I don’t know what is going on in France that is drawing in such amazing talent from outside her borders (it’s probably the incredibly good quality of local performers who are developing massive catalogs and worldwide respect for their bodies of work), but the country is seeing a small explosion of creativity. One case-in-point is the Mexican guitarist Hector Javier Ayala. He has begun releasing some incredible CDs recently (his newest will be reviewed here soon, but this particular album was done in collaboration with drummer Cedric Lemaire. The recordings are sparse, but gel together quite nicely. A lot of the material reminded be of Derek Bailey and is free improvisations with percussionists around the world.