It seems inevitable that pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and guitarist-composer Otomo Yoshihide, two of the most influential and critically acclaimed figures in Japanese new music, should record together. The surprising thing is it took so long. Their new duo album, Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records, release date: February 9, 2023), is their first performance together, despite the … Continue reading Perpetual Motion

Leap Day should be predictable – it comes around like clockwork after all, once every four years. But it always seems to spring out of nowhere, an odd quadrennial anomaly that realigns the calendar and the clock. The Leap Day Trio does something similar. After nearly three decades of playing together, drummer Matt Wilson and … Continue reading Live At The Cafe Bohemia

“Ghost Music” is the latest album from ex-pat Australian experimental/folk/psych/indie/noir musician Michael Plater. The follow-up to “An Alchemical Gathering,” his 2022 split release with Enclosed and Silent Order, “Ghost Music,” takes inspiration from Australia’s dark history and the myths, folklore, and legends of Michael’s current adopted home in Cornwall, drawing together a phantasmagorical assemblage of … Continue reading Ghost Music

In this inspired collaboration with conductor and baroque violinist Stefano Montanari, Italian reedman Gianluigi Trovesi extends the line of musical enquiry posited on his Prufumo di violetta album. Supported by a cast of players well-versed in the ancient sounds of period instruments and the art of historical performance practice, Trovesi looks anew at music of … Continue reading Stravaganze Consonanti

The Bobo Stenson Trio’s ability of covering far-reaching idioms and wide-ranging repertoire within the scope of their personal diction has become both hallmark and custom, inspiring The New York Times to say the pianist “makes sublime piano-trio records without over-playing. It's pulsating, lumpy with long improvised phrases; it's alive.” Charting an equally subtle and idiosyncratic … Continue reading Sphere

Ralph Alessi’s fourth appearance as a leader for ECM follows a singular album run that’s been met with nothing but praise from The New York Times to The Guardian. The latter lauded Ralph’s previous recording Imaginary Friends (2019) for its “elegant balance of poignant, playful original compositions and gracefully probing improv” and declared it “his … Continue reading It’s Always Now