Jazz /
Bukas
Bukas: How Karl Evangelista is Exploring the Future of Free Music with his Quintet and Special Guest, Andrew Cyrille
Percussion Discussion
"Toe Rag Orchestra" by Shawn Lee is a remarkable album that encapsulates the essence of live, analog recording and the magic of spontaneous musical creation. Recorded in January 2024 at the legendary Toe Rag Studio in East London, the project brought…
I/O
Akio Niitsu's first album, "I/O(i･o)" released in 1978, was produced in a homemade studio that had been converted from a storeroom in his home, and he spent three years doing everything from composition to engineering by himself, using overdubbed gui…
Spiritual Sound (Mizik Filamonik)
Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched b…
Sen Jälkeen Kun
Viive debut album ‘Sen Jälkeen Kun’! The debut album, “Sen jälkeen kun”, explores themes of growth and the intrinsic need for connection. It ultimately took shape as a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist (yet).
The album was recorded at Mutka st…
Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys
Mostly improvised by clarinettist Tony Scott, backed by Hozan Yamamoto and Shinichi Yuize — on the Japanese instruments shakuhachi and koto — this 1964 album is a precursor to later movements in ambient and new age music, from in and out of the jazz …
The Body & The Soul
In his last release for the Impulse label, Hubbard’s ambitious 1963 recording The Body & The Soul includes both an all-star septet and an orchestra with strings. Including a number of Hubbard originals and such notables as Curtis Fuller (trombone), W…
Chonyi Together
1999 release ** "While documenting some of the most important free-style jazz from around the globe, Leo Feigin of Leo Records has focused on discovering new talent, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Here, startlingly unique trumpeter Guyvoron…
(Y)earbook Volume 3
1991 release ** The third in a three volume compilation (each available separately) of 114 improvisers from around the world, covering a wide variety of approaches to improvisation. "A turbid dive into new music, this release packs everything from fr…
New Vienna (At The Musikverein, 2016)
New Vienna is the fourth concert recording to be released from Keith Jarrett’s final European solo tour. It follows Munich 2016, Budapest Concert and Bordeaux Concert. Why New Vienna? As Jarrett aficionados will know, his discography already includes…
Drifting
After Mette Henriette’s critically acclaimed, self-titled first recording comes Drifting – and album pervaded by trio conversations of idiosyncratic and original expression. With Johan Lindvall returning on piano, new addition Judith Hamann on cello …
Relations
Musical messages from Oslo, New York, Basel and Lugano – recorded between 2018 and 2022 – are juxtaposed and recombined on an absorbing recording that features Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen solo and in a series of duets . With such partners as Cra…
The Sorrounding Green
Masterful trio interplay reliant on deeply honed three-way communication and a refined sense of understatement make Fred Hersch’s third recording for ECM an essential entry into the piano trio canon. Hersch tackles a handful of 20th century compositi…
Arcanum
The Scandinavian project Arcanum brings together four artists all well-known to followers of directions in music at ECM: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari. They’ve played together in many permutations over the years, bu…
35th Reunion
2000 release (no OBI) ** "It may be unfair to compare this recording to the seminal album recorded on ESP almost 35 years earlier, but such comparisons are hard to resist. In truth, the group -- now with Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) assuming a…
Honig Und Asche
1998 release ** "A cosmopolitan synthesis of visionary music and outstanding poetry" is the concept and program of "Honey and Ashes," according to the press release. This claim naturally raises many questions about the work of German saxophonist Mich…
Robyn Rocket And People You May Have Heard Of
What happens when you bring together familiar faces at London experimental music venue Café OTO, Charles Hayward (drummer Abstract Concrete, This Heat) and John Edwards (double bass), and the Total Refreshment Centre (hub of new london jazz scene rec…
Reflections Of A Golden Dream
Lonnie Liston Smith was one of the most important musicians to emerge in jazz in the 1970s. His 1975 album ‘Expansions’ is one of the foundation stones of modern dance music and his recordings have been sampled by many of the biggest artists in the w…
The Endangered Species
In 1980 Bobby Wellins was commissioned to write a suite of music, which he called ‘The Endangered Species’ because, in his words: “Some years ago there was an oil spillage which washed ashore in Bognar Regis where I live. The guillemots were being pu…
¡Arriba! Con Montego Joe
1994 release ** "Everything about this album, from the artist's name and album title to the rather cheesy cover photo of a smiling tuxedo-clad man on a beach surrounded by congas, suggests to a cynical eye that Arriba! Con Montego Joe is kitschy exot…