4 Corners with Ken Vandermark, Magnus Broo, Adam Land and Paal Nilssen-Love in a live DVD from a March 2007 gig in Portugal playing 5 extended tracks. (PAL format)

The Chicago quartet of Joshua Abrams (double bass), David Boykin (tenor saxophone), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), and Frank Rosaly (drums) performing an excellent set of modern jazz influenced by dream states.

A double CD of pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, the first in duo with saxophonist Fred Anderson, and the second with trombonist George Lewis, also on laptop, celebrating Abram's 80th birthday!

Bassist Jason Ajemian composed these 8 works performed with the Chicago/NY band of Tony Malaby on tenor sax, Rob Mazurek on cornet & electronics, and Chad Taylor on drums, a dynamic set of music that varies through a spectrum of styles while staying true to its jazz roots.

Arrive, formed in 2001, is Aram Shelton's Chicago band with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tim Daisy, a remarkable album of structured free playing.

Chicago and Norway collide in the continuing collaboration of the "free-wheeling trio" of Ballister: Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Paal Nilssen-Love, amazing and forward-thinking free jazz.

2000 studio and live release from Tim Berne with a big band grouping of the Copenhagen Art Ensemble including trumpeter Herb Robertson and guitarist Marc Ducret.

Live from Lisbon's Jazz em Agosto Festival, cornetist Rob Mazurek merges his Chicago and Sao Paulo Underground bands, adding bassist Matthew Lux and jazz legend tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, for a potent blend of modern jazz, electronics, and free improvised music.

Four generations of Chicago saxophonists--Dave Rempis, Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, and Nick Mazzarella--come together in an interactive saxophone quartet with each player providing 2 compositions of well-developed, powerful, engaging free and lyrical jazz.

Recorded live at the Velvet Lounge a year before saxophonist and club owner Fred Anderson passed away, the Chicago Trio (Ernest Dawkins, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake) dedicates this double CD to the legendary Chicago figure.

The Chicago duo of Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor on cornet, synth, electronics, bamboo flutes drums, mbira, guitar & balaphone, mixings bits of breakbeat and Afropop with jazz, ambient and electronica elements in unmistakable and compelling grooves.

Saxophonist Dijkstra in compositions commissioned from the North Sea Jazz Festival 2009, 9 works written for Henry Threadgill, George Lewis, Fred Frith, &c.

Drummer Eisenstadt in a NY based African influenced quintet with trumpeters Taylor Ho Bynum and Nate Wooley, Mark Taylor on French Horn and Josh Sinton on baritone sax.

Saxophonist Fefer's NY based trio with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Chad Taylor play an ecstatic and spiritually charged modern jazz style with great drive and expressiveness.

A series of brief guitar improvisations based on the visual art of Thomas Hornung, who creates chalk artwork that usually takes less than 1 minute to create.

Recorded in 1996 and first released by Music and Arts, this is perhaps Scott Fields' most important recording session to date: intricate compositions and superior interplay with his Chicago peers of Hamid Drake, Marilyn Crispell, and Hans Sturm.

The NY trio of Steve Lehman, Vijay Iyer and new drummer Tyshawn Sorey in their 3rd Pi release, with wide influences from M-Base, Ornette Coleman, Art Ensemble, &c.

Matthew White's collective Fight the Big Bull nonet utilizes the history of jazz in compsitions that refer to Blind Willie Johnson, Charles Mingus, Art Ensemble, &c. &c.

Recorded after a tour in Netherlands, Germany & Belgium, Jorrit Djikstra's Flatlands Collective crosses Europe and Chicago with players Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Fred Lonberg-Holm, &c.

French drummer Denis Fournier's open structure compositions are performed by the magnificent quintet of flutist Nicole Mitchell, saxophonist Hanah Jon Taylor, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Bernard Santacruz.

Extraordinary reed player Gjerstad on alto sax and clarinet in a quartet with two cellos (Fred Lonberg-Holm & Amit Sen) and all around drummer Paal Nielsen-Love.

The inimitable Frode Gjerstad in a trio with some of Chicago's finest, bassist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Michael Zerang performing live at Milwaukee's Sugar Maple, 2009.

Perhaps Norway's most creative multi-reedist Frode Gjerstad meets Chicago cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm for a series of freely improvised duets, a remarkable dialog from two tremendous improvisers.

Insanely great improvisation in the 3rd recorded outing for this amazing trio, bringing Free Europe and New York Downtown players together for 3 extended compositions.

The Chicago electroacoustic quartet of saxophonist, sine tone & harmonium player Boris Hauff, drummer/electronicist Steven Hess, and reedist Keefe Jackson, recording in the studio 3 freely improvised pieces that build in intensity as the album develops.

Berlin-based saxophonist Boris Hauf's sextet with Keefe Jackson (sax), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Frank Rosaly (drums), Steve Hess (drums & electronics) and Michael Hartman (drums) in 4 extended pieces of boiling intensity.

Ranging from trio to septet, Herculaneum incorporates a chamber aesthetic into modern improvisational aesthetic with graceful expressiveness and compositional power.

The trio of flautist Nicole Mitchell with Harrison Bankhead and Hamid Drake, three Chicago musicians recording a set of original recordings in NYC, 2008.

Two creative flautists come together when Michel Edilin joins Nicole Mitchell's Indigo Trio with Harrison Bankhead and Hamid Drake for an album of excellent and tantric improvisation.

Tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson's quartet with trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Noritaka Tanaka, creative Chicago jazz from an active set of windy city players.

A live recording made in April 2014 at Mike Reed's Constellation in Chicago of pianist Karayorgis Quintet with Dave Rempis (sax), Keefe Jackson (reeds), Nate McBride (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums), bridging post-bop and avant jazz in sophisticated and lyrical ways.

Electronic artist (and on this release, pianist) Olivia Block and radical trumpeter Greg Kelley meet for five works that range from breathy meditations to active "slapstick" routines of bewilderingly interesting sound.

Three bassists converged on WNUR Studios, in Evanston, Illinois in 1998 to record these tracks, finally released after 16 years: 5 freely improvised trio sessions, 6 miniatures suggested by Kowald and performed by the trio, and 6 duos between Kowald and Lonberg-Holm.

Frode Gjerstad in a duo with long time colleague Chicago cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm for 9 pieces performed in 2012, with Gjerstad on bass saxophone, Bb and bass clarinets and Lonberg-Holm on cello; open-ended dialog of compatible approaches to free improvisation.

Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes with NY bassist Adam Lane and Israeli drummer Igal Fonis, emotional, raw music, with lots of feedback and distortion and astonishing solos!

Chicago's Lucky 7 with trombones from Jeb Bishop & Jeff Albert, Josh Berman on cornet, Keefe Jackson on tenor sax, Jason Adasiewicz on vibes, &c... essential jazz color and style.

The result of a three day series of concerts by Ken Vandermark's new project with electronicist Christoff Kurzmann, electric bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Tim Daisy, taking new directions by following the principles of "modular organization".

The quartet of Ken Vandermark on saxes, Christof Kurzmann on electronics, Devin Hoff on bass and Tim Daisy on drums trace women's influence on contemporary art, especially music, painting and photography, through 3 incredible examples of modern jazz.

The electroacoustic quartet of Christof Kurzmann (electronics), Devin Hoff (bass), Ken Vandermark (reeds) and Tim Daisy (drums) performing live in Lisbon, an innovative and significant band developing new languages for improvisation.

Chicago cornetist/composer Rob Mazurek leads his Exploding Star Orchestra featuring Roscoe Mitchell with Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Steve Swell, Matt Bauder, Jason Adasiewica, &c. through a colossal 8 part work, and also provides a single CD of cosmic electronics.

An emotional solo concert performed at Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery, an ode to Mazurek's mother a few months after her passing, on cornet, flutes, bells, books, maracas, apples, and little electronics, in a touching and beautiful celebration of her life.

With a sound that fits in the ea-improv world, the acoustic trio of Matt Bauder, Zach Wallace and Aaron Siegel provides a fresh and unique voice in the world of free improvisation.

An ambitious work from flautist, composer and conductor Nicole Mitchell writing for a large ensemble of improvisers, electronics, and chamber orchestra, a complex and layered work that reveals more with each listen.

Chicago flautist Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble in a release inspired by the work of Afrofuturist writer Octavia Butler; powerful, dissonant and intense performances.

Chicago flutist Nicole Mitchell's NY band with Craig Taborn (piano & wurlitzer), David Boykin (sax), Chad Taylor (drums & guitar) in a tribute to her mentor, the late saxophonist Fred Anderson and his Velvet Lounge club, in an excellent mix of free and melodic playing.

Chicago flautist Mitchell in a quartet with pianist Craig Taborn, saxophonist David Boykin and drummer Chad Taylor playing Mitchell's fascinating compositions of complex twists and turns.

Flautist Nicole Mitchell's solo album of her own impromptu compositions and interpretations of other artists' works composed for her, reflecting her deep relationship with nature and her instrument.

Composer Roscoe Mitchell prepared two compositions with space for improvisation, as well as a Cards composition in which the musicians received six cards with written material that were then arranged in any order and played at any tempo.

Art Ensemble founder Roscoe Mitchel on reeds, winds and percussion, in an extended electroacoustic work performed with James Fei on reeds and analog electronics and William Winant on percussion; a composition/improvisation blending sound and space in creative and compelling ways.

A beautiful set of compositions from saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, presenting works recorded in the 2000s with performers including Thomas Buckner, Stephen Rush, Nils Bultman, William Winant, &c.

A work articulated around Pierrepont's main spiral poem and Ladd's traverse poems, with music improvised from a group inc. Hamid Drake, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, William Parker, &c.

A first and exceptional release from the Platform 1 quintet of Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark, NY trombonist Steve Swell, European trumpeter Magnus Broo, Canadian ex-pat bassist Joe Williamson, and Amsterdamn based drummer Michael Vatcher.

Chicago cellist and composer Tomeka Reid was commissioned to create original music for the first documentary of the Imagists, mid 60's Chicago post-surrealists artists who exhibited together; Reid reworked the music into a fully realized suite for this CD release.

A 2-CD set of live concert recordings from this brilliant improvising quartet headed by Dave Rempis (sax) with prominent members Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass), Tim Daisy (drums), and Frank Rosaly (drums).

After 10 years together, the Rempis Percussion Quartet led by saxophonist Dave Rempist, Frank Rosaly, Tim Daisy on drums and percussion, and Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on bass, recorded this concert at Chicago's Hungry Brain for a superlative album of rhythmically simmering free improv.

The music of bassist Jason Roebke and his trio of guitarist Matthew Schneider and drummer Marcus Evan is rooted in the leader's solid bass work and the tasteful and informed lyrical freedom of his sidemen, as heard in this live performace Chicago's Hungry Brain.

Free and unusual improvisation with the strange vocal stylings of Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, bassist Demey, and percussion and bicycle pump player Vanderstraeten.

The duo of Bryan Day (Eloine, Shelf Life) and instrument builder Jay Kreimer in what they describe as "confrontational gamelan theatre", a form of amplified metal/object-based improvisation.

The 3rd Clean Feed Guitar Series brings Elliott Sharp and Scott Fields together for a mixture or conventional notation, graphic notation, and structures for improvisation.

"A relentless music innovator since his early days in the Chicago AACM, Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most consistenly creative composer/performers in new music. In his sixth Tzadik release he once again explores new territory, bringing f...

Jason Stein 2nd Locksmith Isidore release on Clean Feed with bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Mike Pride shows his devotion to Eric Dolphy in experimental and classic jazz approaches.

Ken Vandermark associate bass clarinetist Jason Stein in a trio with Kevin Davis and Mike Pride playing a set of Stein original compositions.

In 2000, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and curator John Corbett organized a 16-piece free music big-band featuring key members of the Chicago and Swedish scenes, recording these two impressive, ecstatic, and explosive works.