"Allen Lowe writes: "America: The Rough Cut is my statement not only on American music and American song, but also my commentary on the way American musicians of all styles handle that old-time music and those old song forms . . . The o...

Multi-reedist Michael Marcus brings together former Cosmosamatics players Jay Rosen on drums and Tarus Mateen-Marcoustico on acoustic bass with French Horn player Frank Lacy (SaxEmble), Marcus on soprano & tenor saxophones, alto tarogato, G clarinet and bass flute for a set of Marcus original compositions, exquisitely lyrical free jazz based in the tradition.

An intimate and succinct set of conversations between two long time collaborators and compatible New York improvisers--tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp--recording at Park West Studios for their 18th album as a duo, making innately lyrical and technically creative decisions in a nearly telepathically manner informed by vast experience.

A much-referenced album on the ESP label, tenor saxophonist Frank Wright's 2nd release brought together New York alto saxophonist Arthur Jones with French trumpeter Jacques Coursil, then living in NY, and the rhythm section of bassist Steve Tintweiss and drummer Muhammad Ali, for a passionate, well-balanced, and often burning free jazz album that still sounds modern today.

Mississippi born, saxophonist Frank Wright followed Albert Ayler to NYC to join the free jazz scene of the mid-60s, signed to ESP on the spot after label owner Bernard Stollman heard him sit in with John Coltrane, this his first release on label in a trio with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Tom Price as they rip through three original Wright compositions.

Combining free jazz and post-punk rock forms with pointed commentary about issues of race, gender, the pandemic, and political autonomy, through provocative vocal works expressing modern angst, from three Asian-American female performers living in NYC: tenor saxophonist Ayumi Ishito, drummer Wen-Ting Wu, and activist and Tiananmen Square survivor Rose Tang on voice, guitar & piano.

An unapologetically political album from double bassist William Parker in collaboration with poet Patricia Nicholson, confronting injustice and inequality through spoken word set over Parker's compositions, performed with James Brandon Lewis on tenor saxophone, Devin Brahja Waldman on alto saxophone, Francisco Mela on drums, vocals, Melanie Dyer on viola and Gerald Cleaver on drums.

Four decades into their project, the SF Bay Area saxophone quartet ROVA of Bruce Ackley (soprano & tenor), Steve Adams (alto & sopranino), Larry Ochs (tenor) and Jon Raskin (baritone) continue expanding their magnificent repertoire with original compositions, collective improvisations, and a piece from Glenn Spearman (Cecil Taylor, Double Trio) arranged by Larry Ochs.

Without bowing to genre restrictions, Gabriel Zucker's indie jazz orchestra The Delegation combines free jazz, chamber forms, avant song structures and experimental layering & transitions, as his large work in four sections of three movements each, explores time and the competing impulses of a backwards-looking nostalgia and a forwards-looking futurist belief in progress; innovative & stunning!