Ingrid Laubrock's various recordings as leader for the Swiss Label Intakt have positioned her at the hub of Brooklyn's experimental music scene, having relocated there from London in 2008. The German-born saxophonist-composer has since then been developing her music with an intimate circle of musicians, mostly in the trio Sleepthief and quartet Anti-House. But Serpentines takes her in a slightly different direction as a project from a commission she received for the 2015 Vision Festival. The high calibre line-up explores the borders between contemporary music notation and avant-garde improv, perhaps acknowledging her recent small ensemble work with the influential Anthony Braxton. ‘Pothole Analytics Pt. 1’ and ‘…Pt. 2’ starts with pointillist textures that slowly gather in intensity to a climax of vocalised chatter and barking rhythms before dissolving into phrases marked by trill effects. ‘Chip in Brain’ is more ambient in tone, the combination of electronica and tuba creating an aquatic feel as the sound of Laubrock's glockenspiel and Miya Masaoka's koto merge with a hint of the orient. ‘Squirrels’ has the saxophonist and the outstanding trumpeter Peter Evans in scurrying confrontation before a guileful Craig Taborn piano solo, Sam Pluta's Stockhausenish analogue sonics and Dan Peck's (a member of Laubrock's Ubatube band) pulsating tuba groove all demonstrate the more playful side of Laubrock's writing. The first section of the turbulent title track comes closest to free jazz, especially late Trane. Serpentines might be the furthest Laubrock has gone in extending the instrumental palette beyond classic jazz formats. Yet the diverse instrumentation never reverts to type; Laubrock is certainly making music that looks beyond any recognised genre or style.