"Rooms talk to me. I send out a sound, the space answers. The first message I picked up from the old barn in Umbria was "yes." Christian Wolff and I had been thinking, speaking about, even planning a CD with his solo percussion pieces since the premiere of the Dances in 1998. From that time I've been looking, waiting, hoping for the room that would say "yes." Here we are.  Christian Wolff does not compose percussion music. His percussion pieces are about as far away from the usual percussion techniques as I have travelled. If pressed to describe his music, I start by stating that I have never heard anything like it. It is virtuosic - though not about virtuosity. It's appearance - often - deceptively simple - always concisely constructed. Christian Wolff invites us on a magical journey through his world. A world where music we never imagined before exists. This is one of the spaces John Cage was talking about when he asked us to "let sounds be sounds". So they are. And there is so much music to be discovered there." - Robin Schulkowsky.  "Writing for percussion I've found is, more than for any other instrument, an experimental business. The music as I write it is, far more than usual, material out of which the player makes a music that is as much her own as the composer's, a kind of trusting conversation whose exchange and flow is what I like and whose sound may in this way be just itself as well." - Christian Wolff. --- Christian Wolff / composition, melodicaRobin Schulkowsky / percussion  --- Recorded at Poggiolo fram, Pozzuolo, Umbria, Italy on April 22-24 2003 by Adrian von Ripka. Cover by Tristram Wolff

Studio recordings from January, 2004. d t s r c e i e.  --- John Tilbury / piano, prepared piano and organ Eddie Prévost / stringled barrel, tam-tam, percussion. --- "Some of their music is delicate and pointillistic with wide spaces between sounds, but there are also rich, thick webs and, as indicated, Cage/Kleeube Goldberg thunkity-thunk machines. The two men also provide a hefty helping of what seems to me missing from too many of the "non-I" recordings I hear: drama. (For those who don't like drama, there's sonic variety-which may or may not be acceptable these days: I don't know.) For all its multiplicity, however, unlike Tilbury's recent fiasco with Tippett and Riley, the vision is constant and coherent throughout. discrete moments is so so beautiful." - Walter Horn, bagatellen.com --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston on the 6th of January, 2004 by Steve Lowe. Front cover "Roadwork"  by Brenda Mayo, 2002.

Studio recordings from November 2003, with Parker playing only tenor saxophone.  "Imponderable evidence includes the subtleties of glance, of gesture, of tone." - Ludwid Wittgenstein. "But surely human society depends largely on trust in the virtues of others, often ascertained on imponderable evidence?" - Iris Murdoch.  --- Evan Parker / tenor saxophone Eddie Prévost / drums --- Tracklisting: 1. exhibit A - 14:35 2. exhibit E - 7:19 3. exhibit C - 14:59 4. exhibit D - 8:02 5. exhibit B - 13:59 --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, London, on November 10th 2003 by Steve Lowe. Front cover "collage" by Trevor Sutton.

"After having listened carefully to the whistle of the blackbird, he tries to repeat it as faithfully as he can. A puzzled silence follows, as if his message required careful examination; then an identical whistles re-echoes. Mr Palomar does not know if this is a reply to his, or the proof that his whistle is so different that the blackbirds are not the least disturbed by it and resume their dialogue as if nothing had happened. They go on whistling, questioning in their puzzlement, he and the blackbirds.” - Mr Palomar (Italo Calvino) --- Tom Chant / tenor saxophone, bass clarinet John Edwards / double bass Eddie Prévost / drums --- Tracklisting: 1. twirls of modulation - 16:10 2. a bridge thrown over the abyss - 11:04 3. gripped by anguish - 14:31 4. a converation without head or tail? - 13:46 5. the blackbird's whistle - 11:21 --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, London by Steve Lowe on October 17th 2003.

Improvisations by large London based ensemble, 9! --- Nathaniel Catchpole / tenor saxophone, elk calls Jamie Coleman / trumpet Alex James / piano Ross Lambert / guitar, pocket trumpet, preparations John Lely / piano Sebastian Lexer / piano, computer Marianthi Papalexandri / moving objects Eddie Prévost / percussion Seymour Wright / alto saxophone --- Tracklisting: 1. (-n) 1 (-t) - 12:452. Tone (-n) - 5:243. Non, Et - 4:484. (-n) O (-n) Et - 3:485. (-n) Onet - 8:126. Tenon - 7:257. N (One) T - 8:018. No (Net) - 7:329. To Ne N - 6:1410. Ten:On - 9:37 --- Tracks 1- 7 recorded at Gateway Studios by Steve Lowe on 19th October 2002. Tracks 8-10 recorded at Golsmiths College, London on the 25th January 2003 by Sebastian Lexer. Cover by John Lely.

Improvisations by Paris based ensemble, Hubbub.  --- Frédéric Blondy / pianoEdward Perraud /drumsJean-Sébastien Mariage / guitarBertrand Denzler / saxophoneJean-Luc Guionnet / saxophone --- Tracklisting: 1. Part I - 14:452. Part II - 16:583. Part III - 14:434. Part IV - 6:32 --- Recorded in concert at Culturel André Malraux, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France on December 4th 2001.

A collection of early works by Brown, written 1952-64.  --- Simon Allen / vibraphone, marimba, percussion harmonicas and various sound-producing mediaBridget Carey / violaTania Chen / pianoRobert Coleridge / pianoZoe Martlew / celloDavid Ryan / clarinet and bass clarinetAndrew Sparling / clarinet and bass clarinetJohn Tilbury / piano Earle Brown / conductor on all tracks --- Tracklisting: 1- 9 Folio 1. October 1952 version 1 - 1:032. November 1952 version 1 - 5:223. MM=87 (harp) - 1:394. MM=135 (piano) - 0:415. October 1952 version 2 - 1:20 6. December 1952 - 2:247. November 1952 version 2 - 5:068. 1953 versions 1 2 & 3 - 3:129. Trio for Five Dancers - 3:29 10. Corroboree 1964 for three pianos - 11:5411. Four Systems 1954 (multi-timbral realisation) - 12:1512. Tracking Pierrot for ensemble - 18:23 --- Studio recordings except for 'Tracking Pierrot' which was recorded at a concert in London, 1999. Track 11 recorded in July and August of 2002; track 12 recorded on the 12th of November, 1999 at the Union Chapel, London; other tracks recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey between July and September of 2002. Front cover: Nov 2002 (oil and wax on canvas) by David Ryan.

After the fragmentation and dissociation of elemens in the earlier works, Wolff here suggests, tentitively and meticulously, how sounds might be picked up and strung together again in new ways. The movement of the music is towards melody in its largest sense...this may not always be obvious, but then the times are not conducive to easy optimism." - Michael Parsons, 2002.  --- John Tilbury / piano Christian Wolff / piano Eddie Prévost / percussion --- Tracklisting: 1. For Prepared Piano - 1951 - 1:542. For Prepared Piano - 1951 ii - 1:513. For Prepared Piano - 1951 iii - 1:374. For Prepared Piano - 1951 iv - 1:515. For Piano l - 1952 - 7:086. For Piano ll - 1953 - 10:327. Suite (1) -1954 i - 3:198. Suite (1) -1954 ii - 1:539. Suite (1) -1954 iii - 2:1510. For Piano with Preparations -1957 i - 3:4311. For Piano with Preparations -1957 ii - 1:3212. For Piano with Preparations -1957 iii - 3:5513. For Pianist - 1959 - 12.1514. Duo for Pianists I - 1957 - 4:1115. Duo for Pianists II - 1958 - 11:0516. Duet I (or piano four hands) - 1960 - 7:2317. Trio II (for piano four hands and percussion) - 1961 - 15:39 --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England by Steve Lowe. Front cover by Tristram Wolff.

Electronic performance duo Furt (aka Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer) have been quietly dismantling the boundaries between improvisation and composition for some 16 years now. Barrett is a composer of dense, knotty works (often termed 'New Complexity') while Obermayer works in free improv trio Bark! --- Richard Barrett / electronics Paul Obermayer / electronics --- Front cover photograph by Richard Crow.  Track 1 - recorded in Berlin, December 2001Track 2 - produced in Watford, October 1997Track 3 - produced in AmsterdamTrack 4 - recorded in Amsterdam, 29 February 2000 (with slight edits)

Sakada is: Mattin (computer feedback), Rosy Parlane (computers and radio) and Eddie Prevost (percussion). "Undistilled was recorded at live performances in London and Rotterdam in 2002. Components are a restricted range of percussion (Eddie Prevost), electronic sounds confected earlier for intuitive, tweaked release (Rosy Parlane), and nervous hyper-attention to every noise present, allowing spontaneous digital transfiguration of some (Mattin). The product is a formidably dense mesh of textures and a subtle alignment of urgency and stasis, persistence and interruption. A sound-body exalting in its raw and varied outer abrasions, tormented by heaving intestinal bass and pierced irregularity by silver screeches, yet somehow concealing a few inner surfaces of all but languid smoothness. Needless to say (or to continue demonstrating), it is wholly incommensurable with any attempt at verbal description." --- Mattin / computer feedback Rosy Parlance / computer, radio Eddie Prévost / percussion --- Track 1 recorded at Audit Club, London on the 20th of January, 2002; track 2 recorded at Worm, Rotterdam on the 27th of February, 2002; track 3 recorded at the Baggage Reclaim, London on the 24th March, 2002. Front cover by Mattin

Solo percussion from Matchless founder, Mr. Eddie Prévost "Alone in the studio, it is just me trying to breathe life into the materials I have chosen at hand. I am looking, hoping, that something unexpected will crop up. The gongs, chimes, bells, skins, strings and resonating boxes are a rich environment. You never know for sure what you will dig up. I bow, scrape, pluck and hit direct and glancing blows in my engagement with the materials with which I have to work. I might even draw blood. The point is to mix myself with this stuff. Make it something other than it seems. Make something other of myself too." - Eddie Prévost --- Tracklisting: 1. Stridorings - 18:522. Dance music of an imaginary people - 20:413. Mostly bowing - 15:124. Statutory [sic] drum solo 10:03 --- Recorded on the 16th of July, 2001 at Gateway Studios, Kingston, England by Steve Lowe. Front cover artwork: detail from Keith Rowe's Pollock '82 - percussion version.

Music for dance, by AMM. Recording of the concert given together with the dancer Fine Kwiatkowski at Musique Action festival produced by CCAM, Vendoeuvre-les-Nancy, France on 24th May 2001.  --- John Tilbury / piano Keith Rowe / guitar  Eddie Prévost / percussion created together with the dancer Fine Kwiatkowski --- Tracklisting: 1. Part 1 - 8:52 2. Part 2 - 6:35  3. Part 3 - 4:29 4. Part 4 - 7:52 5. Part 5 - 12:05 6. Part 6 - 8:26 7. Part 7 - 10:37 --- Recorded by Francis Detz and Francois Cacic at Musique Action festival produced by CCAM Scene Nationale de Vandoevre-les-Nancy, France on 24th May 2001. With thanks to Domonique Repecaud. Cover design by Keith Rowe.

"These pieces create a coherent and cohesive statement of Cardew's approach to interdeterminacy. They set in motion his dual attention to extreme pragmatism and philosophical, even utopian ideals. They are subtle essays in how one might initiate a skeletal framework to be fleshed out, to be made corporeal, by future generations. Cardew referred to this as 'growth mechanisms' : ie, how changing performance practice and musical outlooks can be accommodated by compositional activity. It is a balance between 'cogent explicitness' and 'sufficient flexibility' rather than a fully notated, self contained piece." - David Ryan, 2001.  --- Anton Lukoszevieze / celloSimon Allen / vibraphone & marimbaBridget Carey / viola Rhodri Davies / harpAndrew Sparling / clarinetDavid Ryan / bass clarinet & pianoSarah Walker / piano & prepared pianoDave Smith / prepared piano & melodicaTania Chen /pianoRobert Coleridge / organMichael Parsons / electronic keyboard --- Recorded by Apartment House, directed by Anton Lukoszevieze. First commercially released recordings of many of Cardew's early compositions.Recorded at Gateway Studio, Kingston-upon-Thames on the 6th and 7th of April, 2001. Front cover artwork: detail from 'Solo with Accompaniment'

Recorded in Glasgow, Scotland May 2000, at the free radiCCAls festival, curated by Evan Parker. First AMM CD since 1996 recording. One continuous 58-minute piece --- Keith Rowe / guitar John Tilbury / piano  Eddie Prévost / percussion --- Tracklisting: 1. Tune one - 8:38 2. Tune two - 15:053. Tune three - 3:264. Tune four - 6:385. Tune five - 2:396. Tune six - 10:44 ---- Front cover artwork: Page fragments, 2001 by Jim Harold.

Eddie Prevost with Tom Chant and John Edwards.  "This trio, quite intuitively (because I never spelt out what I hoped would happen) works in a subtle, attentive way: examining what the music is and where it is going all within the process of playing; feeling the sound to be complementary and in contrast to other sounds; feeling the stuff of the instruments, and sensing the presence of other creative beings. This is part of the extraordinary and gloriously uncertain matrix of what making and listening to music should be about" - Eddie Prévost  --- Tracklisting: 1. Contingent Upon - 11:162. Maybe Years - 7:133. Whatever Worlds - 21:504. Mayhaps - 14:085. Perchance - 11:286. Within The Realms Of… - 10:50 --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames, England on August 28th 2000.

"The new austerity on the first CD from the young exponents of the growing art of improvisation...in the year 2000, this approach in which traditional musical instruments are twisted into complex sound transformers which match the new sound sources available from the burgeoning electronics and computer sciences has become a medium in its own right." - Eddie Prévost. --- Yann Charaoui / cymbals and table top samplers John Lely / piano and prepared bal-bal tarang Seymour Wright / alto saxophone --- Tracklisting: 1. 2.28'53  2. 4.17'21 3. 20'10 4. 13.5'05 --- Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston-upon-Thames on 2nd August 2000 by Steve Lowe. Front cover '396' by Lester Wright.

"A wonderful album of crunch ‘n’ roll, as Manchester drumming -legend Phillip Marks leads Rex Casswell (electric guitar), best known for his tenure in Stock,Hausen & Walkman, and Paul Obermayer (sampler) through some entertaining and very original music. They’ve managed to inject the rhythmic humour of Thelonious Monk into all the abraded textures favoured in post-rock and electronica, vanquishing its tendencies towards Enoesque pretension with ribald physical beats. Casswell is an astonishingly original guitarist, reconstituting the instrument from pick-up to amplifier. His beautifully-judged architectonics provide a cool spritzer to the others’ heat, as well as providing a bridge between the actuality of the drums and the virtuality of the sampler. Obermayer disdains the use of off-the-peg samples which plague much trendy electronica. He uses his sampler to bring tiny sounds into audible range. The resulting timbres are like microscopic slides in the hands of a master surrealist. Swing sans nostalgia achieves electrified materialism. Short track timings add to the decisive feel. Historic!" - Ben Watson --- Rex Casswell / electric guitarPhillip Marks / percussionPaul Obermayer / electronics --- Tracklisting: 1. mal - 3:152. swing - 7:453. meshes - 6:494. Pavo - 10:465. nobody's sweetheart - 3:166. aise - 2:347. Vela - 5:248. Grus - 12:569. swerve - 8:38 --- Recorded at LMC Sound, London, England on 10th April and 18th of September 1999. Front cover: Philip Marks

Pre-Scratch Orchestra Ensemble formed by / for the occasion of the four day 'Music Now' event at the Roundhouse, 1969. The motley crew perform Eddie Prévost's 'composition' 'Silver Pyramid'. Ensemble definitely features the AMM usual suspects, Cornelius Cardew, Howard Skempton, Hugh Davies and many others, but as for who is responsible for what is conceivably the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges and a fire engine, nobody knows. Is that LaMonte Young doing some sort of drone? Is that Cardew on a penny whistle? Why is the Roundhouse no longer a psychedelic engine room?   --- Music Now Ensemble / a lot of sound producing objects --- Recorded at The Roundhouse, London as part of a Music Now Festival on 4 May 1969. Front cover by Keith Rowe.