The Chicago River famously flooded in 1992, but not in a typical way – as the flood was the result of an accident in which the river "leaked" into the city, rather than overtaking it – almost a comical accident that is memorialized here in a benefit performance by the great Hal Russell! Hal's at his most charming here – speaking a bit with that burnt-out voice that he could do so well, as he reads some poetry by Philip Egert, then moves over to blow tenor, soprano, and trumpet – as well as handle drums and percussion – all in duo formation with Joel Futterman, who plays piano, Indian flute, curved soprano sax, and more percussion. The very extended set was performed live at the city's Southend Music Works – and is very much in the looser, unbridled, sometimes shaggy spirit of the free jazz scene in Chicago from the time! CD

Dark-edged beauty from a trio of fantastic improvisers – all great musicians in their own right, but sounding even more wonderful here together – at a level that shows just how much the right company can bring out something special in a player! The piano of Georg Graewe really seems to have a balanced sense of space that might be encouraged by the way that Fred Lonberg Holm handles both his cello, and his signals to other musicians – a special sort of timing and intensity that makes the performance resonate even more than most of Georg's others from the time – matched with mindblowing sounds from Frank Gratkowski – who manages to get these completely unexpected utterings from bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, and even a conventional clarinet. The performance was recorded live at LOFT in Koln in 2004 – and titles include "Mittenpunkt", "Isodynamics", and the four part "Trilinear Polarity" suite. CD

A record that definitely has the grace in mind that it promises in its title – superb piano work, as always, by Marilyn Crispell – working in an extremely thoughtful trio formation with Joe Fonda on bass and Harvey Sorgen on drums! Crispell's always such a fantastically deft musician, able to shift her style of expression to her different partners on a session – and here, there's clearly an inspiration from the way that Fonda will sometimes have these circular processions on the bass – matched by Marilyn at times, offset by more punctuated passages at others – then given these post-timing touches by Sorgen's drums – always sensitive to the work of the bass, so that the three players have a way of constellating around each other wonderfully. Titles include "We All Make Mistakes", "For Ornette", "A Moment In The Shade", "Speak Up", "Transits", "Midnight"- and "GS#2". CD