Jazz /
Jacana
LP version. The best improvisers are the ones that seem to invent and uninvent their instruments right in front of your eyes and ears. Swedish pianist Sten Sandell and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love are two musical champions with a long experi…
Exit!
Gatefold double LP version. It can't be easy gathering 28 of Northern Europe's finest jazz and improvising musicians in one place at the same time, which is why Sweden's Fire! Orchestra has been one of the continent's best-kept secrets so far. Aft…
Without Noticing
LP version. Rune Grammofon presents (without noticing), the fifth album from Swedish trio Fire!, comprised of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums). This album follows collaborations …
You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago
LP version. This is the debut full-length release from excellent Swedish jazz trio, Fire! -- something of a supergroup with members from already well-known quarters. Sax player, improviser and composer Mats Gustafsson is probably best-known from powe…
Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival
A demanding live duo performance from New York drummer William Hooker and Lithunian saxophonist Liudas Mockunas, performing at the 2013 Vilnius Jazz Festival. The playing is hard-edged, rugged and free playing, keeping a strong momentum from Hooker's…
Perilous Architecture
In the Dan Blacksberg Trio, the innovative and genre-defying trombonist brings an expansive and creative new vision to the cutting-edge jazz traditions of pioneers like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Albert Ayler. The trio is celebrating the releas…
Plaything
This open-minded trio recorded Plaything in October of 2012 at Studio Juillaguet, a recording and dance space located in a rural part of southwest France that is run by Kent Carter and his wife, a professional choreographer. Bassist Kent Carter p…
Ascent Of The Nether Creatures
Previously unreleased material from the quartet of trumpeter Earl Cross, saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, bassist Rashied Al Akbar, and drummer Muhammad Ali, performing live in The Netherlands in 1980, for five smoking examples of free jazz. The recor…
The Periphery Of The Periphery
About a week after September 11, 2001 I flew into New York City to be a grant panelist for the Rockefeller Foundation's arts program. Flying into New York the aftermath of the destruction of the Twin Towers could still be seen as an eerie cloud an…
Crystal Spears
Recorder at Variety Studios, NYC, 1973 - ltd/numbered 1/75 with paste-on cover (notes on back) and regular white inner sleeve "it was originally to be released on Impulse but that never happened, so this is the 1st time on vinyl. crystal wax and past…
Northwood box vol.II
Sensational!!! 4LP box set with printed inner sleeves, black vinyls/black labels, ltd ed 75 copies only numbered. "second and last volume; including their earliest available recordings from 1985 (not available anywhere else)!" (ep) Fog and Fire #5…
On leaves of grass
Following up on the success of 2013’s “Dreamachines”, the third release by the brilliant quartet Nova Express is inspired by and dedicated to American poetic genius and father of free verse Walt Whitman. Combining the hypnotic swirls of minimalism, t…
Cycles (1976-80)
Solo saxophone performances of three of Lacy's rarest cycles. The eight-part SHOTS (Moms / Pops / The Kiss / Tots / The Ladder / Fruits / Coots / The Wire) comes mostly from a 1977 Roman concert, with a couple of missing pieces taken from other conte…
Oliv & Familie
The 1969 Oliv session was the third Spontaneous Music Ensemble LP to be issued, following on from Challenge (1966) and Karyobin (1968), currently awaiting reissue. Familie appears to be the earliest recorded example of a large Sme group. This music i…
Avignon and after - Volume 1
The 1972 Avignon concerts were Steve Lacy’s very first solo concerts, although he did make an excellent overdubbed solo record for Saravah the year before. (For ‘solo’ read ‘alone’ or ‘unaccompanied’ rather than the usual music business meaning of ‘v…
The Sun
It is a disturbing fact that most of the major disputes throughout history have been settled by physical fighting involving killing. Have we really risen much above the rest of the animal world? On the contrary, many animals do not kill members of th…
School days
“In 1962 I went to New York for the first time. My father had worked for Boac for so long that the flights were free - I had only to pay 7/6 (=37½p) airport tax. I stayed in NY for two weeks, only leaving Manhattan to take the standard tourist boat t…
Hamidbar Medaber
A dynamic and powerful band out of Canada, Zebrina brings Jewish music into the 21st century with their brilliant second CD. Featuring Ben Goldberg on clarinet, “Hamidbar Medaber” is one of the most exciting and successful blending of modern jazz wit…
Valentine's Day
An exciting new world of instrumental rock featuring three generations of Downtown superstars—Marc Ribot (Ceramic Dog, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Melvins, Fantômas) and Tyshawn Sorey (Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Vijay Iy…
The testament of Solomon
For their fourth release, Zorn’s most intimate and spiritual 21st century ensemble returns with a melodic and open book of tunes reminiscent of the Book of Angels. Drawing inspiration from the Biblical Song of Solomon and originally intended as a com…