Drawing from a period of intense experimentation in the mid-1980s, Jessica Williams transforms a prepared piano into a newly imagined and startlingly creative instrument, shaping music that moves from Satie-like lyricism to controlled cacophony through altered strings, tactile resonance, and deeply expressive melodic voicing-forward-thinking and intimate work unheard for nearly four decades.

Recorded live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in 1971, this extraordinary collaboration between Don Cherry, Krzysztof Penderecki, and The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra merges free jazz with avant-garde composition, blending fiery improvisation, unconventional orchestrations and global influences into a powerful experience that challenges traditional genre boundaries.

A sextet edition of Evil Clown's flagship ensemble Leap of Faith, this session features core members David Peck and Glynis Lomon joined by regular collaborators John Fugarino, Michael Caglianone, Scott Samenfeld, and percussionist Michael Knoblach in a vividly textural improvisation, merging winds, strings, electronics, and an arsenal of unique instruments into a richly layered, evolving sonic tapestry.

Belgian sound artist Carlo Steegen delivers a solo work of dense, textural abstraction under his Last Action moniker, blending elements of noise, industrial atmospheres, and electroacoustic experimentation into a raw and immersive studio performance recorded in the summer of 2024.

Recorded live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in 1971, this extraordinary collaboration between Don Cherry, Krzysztof Penderecki, and The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra merges free jazz with avant-garde composition, blending fiery improvisation, unconventional orchestrations and global influences into a powerful experience that challenges traditional genre boundaries.

An acoustic septet edition of the Leap of Faith, the core duet of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, joined by Michael Caglianone on saxophones, flute, clarinet, melodica & water bottle, John Fugarino on trumpet, slide trumpet & flugelhorn, Tom Swafford on violin, Kit Demos on bass, and Eric Rosenthal on drums.

A new take on the classic guitar, bass & drums trio line-up, bringing together three generations of improvising musicians--John Edwards on double bass, Emil Karlsen on drums and Dominic Lash, more typically a double bassist, here on a Telecaster electric guitar--in five studio recordings of great intensity and varying direction fueled by a minute attention to detail.

Italian percussionist, sound artist, improviser and composer Nicholas Remondino expresses the sentiment of the 18 recordings on this solo album of prepared drum improvisations through a single sentence, each piece flowing into the next through unusual punctuation, gestures and intersections, as the listener is carried along curious landscapes of extraordinary technique.

"I met Glynis originally when we both played in the Masashi Harada Sextet... A few months after I arrived in Boston to attend Berklee, I saw Masashi perform with Joe and Matt Maneri and introduced myself afterwards, and the Sextet start...

Philipp Wachsmann's acoustic violin is routed through his own electronics and then fed into the Live Electronic Sampling & Transformations (LiSa) systems of Michael Bunche, processed and re-performed using time-based transformations shaped by gestural input or as static samples, creating new and unexpected trajectories, sounds snd forms for Wachsmann's playing.

A 2022 concert of acoustic and electroacoustic interaction at The Jazz Centre UK from the Trans Map duo of Evan Parker on soprano saxophone and Matthew Wright on laptop processing, the "+" in Transmap+ being trombonist Robert Jarvis, a versatile collaborator since London Improvisers Orchestra and here a 3rd voice expanding their spectacular open collective free improv.

An intimate encounter with Portuguese tenor saxophone player Rodrigo Amado, performing three original compositions -- the extended "Sweet Freedom", "Singular Blow" and "Shadow Waltz" -- performed at the Church of The Holy Ghost (Igreja do Espirito Santo) in Caldas da Rainha, an often introspective and innately lyrical set that reaches emphatic moments while always speaking directly.

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.

With one foot in fusion-oriented improv and the other in psychedelic/prog rock, the 4th album from the Norwegian quartet of Per Steinar Lie on lapsteel & electric guitar, Oystein Braut on guitar, organ & Mellotron, Julius Lind on double bass and Orjan Haaland on drums are joined by keyboard wiz Sigbjorn Apeland and percussionist Stale Liavik Solberg.

Two collaborations in a split LP, and the continuation of a series of duo pieces for piano and other instruments that pianist and keyboardist Eric Wubbels has been pursuing since 2006: first an intensive 3-part "Field Of Action" with vocalist and noise artist Charmaine Lee; then "Contraposition" with trombonist Weston Olencki in a duo with Wubbels on prepared piano.

Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and writer Nick Dunston in his debut album, blending jazz, contemporary, chamber and avant forms, in a uniquely voiced quintet with Louna Dekker-Vargas on flutes & piccolo, Ledah Finck on violin & viola, Tal Yahalom on guitar, and Stephen Boegehold on drums, in a sophisticated album of concisely fascinating compositions.

PROMO COPY WITH CUT CORNER

PROMO COPY WITH CUT CORNER

Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen joins the working trio of Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, and Rick Countryman for a lively set of performances, Sabu and Countryman having met Yandsen in Kuala Lumpur several times the previous year for unrelated projects, bringing confident familiarity to their improvisations, captured here as a trio and quartet from a 3-night engagement in Manila.

"Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra" was originally written by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki for the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by composer himself; this new extended reading and conduction of the score from 2018 was originated and directed by Mats Gustafsson, a powerful update and expansion of the original work.

Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and writer Nick Dunston in his debut album, blending jazz, contemporary, chamber and avant forms, in a uniquely voiced quintet with Louna Dekker on Vargas on flutes & piccolo, Ledah Finck on violin & viola, Tal Yahalom on guitar, and Stephen Boegehold on drums, in a sophisticated album of concisely fascinating compositions.

Four distinct pieces for solo viola and effects from NY composer/improviser Jessica Pavone, each piece using electronic elements to blur wave motions interacting with minimalist motifs, merging folk elements with avant elements, using extended bowing techniques to blend unlikely matches of acoustics and electronics in unconventional and appealing performance.

The longstanding relationship between US alto saxophonist living in the Phillipines, Rick Countryman, and legendary free improvising Japanese percussionist Sabu Toyozumi, heard in two previous albums, is here captured live in concert in the Phillipines in 2018, revealing active and thoughtful dialog of great expression and skill, an inspired encounter of free playing.

Combining folk and ethnic rhythms in traditional popular forms, the Trio La Soustraction of des Fleurs of Jean-Francois Vrod on violin & voice, Frederic Aurier on violin & voice, and Sylvain Lemetre on zarb & voice focuses on the music of the mountains of the Massif Central, melodic music with unique timbres, forms, pre-texts, and a richly complex set of musical objects.

Violinist and percussionist Nick Smith, having access to St. Mary's Church at Great Baddow for music performance and rehearsals, made his first use of the space in 1996 in a duo with Mark Wastell on violincello, preparations and percussion, where they used the acoustics of the church to enhance their detailed and absorbing improvisations.

Legendary pianist Veryan Weston set out across England in 2014 in search of tracker-action organs, which he tested for suitability for a planned trio album, where possible recording himself on the instrument, as heard in these seven recordings of unusual and impressive improvisations.

Using a diverse set of instruments and percussive devices, from tennis balls to Jupiter 80 keyboards, electronics artist and performer Steve MacLean presents an exotic set of compositions using microtonal, poly-rhythmic and deeply engaging structures in unusual and captivating music.

Five freely improvised tracks recorded live in 2013 at London's Vortex Jazz Club from the trio of Stefan Keune on soprano & tenor sax, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Steve Noble on drums & percussion, playing demanding active work and more introspective inner dialog; exceptional!

Portugese harpist Eduardo Raon uses harp, daxophone, electronics, voice & percussion to create dramatic music that applies his classical training to improvisational methods, using real-time electronic processing to create encompassing yet intricate and unusual sonic environments.

West Coast trombonist and electronic artist Michael Dessen's electroacoustic trio with bassist Christopher Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss, balancing detailed compositions and radically open improvisation that equally embraces groove-based improv and soundscape.

Trio 3 - Oliver Lake (sax), Reggie Workman (bass) & Andrew Cyrille (drums) - in their 5th release, adding guest pianist Jason Moran, who acts as a catalyst to push the group into far-reaching modern territory, including a rhythmic narrative work from Oliver Lake.

The fourth of a collection dedicated to the French Musique Action Festival, here in a tribute to Tom Cora recorded in 1998 with Catherine Jauniaux, Phil Minton, Zeena Parkins, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Veryan Weston, &c. &c.

Part of Ayler's Guerilla Series, percussionist Laurence Cook and keyboardist Eric Zinman in an album of textural duos developed over a year while working with the Yamaha CP300 stage keyboard.

Double bassist Sean Conly in a New York based quartet with saxophonists Michael Attias & Tony Malaby and drum legend Pheeroan Aklaff.