# Improvised Music that is not Jazz



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*TRIONYS* – _Protuberanzen_ (2021; earsay)

At its most basic level, TRIONYS are 3 uber-talented musicians, improvising to their hearts’ content and, not only making one helluva lot of noise but by the sound of it enjoying each other’s interactions whilst doing it. That’s important and really, all that matters! But, before you think Protuberanzen is a 38-minute pissing match of which member makes the biggest noise (no pun there), I’ll try and explain why it’s a lot more than that. (review)

TRIONYS – Protuberanzen

TRIONYS is *Rainer Bürck* on keyboards and electronics, *Günter Marx *on violin and electronics, and *Martin Bürck *on gongs, percussion, and yep… electronics.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

That was fun! Other things to explore are live recordings by Henry Cow.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Your blog looks great, SanAntone. I'll need to spend some time with it


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Your blog looks great, SanAntone. I'll need to spend some time with it


Thanks. I don't update it as much as I used to.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Bangs and crashes when three madmen with sticks are set loose in a studio full of flat surfaces. Sorry, didn't do anything for me... and I LOVE improvised music, even noise music.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Fred Frith: Keep The Dog

I'm listening to this quirky live album at the moment.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)




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## feierlich (3 mo ago)

I mean there are tons of them in contemporary classical music, especially after the 60s. To name a few, _Dr K–Sextett_, _Solo_, _Hymnen_ and some parts of _Licht_ (_Luzifers Traum_, _Lichter-Wasser_, _Hoch-Zeiten_, _Weltparlament_) by Stockhausen all involved, to various extents, improvisations or spontaneous music-making decisions by the player.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*VMAK<KOMBZ<<<DUGLAS<<6NDR7<<<*
Douglas McCombs

On his first solo album under his own name, VMAK<KOMBZ<<<DUGLAS<<6NDR7>>> (its busy title was pulled from one of McCombs’ many international visas), he steps into that foreground with a wayward instrumental expedition that sacrifices none of the string-pulling.

VMAK doesn’t fall into any typical solo-debut buckets. It’s no grand, renewed statement of purpose, nor a stripped-down, personally revealing dispatch from the heart. It doesn’t sound painstakingly composed; it’s completely instrumental with a fair share of improvisation; and it features friends who have collaborated plenty with McCombs over the years, including Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake (for whom McCombs has toured as bassist) and James Elkington. (read more)


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Anteloper - Pink Dolphins *(2022)






Chicago’s endlessly fertile creative music community lost a beloved figure with this year’s passing of trumpeter *Jaimie Branch*. For her final album with drummer *Jason Nazary*, the duo teamed with producer *Jeff Parker* to sift through hours of improvised jams, patching together a fried fusion of jazz, ambient, and electronic music. Listening to branch’s head-sticking hip-hop flow on album centerpiece “Earthlings” now takes on a whole new depth.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*PUBLIQuartet : What is American*






*PUBLIQuartet*‘s GRAMMY-nominated 2022 release, _What is American _(Bright Shiny Things), offers incisive commentary on our nation’s history through a celebration and interrogation of American musical traditions. The album employs what has become a tried and true programming approach for the quartet: combining newly composed works with their trademark MIND|THE|GAP project, which forges connections between thoughtfully-curated and stylistically-diverse pieces through improvisation.


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Two of my favorite CDs with improvised music on the organ ...


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker : Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d’amore*






Violinist/vocalist *Silvia Tarozzi* and cellist/vocalist *Deborah Walker* have collaborated on projects as improvisers and interpreted contemporary classical music, notably the work of Harold Budd. On their 2022 release for Unseen Worlds, _Canti di guerra, di lavorro e d’amore_ (Songs of war, work, and love), they delve into folk music from the region Emilia, where they grew up. 

Tarozzi and Walker incorporate folk songs into the melodies they play, but the duo incorporate their approach to contemporary improvisation, with a plethora of extended techniques, scurrying lines, harmonics, altissimo playing and glissandos. (read more)


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

There are some recorded improvisations by Pierre Cochereau on the organ of Notre Dame de Paris. For example, this 15 versets on the _Ave Maris Stella_ (1970), and variations on a Noël (1972).


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Torche!*
Xavier Charles, Michel F Côté, Franz Hautzinger, Philippe Lauzier, Éric Normand

Torche ! by Xavier Charles, Michel F Côté, Franz Hautzinger, Philippe Lauzier, Éric Normand

An exceptional free improvising quintet of Montréal & Quebec improvisers — bassist Eric Normand, drummer Michel F Côté, and bass clarinetist Philippe Lauzier — with French clarinetist Xavier Charles and German trumpeter Franz Hautzinger, performing live during the 2016 Festival de Musique de Creation, creating fascinating commotion with incredible restraint.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Daniel Levin, Mat Maneri - if ART Gallery - 1/16/2022*






Daniel Levin is “one of the outstanding cellists working in the vanguard arena” (All About Jazz), "ridiculously fluent, virtually overflowing with ideas” (New York City Jazz Record) and “very much the man to watch.” (Penguin Guide to Jazz). No matter what setting he plays in, cellist Daniel Levin occupies a musical space bordered by many kinds of music, but fully defined by none of them.

Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. As critic John Sharpe observes in The New York City Jazz Record, “he invokes all manner of musics with prodigious skill: jazz, classical, improv, noise, vocal chorus. His technique is unquestioned and he revels in the physicality of the instrument. Those with an adventurous streak or interest in the outer reaches of the cello universe will find much to savor.” (cipsela records)


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

starthrower said:


> That was fun! Other things to explore are live recordings by* Henry Cow*.


Yeah, pretty much the entire prog subgenre, avant-prog, also known as Rock in Opposition (of which Henry Cow is one of the originators), is loaded with bands that utilize quite a bit of improvisation. Bands of this subgenre improvise quite a bit differently than jazz.


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