One of Europe's premier free jazz bandleaders, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's music mixes free and contemporary classical elements, with his slashing solos often the link between the two in his compositions. Schlippenbach formed the Globe Unity Orchestra in 1966 to perform the piece "Globe Unity," which had been commissioned by the... [+] Read More

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Flutist/saxophonist/trumpeter Daniel Carter isn't as well-known as some of his contemporaries on the New York free jazz scene, which may partially be due to the fact that he refuses to name his own projects after himself. But judging from his long history of playing in New York and his winding, exploratory recordings, he deserves to be as... [+] Read More

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Fred Van Hove studied theory, harmony, and piano at the Music Academy in Belgium and began playing professionally in 1964. He experimented with various jazz and dance music idioms before adopting free improvisation as his principal mode of expression. Van Hove began playing with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann in 1966. Their collaboration took... [+] Read More

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Since his emergence on the creative jazz and new music scene in the late '60s and early '70s, Joe McPhee has been a deeply emotional composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist, as well as a thoughtful conceptualist and theoretician. Born on November 3, 1939, in Miami, FL, McPhee first began playing the trumpet at age eight. McPhee continued... [+] Read More

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Saxophonist John Tchicai is best known for his time in New York during the height of the '60s free jazz explosion, but he actually spent the majority of his career advancing the cause of avant-garde jazz in Northern Europe. Tchicai was born April 28, 1936, in Copenhagen to a Danish mother and Congolese father; he began playing violin at age ten,... [+] Read More

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A neo-classical and progressive pianist, Nurock is mostly a solo artist with some avant-garde leanings in the Keith Jarrett mode. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

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One of the finest modern jazz pianists, Marilyn Crispell first emerged as an exciting, adventurous soloist and composer on the free scene in the early '80s. She was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet during the '80s and '90s, and also led a number of her own dates (mostly for Leo and Music & Arts) during this period. Although not as widely... [+] Read More

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The prize-winning pianist and big-band leader Michiel Braam has largely escaped notice in the States, but in Holland he is a major figure who leads an outstanding band that he calls Bik Bent Braam and that has made considerable waves; and he is an original jazz pianist, too. Having performed with many leading European jazz improvisers, Braam has... [+] Read More

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Placing Randy Weston into narrow bop-derived categories only tells part of the story of this restless musician. Starting with the gospel of bop according to Thelonious Monk, Weston has gradually absorbed the letter and spirit of African and Caribbean rhythms and tunes, welding everything together into a searching, energizing, often celebratory... [+] Read More

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