James Brandon Lewis - Tenor Saxophone
Jaimie Branch - Trumpet
Luke Stewart - Bass
Anthony Pirog - Guitar
Warren Trae Crudup III - Drums

Being lucky enough to live in the surprisingly active cauldron of great music that is currently happening in DC, I have also been lucky enough to see James’ regular trio [James, Luke and Warren] several times because Luke is a DC’er and he makes it happen!
They are a very fine free jazz trio built on heads-style trio who have knocked m

“The best free improvisation ensembles generally carry three characteristics: tremendous mastery by the individual instrumentalists, sympathetic listening, and instinctual timing. This quartet displays all three on this fantastic recording released by Relative Pitch. The group is comprised of Brandon Lopez (Brandon Lopez Trio, Xivaros, The Mess, Nate Wooley Quartet) on Contrabass, Matt Nelson (Battle Trance, GRID, tUnE-yArDs) on Tenor Saxophone, Andria Nicodemou (Leap of Faith, London Improvisers...

“This offering could be depicted as a pulsating mist of near static incandescent vapor. Spiral Reflector starts things off with Lubelskis briskly bowed violin drone taking the fore, backed by Naces subtle volume swells and amplifier manipulation. Mazed finds the duo further probing at the veil. The modulated drones interweave in an unsteady interplay of dipping intonation that is both fascinating and disorienting. In Re/Fract/Ed Nace provides a subtle underpinning of persistent tremolo to Lubelskis gruff...

“Magda Mayas (Germany) performs on a 1970s manufactured clavinet with reedman Jim Denley (Australia), augmented by their use of field recordings, as they pay homage to a "marginalized corner" of Sydney, Australia on this experimental and irrefutably adventurous improv fest. Yet I wouldn't be so bold to suggest that this is easy listening but for the most part, it's relatively subdued.
The duo projects organic minimalism amid the sounds of nature and bizarre tone poems that move forward in....

“All things considered, this album is a fine specimen of no-frills, tendentially harsh improvisation revolving around a pair of fundamental axes. Cline and McDonas’ frequently altered tones ; at times one hardly distinguishes who is who, until the different techniques on keyboard and fretboard become evident ; match Wimberly’s percussive drive, which contributes to a further scattering of ‘centres’, either tonal or rhythmic. The level of musicianship is obviously high, integrating correlative schools...

“The Zookeeper’s House, is Moondoc's first studio album in over a decade. It features a fantastic collection of players: trombonist Steve Swell, trumpeter Roy Campbell (in his final recorded appearance), pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Hilliard Greene, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker.
They’re not all heard together. Shipp appears on the disc-opening title track and the nearly 13-minute ‘One for Monk and Trane’; the horns are on ‘Little Blue Elvira,’ ‘For the Love of Cindy,’ and a version of Alice...

“From the opener, "Hurricane Point," you're reminded of the Betty Davis quote from the 1950s movie All About Eve, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Morris' guitar shreds notes against the wall of rumbling bass and crush of battered drums. This opening salvo signals a take-no-prisoners session, or what Myles Boisen of Splatter Trio used to call, "club clearing music."
As intense as it is, the inner workings retain the undiluted Joe Morris guitar sound. His unique "language"...

“Automatos’ offers a parabolic curve structure where you can focus, starting from the opening, on very discrete elements of the ensemble - each instrument could be perfectly self-sufficient and this is not always true for every single part of a score if it has not been conceived as a solo piece - merging in a really dense and involving continuous. Fernandez is immediately terse, stinging with short phrases contrasted in the first half by the hoarse voice of Wooley and the initial far grating of Morris...

“There are obvious factors that set these two free improvisers apart. Courvoisier's approach is more steeped in contemporary classical music. But this does not prevent them from overcoming their differences and finding common ground. In fact, thry don't even need any time to size each other up. The pianist's blunt attack is immediately on display, and the saxophonist is quick yo put his screechy warbled tenor lines against her heavy and potent clusters and runs.
Patker's generous sound on the tenor...

“Pavone composed four distinct pieces for In the Action, all employing extended bowing techniques, and focusing on in repetition, song form, and sympathetic vibration, with clever usage of effects. The first one "Oscillatory Salt Transport" suggests a series of gentle, resonating waves that somehow bridge between the strict, highly disciplined minimalism of New York and sensual, folk melodies of the British isles. This piece actually refers to the waves of the ocean and how they are essentially pushing...

Ab Baars-tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Ig Henneman-viola
Ingrid Laubrock-tenor and soprano saxophones
Tom Rainey-drums

“Dutch theatricality meets American resourcefulness on this conclave from four like-minded musicians whose collective tastes veer to the freer end of the improvisational spectrum. As it turns out, shorthand sobriquets for the participants on the CD spine also work as a solid, semi-ambiguous band name. Live @ the Jazz Happening Tampere provides the...

“The Norway-based alto sax player Mette Rasmussen and American drummer have been performing as a duo continuously for the last two years. The duo's free-improvised music benefits from these gifted musicians accumulated experiences.
Corsano's resume stretches from free jazz legends as sax players Joe McPhee, Paul Flaherty & Akira Sakata, noise masters as Bill Nace and C Spencer Yeh to avant-pop vocalist Bjork. He represents the hyperactive, ecstatic pole in this duo. Rasmussen, now part of Mats....

“Searching for leadership in a singular sense on Geometry of Caves immediately becomes an exercise in needless futility. The foursome behind the fifty-minutes of freely improvised music is resolute in its acceptance of communal responsibility and creation. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura sings and speaks in wordless flurries, matching and Taylor Ho Bynum’s brassy exhortations on cornet and either bass or piccolo trumpets. Cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Joe Morris worry and pluck their respective strings...

“Long, simple, clear notes, they seem to trail off in the distance. Almost shyly played, as if the saxophonist wanted to approach what she wants to say very tenderly.
After her solo album Coin Coin Chapter 3: River Run Thee Matana Roberts presents herself with an entirely different approach of playing alone. While River Run Thee also included electronics, spoken word poetry, singing and all kind of samples, Always is stripped down to the single voice of her alto. And what a great saxophonist she is!..

“They combine on three long-form improvs, the shortest of which clocks in at just over 17 minutes, giving ample scope for the freewheeling exploration at which all three excel. They take such an egalitarian approach that it's a noticeable event when one drops out. In a favored gambit, Rupp's scratchy staccato guitar textures jostle against extended legato lines from Schubert and Rogers, but that just provides a launching point for further goings-on in which they match dynamics, hit peaks of intensity and...

Masahiko Satoh – piano
Otomo Yoshihide – electric guitar, whistle
Roger Turner – drums and percussion

“The Sea Trio, comprised of legendary pianist Masahiko Satoh, influential guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide and master percussionist Roger Turner, first met and played at the legendary Egg Farm just outside Tokyo. The chemistry was immediate and though it was recorded they wanted to play again and booked at another legendary spot in Tokyo, Pit-Inn, in Shinjuku. The place was

“A crucial aspect of the Chamber Ensemble and the String Trio is the harmonic slipperiness that the string players focus on, contra the piano. Mat Maneri is the son of saxophonist and composer Joe Maneri (1927-2009), whose own chamber work focused on microtonal improvisation, and while the violist has certainly forged his own path, his grand swoops and deft ponticello technique tend to blur - if not obliterate - the demarcations of Western tonality. That’s not to say he doesn’t employ romantic late...

“‘Cheerful’ starts out with Lindsjö’s clean guitar tones riding on Strid’s rhythmically probing structures. Küchen’s sax starts out inquiringly with clean tones which increase in intensity, reaching full skronk by the 2 minute mark and blazing through to the end of the piece. ‘Grinning’ finds the group dynamics more active early in the track, with the trio quickly establishing their relationships and direction. Lindsjö hits the overdrive pedal shortly after the initial passages, while Strid provides a....

“Leonel Kaplan plays the trumpet exclusively by focusing his approach on the rustling of the air column, the metaphysics of the tubes in a way (to paraphrase Amelie Nothomb): by playing with multiple pressure levels of the lips and the meticulous closure of the orifices with the pistons, he obtains a range of nuances, dynamics, noise, stamps rather leaded than copper, as they evoke piping.
Birgit Uhler, replies by adding to his remarkable work on the trumpet, the use of a radio, a speaker and...

“Turner's supportive playing is well matched with Van Hove's probing and voluminous drive, and is perfectly in tune during the introspective moments. Both of which occur amply during the 26 minute opener 'Life Dealers'.
The duo's repartee is in fine order from the get-go. For example, about ten minutes in, moments of light pianistic whimsy meets Turner's crisp percussion and the two instruments begin pushing each other to extremes. 'Shopped', the second track, is a concise seven minutes and begins...

“Every time experimental British saxophonist John Butcher plays in the northwestern part of this continent his trio is made up of two Vancouver-based players: bassist Torsten Muller and drummer Dylan van der Schyff. Listening to the nine pitch-perfect improvisations on this disc demonstrates why this configuration has been maintained since 2007.
The veteran bassist, who is perfectly capable of atonal string-stretching and scrubbed pulsations, is careful to maintain a connective pumping throughout...

“Commissioned by Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation, trumpeter Nate Wooley developed a modular compositional structure of small melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, conceptual, textural, and timbral fragments, allowing Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), and Matt Moran (Vibes) exceptional freedom in improvisation.
Wooley starts of with a fine little melody in the first piece, then Moran comes along, and a few moments later Courvoisier adds some tones to it. It all starts very calm and...

“Far too often, the skill and detail informing music such as this is neglected by writers attempting description, no matter how sympathetic, in favor of emotive exposition, essentially stripping the discourse of any freedom the music might offer. There’s no denying that Jack and Ben Wright plumb those psychosocial depths, but they accomplish it in a way that foregrounds something akin to linguistic expression, shoving historical precedent to a hot but distant back burner.
Take, for example, the...