UK based Leo Records is one of the few labels devoted to unabashedly in-the-moment free form improvisation. Here is a handful of some of the most recent exciting and spontaneous sounds you’re gonna hear.
By far, the most accessible here is the seven tunes between 4-9 minutes from the flute of Helen Bledsoe and piano by Alexey Lapin. The 
pair make a mix of impressionistic and contemplative tunes, using space on thoughtful material such as “Snow” and the contemplative “White Oranges.” Lapin usies the piano strings to create some plucking rhythms and tensions as on “Into Thin Air” and some dark stokes create a dark undercurrent for Bledsoe’s foreboding and stormy clouds on “Ghost Icebreaker” where moments of silence creates its own sounds whereas dark piano keys trudge underneath languid tones on “December.” Free, but never flying out of hand.
Afro Garage consists of Christoph Baumann/p, Jacques Siron/b-voc and Dieter Ulrich/dr-bugle and they go through eighteen, count ‘em, eighteen rapid fire tunes ranging from 45 seconds to over eight minutes. Baumann’s solo pieces “Sans Sucre” and “Un The, Deux Sucres” have a dark contemplation while “Crepuscule Avec The’” gives homage to Thelonious Monk. A pair of bass solos by Siron mix bowing with picking and tribal jive talk, and Ulrich displays his prowess on paradiddles on “What the Wind Asks, Time Answers.” Other pieces such as the three “Daily Craze”’s form some exciting and exotic grooves, whiel others such as “Akhena-Tones” mix vocal chants, percussion and some sort of effects. Lots of lurking moods and fervent rhythms bouncing around, as if Slim Gillard met up with Ed Blackwell.
Free Trees has Hugues Vincent/cello, Vladimir Kudryavtsev/b and Maria Logofet/violin throwing in twenty one vignettes of 45 seconds to just under seven minutes. Bartok moods are found in pieces like “Dentist’s Wife Dilemma” while many of the pieces, such as on “Adventures of a String Section On The Moon” and “Old House” have fervent rustling sounds as if you’re hearing possums rummaging through a campsite. Banjo like strumming is found on “My Kingdom For A Horse!” and moody mysterious are prevalent as on “Life Of Insects” and “Toys For Boys.” Sounds and more sounds, sometimes coalescing into a musical interlude.
If you’re a fan of Ivo Perelman, you’ll be in heaven with Luc Houtkamp/ts-as, Simon Nabatov/p and Martin Blume/dr, who sear through eight free flying originals with fierce abandon. Reckless abandon with a wide as the grand canyon vibrato and searing honks and shrieks lead to cataclysmic crescendos on the 18 mnute “Running” and the barrage of “Meeting”. A rapid piano staccato attack teams up with a relentless ride cymbal on “Stumbling” and rustling through the woods turns to a raucous arm wrestling match on “Confronting (the) Part One” before it turns into a shouting match that is almost Wagnerian on “Confronting (the) part 2”. No one comes up for air on this one!
Leo Records