CD

ozemarie Heggen & Terrie Ex

2017

"Two musicians from very different musical backgrounds. Terrie as electric guitarist of The Ex and improviser, and Rozemarie, double bassist, as a performer of contemporary music and improviser. After a shared experience in the Ex Orkest, a further cooperation seemed clear and resulted in this CD. Openness, intuition, intensity, joy are a few of the basic elements which made the special connection that have taken them both to a different level of music-making. Exploring new territory can definitely be heard in their playing. The eleven improvisations on "Fiets" are little stories, experiences you might have while doing a very Dutch thing; making a ride on your bicycle (fiets). Have a good listen!..."

Joe McPhee Trio

2012

"One of the most amazing discoveries is how the band's sound was already well-established from this very first recorded performance, not that they haven't evolved, but the core elements of total freedom, authentic feeling and reverence for tradition are already present. Quiet moments with lots of open space and room for interpretation and excursion by the individual soloists alternate by great moments of energetic explosivity."

Joe Morris Trio

1992

Joe McPhee

2016

"This date might instantly become the best loved of all. The immaculate recording captures seemingly every breath, fingered key click and note, making it easy to imagine his body language. "Eight Street and Avenue C" opens the affair with the pop and click of keys that must still the audience, as they wait for his music to progress towards breath and extended notes. McPhee displays a total command of the instrument, moving next to the most tender of notes. His repeated patterns develop into vocalizations sung through the horn. At this point, he has the audience eating out of his hand."

Large Unit

2017

"Fluku is a superb album, dynamic, adventurous, colorful and innovative. If you have the chance to see the band live, don’t miss it."

Andy Moor & Yannis Kyriakides

2010

Ken Vandermark & Pandelis Karayorgis

2007

Ab Baars Trio + Rosewell Rudd

2001

"...If you are accustomed to the eclectic, dissonant and perhaps even sometimes bullying Baars language, then you’ll find some true gems on the album Four. The group interaction and the improvisations are of an exceptionally high level. Rudd fits perfectly with the trio; together they form a real quartet.” Kees Stevens Parool 31/7/2001"

Joe Morris & Anthony Braxton

2008

"Morris's soft-toned parlando style little guitar sounds seem to have an incredible effect on Braxton who is lyrical as I've seldom heard him. Both musicians listen extremely closely and actually compose on the spot, moving these long improvisations through different moods and musical landscapes, but then of the low and hilly kind, without high peaks or deep chasms. The music is fragile, sensitive, deeply emotional and vibrating with life and musical joy (The Free Jazz Collective)"

Vandermark / Guy / Sanders

2009

"The proof here is the instantaneous manner in which the trio gets down to the business of music-making. This isn't just twiddling and tinkering with instruments; the three, in the classic sax/bass/drums configuration, narrate paths of sound governed by an unwritten set of rules."

The Vandermark 5

2001

"The band lovingly works over pieces by many of the pillars in free jazz, from Ornette to Giuffre, Ra to Hemphill. The exciting repertoire remains fresh (these compositions haven't exactly been overexposed) and gives the musicians plenty of room to groove and work their chops...which, by now, these Chicago players certainly have enough of to pull off this tribute project with excellent results."

The Vandermark 5

2005

Joe Morris • Agustí Fernández • Nate Wooley

2012

"Being perfectly aware that a trio featuring Joe Morris on guitar, Agustí Fernández on piano and Nate Wooley on trumpet can’t be, for an immanent reason connected to the mastery of the musicians, less than rewarding, my attention has instead been caught by the title of the album. Echoing and mixing several philosophical and scientific subjects it is, in my opinion, a brief and inspired description of some tendencies and paths sketched out in the compositions." - Paolo Casertano "Free Jazz Blog"

Wooley/Rempis/Niggenkemper/Corsano

2015

"Having crossed paths around the world many times over the years, Nate Wooley and Dave Rempis finally realized their long-time intention of forming a band together in the winter of 2014, with a lineup that can only be described as stellar. Featuring some of the leading lights of both the New York and Chicago improvised music scenes, the four members of this quartet, all internationally acclaimed players in their own right, found a common language as a unit right from the start. This first document of their work was made in the studio following three concerts in Manhattan and Brooklyn in February of 2014, and the inventive and a-typical flow of their improvisations shows a band operating at a higher level of creativity from the get-go. Meanwhile, the broad stylistic range that they tackle, from microcosmic sound pallets to passages bounding with unbridled energy, shows a new group with a myriad of musical possibilities already under its belt. From Wolves To Whales, the debut recording by this quartet, sets the stage for a future of fruitful collaborations to come."

Free Fall

2003

"With drummer-less clarinet trio named after a radical album by a drummerless clarinet trio, you have prolific Ken Vandermark’s latest collaboration, this with Norway’s Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, and Havard Wiik on piano. Vandermark frequently shines a light on an elder, and this one points to the pioneering Jimmy Giuffre/Paul Bley/Steve Swallow trio. Additionally, Merce Cunningham, Frank O’Hara, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, and Bley in particular get their due on this collection. As with past dedications, the music stands on its own and makes no attempt at imitation."

Queen Mab Trio

2018

"Galina U has been compiled from compositions that Henneman contributed to the Queen Mab Trio albums, See Saw and Thin Air, along with ‘Overtoom’, from a previously unreleased recording session. For See Saw Henneman contributed three tracks: ‘Marilyn L’, ‘Lori F’ and ‘Galina U’. The latter is an evocative ode to the Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya, in which Henneman endeavours to mirror Ustvolskaya’s idiom with ominous, compelling rhythms and piano chords hammered out with full force, and she succeeds in coming unmistakably close while fortunately retaining her own vocabulary. Marilyn Lerner – piano; Lori Freedman – bass clarinet / clarinet Ig Henneman – viola "

Tripleplay

2004

Magnus Broo & Paal Nilssen-Love

2008

Tomeka Reid, Kyoko Kitamura, Taylor Ho Bynum, Joe Morris

2018

"The record also makes plenty of room for each of the musicians' individual strengths to emerge: Bynum is in especially fine form, with movement from lyrical beauty to pure abstraction and noise (just listen to his menacing growls on "Glowworm" as evidence); but Morris is also characteristically exceptional, whether offering prickly fragments or his patented scrapes, as he's continually seeking ways to advance the dialogue. Reid's relentless imagination leads her from chamber-like passages to motion-filled ostinato phrases that always possess compelling rhythmic energy; and Kitamura will be a revelation to those who haven't yet encountered her unique brand of vocal improvisation, turning in an instant from subtle to spasmodic." - Troy Dostert All About Jazz"

Joe McPhee

2012

"Glasses was recorded in October, 1977, during a highly significant period in McPhee's work, as he was pioneering the transatlantic, collaborative spirit that has helped to define the last three decades of his career. Documented in Tavannes, Switzerland, the set contains sensational tenor work, including the title piece, which finds McPhee ringing out a rhythm on a half-full wine glass, from which he extrapolates a melody on the saxophone, as well as a stunning version of John Coltrane's "Naima.""