniques from the duo of prepared pianist Annie Lewandowski (London Improvisers Orchestra, Powerdove, Xiu Xiu) and guitarist Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Skeleton Crew, &c &c) in a thoroughly modern improvised conversation, here reissued with 11 minutes of previously unreleased material.

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.

Bassist Sebastien Beliah leads this French-Polish quartet with Louis Laurain on cornet, Pierre Borel on alto saxophone, and Olga Koziel on voice & percussions, blending free jazz and traditional Polish music & songs with an experimental bent and the flourish of East European folk energy, a passionate mix that entertains and surprises the listener with unexpected twists & turns.

An idiosyncratic and wonderfully wild improvisational music theater group revolving around composer & cellist Tristan Honsinger, using spoken word and song through eclectic and active free improvisation including strings, reeds, trumpet, toy piano, tap dance, bass & drums, a truly unique and joyfully quirky album that fulfills Honsinger's goal of uniting music, theater & poetry.

Five varied and fascinating percussion duos under the title "Rhythm Mapping - Approximating Velocity" from French composer Karl Naegelen and performed by the duo of Sylvain Darrifourcq and Toma Gouband, both using traditional drums and percussion along with objects and vegetal lithophones (a collection of plants and stones); an innovative, upbeat and compelling album.

Setting out to explore a standard song format for modern times through the instrumental piano jazz format, the French/German trio of basist Joel Grip, drummer Michael Griener and pianist Simon Sieger present a set of six Grip compositions along with two Sieger/Grip and one Sieger piece, all sophisticated, creative and lyrically infused modern jazz.

Insub.Meta director Cyril Bondi developed this work to question the life course of an artist--their starting point, daily routines and essence--realized through sound and narration in an intimate soundscape of six artists who converge, converse, accompany and answer each other, accompanied by sounds made during warm-ups, rituals and rehearsals.

24 short works for clavichord from German composer Christoph Schiller and performed by French keyboardist Ed Williams (Heard Of Bears, TANDEM, Grand 8 Ensemble), slowly developing pieces that bring clusters of notes like falling leaves that slowly fade into silence, thoughtful works of space around unanticipated clusters, presented as groups of "Fuge" variations.

Playful in its seriousness, the sound poetry of Greta Monach (1928-2018), an early proponent of computer generated concrete poetry, and known for her notated sound poem series for four voices, "Fonerga", is performed by University of Victoria voice artists Cathy Fern Lewis, Laura Brandes, Daniel Brandes and Christopher Butterfield; awe-inspiring and exotically amusing.

Composer and sound artist Chaz Underriner composed these eight meditation in 2021 during residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the NYU Music Technology studios, recorded at Stetson University in Florida with an ensemble including four vocalists, cello, piano, percussion, electronics and field recordings; beautifully introspective and thought provoking works.

A double album of experimental works and songs, virtual meetings curated by composer Dante Boon, recorded in the performer's individual cities as ensembles formed from musicians who have never met, including the Moscow duo The Same Ensemble of Sasha Elina and Kirill Shirokov, Amsterdamn's Seamus Cater's Tree Space, Berlin's Konzert Minimal, and sound artist Gabi Losoncy.

Five extended works of descriptive ambience from Finnish composer and musician Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, working with algorithmic and electronic manifestations over five pieces--four works "Across" and one "Across (Lines)"--based on environmental field recordings of birds and ambiance, structures that he morphs & reiterates to create different facets of a single outdoor space.

Putting less focus on the strings and more into sonic environments, French guitarist Pierre Gerard releases a set of eight abstract compositions for voice, guitar, cello, piano, violin, bass clarinet, electronics & field recordings, intended for random playing, employing silence and active sections to catch the passive or background listener off guard.

The title's play on words for Swiss percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor's piano compositions is explained by his performance being effected by piano tuner Rene Waldhauser while playing, the piano being slowly detuned while Zumthor plays a series of aggressive key separations in a percussive manner, the modified tuning generating unexpected turbulence and harmonic overtones.

A member of London Improvisers Orchestra, Wuppertaler Improvisationsorchester, and Insub Meta Orchestra Geneva, cellist Marei Seuthe is primarily involved with classical chamber music, contemporary music, music theatre, but here exposes her playing in a solo sonic exploration of microscopic intent performed on every inch of the cello.

Four compositions depicting the John Muir Trails, a high-quality set of biking trails near Madison and Milwaukee two hours from Chicago, composed by Eva-Maria Houben and performed by the West Coast percussion duo DesoDuo of Katie Eikam and Kevin Good, portraying the trails through bowed cymbals, marimba & vibraphone along with field recordings from the outdoor ambiance.

Their association stretching back to their time together in music school, pianist Anita Tomasevich is the perfect interpreter of Serbian composer Andreja Andric's December, exploring a single minor chord in each of six movements, challenging the performer to explore shades of tone color by working through gradual changes; plus Meditation (II) for 2 pianists.

A slyly disruptive set of minimalist compositions from New York electronic artist Dominic Coles, recounting six dreams, each described in the liner notes, by using the voice to drive various forms of synthesis on computer and through circuitry, a curious and surprisingly detailed retelling through unexpected tone, punctuation, confrontation and silence.

In 2019, the Ensemble Studio Dan commissioned Downtown New York composer and pianist Anthony Coleman for a new work, fluctuating in fascinating ways between contemporary music and jazz forms, premiered at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and also presented in Vienna at the Jeunesse Special 2019, live at Porgy and Bess, from which this album was superbly recorded.

Originally commissioned by Music Traditions Inc. for the Paul Dresher Ensemble and premiered at Z Space in San Francisco in 2012, this adaptation of three numbered works by composer, improviser & multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith was part of Studio Dan's homage to Frank Zappa, written using strong rhythmic structuresÊand melodies associated with Frith's voice as a composer.