Free Touching: Live at Keep in Touch is a live recording of improvisational performances by Chinese guzheng virtuoso Wang Yong and six international musicians: Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, American guitarist Dennis Rea, American trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, and horn players Claudio Puntin and Steffen Schorn.[1] The jam session from which the album is drawn was recorded during the Beijing International Jazz Festival on November 12, 1996 at Keep In Touch, reportedly China's first internet cafe.[2]

Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep In Touch
Live album by Wang Yong, Han Bennink, Andreas Schreiber, Dennis Rea, Steffen Schorn, Claudio Puntin & Lesli Dalaba
Released	2004
Recorded	1996-11-12
Genre	Free Jazz Free Improvisation World Music
Length	2:01:04
Label	Noise Asia Records
Han Bennink chronology
Strandjutters (2003) Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep In Touch (2004) Still Quite Popular After All Those Years (2004)
Dennis Rea chronology
Shadow In Dreams (1990) Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch (2004) Views From Chicheng Precipice (2010)

The recorded performances are a mixture of American style free jazz and European influenced improvisation blended at times with traditional Chinese music.[3] On his website Dennis Rea states that Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch is "quite possibly the first recording of free improvisation to emerge from China."[4]

The album was released as a double CD in March, 2004 on the Hong Kong-based Noise Asia Records label. It is distributed in North America by Verge Music Distributing.[3][5]

Track listing

Red Disc - 58:51

1. "Improvisation 1"
2. "Improvisation 2"
3. "Improvisation 3"
4. "Improvisation 4"
5. "Improvisation 5"
6. "Improvisation 6"

Pink Disc - 62:13

1. "Improvisation 7"
2. "Improvisation 8"
3. "Improvisation 9"
4. "Improvisation 10"
5. "Improvisation 11"

Personnel

• Wang Yong - guzheng
• Han Bennink - drums
• Andreas Schreiber - violin
• Dennis Rea - guitar
• Steffen Schorn - horns
• Claudio Puntin - horns
• Lesli Dalaba - trumpet

Notes