Referencing the "queen of morning ragas" Raag Bhairavi, Oregon-based sitar player and experimental musician J.J. Gregg performed these three improvisations immediately following a group meditation, each raga providing a distinct mood to take their listeners on a journey to complement their state of mind, weaving themes of inspiration and experience.

Their first time playing together as a trio despite many permutations in various projects over the years, the trio of Robert Mitchell (F-IRE Collective) on piano & percussion, Neil Charles on double bass and remarkably collaborative drummer Mark Sanders are heard in this 2022 concert at London's Cafe OTO for two extended, free and very informed collective improvisations.

With lyrical insite and a great rapport, the Australian collective piano trio of pianist Joe O'Connor, double bassist Hellen Svoboda and drummer Tim Green approach their dialogs with great self-control and intent concentration, developing fascinating conversations from emotive musings that lead to confidently intrepid and compellingly coherent improvisations.

Double basist Andre Carvalho (EMJO, Large Unit) follows up his 2021 album on the New York-based Outside In Music label with this 2nd volume, recording with his working trio of guitarist Andre Matos and saxophonist Jose Soares, each of the lyrical and creative tracks titled for a word from a another language that is not readily translatable in most languages.

A powerfully creative concert of genre-bending improvisation when the core of the Norwegian jazz/rock band Chrome Hill--Asbjørn Lerheim (guitar) and Roger Arntzen (bass)--returned to Japan to join for the 3rd time with koto improviser Michiyo Yagi, plus her frequent collaborator, drummer Tamaya Honda, for an assertive concert of exotic, experimental improv at Tokyo's Aketa No Mise.

Titled for Portuguese drummer Mario Costa's disciplined approach to composition and the DNA-like consideration of his band members--Cuong Vu on trumpet, Benoit Delbecq on piano, synths & samplers and Bruno Chevillon on double bass--this 2nd release as a leader shows Costa advancing his ideas through nine rigorously composed original works, impeccably realized by this outstanding band.

The premiere encounter of the uniquely orchestrated trio of two legendary string improvisers--Gordon Grdina on guitar & oud, and Mat Maneri on viola--with drummer Christian Lillinger (New Old Luten, Punkt vs. Plastik, EUPHORIUM_freakestra) recording in the studio in Vancouver, BC for three impressive, innately lyrical, dexterous and magnificent conversations.

Canadian clarinetist François Houle in an international project dedicated to the late co-founder of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Ken Pickering, performed with Canadian expatriates, plus colleagues from New York City, Paris, Basel and Berlin: Marco von Orelli on cornet & trumpet, Samuel Blaser on trombone, Benoit Delbecq on piano, Michael Bates on bass and Harris Eisenstadt on drums.

Citing references including Sun Ra, electric Miles, Ornette, Wadada Leo Smith, Stockhausen & Gabriel Prokofiev, guitarist Luis Lopes's Abyss Mirrors brings together artists drawing on European & Brazilian performers from Clean Feed, Shhpuma and Creative Sources for these evolving and often ecstatic collective, experimental improvisations; unpredictably edgy and exciting!

Four unique compositions from Portuguese trumpeter Sei Miguel, whose work embraces jazz history while incorporating his own music systems, here each piece varying the size of each grouping with one constant, his frequent sideman, alto trombonist Fala Mariam; plus luminaries including Rodrigo Amado, Ernesto Rodridgues, Helena Espvall, Nuno Torres, Rafel Toral, Paulo Curado, &c.

Recordings from concerts throughout Portugal between 2016-2021 from pocket trumpeter Sei Miguel's quartet with Fala Mariam on alto trombone, Bruno Silva on electric guitar and Pedro Castello-Lopes on percussion & drums (Pandeiro & Kalengo), uniquely orchestrated works often simplifying larger orchestral concepts, clarifying these warmly embraceable original Miguel compositions.

Energetic and urgent free jazz from the Portuguese trio MOVE of Felipe Zenicola on electric bass, Yedo Gibson on saxophones and Joao Valinho on drums, long time collaborators and members of bands including Rodrigo Amado Refraction Quartet and Naked Wolf, these five shredding improvisations were captured live at Desterro Club, in Lisbon in 2022.

After their performance at the 2021 Jazz em Agosto festival, the Italian quartet of Alberto Popolla on clarinets, electric bass & banjo, Errico De Fabritiis on saxophones, Gianfranco Tedeschi on double bass, and Fabrizio Spera on drums is again expanded with wind player Eugenio Colombo and vibraphonist Francesco Lo Cascio, recording this lyrical blues-rooted album in the studio in 2022.

An absorbing album of electronic jazz and improvisation from the Portuguese string and percussion trio of Ricardo Jacinto on cello, electronics & harmonium, Goncalo Almeida on double bass & electronics and Nuno Morao on drums & percussion, exploring unique and innately lyrical intersections of chamber improv, ea-improv and compositional forms.

The first quartet album for electronic improviser Rafael Toral's Space Quartet is a live album from Casa das Artes Bissaya Barreto in Coimbra, performed with Hugo Antunes on double bass, Nuno Morao on drums & percussion, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone & electronic instrument, with Toral using acoustic & electronic feedback to bring the classic jazz quartet lineup into new spaces.

A set of pointillistic improvisations from the collective, chamber-oriented, freely improvising trio of Biliana Voutchkova (violin), Alexander Fragenheim (double bass) and Antonis Anissegos (piano), recording in the studio in Berlin in 2016 for seven "archives" named for the length of each relatively succinct improvisation, from "Archive 4 04" to "Archive "7 38".

Originally released as an LP on the French Newvelle Records label co-founded by pianist Elan Mehler, here reissued with four additional recordings of beautifully lyrical jazz pivoting around Japanese haiku's, from the sextet led by Mehler and NY trumpeter Dave Douglas with vocalist Dominique Eade, reedist John Gunther, bassist Simon Willson, and drummer Dayeon Seok.

Two intensely explosive and exciting improvisations captured live at AMR Geneva in Switzerland, 2021, from the trio of Albert Cirera on soprano & tenor saxophones, Olie Brice on double bass and Nicolas Field on drums & percussion, a masterfully controlled concert of ecstatic and extended free jazz frenzy that takes the trio far beyond this November concert!

The album title translating to Humanity, Polish improvising vocalist Natalia Kordiak demonstrates her skills both as a jazz singer and as part of the continuum of creative free improv vocalists, with a tremendous quartet of young musicians: Przemyslaw Chmiel on tenor & soprano saxophones, Mateusz Kolakowski on piano, Alan Wykpisz on double bass & bass guitar and Grzegorz Palka on drums.

Long a fan of his music, NY trumpeter Kirk Knuffke joined with saxophonist Joe McPhee and his quartet of Christof Knoche (bass clarinet), Michael Bisio (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums), following Knuffke's wife's advice to "keep the dream up" as the quintet recorded a series of exceptional collective improvisations, one Knuffke compositions and at Knuffke's request, a poem/"Invocation" from McPhee.

A set of original compositions from Portland saxophonist, bass clarinetist and composer Ike Levin, a frequent collaborator of pianist Joel Futterman, here with his trio of Shao-Way Wu on contrabass and Tim DuRoche on drums & percussions, performing eight pieces of structurally interesting forms yielding passionate playing, from free jazz energy to lyrical introspection.

Taking advantage of stereo placement and strong effect processing, Portuguese guitarist Luís Lopes (Humanization 4tet, Lisbon Freedom Unit) releases the antithesis of his recent Love Songs series with this improvised guitar album, splitting his signal through two unique sequences of analogue pedals into tube amplifiers, creating hypnotically corrosive music.

Originally a solo project for cello, electronics and resonant objects, Ricardo Jacinto (Pink Draft, String Theory, LFU) expands his concept that focuses on the relationship between sound and space with this septet, captured live at CCC in Portugal and featuring an instrument developed for the project using multiple microphones on the cello connected to resonant objects.

Performing on both piano and bass drum, Italian improviser & composer Luca Sguera presents six works based around the physical sounds of the piano, traditional acoustic piano progressions and rhythmic arrangements fitting the development of each piece's sound, as much sound art as piano composition through sophisticated hybrids of acoustic and sonic environments.

The second album release from the trio of New York improvisers Ivo Perelman on tenor saxophone and Matthew Shipp on piano with DC drummer Jeff Cosgrove, captured live in North Carolina at the Carborro ArtsCenter for an extended, nearly hour-long journey of concentrative interplay, articulate soloing and diverse and authoritative dynamics of fervent and reflective moods.

Inspired by a trip to the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, guitarist Ed Pettersen recorded this, his first solo guitar album, as a set of ambient/electronic recordings of long sustain and unexpected angles; seven tracks recorded live in the studio in London, and one recording in the Vigeland Mausoleum itself, using the resonance and 18-second decay of that space.

Two movements from a live score for the classic silent film Terje Vigen by Sjöström composed and produced by Swedish pianist & keyboardist Alex Zethson (Angles 9, VÖ, Fire! Orchestra), two long-form tracks of dark and sombre, pulsating folk-drone featuring Norwegian vocal ensemble EMBLA plus appearances by, i.e., Christer Bothén, Kristin Amparo Sundberg and Goran Kajfeš.

Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Black Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Jade Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

LOWER PRICE! Taking on another set of compositions from John Zorn's Masada Songbook, the New and electrified Masada quartet of Kenny Wollesen on drums, Julian Lage on guitar, Jorge Roeder on bass and Zorn himself on alto saxophone releases their second volume, seven melodically rich and intricate works that lead to incredible, often burning soloing and group interchange.

A fascinatingly structured album conceived by Romain Clerc Renaud and Antonin Tri Hoang, the first CD constructing a complex poetic form made up of multiple themes, from simple (Encore, Petit Matelot) to rapidly complex (LetCo, Klaxon), unfolding in unexpected ways; the 2nd CD restructured in the studio by Marc Baron, transforming the music into seven engrossing electroacoustic compositions.

A high-intensity free jazz workout from the French duo of tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal, long-time collaborators in their 3rd sax & drum duo album, anticipating each other's gestures to allow them flexibility in creating textural approaches to their dialog, challenging physical limits while subtly progressing their frenzied and arresting playing.

The second part of Umlaut's Cartographie de rythmes, a sound exploration guided by an imaginary map of rhythm, here investigating the relationship between text and music through mysteriously breathing clarinet lines & harmonics by Fabrice Arnaud-Cremon, and patient narration by Julien Gaillard, Karl Naegelen and Aurélie Maisonneuve.

Recording in Brooklyn's Seaside Lounge in 2014, these five previously unreleased collective improvisations bring together West Coast reedist Vinny Golia, performing on clarinet, saxello, sopranino, baritone saxophones with double bassist Max Johnson and drummer Weasel Walter, an absolutely impressive example of free playing intent and well-balanced conversation.

A suite based on raag todi from sitar player J.J. Gregg with Pavan Kanekal on tabla; five tracks revised in the studio to create compositions of both sitar music and more experimental forms, the music tying together concepts of water's effect on geologic formation, as illustrated and contemplated in a description from the albums's liner notes.

Destined for top lists of 2023, saxophonist & composer Ingrid Laubrock's ambitious work brings together unusual orchestration through previous collaborators Brandon Seabrook (guitar), Michael Formanek (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums) along with violinist Mazz Swift and cellist Tomeka Reid, for six fascinating and articulate compositions of farge ranging mood and gestures.

A frequent collaborator with NY saxophonist and composer Tim Berne, French guitarist Marc Ducret takes on Berne's compositions, at times in multiple interpretations of the same work or by merging pieces together, performed with the superb support of trumpeter Fabrice Martinez, flutist Sylvaine Helary, trombonist Christiane Bopp and Ducret's son, cellist Bruno Ducret.

Derived from the name Georgios and its dual meaning of earth and work, drummer & composer John Hollenbeck (Claudia Quintet) developed these lyrical and sometimes pop-inspired compositions, along with arrangements of Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang" and Cyril Tawney's "Grey Funnel Line", performed with Anna Weber on sax & flute, Aurora Nealand on voice, keys & sax, and Chiquita Magic on keys & voice.

The core duo of the Boston collective group the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO), David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice are joined by percussionist Michael Knoblach and trumpeter Vance Provey for an extended improvisation inspired by their work on the previous LOFO album Revealing the Essence.

Sonic explorer and feedback pioneer David Lee Myers in a collection of eight pensive electronic ambience works recorded at Pulsewidth in the spring of 2022, meditating on the mysteries of time and eternity through Apophis, a demon serpent of darkness whom Ra, as sun god, destroys every morning at dawn.

Wabanaki bassist, composer and songwriter Mali Obomsawin presents a compositional suite that highlights the art and culture of her people, binding together blues, jazz, hymns and folk songs with an ensemble of exceptional NY improvisers: Savannah Harris (drums), Miriam Elhajli (guitars, voice), Allison Burik (reeds), Noah Campbell (sax) and Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet & flugelhorn).

Expanding the rhythmically exuberant Natural Information Society led by Chicago bassist & guimbri player Joshua Abrams with core members Lisa Alvarado (harmonium), Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet), are Hamid Drake (percussion), Josh Berman & Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto sax & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) and Ari Brown (sax).

Reissuing pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's 1983 FMP album with his quartet of Evan Parker on soprano & tenor saxophones, Alan Silva on double bass and Paul Lovens on drums & percussion, a fertile period for the group, as heard in the probing and incisive free jazz through two extended improvisations captured live at the Quartier Latin in Berlin, Germany in 1982.

Working again with the 12-piece, expressive Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Norwegian guitarist and composer Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen recorded this double LP in the studio in Halden in 2021, for 9 long form epics that bridge and merge rock and jazz genres, in both instrumental work and songs that explore the nature of family and issues of social justice.

Four new tracks from the incredibly prolific Norwegian long form rock band Motorpsycho of Bent Saether on bass & vocals, Hans Magnus on guitar & vocals and the departing album for drummer Tomas Jarmyr, in a well-balanced release of songs and instrumental work including their longest piece to date, a theme from an imagined movie; sophisticated & intelligent modern rock.

Part of Peter Brötzmann's 80th birthday concerts in his hometown of Wuppertal, the saxophonist assembled a trio from his typically duo partner, pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh (Charalambides, Dream/Aktion Unit) and Chicago cellist and electronic improviser Fred Lonberg-Holm, performing the extended title track at INSEL | Kultur im ADA, along with two succinct improvisations.

Creating a persona to "overcome his own limitations", Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger adopts the name of Gomberg as an alter-ego, releasing this engaging and unconventional set of 22 succinct recordings made between 2006-2018, selected and sequenced from occasion-related compositions and commissioned works, performed on quartertone trumpet, electronics, zither, voice & percussion.

With nine years of work together, the Uruguayan duo of guitarist Santiago Bogacz, aka Matador, and clarinetist Emiliano Aires have developed a near-telepathic dialog of sharp-edged interactions through technically rapid exchanges and plateaus of anxious reserve; exhilarating work heard here in 9 vehement and creatively urgent improvisations.

Two New York improvisers — percussionist Nava Dunkelman and violinst Gabby Fluke-Mogul — sharing a background from Mills College and work with luminaries including Fred Frith, present their extroverted approaches to free improvisation in these eleven assertive dialogs recorded in the studio, their compatibility and love of unusual techniques evident.

Scott Field's 9-part Sands for 20 instrumentalists, three singers, and a conductor, in this case Fields himself, employs a modular performance system that integrates composition and improvisation, the conductor selecting modules from melodies, phasing patterns, long tones, improv elements, fragmented short stories, &c., spontaneously assigned live; a fascinating accomplishment.

With each solo intended for a specific recipient, London saxophonist Magee recorded a series of improvisations during the pandemic isolations, retaining two of the recordings as pure solo Magee, the others virtual duos with: Travis D. Johnson on synth, Tim Green on drums, Joshua Weitze on guitar, A.F. Jones for resampling, Thomas Milovac on bass, and Lance Austin Olsen on guitar.

Steering far from pyrotechnics or histrionics, the drum duo of UK legend Mark Sanders and Norwegian residing in the UK and part of the new direction of Bead Records, Emil Karlsen, present six percussion improvisations that focus on textural interaction, melodic progression, polyrhythms, and sonic excitement through percussive elements; an exceptional duo.

Eight aquatic themed works from the Berlin-based quintet of Hui-Chun Lin and Uygur Vural on cello, Matthias Müller on trombone, Klaus Kurvers and Ulf Mengersen on bass; also known as Ensemble Discoveries, this album collects work from 2020-22, described as "improvised music and Echtzeit Compositions and the ideas of deep sea, their special living conditions: big pressure, eternity darkness".

Spanning three generations of improvisers, the duo of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues join with tenor saxophonist Gonçalo Mortágua and legendary percussionist Gunter Baby Sommer to record eleven diverse improvisations in the studio in Berlin, naming the quartet "Not Bad", an extreme understatement for their unique chamber influences of European Free Jazz.

Working with modular synthesizer systems and amplified double bass, the Berlin duo of Ulf Mengersen, a member of Berlin Improvisers Orchestra and Ensemble MIA, and Thomas Rehnert, an experimental musician, sound artist and composer known for rock, theater, radio, visual arts and free improv settings, recorded these 10 electroacoustic improvisations in the studio in 2021.

The third Spiegel, or mirror, takes the Portuguese acoustic octet led by violist Ernesto Rodrigue through an extended improvisation and its reflection, captured live at the 2021 CSFest XV, at O'Culto da Ajuda, by performing and recording their performance in a first pass, and then playing over the first improvisation, layering and extending their work.

Far from the reductionist/minimal improvisation often associated with the Creative Sources label and the work of both violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, this quartet session with double bassist Joao Madeira and Jose Oliveira is a highly charged and energetic affair, improvising through a suite of eight tightly controlled conversations of "Chaos".

Each track in this beautiful pairing of strings through cello and electric guitar is named after nature, the title referencing a brown-eared bat, as the Berlin duo of guitarist Olaf Rupp and cellist Ulrike Brand intertwine in an unhurried series of dialog that prioritize natural fluidity, reflecting the confidence that nearly ten years working together has imbued to their improvisations.

The 20-year followup to their 2003 album on the Unsounds label titled Thermal, the trio of John Butcher on tenor & soprano saxophones, Andy Moor on guitar and Thomas Lehn on analogue synthesizer update listeners with their free and ea-improvising approach through five studio improvisations of incredible detail, technical & sonic mastery, and astute conversational skills.