Two sets across two nights during CreativeFest #12 at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal, in a septet of six acoustic sources--viola, cellos, flute, trumpet, piano and percussion--and electronics, an extended journey approached with quiet tension and incredible detail, the recording of the first set used as the basis for the 2nd to create a virtual ensemble.

Two complete live performances in Munich at Galerie arToxin, and at Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang + Kunst Krailing in 2018, with Schindler on bass clarinet, soprano saxophone and cornet, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, balancing active and introspective dialog of advanced harmonics, (a)rhythmic approaches, and extraordinary technique.

Recording in New York at the Omi International Arts Center in 2018, the duo of German trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser and Brazilian bassist Carlos Eduardo Quebrada Vasquez, Quebrada expanding his bass through electronics, capture an inventive and active set of dialogs, rich in technical skill and continually surprising through twists and turns; action-packed and inspired.

Far ranging free improvisation from the Sao Paulo, Brazil quartet of Jorge Nuno on guitar, Romulo Alexis on trumpet, Vitor Vieira Branco on vibraphone, and Rafael Cab on drums, in ethnically rich and spiritual playing that incorporates beautiful atmospheric work, ruminating assertive playing, and idiosyncratic interaction with unusual technique and percussive instruments.

Thirteen emphatic "rituals" from the Argentinian duo of saxophonist Hernan Sama, recording in the studio as they employ an array of techniques including extended bowing and plucking approaches, saxophone smears, growls, vocal utterances, odd reed techniques, &c, to engage their listener's ears as they unfold dialog that merges jazz forms and fully free improvisation.

A subtle album of soundscape from the French trio of Violaine Gestalder on saxophones, Louis Michel Marion on double bass, and Stefania Becheanu on field recordings, depicting 3 virtual aural views of a single landscape, the field recordings conveying a sense of location as the bass and sax use extended techniques and subliminal playing to create their vista.

Recording at the Pied Nu Festival, in Le Havre, France in 2018, the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Carlos Santos on electronics present an extended and mysteriously subtle album of electroacoustic improvisation, detailed and remarkably controlled conversation of near telepathic anticipation from three intimate collaborators.

Portuguese guitarist and experiementer Abdul Moimeme, once a student of US free jazz saxophonist Patrick Brennan, now joins him as Moimeme employs two electroacoustically altered guitars played simultaneously with objects, Brennan performing on sax and cornet, as they create unusual and assertive abstract sonic environments, intensely detailed and gripping.

A mysterious album of viola, viola d'amore, organ, and field recordings, merging the compositional minimal approach of Wandelweiser artist Eva-Maria Houben with Creative Sources performers Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues, the field recordings creating a virtual setting of environmental stillness, evoking slow motion in the unique "thisness" of haecceity.

The debut for this acoustic free improvising Amsterdam trio of Ziv Taubenfeld on bass clarinet, Henk Zwerver on guitar, and Maya Felixbrodt on viola, in a set of abstract improvisations of an active nature using unorthodox and extended techniques, with an upbeat sense of excitement and enthusiasm that allows for solo forays amongst great collective discourse.

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"Two wind players from Belgium who have been involved in free improvisation for many years: Jean-Jacques Duerinckx on sopranino and baritone saxophones and Jacques Foschia on bass, E-flat and high B-flat clarinets, often met in joint co...

"Starting the month again with an album from Ernesto Rodrigues, Genius Loci - recorded in Lisbon just this past March - continues his post-Cage explorations, now involving a quintet featuring (instead of Carlos Santos, per recent entries......

Happening to continue with the next release pairing Ernesto Rodrigues and Carlos Santos, A Glimpse to an end of a Cycle - recorded in Lisbon this January, so the first actual 2025 recording featured here - involves a similar sort of "op...

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"An unusual encounter, on October 20th, 2024, in Hanover: Andreas Gogol from Berlin with electric guitar, electronics, and vocals, his NaabtalDeath buddy as a zither torturer, and Guilherme R. on cello. Ernesto, his father, traveled ...

A live trio improvisation from violist Ernesto Rodrigues, tenor saxophonist Jung-Jae Kim, and bassist Alvaro Rosso, recorded at Lisbon's CreativeFest#18 at Casa do Comum, in Lisbon, unfolding as a 28-minute journey from hushed, lowercase textures to dynamic, scrabbly interplay, emphasizing timbral nuance and collective exploration in an intimate acoustic setting.

Hanna Schorken is a published German writer & poet, jazz vocalist and free improviser, since 2005 living in Koln and developing a personal and idiosyncratic approach to sound poetry and experimental voice recordings, heard here in a 7 part work where each movement completes the titles of the poem "I So Liked Spring"; "You"; "Told"; "Me"; "How"; "To"; "Dance".

An album for bowed strings, bowed metal, and double bass, from the quartet of Dietrich Petzold on violin, viola, bowed metal, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Matthias Bauer on double bass, presenting a seven part suite recorded in the studio in Berlin, active and exciting music that bridges classical technique with free improvisation.

The Norwegian guitar trio led by Roland Galewicz on drums, Henrik Sandstad Dalen on double bass, and Havard Nordberg Funderud on guitar, free improvisers with a dark intent captured live at Kafe Haerverk, in Oslo in 2018 as they perform Galewicz's rhythm-heavy three part "Death Machine Suite", Funderud's spacious "Nice Things" and Dalen's searing "Holmenkollekspressen".

Using multiple voices, field recordings and electronics, Brazil-born composer living in Berlin Laura Mello works with spoken language as she explores human perception of acoustic phenomena in relation to spoken language, here in 8 compositions or excerpts that reveal hallucinatory and unusual aspects of speech complemented by elusive aural environments.

A personal and evocative suite written during the isolation of the COVID-19 period, bringing together the legendary Tristan Honsinger (cello, vocal, narration) with his long-standing Tokyo-based ensemble, The House of Wasps — Yuriko Mukojima (violin, voice), Takashi Seo (double bass), and Shuichi Chino (piano) — in a performance that seamlessly blends chamber improvisation, storytelling, and emotional intensity.

Four voices--Norbert Zajac, Brigitte Kupper, Gala Hummel, Iouri Grankin--sing and speak over the piano work of Russian improviser Andrei Razin in a moody and often startling album that set tonal environments or disorient the listener through constrasting layers of vocalization, as Razin darts among them or sets an atmosphere of lingering tones; often curious, frequently stunning.

"3 Phases", or different aspects of the approach that violist Ernesto Rodrigues applies to improvisation, in three different groupings over three different days, all live at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018, here in an acoustic sax trio with strings, with Bruno Parrinha on soprano, Nuno Torres on alto, Paulo Galao on tenor sax.

Guitarist Henk Zwerver leads this collective free improvising band in their second release, now extended to a septet with the addition of Salvoandrea Lucifero on trombone, joining Zwerver: Ziv Taubenfeld on bass clarinet, Luis Vicente on trumpet, Nico Chientaroli on piano, Raoul ven der Weide on double bass, objects, and George Hadow on drums.

Dedicating his album to Paul Burwell and Z'ev, Spanish percussionist Paolo Sanna demonstrates his many years of research in sound, silence, noise, experimentation, musical research and deconstruction through standard percussive devices and found objects, giving his playing a distinctive and personal palette which he plays with superb technique and timing.

Recorded on New Years Eve in Sintra in the Penedo region of Portugal, three strings--viola from Ernesto Rodrigues, cello from Guilherme Rodrigues, and a second cello from Miguel Mira--are joined by Carlos Santos on electronics for three extended and richly detailed improvisations, active yet concentratively controlled, using impressive and extended techniques.

Two string players, Swedish acoustic guitarist and banjo player Niklas Fite, and German double bassist Alexander Frangenheim, recording in the studio in Berlin in 2017 for 10 succinct improvisations ranging from quick interactive discourse of a pointillistic nature to near silent meditations using unusual and extended techniques, a quirky and informed album.

Finding common ground between the acoustic past and the electronic present, the duo of Christoph Schiller on spinet and Eric Ruffing on analogue synthesizer present two extended improvisations of tempered interaction, exploring periods of extended sound, timbre and decay, scrabbling inside playing, restrained electronic whines, and active pointillistic playing.

The affect of Carlos Santos' electronics and recordings are the foundation of this Portuguese quintet's improvisations, creating an environment over which Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues on viola & cello, Eduardo Chagas on trombone, and Andre Hencleeday add subtle gestures of unusual approaches to their instruments, in a mysterious album of lowercase improv.

As part of "The Horse Improvised Music Club" concert series organized by London Improvised Music Scene members Adam Bohman, Sue Lynch and Hutch Demouilpied, the trio of drummer Steve Noble, saxophonist Adrian Northover and acoustic guitarist Daniel Thompson recorded these open-minded improvisations of strong communication and extended technique in 2017 at IKLECTIK in London, England.

Two approaches to keyboards from Japanese acoustic pianist Yoko Miura and keyboardist Jean-Marc Foussat (Fou Records) recording these extended and excursive improvisations in Paris in 2017, contrasting Foussat's alien and encompassing synthetic and electronic worlds with Miura's sophisticated playing inside and out of the piano.

Recorded live at CreativeFest #18 in Lisbon, the Isotope Ensemble channels the volatile and fluid nature of caesium through spontaneous improvisation, blending strings, brass, woodwinds, piano, electric guitars, modular synthesizer, electronics, and objects into a dynamic sonic reaction that reflects the element's unique liquid properties that make the isotope pivotal role in atomic timekeeping.

A live document of free improvisation from Udo Schindler (clarinets, cornet, soprano sax), Max Arsava (piano, tapes, sampler, objects), and Gunnar Geisse (laptop guitar, virtual instruments), in a performance of pointillistic exchanges and layered textures that blend intricate acoustic and electronic timbres into a cohesive, exploratory sonic tapestry.

A focused and sonically adventurous trio recording from Santa Fe, New Mexico, bringing together saxophonist Chris Jonas, live-sampling artist and electronic musician David Forlano, and percussionist Gregg Koyle in a contemporary yet organic exploration of space, form, and texture through sharp saxophone lines, intricate sampling manipulations, and dynamic metallic percussion.

A live trio improvisation from violist Ernesto Rodrigues, tenor saxophonist Jung-Jae Kim, and bassist Alvaro Rosso, recorded at Lisbon's CreativeFest#18 at Casa do Comum, in Lisbon, unfolding as a 28-minute journey from hushed, lowercase textures to dynamic, scrabbly interplay, emphasizing timbral nuance and collective exploration in an intimate acoustic setting.

A surreal and visceral homage to French poet Robert Desnos, this collaboration between Belgian vocal improviser Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg and British electroacoustic pioneer Lawrence Casserley transforms the human voice through expressive physicality and real-time electronic processing — fifteen vivid episodes unfolding as a dreamlike, humorous, and haunting exploration of language, body, and sound.

The Cologne-based free improvising trio Der Vierte Zustand — vocalist Hanna Schörken, guitarist Christina Zurhausen, and drummer Ramon Keck — om a compelling blend of experimental soundscapes, noise rock influences, and free jazz energy, driven by Schörken's acrobatic wordless vocals, Zurhausen's effects-laden guitar textures, and Keck's dynamic rhythms.

In this live recording from Munich's Schnitzer& Studio, Udo Schindler's "Low Tone Studies" series expands through a collaboration with Werner Dafeldecker on double bass and Gunnar Geisse on laptop guitar, blending deep-register improvisations across double bass clarinet, cornet, saxophones, and electronic manipulations, exploring the convergence of acoustic resonance and digital textures.

In a live performance emphasizing minimalism and lowercase improvisation, Ernesto Rodrigues (viola, crackle box), Bruno Parrinha (bass clarinet), and Andrew Levine (Theremin, modular synth, crackle box, stereo field) engage in a nuanced exploration of subtle textures and sonic interactions, resulting in an immersive and introspective auditory experience.

Capturing a richly nuanced sonic journey across seven improvised movements from concerts in Berlin, Köln, and Munich, this 2-CD set from the Portuguese trio of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Guilherme Rodrigues (cello), and Nuno Torres (alto sax) presents a masterful exploration of intricate textures, hushed atmospherics, and lyrical interplay, woven into a vivid tapestry of contemporary European free improvisation.

A fascinating live performance from Lisbon's Reverso Festival in 2024, where luminaries Carlos Zíngaro (violin), Ernesto Rodrigues (viola, crackle box), and Carlos Bechegas (flute, piccolo) intertwine their distinct approaches into an intricate tapestry that blends classical sensibilities with free improv exploration in a compelling journey through texture and timbre.

Recorded live during the 2024 Creative Sources Cycle, violist Ernesto Rodrigues, cellist Miguel Mira, and analog synthesist Carlos Santos deliver a nuanced and exploratory collective improvisation, drawing on Rodrigues's delicate textural approach, Mira's lyrical sensitivity, and Santos's ethereal synth interactions, evoking an urgent reflection on the fleeting nature of time.

Interpreting Cornelius Cardew's elaborate 193-page Treatise and Earle Brown's minimalist Cheap Imitation, Fred Loisel (gong, electronics), Philippe Lenglet (prepared guitar), and Christian Vasseur (prepared ten-string Weissenborn) assign specific musical parameters to each graphic symbol, creating open compositions that balance individual expression with collective coherence.

Recording in the studio in Milan, the trio of Riccardo Luppi on tenor & soprano saxophones and flutes, Simone Massaron on guitar & electronics, and Daniel Studer on double bass engage in a textural and exploratory dialogue, blending extended techniques, electronic manipulations, and spontaneous interplay across seven distinct ""Takes", each offering a unique approach to collective free improvisation.

A fluid and energetic improvisation recorded live at COSMOS in Lisbon, as Ernesto Rodrigues (viola, crackle box), Helena Espvall (cello), and Tracy Lisk (drums) engage in a texturally rich performance of scattered, bouncing string interplay, with percussion subtly framing the dialogue, resulting in a dynamic and layered exploration of sound.

Exploring the fluid boundaries between singing, recitation, and speech, bassist João Madeira and vocalist Margarida Mestre present an intricate dialogue of sound and expression, recorded in Lisbon, with Mestre's voice shifting between phonetic poetry, storytelling, and abstract improvisation, while Madeira's double bass, guitar, and field recordings weave around and underpin her vocalizations.

Quoting Piet Mondrian — 'I believe that the destructive element in art is neglected too much' — the duo of Udo Schindler (bass clarinet, alto saxophone, cornet, tuba) and Olaf Rupp (electric guitar) deliver a compelling 2023 live performance at MUCCA [BASIS-Buchsalon] in Munich, Germany, in the six-part collective conversation "HerzAtmungen," loosely translating to "Heart Breathings".