Lao Dan is one of the most interesting improv artists operating in China at the moment. This release comes from Modern Sky World Music, based in my current home, Beijing. Going through their catalog, there is going to be more than a few releases getting featured on the blog soon Continue Reading
Free Improvisation
Vesna Pisarović – Poravna
What an album this is! The mixing of Sevdah, one of Bosnia’s most melancholic and romantic forms of music, with free improvisation is not something I expected to work, but with the vocals of Croatian singer Vesna Pisarović, Noël Akchoté on guitars, Tony Buck (The Necks) on drums, Greg Cohen Continue Reading
Anthony Braxton – Quartet (Bristol) 1985
One of America’s foremost saxophonists, Anthony Braxton, collaborates with Marilyn Crispell on piano, Mark Dresser on double bass, and Gerry Hemingway on percussion. This music is as free as it gets, but has a slight film-noir soundtrack feel in parts. Impressive.
Helena Espvall / Ernesto Diaz-Infante / Marjorie Sturm – A Shadowed Fulguration
Thanks ever so much to Ernesto Diaz-Infante for alerting me to his latest release with percussionist and Nepalese flute player Marjorie Sturm (his spouse, if I am not mistaken) and cellist Helena Espvall. Musically, there is a gritty, lo-fi feel to the recordings, with the guitar sounding more like a Continue Reading
Susan Alcorn – And I Await the Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar
Susan Alcorn passed away in January of this year, leaving a gaping hole in the improv community. I believe it was Ian Nagoski of Canary Records who enlightened me to this recording being available, and it is gorgeously recorded. The pedal steel guitar is played sublimely by Alcorn, who uses Continue Reading
Ivo Perelman & Tyshawn Sorey – Parallell Aesthethics
This release pairs Ivo Perelman and Tyshawn Sorey, two of the leading lights of the improv jazz scene. From the Fundacja Słuchaj Bandcamp site: “This year we are celebrating the 10th birthday of our label. On this occasion, we have prepared a lot of surprises and very unique musical offerings Continue Reading
George Christian – Lágrima-Pantera, A Míssil – Uma Música Visual por… (GCSA 62)
Our friend George Christian returns with two tracks of improvisation that, at least on first listen, sounds like it is flavored with the sounds of MBP (Música Popular Brasileira) and a couple of flashes of Hendrix. A pleasurable listen.
A Second Life for The Avant-Jazz of Leo Records
Today is a travel day, so there will be no posts, but it seems Bandcamp has a great article on Leo Records. Leo Feigin was the man responsible for introducing me to people like my old friend Roman Stolyar, Sergei Belichenko, and the work of Sergei Kuryokhin, who I ended Continue Reading
Maggot Brain’s Intergalactic Quartet – PD173: I
A fine name for a project, Maggot Brain’s Intergalactic Quartet also deliver some great music to fit it. There are elements of jazz fusion, King Crimson, and a thick bass line. Almost psych-ish music to groove to.
Virus2020 – A Frog A Gun And A Sad Man
We have a new artist to introduce to you. Virus2020 is a project out of Sousse, Tunisia, and you can read more about his work here, courtesy of his release’s Bandcamp page: “Virus2020 is the solo project of Rami Harrabi, a Tunisian artist born in 1989 in Sousse (TN), enthralled Continue Reading