Before any of those seminal recordings by the AACM family could happen, Roscoe Mitchell’s ‘Sound’ needed to.

The way a chamber string trio is being used by the Brandon Seabrook Trio for ‘Convulsionaries’ is bonafide wack. It’s akin to G.G. Allin hosting ‘Masterpiece Theater.’

Henry Kaiser has long found spiritual fulfillment playing music informed by the ancient songs of Korean Shamanism. This time he finds further fulfillment in the comradery of musicians who like him understand the power of the mudang.

The fourth Frequency Response release from Tom Abbs could well be his last for a long time; the man’s got things to do. If that’s the case, it’s all the more reason to savor ‘Hawthorne.’

Ivo Perelman, that endless fountain for saxophone phraseology, is finally slowing down.

The word ‘Mahobin’ means ‘thermos bottle’ but also ‘magic bottle’ in Japanese, and the magic made for ‘Live at Big Apple in Kobe’ that retained its passion throughout meant that this fledgling group had lived up to both meanings of the name.

‘Experiments On Human Subjects’ is artful haymaking from Evil Genius. The tuba is having more fun than is probably legally allowed and if you’re predisposed for adventurous listening, you’ll have illegal fun too.

Thollem ducks into a studio and jams with a noted, up-and-coming fusion guitarist and the drummer from an established garage-punk band.

It’s that opaque fickleness juiced by prowess on their instruments that makes Spencer Friedman and Paul de Jong’s ‘Functions’ both so different and yet so compelling.

Satoko Fujii is issuing an album in every month of 2018, and if there’s one musician with enough ensembles, projects and ideas to pull it off, it’s her.