Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series (1996-2005) stands as an expansive testament to Chicago’s restless spirit of innovation across jazz and free improvisation. Co-curated by John Corbett and Ken Vandermark, the series anchored the Empty Bottle’s weekly schedule for almost a decade, becoming a magnetic meeting point for both homegrown radicals and visiting legends. The new box set, issued by Corbett vs. Dempsey, sources its materials from the rich archive amassed by Malachi Ritscher, whose portable recorders discreetly captured not only major figures but also fleeting collaborations and emergent local voices.

Across six chronologically sequenced discs, the anthology traverses the wild expanse of the Empty Bottle’s bookings: from Peter Brötzmann’s pivotal formation of the Chicago Tentet in 1997, to intimate duets like Jim O’Rourke and Cor Fuhler, bracing quartets led by Bobby Bradford, and rare encounters featuring Von Freeman alongside Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink. The selections embody the venue’s open-ended ethos, spotlighting moments of combustible energy and delicate restraint alike. Unlike conventional retrospectives, these recordings trace a living, mutating community - one constantly refreshed by risk, conviviality, and the shared pursuit of the unexpected.​

The accompanying 64-page booklet is more than an informational addendum: it’s a vibrant time capsule, dense with previously unpublished photographs, vintage posters by Dan Grzeca, and a detailed essay from Corbett that threads personal memory with archival research. His commentary provides both factual context and emotional resonance, underlining the ways the Bottle’s series reshaped global perceptions of Chicago’s avant-garde. The box set’s release is wrapped in an ongoing sense of celebration - with launch events recalling the spontaneous delights of the original series, gathering generations of improvisers for one-off combinations and deliberate surprises. For listeners and historians alike, Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series (1996-2005) is not simply a historical document, but a vital, still-resonant chronicle of music-making at the edge of possibility. Each disc invites collection, contemplation, and, above all, renewed engagement with the fearless joy of improvisation.​