Results for "Free improvisation"

David Voelkl

Born: September 9, 1968

Started playing el. bass in 1987. Played in rock/metal bands. Toured the U.S. several times in various bands primarily on the west coast while living in Arizona. Currently living in upstate NY and performing in NPV.

NPV formed in Dec 2006.

Jazz/Noise.

spontaneous compositions and soundscapes.

Greg Newton: alto/tenor sax, clarinet, percussion.

Larry Patti: synth, electronics.

David Voelkl: el. bass [prepared], fx.

Irene Aranda

Born: September 2, 1980

IRENE ARANDA

Pianist, composer.

Born in Jaén ( Andalucía / Spain ) and Berlin-based, started to play piano at age seven. Classical trained and selftaught in jazz and free improvisation, Aranda is defined by the critics as original, astonishing and freed from stereotypes.

Irene Aranda has played with Don Malfon, Brandon López, Ami Yamasaki, Samuel Blasser, Ernesto Rodrigues, Johannes Nästestjö, Floros Floridis, Kriton Beyer, Valentin Schuster, Chris Jonas, Maria Reich, Markus Breuss, Germán Díaz, Agustí Fernández, Joanna Mattrey, Lucía Martínez, Javier Carmona, Núria Andorrà, Marc Egea and so on.

Guangye Sun

Born: November 9, 1999

Guangye Sun(Yantai,Shandong,CN,1999) is an improviser,poet and composer based in the Netherlands.

Mike Murray

Born: March 10, 1992

Mike Murray is a guitarist, composer, bandleader and music educator based in Toronto, ON, Canada. Proficient in a wide variety of styles including popular styles, rock, classical, jazz, blues, musical theater, as well as international styles including latin folk, Indian music and more, he performs and records with a diverse array of artists and organizations in many different settings. He also composes and performs his own music with the Mike Murray Group, and performs solo classical guitar for events and functions. Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Mike did not come from a musical family and was a relative latecomer to the guitar, picking it up at age 16

Holman Alvarez

Born: February 3, 1981

Website

Holman Álvarez is a Colombian pianist and composer known for visiting some musical territories—including Colombian and Latin American traditions, jazz, classical, contemporary music, and free improvisation. Born in Barranquilla and raised in Cali, his work reflects a deep curiosity for exploring connections across genres and disciplines.

He studied piano and composition at Universidad del Valle, earned a master’s in composition from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, and pursued jazz piano at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires.

La Otra Band

Active since: 2024

La Otra Band is an experimental ensemble born in Barcelona out of La Otra Jam, a long-running platform dedicated to free improvisation that brings together musicians, dancers, poets, and visual artists. The project represents the most developed musical expression of this collective experience, translating its spontaneous and multidisciplinary nature into a “produced improvisation” format.

The ensemble gathers a fluid lineup of international musicians from diverse backgrounds, including jazz, contemporary music, and electronic experimentation. Rather than working with fixed compositions, La Otra Band builds its sound through real-time interaction, where structure emerges organically from listening, tension, and collective intuition.

Simon Côté-Lapointe

Born: 1980

Simon Côté-Lapointe is a pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, videographer, and Ph.D. in information science with a specialization in archival science.

His professional career as a keyboardist and composer began with the contemporary music group Rouge Ciel around 1998. Between 2000 and 2003, during his studies in mixed composition at the Université de Montréal, he played and composed for several other projects such as Malarafe, the Virâj ensemble, and the Mouvement de Musique Présente, while also exploring electroacoustic music.

Between 2003 and 2009, Simon collaborated with a plethora of musicians, either as a composer, arranger, or performer. Notable collaborations include L’agence du swing by Claude Vendette, drummer Namori Cissé, and the rock band Madcaps. Between 2005 and 2010, he composed and produced four albums: “Conjuration” (electronic music), “Suite extatique” (contemporary music), “Artsuohtaraz” (for jazz quintet), and an eponymous double album (contemporary jazz and mixed music). From 2019 onwards, Simon has played and composed for several projects: Trio Lapointe-Hébert-Gagné (jazz), Taxon Lazare (organ trio), Chanteuse (jazz-post-funk), and Horizons (sax/piano duo, with Erik Hove). In 2020, he released three solo piano albums. A fourth improvisation album was released in 2023. In 2024, he completed Topochronies, a fresco of progressive music exploring Quebec’s collective subconscious through sound archives, created in collaboration with drummer Magella Cormier. In May 2025, during a four-week creative residency at the Centre d’expérimentation musicale (CEM) in Chicoutimi, he composed and realized Préhensions des strates de sédimentation historique saguenéennes, a mixed music performance for eight musicians and sequences with archives exploring Chicoutimi’s history through oral and historical archives. In January 2026, he launched an ambitious six-album solo piano cycle: three double albums titled Hapax (volumes 1 and 2), Ataraxie (volumes 1 and 2), and Animus/Anima (volumes 1 and 2), totaling nearly six hours of music ranging from medieval music to jazz, including baroque, classical, contemporary, and current repertoires.

Oscar Evans

Born: June 29

Oscar Evans is a Canadian jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist from Kingston, Ontario specializing in upright bass and trumpet. Blinded in his adolescence, Oscar has gravitated toward learning multiple instruments as a medium for understanding music theory and musicianship.

Oscar consistently pushes his own boundaries to create interesting new music. In 2026 he will release two full-length records: one consisting of free jazz, and the other of original compositions. His latest song Nice Buddies (Live) is an original composition and an example of the very talented musicians Oscar has chosen to work with for this record.

Dr Fred Cole

A classically trained pianist with a flair for blending genres, Dr Fred Cole crafts immersive soundscapes that journey through acoustic piano, ambient textures, experimental beats, jazz grooves, funk rhythms, and electronic vibes.  With years of experience both studying and performing, Fred’s music is a unique fusion that soundtracks life’s moments, whether introspective or energetic. Expect bold creativity, emotive melodies, and a fresh approach that defies categorisation.
 

Annette Maye

Annette Maye was born in Flensburg. After graduating from high school, she first completed a course in Eastern European history, musicology and Russian at the University of Freiburg. In 2000 she completed her contact studies in popular music (pop course) at the Hamburg University of Music. She then studied jazz clarinet and bass clarinet at the music academies in Cologne and Paris (2001-2005) with Frank Gratkowski, Claudio Puntin and Riccardo del Fra. She graduated from jazz in 2005 with a diploma.

Awards: In the year 2016 Annette Maye was awarded the NRW Female Prize by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the WDR Jazz Prize. Before, he had won the SWR world music award “querBeet” with ensemble FisFüz in 1998, and in 2006 she had received the Torneo Internazionale di Musica (TIM) award in Rome in the jazz category.