English soprano and tenor saxophonist John Butcher is a wonder of modern music, master of a saxophone vocabulary that he has developed to a rare level of expression and execution. A first offspring of the London free-improvising revolution of the 1970s, he employs a vast range of saxophone sounds, from the traditional to the most idiosyncratic. Since moving to London in the late 1970s, he has collaborated with a who’s who of the world’s great freely improvising musicians, and he continues to be in demand for recording and performance appearances around the world.

German bassist Torsten Müller, now residing in Vancouver, B.C., has long been at the forefront of international free improvisation. Woefully and inexplicably under-recorded, the innovative Muller has radically departed from the sometimes limiting traditional sound of, and approach to, the double bass. Muller has enjoyed improvised music meetings with many of the most accomplished musical artists of the day, including the late Paul Rutherford and Ken Vandermark. He is also co-curator of one of the world's finest annual showcases of free improvisation, the Time Flies Improvised Music Meeting, held on three nights in February in Vancouver.

Percussionist extraordinaire Dylan van der Schyff brings masterful chops and scintillating sensitivity to a wide range of musics, from small-group jazz to big band extravaganzas to the most adventurous free improvisation. His expanded drum kit vocabulary and uncanny sense of what the music requires put him at the top of the list for co-conspirators from Vancouver and around the world. Evan Parker, George Lewis, Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Mark Helias, Barry Guy, Michael Moore -- van der Schyff's list of high-profile collaborators goes on and on.