This is the sphere of free jazz improvisation, but Gratkowski and his cohorts have the time and setting to create a new sonic environment. They go from whispers to wails, creating their own path as they go. Gratkowski has a world of jazz and other improvised musics at his back, and they propel him to use them to find otherworldly modes of expression. Americans Herb Robertson and Gerry Hemingway are no strangers to this kind of environment, where they find a home and a starting-off point for musical adventure. Gratkowski’s fellow Europeans—Wolter Wierbos, Dieter Manderschied, and Wilbert DeJoode—also know the Loft and the company of Gratkowski and the others as home.