Relative Pitch

“American drummer Chris Corsano and French saxophonist Christine Abdelnour have been working as aduo for several years and perform regularly in Europe. The disc « Quand fond la neige, où va le blanc ?» (Where Does the White Go When the Snow Melts?) is the highlight of their teaming.
The association of the two most talented musicians of the "new" generation offers a music of incredible richness in which the duo merges like tectonic plates of different densities, moving through intricate and complex...

Sakina Abdou - saxophone

Goodbye Ground is an album almost handmade, recorded by Sakina Abdou in several «passings», through a recording system set in a dedicated room in her home, for two months. Designed as a triptych, the disc is structured in three parts. The first one, «The Day I Became a Floor», sets, lays out and establishes a musical architecture eminently horizontal, with stretched outlines thinning out in a temporality where you can settle in and that eventually you can almost imagine.

“Gardener starts with a track that is just over a minute long. "Song of the pylon", had me more intrigued than riveted and was followed up with a 15 minute brain teaser "The changes wrought by the recurring use of tools" where harmonium, harpsichord, and piano are used to create an almost jack hammering effect where both musicians, who are credited with all three instruments, throw themes, fragments of ideas, and phrases at earth other at a dizzying pace.
There is some greatness on Gardener like...

“This album celebrates the 1977 band TWINS, that consisted of Bruce Ackley, Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Kaiser, and John Zorn. Featuring the usual instrumentation of two reeds and two guitars, it pre-dated they New York Downtown scene that was to follow. Ackley and Kaiser wanted to re-visit the original repertoire and approach of this quartet, but found it unlikely that the original members could be reunited for such a project. Grabbing their pals Fred Frith and Aram Shelton, they entered the studio to...

Liz Allbee: Electronics, Trumpet, Quadraphonic Trumpet, Voice, Field Recordings, Acoustic Homemade Instruments

“Liz Allbee is fascinated by the guttural, proto-linguistic qualities of musical voices. On Rille she performs with her trumpet, quad-trumpet, voice, and electronics. The pieces range from experimental, electroacoustic, ambient textures merged with dark jazz interludes to even a foray into quasi pop music. But it is all distinctively Liz and forms a coherent organic musical statement.”

Susan Alcorn - pedal steel guitar
Mark Feldman - violin
Michael Formanek - double bass
Mary Halvorson - guitar
Ryan Sawyer - drums

“Pedernal opens with Alcorn’s gracefully slithery pedal steel line suggesting a dark, minor blues that’s joined in an undulating caress by Formanek’s lithe bass. Descending chords introduce the second section as the band steps into the gathering maelstrom, eventually resolving into a beatifically lyrical theme that seems to summon the abidi

I love this album; do you love pedal steel guitar and/or Astor Piazolla? If so, you will love it too!

“It’s wholly fitting that this questing US pedal steel guitarist has chosen to interpret the nuevo tango of Astor Piazzolla on her latest longplayer. The late Argentinean composer presided over a revolution in traditional music by emphasising elements of improvisation, dissonance and counterpoint, while Alcorn seeks the total liberation of her instrument, away from the stifling confines of...

Susan Alcorn - pedal steel guitar
Patrick Holmes - clarinet
Ryan Sawyer - drums

“This adventurous set catches lightning in a bottle. They hit the ground running and never let up. Susan Alcorn's pedal steel soloing is phenomenal while Ryan Sawyer drives the trio forward as Patrick Holmes' clarinet keeps pace with both of them. A breathless set of high energy free improvisation at its best.”

“A trio of adventurous Spanish improvisers, pianist Irene Aranda, bassist Johannes NÄstesjö and percussionist Nuria Andorra channel forces of exploration, energy and elemental mystery on Inner Core, six inventive tracks that plumb their astonishing creative depths with a fervid curiosity.
Fans of free improvisation may recognize these musicians through their mutual connections with pianist Agustφ Fernßndez, currently one of the most highly-regarded performers in this genre. And like Fernßndez...

Robbie Avenaim - prepared typewriter
Chris Abrahams - synthesiser
Jim Denley - bass flute

“Although Weft is the first release for this trio, the three musicians - Jim Denley, Robbie Avenaim and Chris Abrahams - have been playing together in various groups and contexts for decades—often meeting at Chris’ house to converse, drink tea and play/record music. The line-up for this particular session comprised bass flute, Waldorf Q+ Synthesiser and typewriter. The combination of instruments..

“AYCH features three of the finest improvisers working today: saxophonist Jim Hobbs; guitarist Mary Halvorson; and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. All three come with stellar pedigrees and experience in guitarist/bassist Joe Morris' ensembles, plus Halvorson and Bynum were schooled at the knee of Anthony Braxton. Their previous recording together was last year's Bynum Sextet session, Apparent Distance (Firehouse 12, 2011).
Seven of the twelve tracks presented here are group improvisations, the remaining ...

“The image on the cover says it all, a blast furnace exploding with elemental energy and heat. And it doesn't take long for the music on Old Smoke, a live release that represents the first recorded collaboration between saxophonist Steve Baczkowski, bassist Brandon Lopez and drummer Chris Corsano, to reach astonishing peaks of fiery intensity. This is a trio not to be trifled with, on a single-minded pursuit of powerful free improvisation in its most uncompromising form.
Of the three musicians...

“Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ is right in Frisell’s wheelhouse as a soulful blend of country, blues and gospel, and he delivers jagged electric phrases that, like fireworks, sometimes end abruptly with a starburst and sometimes zigzag before fading. John McLaughlin’s ‘Follow Your Heart’ is likewise refried and slowly wrung out after sizzling. Baron comes to the fore on fleet but gentler tracks such as Benny Goodman’s ‘Benny’s Bugle,’ Charlie Parker’s ‘My Little Suede Shoes’ and a nifty soft-shoe...

Gregg Belisle-Chi Acoustic Guitar

"Koi is simply one of the best guitar records I’ve heard in ages, with Gregg Belisle‐Chi’s steel‐string acoustic interpretations of Tim Berne’s compositions a special feat. Gregg – with flawless technique and sensitivity – has transcended the distance between Tim’s alto saxophone and the guitar to make a new, fresh and wonderful music.” — ANDY SUMMERS

The compositions of saxophonist/bandleader Tim Berne have earned renown for their intensely kinetic...

Tim Berne - alto sax Nasheet Waits - drums

“Full of timbral invention, utilising chasms of nihilistic space and a ferocious fervour to their interplay, navigating the no man's land of free form jazz where anything is possible and composition is in real time via high wire reflex and in the moment ideas, recorded live 10/19 at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn.”

“The title track starts with a written structure that eventually leads to an unaccompanied bass solo which reminds these ears that, as much as I enjoy Bisio with pianist Matthew Shipp, a greater appreciation of his technique and writing comes across when he steps away from the individualistic pianist. The music is grounded, not free and wild, but that nevertheless generates close listening. Sometimes Knuffke and Bisio play in an in-between place which doesn't feel like the bass is echoing the cornet...

Kirk Knuffke-cornet
Art Bailey-accordion
Michael Bisio-bass
Michael Wimberly-drums

“There's much to listen for on "Accortet" - the sound quality is excellent (kudos to Jim Clouse of Park West Studio in Brooklyn, NY), the compositions are thoughtful, and the musicianship unbeatable.
Kurt Knuffke continues to impress in every setting he plays in and Art Bailey's musical palette shows how he continues to expand the vocabulary of the accordion. And the rhythm section keeps the...

“In seven tracks, all credited to both of them, the players keep their ears on each other, exploring the sonic possibilities of their instruments and how they can interact. Those familiar with either musician might expect some untamed frenzy, and Bisio and Shipp definitely deliver dark and stormy textures. Bisio utilizes his bow for intense scraping and howling in ‘Decay,’ where Shipp begins by plucking his piano strings and ends with heavy handwork in the lower register. But the bassist also reveals...

John Blum - piano
Jackson Krall - drums

“Relative Pitch Records celebrates its 100th release with a duo recording by Pianist John Blum and Drummer Jackson Krall.
John Blum is an underground legend of the downtown music scene in New York City, known for his high voltage pianism and as a musician who strives for the very personal. His stylistic antecedents are apparent: Boogie-woogie, Stride, Bebop and Free Jazz, but John has absorbed all of these styles to craft a unique voice that...

"“Bogan Ghost is Liz Allbee on trumpet and Anthea Caddy on cello and 'Zerfall' is one pleasant, totally absorbing surprise. "Surprise" if only because of my limited prior exposure to their music.
I happened to have heard them both as part of the Splitter Orchestra (and a subset or two thereof) last year at St. Merri in Paris but still, I wasn't quite prepared for the music encountered here.
I guess the main unexpected (and very welcome) aspect is the degree of concision in play and the fact that.

“On the surface, the album title might be an oxymoron. None of these free-form works resemble traditional ballads, but the young Brooklyn-based duo's ideology and vision is clearly distinct and personalized via these jaunts that to some extent, parallel the British free jazz scene with acidic, creaky and scorching elaborations. There is a consortium of zany nouveau classical music breakouts with bizarre episodic transgressions that tend to hold your attention. At times, the acoustic instrumental...

Matthew Bourne - piano
Emil Karlsen - drums

“Matthew Bourne is a renowned pianist with a reputation as a fearlessly unpredictable improviser. Emil Karlsen is an independently minded drummer who plays with power and delicacy. The Embalmer documents one of Karlsen and Bourne’s first meetings. Recorded in a single session in 2020, The Embalmer sees a wide-ranging musical discourse between the two musicians unfold in its most lean form across the six improvised tracks.”

Peter Brötzmann : saxophone, tarogato, b-flat clarinet
Fred Lonberg-Holm : cello, electronics

“"Memories Of A Tunicate" is the third release and the first studio recording by Peter Brötzmann and Fred Lonberg-Holm. It was recorded in Manhattan at GSI Studios when Peter was in town for the 2019 Vision Festival. These seven pieces move between lyrical spaciousness and no holds bar flying sparks. This is a deep and focused session where they thoughtfully explore their history together."

Aaron Burnett-saxophone

“Aaron Burnett is “a standout new voice on the saxophone. In a very short time, the young musician has already lent his personal and unhindered approach to a breadth of bandleaders including Esperanza Spalding, Wynton Marsalis, Anti-Pop Consortium‘s HPRIZM, and Weasel Walter. He also toured with three time Grammy winner, Esperanza Spalding in her 2012 world tour with Radio Music Society.
Aaron has the also retained the true nature of jazz in his music and his playing..

“Last Dream of the Morning is insistently acoustic, distinctions between free jazz and improvised music fall away here. Kinships and antecedents extend from AMM to Sun Ra and they’re being consistently synthesized and extend into new terrains.
Bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders have become the defining ‘rhythm’ pairing of English free jazz, working together for decades in groups with Evan Parker, Veryan Weston and many others. If this is a first meeting of a trio with Butcher, past...

Tomeka Reid - cello
Kyoko Kitamura - voice
Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet
Joe Morris - guitar

“This foursome is resolute in its acceptance of communal responsibility and creation. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura sings and speaks in wordless flurries matching Taylor Ho Bynum’s brassy exhortations on cornet. Cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Joe Morris worry and pluck their respective strings, applying speed and torque in the loosing of spidery cascades of crinkled and crenelated tones. Pitch...

“They make music that has "length and width and breadth and depth", but no real recognizable shape to speak of. Having "shape" would mean that any of the previous adjectives would have to go, because confining the attributes to the world of Space would limit its possibilities. At the same time, they offer us a glimpse into expanded dimensions of music that Mtume talked about.
Enough philosophised: this is great music.
Taylor Ho Bynum plays cornet, flugelhorn, bass trumpet, trumpbone, John....

“Eugene and Henry have been playing together of nearly 43 years. Back in 1977 they recorded a guitar duet that Wadada Leo Smith had presented to them: WIND CRYSTALS. This piece was released on Henry’s first album on Eugene’s Parachute label: ICE DEATH. On the 40 year anniversary of the original WIND CRYSTALS, Henry and Eugene recorded an entire album of guitar duets composed by Wadada, including a re-recording of WIND CRYSTALS. This album contains pieces from several different phases of Wadada’s work...

Chris Pitsiokos - alto saxophone
Susana Santos Silva - trumpet
Torbjörn Zetterberg - double bass

“Khimaira is a three headed monster. It has a lion head in front, a wild goat head on it’s back and a snake head at the end of it’s tail. It is the offspring of Echidna, the mother of all monsters. The group collaborates to produce eerie organic sounds, howling cries, whispered hums, disturbing wailing, shrieks that die off and reimerge with an intense fluidity. Yet there is an architecture

Amidea Clotet - electric guitar and objects

"Amidea Clotet's Trasluz is the result of research into the sound and textural possibilities of the electric guitar treated as a source of sound amplification. Clotet creates spontaneous, raw and vivid soundscapes, which call for the importance of the present moment, of knowing how to listen to what surrounds us and to ourselves."

Greg Cohen-bass
Bill Frisell-guitar

“The sunny lyricism of "Old Gravenstein" sets the bar high from the outset. Frisell takes lead melodic duties while Cohen injects rhythmic impetus, but in truth their lines are but two interweaving threads of the same chord.
The duo has a spring in its step on "California Here I Come," written in 1921 by Buddy DeSylvia, Joseph Myer, and Al Jolson and declared the official state song of California in 1988. Cohen takes his most extended solo of the set...

“Salt Task opens with the revolutionary title track, a 20-minute-piece that erupts with dense contrapuntal cogitations simultaneously driven by the trio. After the opening section, the musicians usually interact two by two, exploring different sonic possibilities and moods until reaching the final section, where the trio strikes again. Depending on the setting, one may float serenely over idyllic landscapes, march at the sound of a military trumpet, startle with ominous low-pitched piano vibes, revolve...

“Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson’s Crop Circles is an exercise in balance, while still maintaining a great sense of musical freedom. Brooklyn-based Halvorson plays guitar on the collaboration album alongside Switzerland-native and pianist, Courvoisier, also currently working in Brooklyn.
The two work democratically, shifting leads and complementing the other’s sound in a way that seems effortless. Throughout the work, neither artist overwhelms the space and there is an electric ‘push and pull...

Matthias Müller, trombone
Eve Risser, piano
Christian Marien, drums

“Cranes is a brand new collaboration, a European project. Three extraordinary improvisors from Germany and France maintain their long term musical relations by dedicating themselves to cross-linked sonic experiments and the discursive use of forms. Their music is powerful and fragile at the same time.”

“Don’t be fooled by the name; Dead Neanderthals are neither dead nor Neanderthal. What they are is a tight, energy driven cohort of musicians who know how to lay down a good vibe. Worship the Sun, sees Rene Aquarius on drums and Otto Kokke on sax get together for a lesson in genial, improvisational mayhem.
There are just two tracks, the first over 15 minutes and the second just a tad over 17. ‘Worship,’ the first track, is a percussive delight, interspersed with some screaming, devilish sax from...

Yorgos Dimitriadis-percussion and electronics
Axel Dörner-trumpet and electronics
Lori Freedman-clarinet and bass clarinet
Andrea Parkins-accordion, amplified objects and electronics
Christopher Williams-double bass

“A project called ‘BeingFive’ might be motivated by a search to know the nature of being and, by extension, what it means to be together. In this way Montreal clarinettist Lori Freedman set up at once an atelier and a laboratory where both a group music could be

Tetsu Saitoh - double bass
Frederic Blondy - grand piano
Michel Doneda - soprano and sopranino saxophones

“Michel Doneda recently lost one of his most faithful friends and musical companions, the double bass player Tetsu Saïtoh. Relative Pitch now offers us a superb album recorded on April 16, 2016 on Radio-France bringing together the two improvisers and the remarkable piano explorer Frédéric Blondy.
Spring Road 16 is comprised of two collective improvisations under the title...

“This year French soprano saxophone player Michel Doneda will turn 60 and US label Relative Pitch celebrates the occasion by releasing this forty five minute disc of a recording from last year at La Chapelle De Las Planques in Tanus, France.
No doubt picked up with multiple microphones, and later on edited into the seven pieces we find on this disc. Doneda is a master of deception. In this chapel his saxophone sound like saxophone - very occasionally, such as in 'Skeleton Key', but most of the...

Soprano player Michel Doneda and Le Quan Ninh are celebrating a 30 year playing relationship. Doneda's playing can be at turns lyrical, playful, or raucous, and can switch from the liveliness of street melodies to circular breathing, microscopic sounds, or shrieking outbursts. Ninh plays regularly in ensembles in forms that mix improvised acoustic & electroacoustic music, 'performance art', dance, poetry, experimental cinema, photography and video. Listening is their main discipline.
"It’s our...

“A sound of a decidedly different kind. With the release of their CD Lily (Relative Pitch Records), ISABELLE DUTHOIT and FRANZ HAUTZINGER have proven they know how to consistently create a different kind of musical harmony and escape musical conventionality.
Those familiar with the artistic creations and various projects of these artistic free-spirits can probably imagine where Lily will take them. And that is most definitely not to any of the usual musical landscapes. That which Isabelle Duthoit...

“Danish saxophonist Signe Emmeluth, who now lives in Oslo after studying in Trondheim, Norway, has made a strong impact on the European free music scene in the last couple of years, not only due to her ferocious sound, but also through a stylistic openness...
This solo outing — a single piece recorded live for Ingebrit Håker Flaten’s Sonic Transmissions Festival — contains its fair share of fire-breathing, with tart boppish phrases ricocheting toward the horizon in upper register sallies, but it...

Carmina Escobar : voice sound toys, guitarron
Milo Tamez : home percussion, stones, branches, electronics
Thollem McDonas : synthesizer, vocals, clay pot

“Estamos Trio is an exploratory music ensemble formed through the cross-border Estamos Project founded by Thollem McDonas in 2010. The trio includes Carmina Escobar (vocals, electronics, guitarrón), Milo Tamez (percussion, found objects, electronics) and Thollem (keyboard, vocals, clay pot).
Recorded live at SITE Santa Fe, Dire...

“Estamos Trio, on the album - appropriately titled - People's History, offers an avant-garde and multicultural reflection with an epicenter in the history of the border that separates Mexico from the United States....led by the North American pianist and composer Thollem McDonas they create music that tries to encourage communication and collaboration between musicians and artists born on both sides of the Mexican-American border to, in this way, develop a better understanding and appreciation among...

“These experienced musicians know how to weave a complex, captivating stories with few strokes of imaginative sounds, austere yet elegant, subtle but full of nuances. ‘Endless’ visits Far-Eastern, terrains, flows in a balladic narrative and matures in a touching, playful dance of court and spark between Baars, playing the clarinet, and Draksler. ‘For Toby’ suggests a complete different dialog between Baars and Draksler. He sings gently with his tenor sax while she pounds the piano keys in a hyper...

“So...Who is this guy?" These words are a touchstone in the liner notes for Mr. Flaherty's first solo release, 2003's Voices. The notes are an insightful reckoning on what it means to be a free improvising artist (he was 54 at that time, and had already been at it for most of his life). He speaks of "the artist in residence", that part of him that just wants to blow, to shed the tired conventions and self-conscious-over-thinking and just play. Play and see where it takes him. Play and chase the coattails...

“By turns romantic and melodic or fierce and insistent, Flaherty will often start a phrase with a mellow tone only to feed it through a grinder and shred it. One of my favorite moments comes about 3 minutes into the first piece, where he ascends beyond the upper reaches of his horn and whistles, the sound taking on a definite electronic tinge. At the ten-minute mark of the same number, both men start stomping hard before coming to a melancholy close. There are long moments of horn gargle and fast and...

“Flamingo explores sound, texture and dynamics. Sometimes verging on the threshold of hearing and at other times engaging in dense layers and waves of sound, the music of Flamingo creates a poetic space in which pure sound phenomena step forth on the eternal backdrop of silence.
Flamingo is Chris Heenan on contrabass clarinet, Adam Pultz Melbye on double bass, and Christian Windfeld on snare drum, percussion & objects. On LOUD they expand the trio with sound artist and engineer Roy Carroll. In LOUD...

Gabby Fluke-Mogul – violin

"The most striking sound in improvised music in years..."

“LOVE SONGS by gabby fluke-mogul is a record of seventeen violin compositions for improvisation devoted to the multitudinous hues of intimacy.”

“New York violinist gabby fluke-mogul is unabashedly experimental on this solo album recorded last summer. Employing extended techniques (rubbing, scraping, sawing, tapping), they extract a full spectrum of unconventional sounds from this conventional instrument. Coupled with occasional vocalizations, threshold is an exhilarating ride.” AMN reviews

“Steeped is the second album release from Forebrace, the welcome follow-up to Bad Folds. For those who delighted in that album, the good news is that the quartet's line-up remains unchanged, and the balance between composed and improvised music is as before, with composed pieces credited to Forebrace's leader and clarinetist, Alex Ward, alternating with improvisations credited to the whole group. The big difference between Steeped and its predecessor is that this album was recorded live in concert...