Debut albums can often be fun to explore, since you’re not just exploring the music, but the artist, too. They’re funner still when the artist bolts out the gate with his/her own unique plan of attack You May Also Like: James Brandon Lewis Trio – No Filter (2016)

Bill Cole, a multicultural multi-instrumentalist, is one of the guys at the top of the hierarchy in the improvised music scene, having been at it in earnest since at least the late 70s. You May Also Like: No related posts.

by Mark Saleski There’s this notion in the world of sculpture that the artist is merely freeing the shape locked within the raw source material. You May Also Like: David S. Ware & Matthew Shipp Duo – Live In Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004 (2016)

Last year we introduced a really good avanteer to this site in Rich Halley, a lively and imaginative saxophonist and composer who would probably be more of a household name if he were in Chicago or New York instead of Portland, Oregon. You May Also Like: Rich Halley 5 –Read More

Listening to the guitarist Aram Bajakian is lot like listening to Marc Ribot, and Aram follows much of Ribot’s wildly divergent style that incorporates the vintage forms of swing, punk and rock and roll into a fresh and daring style. So it’s fair to state that if you like Ribot,Read More

The closest musical cousins to the whack jazz quintet Afuche that comes to mind are fellow Brooklyners Little Women and the Italian trio Treo: they share some of Little Women’s penchant for highly agitated thrash jazz and Neo’s total unity between harmony and rhythm. At least, that’s what I takeRead More

Cuong Vu is a Vietnamese-born, Seattle-raised trumpet player who can be considered a pretty damned impressive and forward thinking just by looking at the list of bandleaders who he impressed enough to have in their bands: You May Also Like: Cuong Vu 4-Tet, featuring Bill Frisell – ‘Change In theRead More

Our favorite avant gardist from Japan Satoko Fujii is at it again, releasing at once a new batch of records of distinct character. You May Also Like: Satoko Fujii Orchestra Toyko – Peace (2017) Kaze + Ikue Mori – ‘Crustal Movement’ (2023) Kaze – ‘Unwritten’ (2024)

It’s got a cool looking cover, the names on that cover are all giants in the improvised music field, and the rapport is what you’d expect from free jazz pros like these. Those attributes in itself will probably get Planetary Unknown on some year-end lists and it’s already one atRead More

Everybody digs Nicole Mitchell. They love her in sweet hometown Chicago and all the critics in New York love her, too. Heck, even we discerning types at SER have taken a shining to her. She’s the consensus top flautist in the jazz world, she’s got a new record out, Awakening,Read More