CD

Rempis/Abrams/Ra + Baker

2019

"But while they don't seek to exploit extended techniques, how they interrelate is far from conventional, especially when Baker switches from the piano to synthesizer. -John Sharpe, All About Jazz"

Akira Sakata / Johan Berthling / Paal Nilssen-Love

2014

"A focused force of nature, the trio burns a path as precise as a straight line, and as deep as a scar. -Bird is the Worm"

Paul Rutherford, Ken Vandermark, Torsten Müller & Dylan van der Schyff

2018

"This recording features the late trombonist, Paul Rutherford, in an outstanding performance from 2004. The band was concluding a West Coast tour and shows both fire and sensitivity, delivering two extended improvisations and four well-focussed miniatures. With Ken Vandermark (reeds), Torsten Müller (contrabass), & Dylan van der Schyff (drums, percussion). "

iTi

2010

"An amazing lineup of European, Chicago and UK players in a live set from the 2008 ArtActs Festival, music that merges the boundaries of ea-improv and free jazz."

Tomomi Adachi & Jaap Blonk

2019

"It is all very vibrant and energetic as the two move quickly between sounds, textures, moods, pitches and have near perfect control over their voices and electronics. All of that makes this is forty- one minutes of very fine voice poetry. - Vital Weekly, Netherlands"

Satoko Fujii, Wadada Leo Smith, Natsuki Tamura & Ikue Mori

2017

""The group chemistry is magical on pianist-composer Satoko Fujii's Aspiration, featuring an all-star quartet with trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and Natsuki Tamura, and laptop player Ikue Mori. The nearly telepathic link among them takes the music into places where it grows ever deeper and more intuitive." - Brathwaite & Katz"

Dave Rempis / Elisabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang

2022

"This trio didn’t know how lucky they had it. They were certainly happy to perform again when this concert was recorded at the ArtActs Festival in St Johan Austria in early March 2020. "

Fred Van Hove, Paul Dunmall , Paul Rogers & Paul Lytton

2009

""An attentive and responsive quartet of experts in the genre." -John Fordham, The Guardian"

Jeb Bishop / Jaap Blonk / Lou Mallozzi / Frank Rosaly

2012

""The group's jagged improvisations [are] some of the most compelling and confrontational I've heard this year." —Peter Margasak"

Evan Parker & Paul Lytton

2003

"Three years after Evan Parker and Paul Lytton's recording debut as a duo (Collective Calls, originally released by Incus), At the Unity Theatre captures them in a live setting. The studio album saw them foray into microscopic sounds. This time around the music is overall more feverish and loud, but it loses nothing in subtlety and intelligence. "In the Midst of Laughter and Glee," at 18 minutes long, stands as one of their best improvisations from that period. We are greeted by a low growl, like a long string being scratched; it may be the enigmatic lyttonophone but, in any case, it immediately tells you how unconventional this sax/drums duet was. Closer to the end, Parker squeezes out of his soprano sax the whiny sounds of an oboe or shenai, unfolding a sinuous mourning song that is simply stunning. He also plays a raspier tenor and uses a bullroarer and cassettes of prior performances -- but these are discernible only on very close listen. Lytton spends little time playing thedrum kit in a conventional way. Instead he focuses on objects and scrap metal, but still makes quite a racket. The CD reissue of this album (on Parker's Psi imprint) adds over 22 minutes of previously unissued material in the form of two extra improvisations from the same concert. At 18 minutes,"Through Consensus" was too long to make it on the original LP without sacrificing "In the Midst of Laughter and Glee," which is simply better. Despite some captivating activity, the two musicians drift apart, Parker trying to force the piece into a more powerful direction while Lytton instead moves deeper within his pile of scrap metal. It makes a nice bonus though." -Francois Couture, All Music "

Territory Band-2

2002

Jaap Blonk

2014

"Eight meditations on just intonations. Electro-instrumental music of shining serenity."

The Ex

1988

"The Ex are a regression to the pop of rage. They understand that punk's form of protest was to amplify your alienation and disposession... The Ex are best when they're the sound of a collapsing system, a catastrophic fury that's senseless and unnegotiable. That's their lure in this era of pragmatic reformers"

Duo Baars - Henneman

2013

"...I dare you to draw a clear line between what is written and what is not. Even in free improvisation mode, this duo is in sync. That, and the unique melodicism arising from their duets, are what makes Autumn Songs an artistic success, an example of musical perfection. -Francois Couture Listening Diary monsieurdelire.com 2013"

Jaap Blonk

2001

""For each piece I experimented with a different configuration of sound equipment, and made a recording at a stage where the setup still held a certain amount of unpredictability for me. I chose to stick to my voice as the sole source of sound in these recording, using it straight as well as in sampled and processed form." -Jaap Blonk, April 2001"

Syl Johnson

1994

"In 1993, a 57-year-old Syl Johnson made a long overdue return to the studio with Back in the Game, his first album since the early '80s. "Inspired" is definitely a word that describes Johnson's performances on this CD, which unites him with the legendary Hi Rhythm Section of the '70s. Joined by drummer Howard "Bulldog" Grimes and the Hodges brothers (guitarist Mabon, bassist Leroy, and organist/pianist Charles), including Ken Vandermark."

The Thing

2009

Mats Gustafsson / Paal Nilssen-Love / Mesele Asmamaw

2012

"Baro 101 totally undermines the notion that improv is a stale, overly-intellectualised genre for Western, coffee-swilling virtuosos. It’s warm and it swings, engaging and challenging at once. This is, to me, what improv should be, -The Liminal"

I.P.A

2020

"“Scandinavians have made an indelible mark on the progressive jazz front for the past several decades...Since 2007, Norwegian-based I.P.A. has been a major exponent of the fertile Euro jazz scene... this unit ups the ante by molding snippets of the past into a mode of attack, blotted by hyper-mode free bop and the frontline's sweltering solos and ricocheting horns arrangements. From start to finish, the quintet abides by an action-packed gait amid a hodgepodge of stylistic formats. Hence, it's a group of many colors as they navigate through these works with rebel-rousing but cohesive exchanges and surging through difficult time signatures with the greatest of ease.” – Glenn Astarita / All About Jazz"

Nate Wooley

2017

"The second series of Battle Pieces, a compositional system that now consists of roughly 100 short pieces that are manipulated and articulated differently by the members of the band for each performance in order to give one member who is purely improvising a very hard time, is out today on Relative Pitch Records. Beautiful playing all the way around on this live set recorded in Germany last year and featuring Sylvie Courvoisier, Ingrid Laubrock, and Matt Moran. - Nate Wooley"