Electric bassist Jammaladeen Tacuma's debut as a leader is still his best recording to date. A brilliant free funk player who excels in laying down some eccentric funk in overcrowded ensembles, Tacuma is heard in six different settings on this album. His own group (a quintet with altoist James Watkins and guitarist Rick Iannacone) plays four noisy numbers; he takes "Tacuma Song" as an unaccompanied bass feature; is backed by the Ebony String Quartet, a harp, and pianist Anthony Davis on "The Bird of Paradise"; is accompanied by four percussionists on "From the Land of Sand"; and has a couple of jams featuring altoist Julius Hemphill, cornetist Olu Dara, and guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer. Stimulating and unpredictable music.

With the possible exception of Richard Pinhas' Heldon, Gilbert Artman's Lard Free was probably the premier French progressive group of the '70s. The prolific Heldon might win in terms of amount of material, but the three near-perfect albums by Lard Free (despite the truly wretched band name) probably have them beat in terms of overall quality. Although Artman, a drummer who also dabbles in synthesizers and piano, called Lard Free a group, he was the only constant member; all three albums have different lineups. 1973's Lard Free consists of relatively short pieces with prominent piano and saxophone parts, and as such is the most jazz-oriented of the three. The following year's I'm Around About Midnight consists of three long pieces with much more synthesizer; at times, it sounds almost like early (pre-ambient) Tangerine Dream, or perhaps Clear Light, the French collective Artman and the then-current lineup of Lard Free occasionally worked with around this time. 1977's Lard Free III, also known as Spirale Malax, is Artman's best work, a pair of side-long experiments that combine space music, jazz, and King Crimson-style heavy progressive rock better than many groups (including King Crimson) could ever hope to manage.

The Columbia Icefield is an imposing behemoth, the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains. It's alien, unapproachable, and yet, somehow, a striking metaphor for man's relationship to nature. On Nate Wooley's soaring, Columbia Icefield, the Pacific Northwest bred trumpeter tries to reckon with his relation to the Icefield and humanity in the face of the unapproachable. But this alien entity is laced with contradiction and imposes itself onto Wooley's music in a magnificent way. This record really came down to trying to build structures that have a feeling of being really large and slightly disturbing, but also, natural, Wooley explains, before adding, it's earthbound, it comes from a natural place; it's not an attack on our senses. We understand it. And this became the chief task for Wooley and his superlative band - Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel, and Ryan Sawyer on drums, namely, how to express what is most natural and most foreign to us simultaneously?

Progressive jazz-rock-instrumental, An explosion of guitars, keyboards, percussion, bass in a conundrum of sounds that requires attentive listening but entertaining. This is Jazz from Purgatory. If you fancy Zappa's avant garde's instrumental excursion, then you'll enjoy this one too. Another hidden gem.

Live at the Hilcrest Club 1958 (also released as The Fabulous Paul Bley Quintet) is a live album by pianist Paul Bley, saxophonist Ornette Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Charlie Haden recorded in California in 1958 and released on the Inner City label in 1976. The album is notable as being the first live recording of Ornette Coleman, made shortly after he recorded his first album, Something Else!!!! and featuring the group (without Bley) that would soon record the classic Atlantic albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Change of the Century (1960).

Heikki Ruokangas (b. 1987) is Oulu based jazz/avant-garde guitarist and composer. Since 2015 Ruokangas has released four albums that consist of performances as both solo artist and as a leader with various groups. By combining of melody and noise, music of Ruokangas moves from delicate and melodic atmospheres to all the way to violent avant-garde. International appearances by Ruokangas include clubs and festivals in Denmark, Estonia, Sweden and Italy and his albums have been released in UK, USA and Germany. His active groups at the moment include guitar duo Ruokangas-Hako-Rita, Finnish-Danish Trio Ruokangas-Estola-Roland and his solo project Heikki Ruokangas-Monologues.

Randi Pontoppidan’s new album ‘Rooms’ is constructed using only her voice, filtered through various electronic effects and machines. The Danish vocalist, composer and improviser uses this unique and intimate palette to create vast sonic landscapes full of organic warmth and poetic sensibility. Pontoppidan is an internationally acclaimed artist, having worked with jazz luminaries including Greg Cohen, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Sissel Vera Pettersen and with Danish poet Morten Søndergaard. She’s also an in-demand vocalist in the contemporary classical world, working with Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices and performing works by Steve Reich, David Lang, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage and others. On ‘Rooms,’ a follow-up to her previous Chant Records album ‘Space Geode’ with Greg Cohen, Pontoppidan explores the outer limits and deepest secrets of the human voice while drawing on inspirations including free jazz, electroacoustic composition and sound poetry.

Timbre is a collaboration album between Lauren Newton, Elisabeth Tuchmann, Oskar Mörth (Moerth) and Bertl Mütter (Muetter). Released in 1995 by Leo Records, this would be their only album until they joined together again eight years later with other musicians.

Slybersonic Tromosome is a 1999 collaboration album between Peter Zummo and Tom Hamilton. They both bring in a wide range of different sounds, including things you didn't know exist. This was released by the Penumbra Music label of Grafton, Wisconsin (USA) in a limited edition of 600 copies.

Wadada Leo Smith´s latest album features "Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs,"another extended composition by Smith inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States. This new major work is composed for the iconic civil rights hero Rosa Parks (1913-2005) and performed by three vocalists, a double-quartet and a drummer with electronics. The album is released in February 2019 to celebrate Rosa Parks´ birthday on February 4.

Despite the many recordings Lee Konitz has made either as a leader or as a sideman - they number well over 100 - there is no date, with possible exceptions of Motion and Lone-Lee, that can touch this live duet setting for breaking new ground. Given his apprenticeship with Lennie Tristano, Konitz is well-known for his melodic improvising and his ability to re-conceptualize a tune. But what happens here, with Martial Solal's dramatic, often theatrical style of piano playing, is the extension of Konitz's own abilities to visualize inherently what is possible within a given framework…

Groundtruther have an interesting concept: electric/acoustic drummer Bobby Previte and eight-string guitar genius Charlie Hunter team up with an invited third member for albums of live improvisation. The first album, Latitude, was basically a continuation of Come In Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader (Hunter and Previte's first collaboration), with Greg Osby on sax adding an additional melodic element. For Longitude, DJ Logic is the invited guest, and the roles shift considerably. Since Logic has a wider sound palette than Osby does, Previte moves away from the electronic drums and triggered samples of earlier releases toward a more standard kit as Logic takes control of the "odd sounds." Hunter assumes more of a lead role without a melodic foil and often applies thick distortion. In fact, you've never heard so much distortion coming out of Hunter's rig, and it sounds fantastic.

One of the most uncompromising free jazz records ever made, this one-off improvisation by a group of Dutch players, led by percussionist Pierre Courbois, is an archetype of the style. Free jazz doesn't just require a lot of unrestrained blowing and freeform noise, although there are passages of that here…