The ensemble: Dudley Bayne (piano); Todd Carter (electronics); Kevin Davis (cello); Michael Hartman (percussion); Boris Hauf (saxophone); Keefe Jackson (saxophone); Brian Labycz (electronics); Jen Clare Paulson (viola) Jason Roebke (bass); Jason Stein (bass clarinet). Chicago Sound Map began in 2007 as an annual new music festival taking place in multiple venues throughout the city of Chicago. A selection of composers is invited to devise musical systems that focus on the dualism of composition and improvisation. A large ensemble of experienced improvisers interprets each composer's proposal. The ensemble for this recording includes members of TV Pow, Efzeg, Tigersmilk, Keefe Jackson's Project Project, Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore, Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack, and endless other combinations happening within Chicago's vibrant improvised music community. Recorded on April 8, 2008 in the Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois, this CD documents the first concert of the 2008 series. 'Stop the Sound of the Big Bell' by Olivia Block mixes traditional and graphic notational techniques, leaving open spaces for structured improvisation for each player at different times. It is designed so the improvised segments fit within the larger framework of the piece, instead of driving the form of the composition. 'Heard Laboratories,' performed by Ernst Karel uses as its score an edited phonographic work consisting of recordings of scientific research environments at Harvard University.