It takes guts to be a total improviser. It takes a conscious fear, a kind of walking over an abyss on a tight-rope attitude. The art of improvisation –the highest of the musical arts- requires unshakeable confidence in one’s collaborators. Every improvisation is an exploration into terra incognito, the places an adventurer would go into with no map in hand, no global positioning system, and no three dimensional satellite topography device. It takes guts to do that.

Total improvisation requires what the jazz musicians call ‘chops,’ but chops that are light years beyond conservatory techniques. Then there are tremendous listening skills, sympatico emotions, and most importantly while and once the previous qualities have been mastered, an imagination that never limits itself.

These qualities are exactly what you hear on this recording, part of which was created in front of an audience, part of which was recorded in a studio. I predict no listener will be able to tell the difference between the two venues until the applause is heard. That’s just one measure of the intensity with which François Houle, Joelle Léandre, and Raymond Strid command attention while they make music.

François Houle, Joelle Léandre, and Raymond Strid make music that sounds like news from another world. Listen well, for whether you are aware of it or not, every moment of life itself is an improvisation holding the keys to open pathways you never imagined could exist. This series of improvisations proves the point, beyond belief.