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Iskra 1903

Paul Rutherford formed Iskra 1903 in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Barry Guy. All three musicians had worked together in larger groups, starting off with the 1966/7 edition of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. However, they had a strong desire to work as a percussionless trio. It's not that they were or are anti-percussion - each of them have subsequently worked in various settings with numerous percussionists - it’s just that they felt a need for this sort of instrumentation. Rutherford named the group after 'Iskra' (the Russian word for spark) which was the paper that Lenin edited before the Russian Revolution. The '19' indicates 20th century music, and the '03' is the number of performers.

Paul Rutherford formed Iskra 1903 in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Barry Guy. All three musicians had worked together in larger groups, starting off with the 1966/7 edition of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. However, they had a strong desire to work as a percussionless trio. It's not that they were or are anti-percussion - each of them have subsequently worked in various settings with numerous percussionists - it’s just that they felt a need for this sort of instrumentation. Rutherford named the group after 'Iskra' (the Russian word for spark) which was the paper that Lenin edited before the Russian Revolution. The '19' indicates 20th century music, and the '03' is the number of performers.

Especially For You
“Repeated listening discovers more and more nuances in the subtle interplay and the clever and endless sonic games of these pioneers of European improvised music.” - Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts
Concert in Vilnius
*2023 stock* This concert was recorded during the Vilnius Jazz Festival, 15th October, 2017 at Russian Drama Theater, Vilnius, Lithuania. Line-up consists of Evan Parker - soprano and tenor saxophones, Barry Guy - bass, Paul Lytton - drums and percussion. Sound Engineer: Valdas Karpuška, mixed by Evan Parker. Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Original cover painting by Paul Lytton, design by Oskaras Anosovas.
The Conscience
*2023 stock* "Ask most open-eared listeners about Japanese music since the 1960s, and they’ll likely talk about the psych and noise scene, the offshoots of Onkyo music movement or maybe the richly documented electronic music documented by Omega Point on their Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. The free jazz scene in Japan and neighboring countries has been a bit harder to pin down. PSF nailed the voluminous output by Masayuki Takayanagi and Kaoru Abe and labels like Trio, Japanese Denon and Pad…
Drops
**2023 repress** Out of print and hotly pursued on the secondary market, we’re thrilled to announce a much needed reissue initiative, dedicated to Ictus’ back catalog, beginning with four LPs, Steve Lacy and Andrea Centazzo’s Clangs, originally issued in 1976, Derek Bailey and Andrea Centazzo’s Drops, originally issued in 1977, Steve Lacy, Andrea Centazzo, and Kent Carter’s Trio Live, also from 1977, and John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, Toshinori Kondo, and Polly Bradfiel…
Kind Of Shadow
Four magnificent improvisers from different countries. Among them, legendary and iconic double bass master Barry Guy, one of the greatest jazz / improvised music drummers Ramon Lopez, Japanese living in Ireland classically trained piano master Izumi Kimura and polish trumpet and cornet wizard from Poland Artur Majewski. All of them, after Ad Libitum Festival 2021, after the initiative of FSRecords’ executive producer, Maciej Karlowski, went to the studio and recorded some improvised music that n…
Kraków 2018
Not Two Records proudly present a 5 CD boxset by different constellations led by Barry Guy; recorded in Krakow in 2018 .
The Sinking of The Titanic
**CD digipack** Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint. The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden …
New York 1982
*Limited edition of 400 copies.* Recital is thrilled to publish an album of lost Derek Bailey sessions recorded with his friend and collaborator Charlie Morrow. In 1982, Bailey and Morrow organized a series of live concerts and studio sessions around New York. This new LP is a boiled-down rendering of the master tapes that lived dormant in Charlie's archive, until now.  Throughout the album, Bailey and Morrow are joined by a rotating cast of New Wilderness players including frame drum percussion…
String Fables
"A true music lover typically has dreams that their favorite musicians, who do not normally work one with another, will meet and perform together. I had a dream many years ago that the two Giants of contemporary improvised music, Joëlle Léandre and Barry Guy play a double bass duo together. And my dream became true at the 2017 Ad Libitum in Warsaw in Festival, and was released by Fundacja Słuchaj! on a phenomenal 3 CDs box “Blue Horizon ● Barry Guy@70”. Here is another dream realized by Fundacja…
Free Radicals At Dom
Recorded by Maxim Khaikin at Dom Cultural Center, Moscow, on November 6th 2017
Mutations
We don't need to explain anything. Pianist Agusti Fernandez and bass player Barry Guy, probably two most important and creative masters of their instrument and incredibly creative musician work together with great success from many years. Recently they invited to company a young Catalan saxophonist Don Malfon, one of the most promising voice on the scene. Result? Fully improvised cycle of seven miniatures recorded live on Kultur-Schranne in Dachau (Germany) that portray these marvelous artists i…
Bosque de Niebla
Fundacja Słuchaj! presents Bosque de Niebla (2CD) by Lucia Martínez, Agustí Fernández and Barry Guy. Recorded: July 9th, 2019 at Rosazul Estudi, Barcelona, Spain. Recording, mixing, and mastering: Ferran Conangla. Photo: Mario Burbano. Liner Note: Lucía Martínez. Liner Note translation: Sarah Claman. Graphic design: Semafor. Executive Producer: Maciej Karłowski. Produced by Lucía Martínez for Fundacja Słuchaj. Barry Guy plays exclusively on Thomastik Springs + logo. Music by Lucía Martínez, Agus…
Irvin's Comet
300 copies. NoBusiness presents Irvin's Comet, a new set of solo bass recordings by Barry Guy, recorded 29th October, 2019 during Improdimensija (Improdimension) concert series dedicated to improvised music, located at MAMAstudios, Vilnius, Lithuania. Sound Engineer - Arūnas Zujus. Mixed and mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Original artwork - Albert Irvin, Comet, 1988 / Screenprint with woodblock, edition of 75, Advanced Graphics, London. Design by Oskaras Anosovas.
The Swiftest Traveler
An exciting new international trio initiated by Scandinavian saxophonist Torben Snekkestad, accompanied by two esteemed international players in the field of improvised music – the Spanish pianist Agusti Fernández and the British double bass player Barry Guy. The music they create together is situated somewhere between free improvisation, free jazz, and contemporary classical music and executed with lightning fast interaction and explorative, innovative sounds and textures. Recorded by Stefan De…
Odes and Meditations for Cecil Taylor
The new Barry Guy 5 CD set of The Blue Shroud Band in Small Formations is the most exciting release of the new year - called “Intensegrity” (previous 4 CD box was called “Tensegrity” from 2014, I think. The new box is also described as “Odes & Meditations for Cecil Taylor”. the DKV box is recorded live from November 2017 at concerts in France, Poland & Czech Replublic and then in late December 2017 at a show @ Sugar Maple in Milwaukee and then 2 homecoming shows @ Elastic Arts in Chicago. I’m so…
Luminous
Two giants of improvised music Barry Guy and Gerry Hemingway joining pianist/composer Simon Nabatov, for a concert recorded live in Loft, Cologne, Germany on 30-31st October. Simon Nabatov - piano, Barry Guy - double bass Gerry Hemingway - drums, marimba
Louisiana Variations
"Torben Snekkestad and Barry Guy first worked together on 2015’s impressive Slip, Slide and Collide - that recording, with its labyrinthine improvisations and near-feverish eruptions, proved the duo to be fiercely attuned to one another. Now, on Louisiana Variations, another voice is drawn into the fold - that of Spanish pianist Agustí Fernández, a long-time collaborator with Barry Guy and an excellent composer/improviser in his own right. On this release, the trio lose none of the intensity pre…
In Backward Times (1979-2007)
Unreleased material by Paul Rutherford, one of the greatest trombone improvisers in jazz – heard here on four very long tracks pulled from the vaults of Emanem Records! As label founder Martin Davidson says in the notes, the music of Rutherford was one of the reasons he created the company – and hearing him here, there's no doubt that even lesser-known work by the trombonist is still every bit as great as the rest of his legacy – and only serves to cement his reputation for one of the most creat…
Frogs (Ep)
7" picture disc for Barry Guy's 70th birthday. Interspecies personnel: Laubfrosch (Hyla Arborea) - acoustic sounds; Wasserfrosch (Rana Esculenta) - acoustic sounds; Barry Guy - acoustic sounds. Recorded May 30th, 2011 by Maya Homburger in Oberstammheim, Switzerland; Edited and mastered by Mikael Werliin at Studio Oodion Göteborg; Photos by Maya Homburger; Graphic design by Lasse Marhaug; Produced by Mats Gustafsson. Limited edition of 300 (numbered).
The Conscience
Paul Rutherford's been making amazing sounds on trombone for decades – and he still sounds incredible here on this late 90s performance in Japan – a set that has the trombonist working with percussionist Sabu Toyozumi – but at a level that really seems to let Paul take the lead on most numbers! The set begins in a slightly tentative way – with Rutherford maybe going for some more familiar modes of expression, but quickly opening up as Toyozumi fills in the spaces between the notes – always in wa…
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