Music from United States

If you were going to envision the ultimate avant-garde meeting-of-the-minds jam session, who would you pick? Even the most hopeful fan of strange and innovative music couldn't have seen this one coming: on one afternoon in 1986, at Coney Island's dil…

Ornette Coleman has been a leading force in jazz since his startling debut in the late '50s, Coleman's emotive alto saxophone style relies on melodic improvisation unbound by chord changes. This style (and philosophy) was dubbed by Ornette 'harmelodi…

The 3 Generations Trio' features the high priest of minimalism himself, Terry Riley, on synthesizer, piano, vocals and harmonizer, Gyan Riley on electric and acoustic guitars and Tracy Silverman on acoustic and electric violins. This work is a fascin…

'Rabid' consists of six tracks mixed by Phillip B. Klingler, aka PBK, between 2004-06 using Wolf Eyes source material, this is the Wolf Eyes lineup of 2000-05: Nate Young, John Olson and Aaron Dilloway. Klingler: 'I was given the audio sources (via c…

Some of the most mysterious and meditative pieces by the legendary John Cage’s (1912-1992) performed by The Barton Workshop, an Amsterdam-based ensemble founded by the legendary American composer-trombonist James Fulkerson.  Number Pieces, fortyeight…

Recorded 2/28/2008 in Italy. "Glenn Branca's work as a composer spans music for experimental rock bands, large ensemble instrumentals for electric guitars, 16 symphonies, chamber ensemble pieces, an opera, a ballet, choral works and music for film, …

On the second side of Versatile Ambience, Jeph Jerman utters an all too accurate observation of our overheated culture, describing us at “the smithy’s forge, replacing art with scrutiny.” Throughout their new record, Jerman and Barnes show us another…

Last copies, reduced price. Killer a collection of rehearsals taped in the fall of 1969 at Ra's home studio in Philadelphia. The studio was also his home and the home of most of his Arkestra, here called the Astro- Ihnfinity Arkestra.  The music here…

Recorded in Stockholm on October 25, 1962, this session is one of Albert Ayler's earliest recordings, featuring a European backing group he assembled during his brief stay there, before returning to the States in 1963 and beginning his legendary run …

This 1958 debut recording by the Ornette Coleman Quintet, which featured Coleman on his trademark white plastic alto, Don Cherry on trumpet, Billy Higgins on drums, Walter Norris on piano, and Don Payne on bass, shook up the jazz world -- particularl…

2016 repress. Originally released in 1960, Free Jazzwas recorded in one uninterrupted take: Coleman, Scott LaFaro, Don Cherry, & Billy Higgins are on the left stereo channel; Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell are on the rig…

The remarkable series of releases from the trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, and Oren Ambarchi continues with I wonder if you noticed "I'm sorry" Is such a lovely sound It keeps things from getting worse, which presents the entirety of an 80-minute…

2016 Repress. A legendary recording that pairs Don Cherry’s heavenly trumpet stylings, Terry Riley’s psychedelic/minimalist organ work and the vibes of Bengt Berger in a great live concert recorded in Koln in 1975. Riley is in stunning form playi…

Solo home electronics from Liquid Liquid's percussionist. Between 1984 and 1988 Dennis Young taped melodic, marimba-tinged synth miniatures, bright, rhythmic and disarmingly personal. A private cache of downtown-NY DIY.

The second in Brian Eno's ambient series, The Plateaux of Mirrors fuses the fragile piano melodies of Harold Budd and the atmospheric electronics of Eno to create a lovely, evocative work. In sharp contrast to the exaggerated pieces found on his debu…

Herman Poole Blount, better known to the world as Sun Ra, lived more musical lives in his 79 years on this planet (and others) than seems possible. In the '30s he was the most rigorous bandleader in Birmingham, heading the Sonny Blount Orchestra a…

Bitter Earth is the much anticipated, long-in-the-making new album from John Duncan joined by a broad cast of adroit collaborators; Oren Ambarchi, Jim O’Rourke, Smegma, Chris Abrahams, Joe Talia, CM Von Hausswolff, Eiko Ishibashi, France Jobin  - all…

1977 was a transitional time for jazz enigma and self-proclaimed member of an “angel race“, Sun Ra. During the Summer of 1976, he had stormed Montreux and toured West Africa with one of the greatest of his full-sized Arkestras before embarking on occ…

"This epic and at times over the top work fully delivers on its forthright title, which suggests the instrument in question at best deserves expletives and at worst warrants an exorcism. There’s no melodic ivory tinkling to be found here – Bellerue p…

This performance from May 2014 was the opening concert at Jazzwerkstatt 51, given by Charles Gayle (tenor saxophone, piano), William Parker (double bass) and Hamid Drake (drums) in the Stüler Church, Peitz, Germany. The concert was dedicated “In Memo…