Pyroclastic Records

Craig Taborn - piano, keyboard
Chris Speed - tenor sax, clarinet
Mat Maneri - viola
Erik Fratzke - bass
David King - acoustic and electronic drums

“Making electronic music is very different from live improvisation—so much so that few musicians have even tried to bring the two together. On one side, Kurt Rosenwinkel’s side project Bandit 65 makes brilliant electronic free improv, mostly using guitar-based technology; on the other, Mark Giuliana’s Beat Music builds arresting.

Craig Taborn: Organ, Piano, Wurlitzer

Tony Malaby: Tenor Saxophone (Solo: Queenside)
Chris Cheek: Tenor Saxophone (Solo: Deep River)
Jonathan Goldberger: Guitar (Solo: Queenside)
Curtis Hasselbring: Guitar (Solo: Quinine)
Chris Lightcap: Bass

Gerald Cleaver: Drums

Dan Rieser: Drums

“Two guitars, two drum kits, two tenor saxophones, bass, keyboards and a whole lot of reverb. Sounds like a ton, no? It helps that Lightcap writes for this new band (a smashu

Angelica Sanchez - Piano (left channel)
Marilyn Crispell - Piano (right channel)

“Two pianos sounding in tandem can feel – given that the instrument belongs to the percussion family – like a kind of 176-key gamelan, an atmospheric orchestra ringing and resonating and radiating in unity. In that way, the music of How to Turn the Moon by pianists Angelica Sanchez and Marilyn Crispell vibrates with a special, luminous quality. In composing all the pieces for this album, Angelica was inspired...

Kyoko Kitamura – voice
Michael Mayo – voice, looper
Raquel Acevedo Klein – voice
Steven Hrycelak – vocal bass
Kari Francis – vocal percussion
Cory Smythe – piano, electronics

“Several years ago, I made a resolution: If I had the opportunity to hear Cory Smythe play piano, I would make it happen.
This turned out to be something of a commitment. For over a decade, Mr. Smythe has been one of the busiest players on the new-music and avant-jazz scenes. He has been part of t

Sofia Jernberg - voice
Daniel Lippel - detuned acoustic guitar, electronics
Cory Smythe - piano, autoharp, electronics

“In the summertime, in the rural part of Illinois where I grew up, my sisters and I used to spend afternoons square dancing in the pale front yard. Our father was an amateur square dance caller, and we’d dutifully follow the instructions he incanted over the twangy warble of Stephen Foster and George Washington Dixon on our dusty gramophone. When we tired, he’d...

Kris Davis (piano/composition)
Craig Taborn (piano/composition)

On her 2016 album Duopoly, pianist Kris Davis highlighted her deeply attuned artistry as never before. Conceived as a set of rotating duo performances, Duopoly found Davis in the company of Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Don Byron, Julian Lage, Marcus Gilmore and other musical giants. Of all these fascinating encounters, it was the pairing of Davis and fellow piano great Craig Taborn, that sparked further extensive collaboration...

Sirene Dantor Rene vocals
Miguel Zenón alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell piano
Nick Dunston bass
Daniel Brevil tanbou and vocals
Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene tanbou and vocals
Markus Schwartz tanbou and vocals
Ches Smith drums, percussion and vocals

“Formed in 2013 by drummer/composer Ches Smith, We All Break is an ensemble at the crossroads of traditional Haitian Vodou music and au courant composition and improvisation.”

Craig Taborn piano
Mat Maneri viola
Bill Frisell guitar
Ches Smith drums, vibes

“From 2016 to 2018, I attempted to make my trio with Mat and Craig my “road” band, and somehow succeeded, for a spell. Bill Frisell came to hear us play in late 2018, and then wrote me, asking about the music. Craig, Mat and I have admired Bill since each of us began in this music, so I invited him to play a gig with us. Though it took more than a year to book the date, as we played the show, Bill...

Tony Malaby - Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Ben Monder - Guitar
Michael Formanek - Double Bass
Tom Rainey - Drums

Great, swinging, moderately ‘out’ jazz, with everyone playing their brains out and Monder playing much more aggressively then he often does!

“This record documents long-term musical partnerships; duets with artists who have helped me refine my creative vocabulary. Yet my deepest musical relationship is with the bassoon itself, the kernel of my inspiration. It is the nurturer, the supporter, the quiet glue in an ensemble. It is awkward, huge, and demure. Even as a child, I was drawn to its uniqueness—its textures, timbres, and a sound that inspires movement.
While I certainly appreciate orchestral playing in the Western classical...

Mary Halvorson Guitar
Susan Alcorn Pedal Steel Guitar
Ryan Sawyer Drums
Mat Maneri Viola, Track 2
Trevor Dunn Electric Bass, Track 4
Nate Wooley Trumpet and Amplifier, Compositions

The features the same musicians Nate’s hugely impressive and glacially great ‘Columbia Icefield’ album, with a few guest spots added. ‘Columbia Icefield plus’?

“This album is dedicated to those who recognize living as a heroic act: the occupiers of sunup barstools; the cubicle-plan

Marcus Gilmore drums
Mauricio Herrera percussion
Kim Cass bass
Patricia Brennan vibraphone with electronics, marimba

“Vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan “has been widely feted as one of the instrument’s newer leaders.” observed The New York City Jazz Record.”

“The jazz world can get stuck in a battle between the head and the heart, but rarely do you find an improviser like Patricia Brennan, the Veracruz, Mexico-born vibraphonist, marimba..

Ingrid Laubrock - tenor and soprano saxophones
Mazz Swift - violin
Tomeka Reid - cello
Brandon Seabrook - guitar
Michael Formanek - double bass
Tom Rainey - drums

“Ingrid Laubrock is a saxophonist/composer based in Brooklyn since 2009. Laubrock is interested in exploring the borders between musical realms and creating multi-layered, dense and often evocative sound worlds.”

“I think of the bass as an orchestra. Its sonic properties offer colors that are beautiful, dimensional, and idiosyncratic. Instrumental augmentation, decades of musical research, and hyper-specific recording techniques offer new musical potentials.
Luthier, engineer and bassist Kent McLagan has been building remarkably strong sounding, affordable basses from sustainable woods for over 20 years. McLagan’s instruments maximize clarity of pitch and power in all the registers with innovative functional..

Sylvie Courvoisier - piano

Cory Smythe - piano

“Sylvie Courvoisier is often viewed as a jazz pianist because her oeuvre is so fundamentally grounded in her profound skills as an improvisor. However, astute listeners realize quickly that she brings the touch and outlook of classical pianism to her work and indeed, the music of Messiaen, Bach, Ligeti and Stravinsky lie deep in her musical memory bank alongside Monk, Mengelberg, Bley and Taylor.
Sylvie spent ten years creating and...

Brandon Seabrook - Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo
Nava Dunkelman - Percussion, Glockenspiel, Voice
Marika Hughes - Cello
Eivind Opsvik - Contra Bass
Henry Fraser - Contra Bass
Chuck Bettis - Electronics, Voice
John McCowen - Contrabass Clarinet, Bb clarinet, Alto and Bass Recorder
Sam Ospovat - Drum Set, Chromatic Thai Nipple Gongs, Vibraphone, Concert Chimes

“Guitarist and banjoist Brandon Seabrook is known for pushing his music past the far reaches of the extre

Angelica Sanchez - piano, compositions
Michaël Attias - alto saxophone
Ben Goldberg - contra alto clarinet
John Hébert - bass
Thomas Heberer - quarter-tone trumpet
Sam Ospovat - drums
Chris Speed - tenor saxophone, clarinet
Omar Tamez - guitar
Kenny Warren – cornet

“This recording is a culmination of six years of writing, re-writing, rehearsals, concerts, van trips with the band and the love and support of friends and family. All the compositions are.

Shara Lunon - voice and vocal processing
Anna Webber - flute
Oscar Noriega - clarinets
James Brandon Lewis - tenor saxophone
Nate Wooley - trumpet
Jennifer Choi - violin
Kyle Armbrust - viola
Michael Nicolas - cello
Shahzad Ismaily - bass and keyboards
Ches Smith - electronics, programming, vibes, drums, tubular bells, glockenspiel, timpani, tam tam, metal percussion

“California-born, New York-based drummer, percussionist and composer Ches Smit

David Leon - soprano & alto saxophones, alto flute, piccolo
DoYeon Kim - gayagum, voice
Lesley Mok - drumset & percussion, glockenspiel

“Saxophonist/composer David Leon weaves influences from Afro-Cuban and Korean traditional music into innovative, stunning new jazz forms. David Leon David Leon is a Miami-born saxophonist, woodwinds player and composer living in Brooklyn, New York. Besides Bird's Eye, he also co-leads the double trio Locomotive with trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and has...

“Modney is a composer and violinist based in NYC. Modney is a co-director of the Wet Ink Ensemble and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Ascending Primes” is a double album of Modney’s compositions for solo, trio, quintet, septet, and undectet pursuing transcendence and ecstatic space. Built on the foundation of Modney’s interests in tuning systems and exploring extremes of harmonicity and dissonance, the album convenes prime-numbered ensembles made up of the composer’s peers in the...

Jon Irabagon - alto and sopranino saxophones
Mark Shim - tenor saxophone
Adam O’Farrill - trumpet (with electronics on tracks 1, 3 and 9)
Marcus Gilmore - drums
Mauricio Herrera - percussion
Kim Cass - bass
Patricia Brennan - vibraphone with electronics, marimba

“With each new release in her still-burgeoning career, the vision of vibraphonist/marimbist/composer Patricia Brennan has grown exponentially in both scale and scope. From the nucleus of her acclai

Kris Davis - piano/ prepared piano
Robert Hurst - bass
Johnathan Blake – drums

“Seamlessly melding composition with improvisation, this album stands as a testament to Davis' singular voice within the jazz landscape.”