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A number of  Sequenza 21 contributors and readers also populate the site ImprovFriday. It’s a web community that encourages sharing of improvisations, compositions with an element of improv, and recent compositional sketches at a series of web events run on … you guessed it, Fridays.

While this all sounds very free form, the group has specific guidelines for participation, found here. Employing these operating principles are a wide ranging group of spontaneous creators: diverse in style, outspoken yet constructive in critiquing each others’ work, but unified in ambitious music-making.

The community’s first compilation recording, ImprovFriday Vol. 1, is now available from online vendors Amazon and  iTunes.

For Sequenza 21 readers, the list of participants contains several of our ‘usual suspects:’ Steve Layton, David Toub, J.C. Combs, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, and Bruce Hamilton. Included below are a few sound snippets for your preview.

Steve Layton: Spaceship (excerpt)

David Toub: Virtual Music 2 (excerpt)

J.C. Combs: The Giant Eye of the Fifth Dimension (excerpt)

Evan Parker

John Zorn’s The Stone is affording New York experimental and improvisation audiences an extraordinary opportunity this October. Saxophonist Evan Parker will play over twenty concerts in an extended residency at the new venue.

Parker is well known both for his solo concerts and for his work in a variety of group contexts. On June 30, he released Moment’s Energy, ECM’s fifth recording of the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, a group of more than a dozen improvisers from a number of disparate musical traditions.

Moment's Energy

Thus, if you’re not in the area, you still have a chance to hear some of his recent music-making. But if you’re in striking distance of NYC next month, one imagines there will seldom be so many opportunities to hear this vital and fascinating artist at work.

Evan Parker Residency at the Stone: Dates

10/1 Thursday 8 pm
Evan Parker Solo (soprano and tenor saxophone)
The legendary saxophonist begins his two week Stone Residency with his ear bending solo music.

10/1 Thursday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum (electronics) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophones)

10/2 Friday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee and Peter Evans
Okkyung Lee (cello) Peter Evans (trumpet) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/3 Saturday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Milford Graves
Milford Graves (drums) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/3 Saturday 10 pm
Evan Parker & George Lewis
George Lewis (trombone) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/4 Sunday 8 pm
Evan Parker, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway
Gerry Hemingway (drums) Mark Dresser (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/4 Sunday 10 pm
Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Evan Parker and Herb Robertson
Herb Robertson (trumpet) Gerry Hemingway (drums) Mark Dresser (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/6 Tuesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Sylvie Courvoisier
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/6 Tuesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Ikue Mori
Ikue Mori (electronics) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/7 Wednesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Wu Fei
Wu Fei (guzheng) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/7 Wednesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (guitar) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/8 Thursday 8 pm
Evan Parker & John Zorn
John Zorn (sax) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/8 Thursday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Ned Rothenberg
Ned Rothenberg (reeds) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/9 Friday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Suzie Ibarra
Suzie Ibarra (drums, percussion) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/9 Friday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista (percussion) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/10 Saturday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker, Matt Shipp and William Parker
Matt Shipp (piano) William Parker (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/11 Sunday 8 and 10 pm
IMPROV NIGHT—A STONE BENEFIT
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone) John Zorn (sax) Ned Rothenberg (reeds) Okkyung Lee (cello) Ikue Mori (electronics) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass) Eyal Maoz (guitar) and many special surprise guests.
Come out for this extra special Improv Night and help the Stone survive through its monthly Musical Rent Party—an East Village tradition!

10/13 Tuesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/13 Tuesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Chris Corsano (drums)
Chris Corsano (drums) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/14 Wednesday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker & Dave Holland
Dave Holland (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/15 Thursday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker & Fred Frith
Fred Frith (guitar) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/16 Friday 8 pm
Evan Parker, Tim Berne and Earl Howard
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophones) Tim Berne (alto sax) Earl Howard (alto sax)

10/16 Friday 10 pm
Evan Parker Solo
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)
The legendary saxophone innovator ends his two week Stone run with another virtuosic solo saxophone concert.

Alberto Braida
Talus
Nuscope CD 1022

 

The free improv milieu currently has a crowded field of talented practitioners; particularly pianists – George Graewe, Steven Lantner, Matthew Shipp, Craig Taborn, and Fred Van Hove all immediately leap to mind. But Alberto Braida’s latest CD, Talus, reminds one that there’s certainly room for one more.