"Long-time collaborators and iconoclastic improvisers, drummer Eddie Prévost and saxophonist John Butcher, met at All Hallows Church, in High Laver, Essex in 2023, using the natural ambience of the space to capture these three improvisations, Prévost playing primarily on a drum kit and both in a more jazz-oriented sax and drum duo, extended by both players' exceptional technique." All the music played one afternoon in All Hallow's Church, High Laver, Essex 2nd June 2023. Recorded by Daniel Blumberg. Edited and mixed by John Butcher. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux.  Design by Myah Chun Grierson

"Eddie Prévost no longer needs any introduction. As one of the founding members of AMM he has shaped and participated in the long development of free improvisation, with impact on music and musicians worldwide. He is here in the company of Tom Wheatley on bass and Silvan Schmid on trumpet. Wheatley has been active in Tennota, a duo that explores the boundaries and possibilities of old and new forms, of acoustic and electronic music, of physical and digital sounds, and with which Swiss trumpeter Silvan Schmid also at some time participated. Schmid only has three albums released so far, including this one, so his name did not immediately ring a bell, but he was the curator of the Taktlos Festival last year. As can be expected, this is in-the-moment music, at any time full of future possibilities, full of intensity, openness and unexpected next moves, like chess-players who decided to smartly engage for the fun of moving without any ambition to win. Schmid has a natural deep and warm tone in his playing, relatively accessible in his phrasing (relatively!), and Prévost at all times colours the total sound by incredible sophisticated drumming. Wheatley is often the one holding the sound together with his deep bowed bass sounds. The title tracks of the three pieces are almost programmatic: "Clearing The Detritus Of Time", "The Parsing Of Sounds" and "Remembering To Forget". Creativity requires a freshness that cannot be burdened by concepts of the past. Every note and its relationship to any other sound is thus fresh, full of surprise and potential. The album was recorded at All Hallows Church, High Laver, Essex, on 3rd April 2023, and the sound quality is absolutely excellent, as if you were sitting next to them. Sixty-five minutes of musical joy and creative craftmanship". - Free Jazz Blog --- Silvan Schmid / trumpetTom Wheatley / double bassEdwin (Eddie) Prévost / drums --- Recorded at All Hallows Church, High Laver, Essex, on 3rd April 2023 by Daniel Blumberg. Edited, mixed and mastered by Rupert Clervaux.

Track 3 includes music by MorgellonsTrack 1 samples 'Stand up for Judas' by Leon RosselsonTrack 7 samples 'Aliezer Coppe' by Leon RosselsonWords and voice on Track 6 by Ash ReidSome guitar and recorders on Track 1 by Gwena HarmanRecorded, mixed and produced by The SprigsAdditional recoding and production by Lou PenningtonMastered by James DunnCut by Mischa van der HeidenArtwork by Ben Victor WaggettLayout by The SprigsLP's screen printed by Oscar ReynoldsPressed by Press On in MiddlesbroughSome track titles taken from the following books - 'Wind in the Willows', 'The Pub and The People' and 'Where are the Elephants?'Inspired by Kenneth Grahame's 'Wind in the Willows'The Sprigs is: Rory S, Ben M and V.WEverything seems asleep, and yet going all the time. In the cold damp earth below, Mole, Ratty and Badger are working away on new homes for Mole's uninvited guests. But Ratty picks up on terrible whispers from the Wild Wood Inn. Developers are making plans in the field above...and the landlords are up to no good... "Essential listening FFO Time Is Away, Jon Collin or the 'Bagpuss' soundtrack, The Sprigs, confront cutesy British folk nostalgia on 'For Red Riverbank', using 'The Wind in the Willows' references, sobering newsreel snippets and straight-to-tape acoustic jams to develop a faded image of labour inequality."

Adam Bohman / amplified objects and stringsSue Lynch / tenor sax, clarinet, fluteCrystabel Efemena Riley / drums, metallics --- Recorded and mixed by Billy Steiger on 31st January, 2025. Mastered by Taku Unami. Artwork by Adam Bohman. Liner notes by Seymour Wright. Photographs by Crystabel Efemena Riley. Layout by Jeroen Wille.  ‘Me, you and Sue’ - the triangulation of improvisers Adam Bohman, Sue Lynch and Crystabel Riley, and the original name for the hand-picked three way of drums, wind and amplified objects responsible for Lynboril Lisinopril. The informality of their original name belies the groups origins - three players naturally drawn to each other via London’s longstanding Horse Improvised Music Club, each of them more concerned with the action of playing than the naming of their sounds.  However, the occasion of their first trio release forced a title, and Lynboril Lisinopril works perfectly - a play on the words Lyn(ch), Bo(hman) and Ril(ey), searched for and spat back at you. “The second word is what you get if you Google the made-up first word” remarks Seymour Wright in the liner notes - the second word being the name of a drug taken for lowering your blood pressure. And although probably not prescribable for hypertension, the music on Lynboril is approached with such a generosity and tenderness that it feels properly airy and light; as equally positive and playful as it is eccentric and uninhibited. Riley’s bouncy drums keep the trio in a state of permanent uplift, as if being buffeted along by a pleasant tailwind, each player perfectly unhurried in their turning over of a new sound. Alternating between tenor saxophone and clarinet, Sue Lynch is crystalline calm, blowing beautiful lines across the metallics of Riley and Bohman. When the trio dials up for their second half, the intensity lifts but the clarity remains - swirling skin patterns subverted with precision by each scratch and scrawl of the table and the punctuation of the saxophone. Grounding tonic from some of the best free musicians we know.

Bumper pack of mind-frying, fuzzed out psychedelics from three masters of the medium, with Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra), Noel Meek (End of the Alphabet) and Alexander Tucker (Grumbling Fur) performing solo and in a very special trio set.  --- Tracklisting: 1. Alexander Tucker Solo - 18:58 2. Neil Campbell Solo - 14.41 3. Noel Meek Solo - 21:56 4. Trio - 29.34 --- Recorded on Sunday 24th April 2016 by Shaun Crook. Mixed by James Dunn, Abby Thomas & Noel Meek. Mastered by James Dunn.

This week we’re pleased to be sharing a solo set from composer, improviser, performer and creative polymath, Alex Ward. Predominantly a guitar and clarinet player, Ward is regarded as one of the most technically accomplished performers of both free and composed music, and has recently played shows in the UK and US as part of the phenomenal This is Not This Heat. Having had his debut record put out on Derek Bailey's Incus, Ward has continued to play at an astonishing level ever since. His current work ranges from his formidably knotty guitar playing in avant-rock two piece Dead Days Beyond Help to his compositions-for-improvisers including Forebrace, the Alex Ward Quintet/Sextet, and his new ITEM series which returns to OTO in September.  After releasing his solo clarinet album in 2017 on the Weekertoft label, Ward's solo performances strive to bring acoustic and amplified playing into closer integration. '15.2.18' is a reminder of what a singular player he is, pulling open the full range of the instrument - from warm trills and woody overtones to overblown, amped up blowouts. --- Alex Ward / clarinet, amplifier --- Tracklisting:1. 21:04 2. 5:08 --- Recorded live at Cafe OTO on 15.2.2018 by Martyn Larcombe. Mixed by Alex Ward and mastered by James Dunn.