Thumbscrew (Halvorson / Fujiwara / Formanek:
Wingbeats (Cuneiform)
The eighth album from the Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibraphone, Michael Formanek on double bass and Mary Halvorson on guitar, developed during the trio's three-week residency in Pittsburgh for the community-based City of Asylum project, each member contributing three compositions, along with Charles Mingus' "Orange was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk". ... Click to View
Tyshawn Sorey (w/ Diehl / Ragahavan):
The Susceptible Now (Pi Recordings)
Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard. ... Click to View
Ivo Perelman / Nate Wooley:
Polarity 3 (Burning Ambulance Music)
Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary. ... Click to View
Ivo Perelman / Nate Wooley:
Polarity 2 (Burning Ambulance Music)
The second installment of New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates both the affinity between the two players and their impressive mastery of their instruments, with creative drive and quick responsiveness that creates unique dialogs of powerful and sometimes unusual technique and expression; an incredibly gratifying and wonderful set of improvisations. ... Click to View
Matthew Shipp / Whit Dickey:
Reels (Burning Ambulance Music)
An intimate and warmly recorded studio duo between two long-time collaborators and masterful improvisers — pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey — opening the album with a beautifully placid dialog and then expanding in well-balanced album of expressive, energetic and startlingly exciting exchanges, from "Moon Garden"s to the wildly powerful title track. ... Click to View
SORBD (Steyer / Dyberg / Okuda / Robler / Borges):
Wild Peacock In Transit (Relative Pitch)
Each of the 5 members of this band bring a composition to this 2022 live recording at Kuhlspot Social Club in Berlin, along with four collective improvisations, in the impressive debut of the acronym-named band SORBD, signifying Edith Steyer on Bb clarinet, Mia Dyberg on alto saxophone, Rieko Okuda on piano, Isabel Rossler on bass, and Sofia Borges on drums & percussion. ... Click to View
Tungu:
Successful Utilization of Elements (Public Eyesore)
A series of 19 wide-ranging duets between Sergey Senchuk, aka Tungu, who performs on voice, acoustic bass, field recording & sampling, and an impressive set of international improvisers, including Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Jaap Blonk (voice), Gunda Gottschalk (violin), Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Sainkho Namtchylak (voice), Xavier Charles (clarinet & processing), &c. ... Click to View
Pat Thomas:
This is Trick Step (577 Records)
UK improviser & keyboard artist Pat Thomas in his 577 debut, a solo album of abstract and active electronic experimentation with an urban bent, melding texture, depth, and "mental stimulation" in unexpected and generally jam-packed ways, Thomas describing the album as the product of an alternative univers where JDilla and Morton Feldman collaborate. ... Click to View
DNS:
Taking Big Bites Of The Khandas Three Cafes Deep [2 CDs] (Bu Lang Tribute Cake)
Live improvisations from the North Carolina duo of Alexander Cooper and Joseph Schlam, a double album of eight extended journeys through textural sound, drone and veiled reference, influenced by Costin Miereanu, Jaap Vink, Lionel Marchetti, Luc Ferrari, and Dagar Vani, as the duo work in stereo using two amps for drums, voice, live electronics, and field recordings. ... Click to View
Matt Mitchell (w/ Tordini / Weiss):
Zealous Angles (Pi Recordings)
The debut album of NY composer & pianist Matt Mitchell's long-running trio with bassist Chris Tordiniand and drummer Dan Weiss, an adventurous and accomplished group that brings an optimistic buoyancy to Mitchell's complex compositions, exploring multiple asynchronous cycles using polyrhythm and polymeter through multiple lines that the players have freedom to choose and improvise around. ... Click to View
Kim Cass (w/ Mitchell / Sorey / Cocks / Dotson):
Levs (Pi Recordings)
Performing the unique compositions of Brooklyn-based bassist & composer Kim Cass with the technically superb quintet of Matt Mitchell on piano & synthesizer, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Laura Cocks on flutes and Adam Dotson on euphonium, Cass' intricate and unconventional works, influenced by 20th century contemporary classical, are complex structures that require precision and wit; impressive! ... Click to View
Arashi With Takeo Moriyama:
Tokuzo (Trost Records)
The trio of Japanese saxophone legend Akira Sakata with the Scandinavian rhythm section of Johan Berthling on double bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, plus a second drummer with Takeo Moriyama (Yosuke Yamashita Trio), perform six wildly exciting improvisations, Sakata's vocalizations at times pushing the band as they are heard live in this 2019 recording at Tokuzo in Nagoya, Japan. ... Click to View
Arashi With Takeo Moriyama:
Tokuzo [VINYL 2 LPs] (Trost Records)
The trio of Japanese saxophone legend Akira Sakata with the Scandinavian rhythm section of Johan Berthling on double bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, plus a second drummer with Takeo Moriyama (Yosuke Yamashita Trio), perform six wildly exciting improvisations, Sakata's vocalizations at times pushing the band as they are heard live in this 2019 recording at Tokuzo in Nagoya, Japan. ... Click to View
Kris Davis Trio (w/ Hurst / Blake):
Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic Records)
A tribute to six extraordinary female pianists — Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier & Renne Rosnes — through compositions from New York pianist Kris Davis and one by drummer Johnathan Blake, melodically rich and intricately challenging pieces as Davis stands shoulder to shoulder with those who inspired her. ... Click to View
Fictional Souvenirs (Thomas / Butcher / Solberg):
Volatile Object (Trost Records)
Following their 2019 Astral Spirits album Fictional Souvenirs , the trio of Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, John Butcher on saxophones and Stale Liavik Solberg on drums take that album's title as their trio's moniker, releasing this exceptional second album of four insightful collective conversations captured live at Cafe Oto, in London in 2023. ... Click to View
Joel Futterman:
Forever (Mahakala Music)
In two extended movements and a conclusion, free-improvising pianist Joel Futterman's Forever reflects both the rich history of jazz and his own personal journey through deeply focused expression, his music flowing like a powerful river — at times turbulent, at times serene — yet always in motion, guiding listeners on an expansive and captivating journey. ... Click to View
Elliott Sharp:
Mandocello (zOaR Records)
A tour-de-force exposition of the mandocello, acoustic and electronic, an instrument evolving out of the 18th century mandalone into a louder instrument intended to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles, which Sharp demonstrates through strings that ring with powerful resonance as he performs original compositions with references to Derek Bailey, Kinshi Tsuruta, and Harry Partch. ... Click to View
Jamison Williams :
The Lesser Key of Solomon-Bael (Relative Pitch)
Appropriately recorded at Le Sauvage Cathedral in France, the region name dating to the legend of a wild woman who only ate raw meat, had a double row of teeth, lived under a rocky promontory and was buried by a landslide, as baritone saxophonist Jamison Williams darkly burns in an extended improvisation of outside technique while referencing the Lemegeton, a 17th century book of magic. ... Click to View
Stephen Flinn / Bryan Eubanks :
Stephen Flinn / Bryan Eubanks (Public Eyesore)
A live performance of acoustic improvisation augmented by electronics between Stephen Flinn and Bryan Eubanks, Flinn bringing percussion and gongs to the stage while Eubanks performs on saxophone and electronics, over a 30 minute dialog they coax out unusual cries, squeals and utterance of confident sonic force evolved through improvisational restraint; compelling and mysterious. ... Click to View
Steve Swell's Imbued With Light:
Hommage a Galina Ustvolskaya (Silkheart)
Continuing his series of hommages to classical composers, New York trombonist Steve Swell assembles his sextet to improvise under the influence of Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006), whose truly unique "out of the box" approach to structuring sound brings force and intensity to Swell's compositions, yielding inspired performances from all musicians. ... Click to View
Laura Jurd / Paul Dunmall:
Fanfares And Freedom (Discus)
Paul Dunmall brings his quartet of Liam Noble (piano), Caius Williams (bass) and Miles Levi (drums) together with Laura Jurd's brass quintet of Jurd (trumpet), Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Alex Paxton (trombone), Raphael Clarkson (trombone) and Oren Marshall (tuba) for a live performance at The Vortex in London, written by Jurd as a commission from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. ... Click to View
ONCEIM (Orchestre de Nouvelles Creations, Experimentations et Improvisations Musicales:
Laminaire (Relative Pitch)
ONCEIM is the French ensemble of over 30 distinguished musicians directed by Frédéric Blondy, drawing on jazz, free improv, experimental and contemporary music as they evolve impressively detailed works from subtle restraint to controlled swells, heard in live performances from 2018 at Eglise Saint-Merry in Paris and at La Muse en Circuit in 2020, plus a 3rd studio session from 2020. ... Click to View
Sentient Beings (O'Gallagher / Brackenbury / Pope / Bianco):
Truth Is Not The Enemy (Discus)
Four singular improvisors from the US and UK -- Faith Heleene Brackenbury on violin, John O'Gallagher on alto sax, Anthony Bianco on drums, and John Pope on bass -- are heard in this live performance of spiritually rich, intellectually deep and powerfully articulate collective free jazz, captured live in 2024 at The Vortex, in London, UK in two extended conversations. ... Click to View
Reid / Kitamura / Bynum / Morris:
Geometry of Phenomena (Relative Pitch)
The next angle from the collective Geometry group of Tomeka Reid on cello, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & flugelhorn, Kyoko Kitamura on voice, and Joe Morris on guitar, exploring their "Geometry" first of "Caves", then "Distance", "Trees", and now "Phenomena", through highly attuned exploration of sonic complexities and intersecting approaches to their respective instruments. ... Click to View
Tim Berne / Michael Formanek:
Parlour Games (Relative Pitch)
With an extensive discography of collaboration together in a wealth of groupings, New York bassist Formanek and alto saxophonist Tim Berne are heard in this 1991 live duo performance at The Parlour in Providence, Rhode Island, a powerfully confident concert of informed dialogs captured seven years before their only other duo album from 1998, Ornery People. ... Click to View
Leo Genovese:
Forward (577 Records)
Argentinian pianist based in NY Leo Genovese, a frequent collaborator on 577 releases and a Grammy Award winner for solo improvisation, is heard in his solo debut on 577 in two extended free improvisations, building from quiet introspection into unbridled exuberance, technically fascinating structures of great momentum, captured live at the 2024 Forward Festival in Brooklyn, NY. ... Click to View
Jessica Pavone:
What Happens Has Become Now (Relative Pitch)
Her 5th solo viola album finds NY improviser & composer Jessica Pavone extending her exploration of music based on the pitches of the open strings, accentuating the natural sympathetic resonances of the instrument and expanded through the use of electronic effects to create a virtual duo, on one track performing on a Ken Butler hand-crafted hybrid instrument, the Sword Viola. ... Click to View
Steve Baczkowski :
Cheap Fabric (Relative Pitch)
Recording on a vintage reel-to-reel tape deck in his own warehouse living room during a lunar eclipse, saxophonist Steve Baczkowski (Brandon Lopez Trio, Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Ensemble MIA) captures thirteen explorations on tenor and baritone saxophones, plus a homemade wind instrument, for an intimately challenging album of outrageous technique and overtones. ... Click to View
Katsura Yamauchi / Jason Kahn:
Time Between (Ftarri)
Two itinerant and unique performers in solo and small group configurations--Japanese saxophonist Katsura Yamauchi, who has recorded & performed with Voice Crack, Tatsuya Nakatani, Otomo Yoshihide, &c. &c., and Swiss electroacoustic improviser Jason Kahn--meet during Kahn's 2023 visit to Japan, recording these perceptively subtle duos live at HALL, in Oita and at IAF SHOP, in Hakata. ... Click to View
Don Ellis (Byard / Carter / Persip; Bley / Peacock / Stone /Martinis):
How Time Passes To Essence, Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Before his experimental, culturally absorbing large band work in the late 60s and 70s, trumpeter Don Ellis released these two excellent quartet albums featuring his own compositions, particularly the side-long work "Improvisational Suite 1", in bands with Jaki Byard, Ron Carter & Charlie Persip (How Time Passes) and with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and either Gene Stone or Nick Martinis (Essence). ... Click to View
