Still from Ecstasy of Angels, a film by Kōji Wakamatsu
Still from Ecstasy of Angels, a film by Kōji Wakamatsu
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Free Japan
Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired on Monday, October 31st, 2011

This episode explores the cross-cultural current of the avant-garde in Japan, specifically in the early 70s, where it erupted in composition,
free jazz, film, and where it would continue to influence countless future musicians, both in Japan and in the West. While a comprehensive collection of music from this vast scene is warranted, here we take a small peek across the ocean into this sea of creativity. We'll hear music from Toshi Ichiyanagi, Takehisa Kosugi, Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi, Keiji Haino, Kaoru Abe, Yamashita Yosuke, John Zorn/Yamataka Eye Duo and more.

Other shows from Improvisions
Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, May 14th, 2012

New York is a noisy place. This episode is focuses on noisy music that reflects a that world: a kind of one-to-one exchange, with a focus on the universe of musicians surrounding John Zorn, including Zorn himself, and numerous collaborators.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, March 26th, 2012

This show features “Big Bands” of improvisers from across the boundaries of genre, time, and place; including the Taj Mahal Travelers, the Promenade Theatre Orchestra, Horace Tapscott and the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Sun Ra, AMM, and more.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, February 20th, 2012

Musical freedom can mean freedom from rules, limits, structure, tonality or rhythm; but it can also mean freedom from an economic and legal system that stifles innovation. WFMU's Free Music Archive is the source for these legally free tracks.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Leaving aside tracing influence in composed music, which is its own can of worms, this episode is a meditation on influence in improvised music, with Cecil Taylor, John Oswald, Anthony Braxton, Naked City, Sun Ra, John Fahey, Bill Frisell,more.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, December 5th, 2011

A look at improvisations that result from performers reacting to something - a set of instructions, a sound, a feeling, a genre - to form pieces of music that blurs the edges between improv and composition, with David Behrman, Robert Ashley, others.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, September 26th, 2011

The "jam" is an emergent, instant, singular phenomenon. Here we have examples from Krzystof Penderecki, Masayugi "Jojo" Takayanagi, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Don Cherry, Peter Brötzmann/Fred van Hove/Han Bennick, Werner Lüdi Sunnymoon and more.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, August 22nd, 2011

This episode looks at the collision/fusion/embrace between American Jazz and the established musical traditions of India and Africa. We’ll hear from Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Kadri Gopalnath, Shankar Jaikishan, Archie Shepp and more!


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, July 18th, 2011

This show focuses on musicians who harness the energy of the world to use it for wild, ecstatic, electrifying improvisation-- both by themselves and with others. With tracks by John Fahey, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Yamashita Yosuke, others.


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Hosted by Ted Gordon
Originally aired Monday, June 20th, 2011

This episode focuses on American jazz in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time when established musicians branched out and new voices expanded the jazz spectrum, from Pharoah Sanders to Ornette Coleman to John Cale & Terry Riley and more.


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