Improvised music poses a considerable critical challenge. It now takes in such a wide variety of styles -- from jazz to minimalist electronica, from contemporary classical music to rock -- there is no one absolute set of criteria by which to judge it.
What is good? What is noise or, indeed, what kind of noise is good noise? What is pointless meandering? And the biggest quandary, what pointless meandering, through some quirk, is a moment of brilliance? In an age where anyone can coax sounds from a computer and call it music, it is difficult to judge.
Bassist Tetsu Saitoh (top), koto-player Michiyo Yagi and multi-instrumental Yoshihide Otomo (bottom) are just some of the musicians featured in the improvisation series.