Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch

Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep In Touch
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	November 12, 1996
Genre	Free jazz; Free improvisation; World music
Length	2:01:04
Label	Noise Asia Records
Han Bennink chronology
Dennis Rea chronology

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]

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]