Jazz /
For Friends And Relatives
2018 repress. Landmark work from the Finnish scene of the 60s – one of those ultra-rare European jazz records that collectors have dug for decades! The set's got a stark, modern sort of feel – but also a nice soulful swing, too – a balance that few of the other Scandinavians hit so well at the time – as they were either hanging between farther-out progressions, or more inside, tightly arranged jazz! Drummer Christian Schwindt's vision here is exceptional – full of rich feeling, deep tone, and ca…
A Well-Kept Secret
Corbett Vs. Dempsey present the first CD reissue of Beaver Harris and Don Pullen 360º Experience's A Well-Kept Secret, originally released on Shemp Records in 1984. Of all the never-issued-on-CD items in history's dustbin, A Well-Kept Secret is perhaps the most egregious. The beautiful studio recording, made under the watchful ear of überproducer Hal Willner, was first issued on LP in 1985 on Willner's own Shemp label. With its unconventional lineup featuring steel drums, Latin percussion, and F…
Spree Coast Jazz
This is the first presentation of a lost jazz concert from the Helmut Brandt estate, recorded March 1963 at SFB Sendesaal/ Haus des Rundfunks in West Berlin. That evening the Helmut Brandt Orchestra consisted of eleven soloists from the Berlin radio orchestras of RIAS and SFB, including Benny Bailey, Herb Geller, Nat Peck and Ack van Rooyen. They played a one-off concert of mostly unknown compositions, taped by producer Hans Gertberg for inclusion in the huge archive of NDR Jazz Workshop recor…
Jazz At Auditorium
Today it is well known that Austrian pianist and composer Friedrich Gulda was at home in two different worlds: classical music and jazz. He once mentioned “There are so many great musicians alive, but none of them was able to tear down the border that was created by the music industry, which is the border between classical music and popular music. Jazz is still considered to be something deserving less respect.” Gulda was one of the few who tried to cross that border, working in both realms, wit…
More Intra Musique
When glancing over the history of indigenous French free improvised music, there tends to be two observable categories of musicians - those who worked and collaborated with their counterparts from abroad, and those who worked independently. The former is generally more celebrated, and among those the drummer Jacques Thollot, who worked with Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Sonny Sharrock, Sam Rivers, Joachim Kühn, and numerous others, as well as with French pioneers like Barney Wilen and Jef Gilson, rank…
Volume 1. "Inhale"
“The debut record of Luft (the duo comprised of Mats Gustafsson and Erwan Keravec) - is a two volume album of exceptional explorations within the bagpipe and reed universe ——unknown music of poetic beauty and high energy cascades. Fast moving changes in texture and layers vs static repetitions and alternatives densities and melody treatments! Vol 1 - is focusing on the interaction between the two persons/ instruments - with a huge variety in extended techniques and various ways of treating the i…
Local Colour
ESP-Disk' present a vinyl reissue of Peter Lemer Quintet's Local Colour, originally released in 1968. British pianist Peter Lemer studied with Jaki Byard, Paul Bley, and Bill Dixon. His lengthy and distinguished career has found him in a wide variety of settings. As an avant-garde jazz pianist, he recorded with Spontaneous Music Ensemble; in the jazz fusion realm, he was a member of Gilgamesh and Paraphernalia; as a progressive rock keyboardist, he played with Gong, Baker Gurvitz Army, the Mike …
Duo
Continuing the series of collaborations between Honest Jon’s and Incus. As throughout the series, the recordings are newly transferred from tape at Abbey Road, and re-mastered by Rashad Becker. And here we have this incredible duo from underrated cellist Tristan Honsinger and Derek Bailey, originally released on Incus in 1976. There are parralels between this record and fellow sometime Parisian string pkayer Joelle Leandre's Taxi, but really, Honsinger's voice is like no other - there's less rev…
Modern Lied
Sarah Maria Sun (soprano) & Jan Philip Schulze (piano) perform works by Heinz Holliger: Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Christian Morgenstern (1956/57); Salvatore Sciarrino: Due Melodie; Helmut Lachenmann: Got Lost; György Kurtag: Requiem po drugu op. 26; Wolfgang Rihm: Ophelia Sings; Bernhard Lang: Wenn die Landschaft aufhört.
Les Nuages en France
Marco Cappelli, guitar. Ken Filiano, double bass. Satoshi Takeishi, percussion. “… La Nuages en France is what happens when you cross one of Europe’s best and brightest new music classical guitarists/composers with the best of New York’s avant jazz/improv scene. The sonics recall the lusciousness of Ralph Towner’s ECM work, but the compositional/improvisational smarts and depth of Marco’s classical chops and background on this recording are unlike anything I’ve heard. Also, Marco has devel…
Italian Surf Academy : The American Dream
Marco Cappelli, electric guitar, Luca Lo Bianco, bass guitar, Francesco Cusa, drums, with special guest Gaia Mattiuzzi, voice.
Italian Surf Academy : Barbarella Reloaded
"Italian Surf Academy has been exploring the sound related to 1960’s cinema since its first record, The American Dream (Mode Avant 13), a collection of music from Italian noir, horror and spaghetti western movies. In 2013 the Italian/French festival “Suona Francese” commissioned us to make a monographic program, but with the concept that it must somehow relate to French culture. We choose Barbarella — the classic 1968 sexual revolution icon directed by Roger Vadim, and starring Jane Fonda — beca…
To You
CD Edition. Grey-area reissue of this legendary 1968 avantgarde jazz classic. Fiercely beautiful Danish jazz from 1968, sworn body-and-soul to the legacy of John Coltrane, and the raw sense of music as a healing force, tearing through the cosmos — but with its own intensely compelling voice, on the line from Copenhagen, to you. So a searching, hurting version of Naima gives way to Meinert’s terrific, succinct, Lateef-flavoured tribute to Alice Coltrane and a thrilling set of modal origina…
Frames & Terrains
Edition of 300. A long improvisation with lots of angles and dark corners – served up in a way that really builds up tension, while also providing lots of compelling stops along the journey! The music is never too full-on, but always has a sense of complexity – strong interplay between the group right from the start, with Martin Blume on drums and percussion, Tobias Delius on tenor and clarinet, Achim Kaufmann on piano, and Dieter Manderscheid on bass. Things get a bit more tentative in …
Live at Cafe Amores
Edition of 300. Kang Tae Hwan plays alto sax with a rawness that's usually reserved for the tenor – a fantastic sound that really comes through beautifully here in this solo set of improvisations! The material was recorded around the same time as Kang's brilliant (and few) recordings for the Japanese market – and the long-overdue presentation of this performance comes as a much-needed accompaniment to his small catalog – the kind of record that boldly, brilliantly documents a completely unique t…
Oostum
Edition of 300. A really great setting for drummer Gerry Hemmingway – an album that has him improvising live with trombonist Samuel Blaser – a fantastic musician who's one of the freshest trombone talents we've heard in years! In previous comments, we've liked Blaser to a modern day heir to the genius of 60s trombonists like Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur – and those words definitely hold true here, as Blaser delivers a wondrous balance between new sounds and tuneful moments, fresh ideas …
Oh My, Those Boys!
Edition of 300. Brilliant work from these two very inventive bassists – the legendary Barre Phillips, working on acoustic bass – and Motoharu Yoshizawa, playing an unusual homemade electric vertical 5-string bass! The combination of instruments is beautiful – and with one electric, and one acoustic, you can really separate the voice of each player – even though both Phillips and Yoshizawa resonate strongly together, and really have a complimentary sense of improvisation – a beautiful combination…
A Symphony of Amaranths
Scored for a large jazz orchestra, this highly-collectable 1971-recorded album also contains two vocal settings by Ardley, remembered also for his ground-breaking work leading the New Jazz Orchestra, these being the earliest example of his vocal music. The first is a setting of Edward Lear’s famous nonsense poem “The Dong with a Luminous Nose”, wonderfully and uniquely told by Ivor Cutler backed by an unusual chamber orchestra containing keyboards, vibraphone, harp, violin and cello that prov…
Libido
Libido is a noteworthy moment in contemporary Free Improvisation you should not miss. It’s so fragile, yet uncompromising, so sensitive and confrontative at the same time… It’s simply beautifull" Edition of 200 copies on black vinyl. Comes in a cardboard sleeve with inner envelopes and includes a paper inlay. Blemishes are Thomas Lumley (tenor saxophone) Nicola Hein (guitar), Constantin Herzog (bass) and Niklas Wandt (percussions)
Fresh From The Ruins
Dog Life explores free improvised music on a high-energetic plateau, descending from the outskirts of free jazz, and further towards a harder, darker and undefined terrain. Their debut album was critically acclaimed in Europe as well as in the US. On their new album Fresh From the Ruins, Doglife continue to push the freejazz-punk limits and sets out new directions with elements of doom and noise.