Free-jazz multi-instrumentalist DANIEL CARTER, a NYC legend since the late 60s, appears in an exceptionally sensitive, contemplative settng, and divulges some of his most lyrical playing ever. EKSTERE + DANIEL CARTER deftly blends the late-night shhh/peaceful drones of In A Silent Way, the ritualistic trances of LaMonte Young and Tony Conrad, and the somber reflections of The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s People in Sorrow.

“So I implore you: respect the fragility of your own knowledge.”

Veteran free-jazz drummer TODD CAPP’s Crisps presents a unique hybrid of free improvisation and electronic music: a futuristic, hypnotic swirl of bare-bones beats, energetically propulsive, yet cool and…well, crisp. It’s a descendent of Miles Davis’ On The Corner, with its repetitive grooves framing outré sonic experimentation—but here, the groove is an amalgam of irregular free-jazz pulse and fractured electronic fusillades. And, the outré is even further outré.

Grinning grimly, the fortune-ruled crime lord pads across his rich shag rug and grabs his inter-office telephone. Mac? Send John in. —roommate’s in Queens tonight, Johnny, and I’d love for you to come — Hey, John! El Señor want to have a word with you! Get our coats honey, I’ll be right back. What’s up, Señor? What’s with the goofy suit? It’s a game, amigo — a game I wish you to play. When this dial ceases to revolve, I want you to touch whichever of my hands you choose. Sounds nuts — but OK. I pick…right. — ZOK!

“Sublime and mysterious” — Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery. In the late 1960s, TODD CAPP began playing drums in South Side Chicago basements, where free jazz met psychedelia, and the avant-garde learned the blues. His collaborators have included William Parker, Douglas Ewart, Roy Campbell, and Jason Kao Hwang. He continues to explore the shapes of swing, the sonic textures and tangents of the space-time continuum and the human heart.

“It is not so easy to take a successful snapshot of ghosts in flight but this is what we have here. …[Paris Frère] is one of the best examples of cosmic music I’ve heard in recent memory.” — Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG Review