Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of experimental music in its own right.
Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.
Peter Brötzmann was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward. His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".
Han Bennink is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano.
Albert Mangelsdorff was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics.
Clarence "Herb" Robertson is a jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist. He was born in Piscataway, New Jersey and attended the Berklee School of Music. He has recorded solo albums and has worked as a sideman for Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Bill Frisell, George Gruntz, Paul Motian, Bobby Previte, and David Sanborn.
Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire is a double live album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It comprises a series of graphic scores Frith composed in 1992 "for any number of players". It was performed live by Frith, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins and the International Occasional Ensemble at five concerts in Canada, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Frith also conducted and directed the performances.
The Beijing Jazz Festival is China's first and largest jazz festival. It was founded in 1993 by Udo Hoffmann, a German national living in China. The festival is hosted by the Beijing Midi School of Music and Beijing Midi Productions.
Dennis Rea is an American guitarist, author, and music event organizer. He was a member of the electronic music group Earthstar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He leads the progressive rock quintet Moraine and worked with Jeff Greinke in Land. Other significant involvements have included Flame Tree, Identity Crisis, Iron Kim Style, Savant, Stackpole, Tempered Steel, and Zhongyu.
Land was a Seattle based music group founded and led by Jeff Greinke. Their music is described by guitarist Dennis Rea as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music." Land was active from 1993 until 2001 and released three albums. In 1996 they toured China, Hong Kong, and Macau, including a performance at the prestigious Beijing International Jazz Festival.
Land is the eponymous first full-length album by the American group Land. Land was recorded at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle in 1994 and released by the Australian label Extreme in 1995. All tracks were composed by Jeff Greinke with the exception of "Shu", which was composed by Greinke and Dennis Rea.
Archipelago is the second album by the American group Land, who blend jazz, rock, and world music. A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the album, Archipelago. "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, was recorded in February 1997, with finishing touches completed in July. The album was released on the Periplum label later that year.
Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label. It was named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz).
Punk jazz is a genre of music that combines elements of jazz, especially improvisation, with the instrumentation and performance style of punk rock. The term was first used to describe James Chance and the Contortions' 1979 album Buy. Punk jazz is closely related to free jazz, no wave, and loft jazz, and has since significantly inspired post-hardcore and alternative hip hop.
Wu Fei is a virtuoso Chinese American composer, performer, and improviser from Beijing, China. She performs on the Chinese guzheng, an ancient zither with twenty-one strings, as well as sings. She currently resides in Nashville. Wu Fei has composed for a variety of musical genres, including choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, Balinese gamelan, orchestral, film, and modern dance.
Wally Shoup was an American jazz alto saxophonist, painter, and author. Based in Seattle, Washington since 1985, Shoup was a mainstay of that city's improvised music scene. Seattle Metropolitan named him one of the 50 most influential musicians in that city's history.
Metal Machine Trio was a group founded in 2008 by Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger and Sarth Calhoun. The group played free improvised music, touching on various genres from free rock, free jazz, minimal music, noise music, electronica, to ambient music. The group rehearsed to test ideas, but all performances were improvised.
Lars Andreas Haug is a Norwegian jazz musician (tuba), known from a variety of jazz groups and recordings.
Irène Schweizer & Han Bennink is a live album by pianist Irène Schweizer and drummer Han Bennink. It was recorded in January 1995 at Jazzclub Moods in Zürich, Switzerland, and was released by Intakt Records in 1996.
Nerve Beats is a live solo album by Han Bennink. It was recorded on September 27, 1973, at the Rathaus in Bremen, Germany, for broadcast on Radio Bremen, and was not released until 2001, when it was issued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series. On the album, Bennink is featured on drums, tablas, trombone, clarinet, rhythm machine, and "anything/everything."
