In the '60s and '70s, much (if not most) contemporary improvisation was jazz-based. That began to change in the '80s, when a significant number of rock musicians began exploring the possibilities of free improvisation and new classical forms. Fred Frith is one of the more prominent. Co-founder of the underground British band Henry Cow in 1968,... [+] Read More

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Accomplished accordionist and composer Guy Klucevsek has stunned audiences around the world with his mastery of the unwieldy instrument in jazz- and world-influenced avant-garde concerts. Included on compilations from Tzadik's Burt Bacharach tribute, to the more mainstream Ellipsis Arts release Planet Squeezebox, Klucevsek has also led nearly... [+] Read More

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The progressive-rock genre spawned many groups who became top-grossing arena acts -- Pink Floyd and Genesis are two -- as well as many who progressed right into obscurity. Henry Cow was one of the best-known and most widely traveled English bands of the progressive era (though only a cult-favorite in the U.S.), and their music has aged amazingly... [+] Read More

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The Virginia-based keyboardist creates finely crafted music that always seems to straddle a handful of genres with ease. He was a founding member of the short-lived, yet highly original, progressive '70s band, Happy the Man. In the early '80s, Watkins began building his own home studio and produced consistently inviting music that draws on his... [+] Read More

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L'Ensemble Rayé is a quirky and generally lighthearted band with roots in the European avant-prog scene of the 1970s and 1980s, which included such groups as Henry Cow, Zamla Mammaz Manna, and Picchio Dal Pozzo. Switzerland's principal contribution to this adventurous and innovative scene was the band Débile Menthol, formed in 1979 and varying... [+] Read More

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An enduring figure who came to prominence in the early days of the English art rock scene, Robert Wyatt has produced a significant body of work, both as the original drummer for art rockers Soft Machine and as a radical political singer/songwriter. Born in Bristol, England, Wyatt came to Soft Machine during the exciting, slightly... [+] Read More

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The Penguin Cafe Orchestra creates dreamlike music. It is beautiful, yet illogical, unpredictable, and often bizarre. Lush violins swirl between classical melodies and country hoedowns. Is that Beethoven or "Walk, Don't Run" they're playing? Is that a touch-tone telephone playing the melody? Yes to all the above, and much more. And don't forget... [+] Read More

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