Clarinetist Louis Sclavis leads his Atlas Trio on this eclectic collection of songs encompassing chamber improvisation, polyrhythmic grooves, minimalistic pulse patterns, enveloping ambience, rhapsodic piano and funky Fender Rhodes from Benjamin Moussay, distorted guitar, clarinet soliloquies, contrapuntal themes and free group playing: really a bit of everything. An open form aesthetic applies in this multifaceted music, simultaneously exploratory and involving. The album contains all-original Sclavis compositions except for the final number, contributed by the trio's electric guitarist Gilles Coronado.

"Ida Lupino" is a fresh and creative album, distinguished by deep listening and focused interaction. At its centre is the remarkable improvisational rapport of two Italian musicians – pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella. Their musical understanding – already apparent to listeners who heard them in Enrico Rava’s band – has been further refined in a widely-travelled duo which seeks encounters with fellow improvisers.

The Ariadne’s thread unwound by Louis Sclavis throughout his travels and musical adventures naturally leads him to write original melodies, nourished here and there by a sonic audacity and a timeless aesthetic well known to the public. His new album, ‘Les Cadences du Monde’, is a sort of bubbling case of imagined music inspired by the photographic work ‘L’Usure du monde’ by Frédéric Lecloux.

Leading French clarinetist-composer-improviser Louis Sclavis continues his musical adventures with Gilles Coronado and Benjamin Moussay, who contributed creatively to his Atlas Trio album Sources in 2011. The addition of Iranian classical percussionist Kevyan Chemirani, master of the zarb, has brought a new dimension to their world of sound. Adventurous contemporary music, says Sclavis, can be broad enough to embrace different but complementary traditions. “‘Silk and Salt’ indicates my desire for this work to take an imaginary, nomadic, Central Asian route, but also to address the idea of emigration in world history. In this case: journeying away from and back to jazz”. Travelling melodies and rhythms predominate. The changing contexts inspire some of Sclavis’s finest clarinet playing, captured by producer Manfred Eicher in this recording, made in Studio La Buissonne, near Avignon, in March 2014.

"Asian Fields Variations" marks the first time that clarinettist Louis Sclavis, violinist Dominique Pifarély and cellist Vincent Courtois, long-time colleagues, have recorded as a trio. Sclavis summoned the project into existence, but this is a democratic group of creative equals.