Tremendous work from Joshua Abrams – a set that's very different than some of his other work in recent years, but every bit as great! The set's got a lean group – Abrams on bass, Jeff Parker on guitar, Gerald Cleaver on drums, and the great Ari Brown on tenor – of Awakening fame – a group that delivers a more stripped-down version of some of Josh's more spiritual ideals – but in ways that also touch base with more conventional jazz expression! Make no mistake, there's nothing conventional about this set – the approach is very unique, and very striking – and the presence of the younger musicians really sets Ari Brown on fire, and reminds us of what a great soloist he can be when he's pushed to his limits. Titles include "Collapsing Novelty", "Duke Hill", "Echo Tracer", "In Place Of Memory", and "Coniunctio". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic work from a trans-Atlantic group – one that features really beautiful work on saxes from Daunik Lazro, in one of his best settings in many years! All the other musicians here are fantastic – as in addition to Daunik on tenor and baritone, the rest of the group features Joe McPhee on tenor and pocket trumpet, Joshua Abrams on bass and guembri, Guillaume Seguron on bass as well, and Chad Taylor on drums and mbira! Given the use of the double basses, there's a strong bottom end here – and that's perfect for those organic tones that we've always loved from Lazro's horn, since first discovering him in the 80s – a very different trajectory of improvisation than some of his European contemporaries, with a quality that seems to bring out more from McPhee as well. Taylor just keeps exploding with his talents in recent years, and is a perfect partner for the music here – and all the tracks are improvised, save for a snippet of Albert Ayler's "Mothers" which appears at one spot. CD

Sonic exploration by three players who really know how to find the right path forward together – Tomeka Reid on cello, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Dave Rempis on alto and tenor saxes – a trio who resonate with that crisp, consistent sense of improvisation that has made the Chicago scene so wonderful in recent decades! The blend of the two stringed instruments with the reedwork by Rempis is wonderful – both Abrams and Reid are at the top of their league, and have a way of finding all these textures and soundshapes that are more than magical enough on their own – but which get really triangulated beautifully with the always-amazing sounds created by Dave on his saxes. There's nothing too heavy or too overdone here – brilliantly balanced performance throughout, on titles that include "Scape", "Stolon", "Umbel", "Anther", "Petiole", "Butomissa", and "Bulbil". CD

A wonderful continuation of the spiritual sounds of bassist Joshua Abrams – an artist who only seems to draw us in deeper and deeper as the years go by – and that's saying a lot, given that we've been listening to his music for almost 20 years! Josh has moved way beyond the bass at this point in his career – and the album also features the leader on guimbri, celeste, clarinet, bells, and even a small harp – played on these longform, spiritual progressions that also feature Jeff Parker on guitar, Hamid Drake on percussion, Ben Boye on chromatic electric autoharp, and Lisa Alvarado on harmonium – the last two of which bring an especially meditative feel to the record! Titles include "By Way Of Odessa", "Spiral Up", "The Ladder", "Traslucent", and "Magnetoception". LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic album from bassist Joshua Abrams – a set that may well be his greatest to date – and that's saying a lot, given all the other work he's given us in recent years! The double-length set has Abrams working with this lineup of improvising jazz talents, but in a way that's very rhythmic, and very organic – slow-building songs that almost seem to mix jazz with inspiration from gamelan music, but with very spiritual currents overall – music that builds slowly and flows to the cosmos – almost in a way that reminds us of the seminal "On The Beach" by Phil Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble! Yet Abrams is very much in his own territory here – working with a lineup that features the leader on guimbri, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium and gongs, Mikel Avery on tam-tam and gongs, Ben Boye on electric autoharp and piano, Hamid Drake on tabla and tar, Ben Lamar Gay on cornet, Nick Mazzarella on alto saxophone, and Jason Stein on bass clarinet – with every member of the ensemble also performing on flutes. The sound is incredible – music to build a bridge to the heavens – and titles include "In Memory's Prism", "Finite", "Shadow Conductor", and "Agree". CD

A group here that features some key members from the American avant scene, but whose standout member might well be pianist Oscar Jan Hoogland – who contributed two originals to the set, and whose work on the keys seems to really direct the energy of this session that features fresh interpretations of tunes by Herbie Nichols and Thelonious Monk! The setting is quite a different one for saxophonist Keefe Jackson, but he's superb throughout – blowing tenor and sopranino sax at a level that has all the angular tones and inventive spirit that players like Steve Lacy or Charlie Rouse brought to their work in the Monk generation – but with all the freer qualities that live up to Keefe's legacy too! The rest of the group is great too – Joshua Abrams reminding us what a swinging bassist he can be, and Mikel Patrick Avery on drums – really punctuating the tunes nicely, on selections that include "Bemsha Swing", "The Happenings", "Epistrophy", and "Gotta Get Some Sleep – plus Hoogland originals "Wimpel" and "Aanhanguis". LP, Vinyl record album

A group that's co-led by guitarists Brent Fuscaldo and Przemyslaw Krys Drazek – the former of whom also sings, while the latter adds trumpet to the mix! The record has the layered feel and mix of acoustic and electric instruments that we love from the Astral Spirits label – and in addition to work from the core duo, the set features contributions from Joshua Abrams on bass, Hamid Drake on percussion, Tatsu Aoki on bass and shamisen, and Thymme Jones on drums, piano, melodica, and walkie talkie! These other elements are often used in ways that are as subtle as the performance of the leaders – gently filtering into each other to create soundscapes that build with a subtle sort of power and a nice undercurrent of spirituality. Titles include "The Coyote Messenger", "Weaving Tongues", and "Blossoming". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful music from Chicago, set to another Chicago-themed project – a film based around the Roy stories of writer Barry Gifford! Yet that literary reference aside, the music here has fantastic merits of its own, even if you've never read Gifford at all – a very different, more compositional side of the spectrum from vibist Jason Adasiewicz, yet still music that has a loose small combo vibe as well – serve dup by a cool quintet that features Jonathan Doyle on saxes, Josh Berman on cornet, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums! There's a mix of new tones and modern ideas that take us back to that late 50s time on the Chicago scene when Sun Ra's Arkestra was still in town – and the tunes penned by Adasiewicz are not only superb, but a perfect showcase for his incredible tones on vibes. Doyle is a real revelation too – a player we don't know well at all at this point, but whose sense of timing and presence really makes the whole record sparkle – as does the work of the rest of the better-known players in the group. Titles include "Ballad For Kitty", "River Blindness", "Walkin To Clinton", "Rudy's Basement", "Sand", and "Blue People". LP, Vinyl record album

A great reworking of the extended Solar Suite by Chicago saxophonist David Boykin – issued many years back in a studio version, and presented here in a bold new take done at the same 63rd Street Beach House that used to host performances by Phil Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble! Boykin is tremendous here as a key soloist – and the group is led by Renee Baker as part of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project – although the ensemble here is just a septet, with work from Joshua Abrams on bass, Jim Baker on keyboards, Alex Wing on guitar, Tony Herrera on trombone, Quentin Coaxum on trumpet, and Marcus Evans on drums! The set's worth it alone for Boykin's wonderful tenor work, but the whole group is fantastic as well – soaring up with a mighty spirit that lives up the legacy of the storied space of the recording – on titles that include "Midnight & Sunrise", "Midday", "Sunset", and "Enocturnal Sun". CD

One of the most spiritual, most well-conceived sessions we've heard from reedman David Boykin in years – a single performance that runs for almost 30 minutes, featuring a totally hip lineup that includes Nicole Mitchell on flute, Joshua Abrams on bass, Jeff Parker on guitar, Eliel Sherman Storey on tenor, and Avreeyal Ra on drums! The key element here, though, is Lasana Kazembe – who delivers a powerful spoken passage at points – these righteous words about our fair city of Chicago, with a powerful message about the city and life within. Lawrence Jones adds congas to the proceedings, Zahra Glenda Baker sings a bit, and the whole thing resonates with a mix of jazz, spoken word, and spiritual message that takes us back to some of our favorite recordings of the 70s! CD

Natural Information Society have been a key force on the Chicago underground for a number of years – and here, they go back even further, to open the door to the legendary saxophonist Ari Brown – who joins the group on tenor! You might know Brown's music as a member of 70s spiritual group The Awakening, or his later solo albums – and his time-schooled spirit is a perfect match for the ensemble led by bassist Joshua Abrams, who also plays some guimbri on the set. Other players include Ben Lamar Gay and Josh Berman on cornets, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Kara Bershad on harp, Nick Mazzarella on alto, and Hamid Drake on congas and tablas – a group who work together with the richly organic vibe we always love in projects from Abrams. Titles include "Moontide Chorus", "Is", "Murmuration", "Wane", "Wax", "Immemorial", and "Stigmergy". LP, Vinyl record album

Hardly the sex tape you might expect from the title – and instead a really great ensemble performance from David Boykin – one that almost has him rising up to take on the Sun Ra legacy on the Chicago scene! The group here is full of wonderful sounds – not just tenor from Boykin, but also flute from Nicole Mitchell, alto from Matana Roberts, bass from Joshua Abrams, drums from Isaiah Spencer, Baritone from Aaron Getsung, keyboards from William Kurk, turntables from Besco, and Arp from Jim Baker – all coming together on long passages that mix rhythmic progressions with these freer flights of sound – very much the spirit of what you might have heard on a vintage Saturn Records release! And maybe as with one of the many self-issued live sets by Ra – this one features a familiar number, "47th Street Ghost", taken to an extended new height – and blended with another "untitled" composition – for one long performance recorded in concert. CD

A really well-done document of a pretty amazing time in the Chicago music scene – a huge early 90s burst of creative activity – one that gave the world a handful of famous groups, and a much bigger number of even better acts who really made the city great! Writer Bruce Adams issued some of the music on his label Kranky – but the book here goes way past that imprint, and instead presents a really vivid portrait of the scene at large – clubs, labels, bands, writers, and all the other forces that helped really make Chicago great back then – a city that was bubbling over with new energy right at the same time we started Dusty Groove on the south side. Adams definitely has plenty of his own opinions throughout, but those are also balanced with his insider perspective – which comes forth with a well-balanced explanation of so many intricacies, at a level that's so different than the usual sort of book of this nature, especially from the coasts. And if you're worried that the book is too rock-heavy, don't – because players in the scene here also include Dusty Groove stalwarts like Ken Vandermark, Fred Anderson, and Joshua Abrams. Hardcover edition is 288 pages. Book

A sublime session that's co-led by two of the greatest figures on the Chicago jazz scene at the time of the recording – drummer Hamid Drake and tenorist Fred Anderson – both musicians that had been working in the city for years, but who really seemed to blossom in the new light that the 21st Century was bringing to their music! The tracks here are long and beautiful – maybe more spiritual than most anything else that Anderson ever recorded – still with enough edges to please his fans of freer improvisation, but building with more rhythmic currents and modal energy – thanks in part to contributions on the record from the great Jeff Parker on guitar, and bassist Joshua Abrams – a player who's really starting to find his way on a record like this! Harrison Bankhead plays piano – but throughout, it's the work of Anderson and Drake that really shines in the spotlight, as it should – on long titles that include "Planet E", "Strut Time", "For Brother Thompson", "From The River To The Ocean", and "Sakti/Shiva". CD

Features Joshua Abrams on "Some Other Time" and Marc Riordan on "Be What You Are" and "Ice Fishing". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful music from a group that features familiar players from the world of improvised music, but coming together here in a very different way! Joshua Abrams leads the group, and he's playing guimbri instead of his usual bass – a lighter stringed instrument used with global currents that set a pace for a very organic sound throughout – quite rhythmic at times, but still opening up with plenty of freely improvised moments – from a group that includes key contributions from Lisa Alvarado on harmonium and effects, plus drums from Mikel Patrick Avery, bass clarinet from Jason Stein, and soprano sax from the legendary Evan Parker! The setting is quite an unusual one for Parker – even though the date was recorded at the Cafe Oto in London – and with a set like this, it's clear that the growing power of Abrams' music is starting to have a larger global impact. The set features one long track – "Descension – Out Of Our Constrictions" – spread over the double-length set. LP, Vinyl record album

Natural Information Society have been a key force on the Chicago underground for a number of years – and here, they go back even further, to open the door to the legendary saxophonist Ari Brown – who joins the group on tenor! You might know Brown's music as a member of 70s spiritual group The Awakening, or his later solo albums – and his time-schooled spirit is a perfect match for the ensemble led by bassist Joshua Abrams, who also plays some guimbri on the set. Other players include Ben Lamar Gay and Josh Berman on cornets, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Kara Bershad on harp, Nick Mazzarella on alto, and Hamid Drake on congas and tablas – a group who work together with the richly organic vibe we always love in projects from Abrams. Titles include "Moontide Chorus", "Is", "Murmuration", "Wane", "Wax", "Immemorial", and "Stigmergy". CD