CD

Otomo Yoshihide & Paal Nilssen-Love

2014

Joe Morris / Mat Maneri / Joe Maneri

2001

"The musicians' animated approach and spurious interplay is akin to some sort of domino effect, where the respective soloist's trigger responses from one another. Throughout, the trio expounds upon an abundance of emotionally driven mini-themes, consisting of Morris' articulately executed, fluttering single note lines, Mat Maneri's interrogation of all sonic registers and the band's overall propensity to pursue verbose dialogue amid various odd-metered rhythmic foundations. Hence, the music portrayed here often elicits notions of three scientists delving into a complex mathematical formula."

Double Tandem

2012

"Double Tandem has build up music whose real expression lies below the surface. It injects an unsettling sleaziness into a funny, occasionally wild and boastful collection of tracks that walk the line between postmodernism and sincerity. The tracks are all living, breathing entities, not blank slates to project my plain ideas and desires of how to review music on. This is music about honesty and truthfulness."

Joe Morris Instantiation

2019

"My goal with Instantiation is to create unique and rewarding experiences for listeners by synthesizing the meta-properties of Free music in new and creative ways. I rely on the attention to the material and the individual and collective artistry of the ensemble of players to realize a unique result with each performance."-Joe Morris, June 2019"

Mats Gustafsson

1994

"Recorded in Chicago in 1994, Parrot Fish Eye presents Mats Gustafsson in two lineups: a duo with percussionist Michael Zerang, and a trio with Gene Coleman on bass clarinet and Jim O'Rourke, who moves between guitar, accordion, and percussion. Gustafsson and Zerang incorporate their vast vocabularies as they improvise through the eighth track, "Shut Up!"; the remainder of Parrot Fish Eye is improvised by the trio. An interesting and exciting listen for big fans of Mats Gustafsson."

Ab Baars Trio & Guests

2003

""Concision and concentrated emotion commingle with technical proficiency at a quite rarefied level throughout. Discipline and definitude are combined with a sometimes-dizzying willingness to explore uncharted territory in a thoroughly engaging fashion. Baars can be bracingly abstract at times - particularly on clarinet - then turn around and prod your viscera with tenor playing nakedly ardent enough to give Gene Ammons a run for his money. … Discipline and definitude are combined with a sometimes-dizzying willingness to explore uncharted territory in a thoroughly engaging fashion. ... Party at the Bimhuis is a brilliant recording." Bill Barton, Sudden Thoughts CD Reviews credits "

Angles 3

2018

"After concerts and recordings as Angles 10, Angles 9, Angles 8 and Angles 6, here is back the original Angles line-up, Angles 3. It was 2004 and for a gig at the Glenn Miller Cafe it’s mentor and saxophonist, Martin Küchen invited two Scandinavian musicians now living in the United States (respectively, Austin – Texas and San Diego – California), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Kjell Nordeson. “Parede”, the title, is a tribute to the Portuguese town near Lisbon where the album was recorded live, at a venue called SMUP which in few years became the equivalent in this Southern European country to The Stone, Cornelia Street Café and Nublu. Most of the compositions, like Küchen’s classics “Satan in Plain Clothes” and “By Way of Deception”, are the same of those other Angles investments, of course with different arrangements. This version functions as a reduction to the essence of the music conceived by the Swedish musician, resulting in an energetic, even brutal, kind of free bop delivered to the ears as if it is punk or metal, echoes of Sonny Rollins and Albert Ayler mixing with something that could come from… The Melvins. credits "

Rempis/Abrams/Ra + Baker

2016

"This sophomore release by the working trio of Dave Rempis, Joshua Abrams, and Avreeayl Ra shows a band doubling down on the slow, patient approach to improvising that characterized their first release, 2014’s Aphelion. The trio continues to pulsate, expanding ever outwards, yet returning to a central core each time to launch their next adventure. The live sets presented on this new two-disc set document that musical expansion and contraction within the trio, but also take things a step further as the band adds enigmatic keyboardist Jim Baker to the fold as a special guest for disc two. Baker’s a logical choice to meet up with these three; his own trio with Abrams and Ra, although a sporadic grouping, dates back to the early aught’s, and he’s worked with both in countless other contexts across many years. Similarly, a multitude of collaborations between he and Rempis date back to the late 1990’s. On Perihelion, these two overlapping circles spiral seamlessly into focus to demonstrate the gravitational strength of a central core built by decades of shared history."

McPhee • Caloia • Stewart

2018

"Permutations” is a set of colorful expressions, rich musical language, marvelous and brilliant solos and original musical decisions." -AvantScena Art Stew Records ‎– ASR 007"

Henneman Strijkwartet

1999

""The string quartet is an instrumental combination most often heard in many different genres of classical music; in fact, it is one of the standard groupings for this music, whereas it is a more rare enterprise in improvised music. Certainly there are examples of string players getting together to improvise, but the results can not so often be compared favorably with great classical string quartets. The Dutch viola player and composer Henneman is making great progress in this area however, as she has found a regular group of musicians to work with, evidenced by the six-year span of recording dates. The difficult task of integrating composition and improvisation is carried out with aplomb by this group: they actually make it sound easy. A nice combination of male and female energy exists in this group, as well as a combination of Dutch musicians and so-called ex-patriot Americans who have settled in the Netherlands. The players are comfortable working in a traditional, melodic, and harmonic manner but also can and do go way out. Everything that happens makes logical sense, and this is music that reveals rich layers of detail upon repeated listenings." - Eugene Chadbourne (All Music)"

The Margots

2013

The Rempis Percussion Quartet

2013

"Phalanx, a two-cd set of live concert recordings from 2012, finds them in top form, barnstorming cities on two continents with their propulsive improvisations. This is the second recording of the band featuring its newest member, Norwegian phenom Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and these two hard-charging sets show a band at the peak of its creative force. credits "

Circulasione Totale Orchestra

2011

"Madness erupts again, with screeching electronics, disrupting every notion of possible comfort, to be altered by steady rhythm and great soloing, "electric Miles"-like at moments. -Stef, The Free Jazz Collective"

Peter Brötzmann Trio

2019

"Nilssen-Love is indeed the focal point of this trio, fueling and balancing the stormy attacks of Brötzmann and Kondo with enough energy to light all of the Tokyo metropolis. Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective"

Henneman String Quartet

2002

""Spolia" is a term that comes from architecture and refers to construction sites that are repurposed from previous buildings. Similarly, the Dutch violist borrows this term for a title on her sixth album and thus also describes one of her typical methods of working. Musical fragments, on the present album taken mostly from the Italian Renaissance and folklore, are processed into new pieces and serve as the basis for improvisational excursions. This approach pays off numerous times. The tension between composition and improvisation, and between tradition and innovation creates uncommon music in the world of contemporary jazz music.” --Emanuel Wenger Jazz live - magazine for contemporary music February 2002 credits "

Olle Bonniér

2005

John Butcher / Tony Buck / Magda Mayas / Burkhard Stangl

2013

"These two high profile trios are all inventiveness, and this is reflected in the way they were formed, as much as in the music itself. There is a tangled web of connections at play between the four improvisers, through a history of past collaborations, one to one or in larger formations, some occasional, some more structural; the trios on this CD were chosen for their potential, for the not-knowing as much as the knowing, and that’s what we hear; accomplished and profoundly involved music in the making, pushed forward by an ever renewed and intense ability to connect."

The Ex

1985

"The Ex, with 'Pokkeherrie' have produced a masterful killer weapon of raw power that rattles up the spine into numbed pink brain cells and fills the vacuum with social issue"

Gunwhale

2016

"This debut release by the working trio Gunwale matches veteran Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis up with two of the brightest up-and-coming stars from the next generation of Chicago improvisers. While Packard is known mostly for his extensive work as a composer and percussionist within the thriving contemporary classical scene in Chicago, Wildeman has achieved notoriety for his meteoric rise from novice instrumentalist to one of the busiest players around after relocating from the Netherlands in 2011 to immerse himself in this city’s broad-shouldered sound. With these varied backgrounds the two contribute noticeably fresh perspectives to the ever-evolving local artistic dialogue. As a trio, their voice is stark, and clear, combining a love for driving blasts of energy with a sensitivity to the smallest details, leading to music that can be a freight train one moment, and an insectoid microcosm the next. These intuitive abilities make sense when one considers the trio’s rare commitment to several months of weekly rehearsals before their first performance in December of 2015, a tradition they still continue when all three members are in town. So while Polynya may document a band in its early stages, its laser-beam focus leaves no doubt that these three know precisely where they’re headed."

Mats Gustafsson / Kurt Newman / Mike Gennaro

1999