Two Bay Area pacesetters of improvised and avant-garde music will soon join forces.

A versatile and engaging singer, Loren is joined by the era’s most memorable songwriters and sidemen.

A number of important lessons emerge from “Weird Al” Yankovic’s new triumph.

‘Numbers’ coolly delivers Payton’s message of natural flow. It’s funky-good, angular vibe jazz.

It doesn’t matter if the experimental music is being rendered by electric guitar or banjo, Seabrook uses technology, virtuosity and a deviously fertile mind to blow the minds of anyone who comes across these recordings. ‘Sylphid Vitalizers’ expands the world of what is possible with a banjo. And guitar, too.

As a collection of children’s songs for grown-ups, ‘Business Is Bad’ would be terribly silly if it wasn’t so damned inconspicuously clever. Thankfully, it *is* clever, and marks the return of Karen Mantler after nearly a decade and a half off without skipping a beat.

After all, it could come out differently than what we’d expect or want.

This arrives looking like every bad thing that sends you back to the old records.

‘Solarists’ immediately establishes Haitian Rail as a fearsome battery of inscrutable, noise with terrific give-and-take. And trombonist Dan Blacksberg’s presence assures that they hold up the jazz part of the experimental metal-jazz equation, losing none of their ferocity along the way.

They’ve created an album that’s both emotionally open, and a wonder of intricate control.