Extraordinary and masterful performers Sophie Agnel (piano) and John Butcher (soprano & tenor saxophones) present a live recording from the 40th International Festival of Current Music in Victoriaville, Canada, featuring five improvised pieces that highlight their exceptional interplay and collective discovery of new musical forms while exploring the boundaries of free improvisation.

The transatlantic trio of UK pianist Alexander Hawkins, NY drummer Kate Gentile and Canadian reedist Francois Houle are heard in four masterful spontaneous improvisations in their live performance at the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Houle performing on clarinets (sometimes two at a time) including the early, deep-note basset clarinet.

A wild and adventurous concert and one of the highlights of the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville from the electric improvising quartet of Elliott Sharp on electric guitar & electronics, Colin Stetson on bass, alto & tenor saxophones, Billy Martin on drums & percussion and Payton Macdonald on marimba, vibraphone & African xylophone.

PROMO HOLE PUNCHED THO BAR CODE

A unique concert even by the standards of Victoriaville from The Growlers, a vocal ensemble who interpret heavy metal, known for their epic work "Hate.Machine" and "The Dayking" with participation from poet Fortner Anderson, performed here along with a comprovisation backed by an electronic track originated from electric guitar recordings.

This mercurial and impressive 2021 Victoriaville Festival concert brought together improvisers from three duos as a quartet: guitarist Rene Lussier, who has a long running duo with turntablist Martin Tetreault; Erick d'Orion on computer and electronics, who also has a experimental sound duo with Tetrault; and frequently collaborator with Lussier, drummer Robbie Kuster.

Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble, merging reeds, strings and percussion with live signal processing to create something indescribably transformative is further amplified with the addition of free improvising vocalist and Tuvan throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak, adding an unearthly layer of interaction and transmogrification to this incredible 1996 FIMAV performance.

The title to be taken literally, these two solo concerts recorded in Canada by French-based US bassist Barre Phillips, the first recorded at Vancouver Western Front in 1989, the 2nd from the 35th International Festival Music Festival of Victoriaville in 2019, both exemplary concerts showing his masterful skills and ability to captivate then and now.

Celebrating 40 years as a performing ensemble, the West Coast saxophone quartet ROVA of Bruce Ackley on soprano saxophone, Steve Adams on alto & sopranino saxophones, Jon Raskin on baritone saxophone, and Larry Ochs on tenor saxophone, reworked compositions from all members transversing their past 34 years, in an absolutely impressive and diverse album.

On the 30th anniversary of the Victo Festival Anthony Braxton took to the stage for a magnificent solo performance on the alto sax, performing 8 spontaneous compositions and an 8+ minute version of "Body and Soul", seamlessly crossing lyrical and complex approaches to the horn using his unique intervallic, trimbral and diagrammatic language, a stunning and embraceable accomplishment.

"Sombre is an unlikely pairing yielding unexpected results. The classically trained harpist Helene Breschand meets the maverick avant rock guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros. She plays an electro-acoustic harp, which -- unlike Zeena Parkin...

"The album title, Moment de Bonheur, is rather trite, but the concert was marvelous and the recording preserves all of its intensity and charm. This was a first meeting between Jean Derome (flutes, alto sax) and Louis Sclavis (clarinets...

Recorded live in Toronto and at Victoriaville in 2000, Paul Cram leads a vibrant large ensemble through groove-tinged themes, bold brass writing and energized improvising, blending playful funk elements with adventurous big band strategies for a spirited, contemporary orchestral sound.

"Since the release of Sudori with his Sud Ensemble in 1995, Italian trumpeter Pino Minafra remained discreet as a leader, preferring to blend his voice among others in large-scale groups like the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Gianluigi T...

Recorded live in Mexico in 1999, violinist Mari Kimura and multi-instrumentalist Roberto Morales Manzanares create a poetic and emotionally charged set of concise improvisations, shifting between violin, flute, piano, harp and electronics as they blend lyrical expressiveness with bold, exploratory interaction.

"Vancouver pianist Paul Plimley and his comrades, bassist Lisle Ellis and drummer Scott Amendola, have issued a tough little gem of a recording in Safe-Crackers. Plimley's pianism ranges in voice from fierce avant-garde improvisation to...

1. Aventure Quebecoise I 13:13

2. Aventure Quebecoise II 8:35

3. Aventure Quebecoise III 9:37

4. Aventure Quebecoise IV 10:23

5. Aventure Quebecoise V 15:39

"The Hard Rubber Orchestra is a funkier incarnation of the NOW Orchestra. Led by trumpeter John Korsrud, it uses a similar pool of Vancouver musicians, although the instrumentation here focuses on brass and a rhythm section. Cruel Yet Fa...

"Recorded in studio in November 1996, Ben Goldberg's project Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin was his second composition for sextet (after Twelve Minor, released by Avant in 1998). Rubin, who died tragically at the age of 35, was one o...

"Three traditions, three musics? Hardly. This trio of improvisers -- Michel Doneda, soprano saxophone; Benat Achary, vocals, percussion; Kazue Sawai, koto -- forgoes all pretenses of speaking a universal language or separate ones, but i...

"This trio allies the spirited lightness of the Italian scene with the pastoral feel of the Swiss. Italian bassist Daniele Patumi and Swiss pianist John Wolf Brennan already played together in Pago Libre, an ensemble sharing a lot of af...

"When Gianni Gebbia performed with his trio Terra Arsa at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1997, he was already well-established in the Italian new jazz scene. His style draws from Coltranian jazz, ...

Combining live recordings from Victoriaville and London with studio sessions in England, pianist Chris Burn explores inside-the-piano techniques and prepared textures, shaping cerebral yet inventive improvisations that reveal a wide sonic palette and a focused, exploratory approach to solo performance.

"Recorded live at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1996, In the Land of Milk and Honey features trombonist Anne-Marie Roelofs' Waste Watchers trio, which also features Johannes Krämer (electric ...

...

"In 1996, Thurston Moore was still mostly known for his work with the rock group Sonic Youth. In 1996, the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville was an established institution in the realm of serious experimental, ...

"Psycho-Acoustic is guitarist Elliott Sharp and harpist Zeena Parkins, and Blackburst is their first album together under that name (their first album was titled Psycho-Acoustic and simply credited to Sharp and Parkins). As with their f...

"Recorded live at the Victoriaville Festival in 1996, this disc features the Italian saxophone and improvisation master surrounded by a band from heaven -- or hell, depending on your view of modern free jazz -- ensuring his own "social s...

The West Coast Rova Saxophone quartet in a 7 track studio album from 1995, from Jon Raskin on alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, sopranino saxophone, Steve Adams on alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone, Bruce Ackley on soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone and Larry Ochs on tenor saxophone, sopranino saxophone.

Recorded in a church in Novi Sad in 1994, saxophonist-composer Boris Kovac leads a chamber ensemble of voice, reeds, piano, strings and percussion through a solemn and meditative suite blending spiritual themes, modern classical elements and traditional dance inflections, shaping an evocative acoustic soundworld rooted in deep cultural reflection.

"Canadian baritone saxophonist Charles Papasoff has, with this recording, pulled off the heretofore unimaginable: pulled together a sextet comprised strictly of baritone players from Europe and North America and commissioned each member...

"Even for the avant-garde fan acquainted with the Far East Side Band's first CD, Caverns, Urban Archaeology cannot fail to surprise. The group's blend of Oriental and Occidental instruments and music forms provides quite a change of sce...

Featuring J.A. Deane on trombone, bass flute, lap steel guitar, percussion and sampler, this 1992Ð93 studio project blends atmospheric grooves, ambient textures and loop-based soundscapes, presenting an accessible electroacoustic journey marked by evocative moods and spacious instrumental color.

"Sudori is, simply put, an avant-jazz rollercoaster with blues, Dixieland, circus music, and free improvisation all tumbling in your stomach with strong Italian herbs and spices. Trumpeter Pino Minafra is accompanied by his Sud Ensemble...

"Superb, simply superb, but also disorienting and disquieting: that's Happy Wretched Family, Non Credo's second album, seven years after Reluctant Hosts. The avant-pop format found on the first LP has evolved into twisted shards of pop ...

Recorded in Montreal during the 1994 Victoriaville Festival, this first solo album from Charles Gayle presents deeply spiritual improvisations for tenor sax, bass clarinet, piano, drums and voice, a raw and passionate outpouring where intense expression and prayerful conviction drive every sound.

A live concert at the 11Th Festival International De Musique Actuelle De Victoriaville on May 19th, 1994, from the free improvising trio of Frederik Alarie on contrabass, Paul Leger on drum, Yannick Rieu on tenor saxophone.

Led by bassist Lisle Ellis with a fierce San Francisco contingent, this 1993 studio session brings together saxophonists Christopher Cauley, Joe McPhee, Glenn Spearman, and Larry Ochs with guitarist James Ruthier and drummer Donald Robinson, delivering energetic free jazz rooted in the 1960s tradition but propelled by raw interplay, bold horn lines, and committed group momentum.

"Recorded (and released) one year after Konrad Bauer's Disques Victo debut Toronto Tone, a solo-trombone-with-electronics affair, Three Wheels: Four Directions features his favorite trio at the time. Bauer, bassist Peter Kowald, and dru...

Recorded in Montreal in 1992, pianist Paul Plimley, bassist Lisle Ellis, and drummer-vibraphonist Gregg Bendian shape a dark-hued free jazz session with strong compositional ideas, shifting between shadowy swing, turbulent energy, and adventurous textures, while Bruce FreedmanÕs sax adds sharp focus on select tracks.

1. Jolly Ollie 6:03

2. Never To Return 7:08

3. Firestorm 9:26

4. Dedicated To Ronnie Boykins 5:28

5. Almost Unison 6:13

6. Systems 5:25

7. Eureka 9:23

8. Dedicated To Wilbur Little 7:42

"When it was released in 1992, Toronto Töne was one of the first albums by trombonist Konrad Bauer to see the light of day outside Germany (West and/or East). This solo set was recorded live in Toronto in October 1991. Bauer's tromb...

"This set by longtime collaborators Dave Burrell and David Murray (playing exclusively tenor sax here) was recorded at the Victoriaville Festival in Quebec in 1991. The live sound is good, the performances exceptional (even by their sta...

"One of the greatest records to come out of Victo's (the record label of the Victoriaville Festival in Quebec) catalog is this 13-selection set by the Art Ensemble of Chicago multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell. Issued ion 1991, it co...

"To document the 1989 edition of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, the label Disques Victo released a compilation album -- a one-time project. Dix Improvisations Victoriaville 1989 culls short to medium-len...

"Taken from a 1987 solo date at Quebec's venerable Festival Musique Actuelle, Labyrinths finds avant garde jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell balancing Cecil Taylor's cataclysmic and staunchly free piano style with her own melodic and spacio...

"In October 1987, keyboardist/computer wiz Richard Teitelbaum and violinist Carlos Zingaro performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. The next year the label Disques Victo released The Sea Between, comp...

Documenting a reunion of Musica Elettronica Viva's founders Frederic Rzewski (piano and vocals), Richard Teitelbaum (keyboards and computer) and Alvin Curran (keyboards, computer and shofar) at the 32nd International Festival Of Current Music in Victoriaville, Canada in 2016.

Two masters who rarely play together--guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist Evan Parker--performing together as a duo at the 30th Musique Actuelle Festival in Victoriaville, Canada for an amazing exchange of ideas and intensely subtle dialog.