Phil Minton

London Free Improv Scene long-standing members, vocalist Phil Minton and drummer/percussionist Roger Turner's first album together, "Ammo", was released in 1984; the two have continued to record together, and this live recording from 2016 in Hanover, Germany shows the two continuing to create distinctly bizarre and wonderfully personal dialog unlike any other.

National Health were one of those rare English progressive bands whose classic mid-'70s output still sounds fresh today. Their sound prospered on imaginative linear musicality, often in a jazzy format that emphasized extended instrumental solos. Arising during a challenging time when progressive rock was being overtaken by a tidal wave of punk, National Health featured members of other Canterbury and post-Canterbury bands Hatfield and the North (a band considered a Canterbury supergroup in itself), Gilgamesh, and Henry Cow. After the release of 1977's debut album National Health and 1978's sophomore Of Queues and Cures, the group issued 1982's D.S. Al Coda – an homage to keyboardist Alan Gowen, who died of leukemia in May 1981 – and then fell silent as its members pursued other ventures.

Since the mid-2000s, British pianist, composer, Alexander Hawkins (Evan Parker, Chicago/London Underground) has become a force to be reckoned with, largely within Europe's exploratory progressive jazz and improvising circles. As a collaborator and solo artist, the pianist transmits a distinctive line of attack, where melody and free-form extrapolations enjoy a happy coexistence. On this studio set, he teams with notable performance artist, abstract vocalist and fellow Brit, Elaine Mitchener (Phil Minton, George Lewis) for a semi-structured set highlighted by the quartet's deconstruction of some standards and free-jazz sax icon Archie Shepp's, "Blasé."