Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Do you remember the first musical meeting between Japanese-born, Irish-based pianist Izumi Kimura and legendary drum master Gerry Hemingway? It was the album Illuminated Silence recorded with Barry Guy. Today it's the two of them, Kimura and Hemingway, in the second installment of their artistic collaboration. In front of you is the album Kairos, containing five signature compositions by the two artists, one track each of their own, and the traditional song Over The Tide. And for poetry lovers, …

Let's move to Montreal in 2006, when Francois Carrier's ensemble performed on the La Chapelle festival stage with an unusual and astonishing line-up. The leader recalls that time: "In late 2005, I was putting together my annual series of concerts with both local and international artists and musicians. Two of these nights were dedicated to special guests. At the time, I had just heard of Tomasz Stanko from his beautiful album, Matka Joanna. Instantly, I knew I had to do something with him. I lis…

Considered by some to be trumpeter Donald Byrd's last worthwhile jazz recording, Electric Byrd is a high-flying relic from 1970. This album can be understood as Byrd's formidable response to the musical challenges set down by trumpet-rival Miles Davis with his epic Bitches Brew recordings from a year earlier. Clearly Miles is the ghost presence here, with distinct echoes of his sound permeating the vibe of this exploratory set. Byrd demonstrates on his three originals that he, too, was a force t…

*2023 stock* Issued via Reid's own Mustevic Sound imprint in 1977, the album features bassist David Wertman, percussionist Mohammad Abdullah, trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah and Saxophonists Arthur Blythe and Charles Tyler. Reid's music needs no introduction to contemporary audiences; the legendary drummer and band leader was more prominent than ever in the years before his untimely death in 2010, collaborating with Four Tet's Kieran Hebden on a succession of releases as well as being the subject of an…

In the early- to mid-'60s, Gene McDaniels was a successful singing star. He hit the charts with the singles "A Hundred Pounds of Clay," "Tower of Strength," and "Chip Chip". However, McDaniels was a more thoughtful and politically conscious man than his hits would suggest, and after the assassination of Martin Luther King, he left America to live in Europe and focus on songwriting. When he returned to the US in 1970, he was billing himself as Eugene McDaniels the Left Rev. Mc D, and his music to…

World-renowned horn player Mats Gustafsson teams up with Joachim Nordwall to create Their Power Reached Across Space Ana Time- To Defy Them Was Death- Or Worse- an avant-garde masterpiece. Gustafsson and Nordwall push their instruments to the limit, almost mirroring the title of the record by "reaching across space and time". The duo creates a sense of vast, three-dimensional auditory expanses. "This is where acoustics and analog synths meet. It is unique music. Unheard Vibes. Perfect for specia…

“Too often we describe music using classifications; genres like “jazz,” “experimental,” “avant-garde” are an easy shorthand to relay the rough parameters of the music to another person who may not have heard it. But these words are useful because they’re so vague, and they are most often used when the impression the music makes is equally vague. But when a group makes sounds that move the listener, these terms don’t hold up. Dry Speed has released a record that is, at turns, futuristic and organ…

"Zombie: Fela in his life time was never ‘a good bed-fellow’ of the military institution. As a political activist, he believed the army should operate under the mandate of a civil government. If national interest compels the armed forces to intervene in government, the army is obliged to hand over power to a new civil government elected by the people and enjoying their mandate. To do otherwise is to usurp power particularly since a soldier’s duty is not to seek a political mandate. For emphasis …

*2023 stock* "Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense: Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that: all the things we consider as problems, and all the good things we accept from life as good, begin with what we are taught. The individual teaching begins with when we are children – our mother is our teacher. When we come of school age, our teacher is the school-teacher. At the university, the lecturers and professors are our teachers. After university—when we start to work…

*2023 stock* Fela Kuti deplores the fashion among African women for skin-whitening creams, an example of the post-colonial inferiority complex he believed was holding back the country's development. The song addresses the fashion much as 1973’s “Gentleman” berated African men for adopting European suits and ties. Fela explains that if you catch an “original” fever such as jaundice, you will suffer but, with luck, survive, and your symptoms will fade away. But if you catch an “artificial” (self-i…

*2023 stock* "Johnny Just Drop is talking about Africans who travel abroad only to return home with new values and mannerisms. Since the advent of colonialism in Africa, the education system left Black people with an inferior perception of their culture. Those who are Western educated, are in the habit of repeating untruths about African traditions and heritage, because the discipline to think and act big has not yet become a part of Africa’s present day academic and intellectual traditions. For…

2023 restock. The long awaited repress of Slight Freedom, acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's first solo album & a New York Times' best albums of 2016 selection, is here. Pressed on premium 120-gram audiophile-quality vinyl by RTI from lacquers cut at sterling sound by Steve Fallone, presented in a retro flipback jacket. Second edition of 1,399 copies. What we said in 2016: "Slight Freedom, Jeff Parker's first ever solo record, presents the first opportunity to hear the guitarist in ful…

"A largely unsung classic, originally released in 1969, and featuring the most purist of all the followers of Cool School guru Lennie Tristano's ascetically linear method of jazz improvising. West Coast saxophonist Warne Marsh (like all the Tristanoites) liked staying in a narrow dynamic range, but within it he could perform miracles of melodic invention and rhythmic audacity – though almost always performing the latter over a metronomically steady drummer's groove" - John Fordham

Reissue by Giotto Music of the legendary bossa album recorded in 1962 by the Basso-Vartambrini Quintet.

*2023 stock* "Kami Fusen" is the second volume in the ongoing collaboration between NoBusiness and Chap Chap Records, after the excellent "The Conscience"by Rutherford and Toyozumi. This time, all the musicians come from the Far East: Itaru Oki was one of the first Japanese musicians to explore the free jazz idiom in the early Seventies; Nobuyoshi Ino comes from the same country and musical scene, even if he has often played in more traditional contexts; similarly, Korean trumpeter Choi Sun Bae …

*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…

2023 stock** "Such is the strength and conviction with which the Sudo Quartet performs that thoughts immediately turn to how they developed such a cohesive group sound. But when uniting four virtuoso stylists from the European free improvisation scene, it's a near certainty that their paths have crossed many times during their careers. Whatever the history, it becomes straight away apparent from the first few notes that there are powerful forces at work as Léandre's richly resonant bowing meshes…

The Freestyle Band never courted fame, but they never welcomed obscurity either. The choices they made to follow their individual muses and to independently document their efforts were conscious ones. The musicians made this music in the faith - perhaps certainty is a better word - that its power and integrity would ultimately triumph over shortsighted commercial pressures and America’s racist attitudes toward black artists. Perhaps this reissue does a little bit to validate that faith.

Big Tip! Originally released in 1983 through Apollon Music industrial corp’s alty sublabel, Mule Musiq sub-label Studio Mule presents the first official digital reissue of Shinsuke Honda 本多信介’s rare Silence = サイレンス (夕映え) album. recorded as part of alty’s resort mind music series, Honda-san’s contemplative guitar instrumentals tint the air with nostalgia, longing and a gentle sadness at the impermanence of all things, transporting the listener to an eternal sunset of the mind. A masterful guitari…

*2023 stock* "This album, the first under the band's name in six and a half years, is a jazz alternative album with a multilingual and hardcore taste that differs greatly from previous albums.  The recording for this album started in June 2020, during a period when many of our activities were being cancelled due to Covid-19. It had been a while since I last met or played with the members of this band, with whom prior to the pandemic I would regularly get together for gigs at various venues or tr…

Super Tip! *Cover design B* Tribe’s inaugural release in 1972 would see three editions released in as many years. 1972’s first edition featured a photo of the ocean on the front, the following year’s second edition had a drawing of the Earth, while 1974’s third edition had a colorful illustration of Tribe founders Wendell Harrison and Phil Ranelin’s faces. Each version is unique. A Message From The Tribe 1st version (LP + 7") The inaugural release from Tribe is getting its first ever analog reis…

Maurice Louca and his Elephantine Band commit a live, raw, collective sound to record. One of Egypt's most adventurous experimental figures pulls cosmic jazz, African and global musics and modal traditions into long stretches of hard-grooving, hypnotic intensity and avant-jazz abandon. Red and black vinyl mix.

Arguably the best album legendary jazz musician Wendell Harrison cut in the 80s “Organic Dream” features the classic track “Love Juice”. The album’s quite a departure from the spiritual jazz he’s well known for, instead dipping into modern soul and R&B territory.

"Un must per tutti i DJ! Un raro capolavoro della Polydor, che include la famosa Raindrops, Raindrops. Un must per chi ascolta Karin Krog per la prima volta. Un must per tutti gli amanti dell'ambient e del crossover." - Makoto Saito

Siapiau is Welsh for 'Shapes', as the four members of the band create shapes in the air out of apparently nothing. The beauty of improvisation is that, at its best, it creates something perfectly fitted to the moment it was created in. Siapiau is a new project from four improvisers who have been playing together in different formats for over twenty years. It's a band who aren't afraid of the experimental but aren't afraid of a good groove either. It's improvised music that you could, at times, d…

Temporary super offer! This is Archie Shepp caught live at two important European festivals in 1973. At the head of some sort of one-off line up featuring Dave Burrell on piano, Donald Garret on bass along with her partner Zusaan Fasteau on percussion, flute and vocals, and last but not least Muhammad Ali (Rashid's brother) on drums, Shepp, heard on tenor and soprano saxes and piano, delivers a full program of hot renditions of mostly standards by the likes of Ellington, Monk and Davis, plus a c…

French jazz library LP with female voices and drum breaks, originally released in 1972 on Mondiophone. Stunning composition and wonderfully recorded, this dark, aggressive jazz orchestral vibes, flitting perfectly between the abstract and the structured. Essential. 180 gram LP.

Tip! A superb and under-recognized recording, Crisis is one-third of a trilogy of extraordinary albums -- the others being Broken Shadows and Science Fiction -- by Ornette Coleman's small groups of the late '60s and early '70s. A rendition of the piece "Broken Shadows" itself, a dirge of astonishing beauty second only to his "Lonely Woman," opens the live performance and offers solos of deep and poignant probity from Coleman and tenorist Dewey Redman, whose earthy growled tones counterbalanced t…

Considered one of Nathan Davis' best albums, and long a collector's item, The Hip Walk was recorded in 1965, a time when the Afro-American Davis lived in Europe, working with such legends as Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon, Eric Dolphy and Woody Shaw. Nathan's Kansas City school mate, trumpeter Carmell Jones - who e.g. worked with Horace Silver, Paul Kuhn, Eugen Cicero - comes along for the ride. A superb album of soulful, swinging jazz - the perfect companion when you feel …

Considered one of Nathan Davis’ best albums, and long a collector’s item, The Hip Walk was recorded in 1965, a time when the Afro-American Davis lived in Europe, working with such legends as Kenny Clarke, Eric Dolphy, and Art Blakey. Nathan’s Kansas City school mate, trumpeter Carmell Jones comes along for the ride. Jones played trumpet on Horace Silver’s classic 1965 Song for My Father – ‘nuff said about his credentials! Nathan’s rhythm section represents the underpinning of one of the greatest…

Featuring Nate Morgan on piano, Jesse Sharps on reeds, Danny Cortez on trumpet, Rickey Kelly on vibes, Joel Ector on bass and Derek Roberts on drums. This music was recorded in Santa Barbara in July of 1987. Since the passing of the great pianist/composer/bandleader Horace Tapscott, the Nimbus West label has continued to document the underground L.A. jazz scene that Mr. Tapscott was once at the center of. A number of great musicians who once collaborated with Tapscott, like Jesse Sharps & Nate M…

A forward thinking collaboration between electronic music pioneer Jon Appleton and trumpet great Don Cherry, that explores the relationship between the humanity and the manufactured robotic future. Using the techniques associated with Musique Concrete the ensuing improvisations create a unique entry into the great trumpeter's discography. It was an in vogue attempt to render the music of tomorrow, and today sounds more like the soundtrack to a truly great sci-fi movie. Reissued in a fascimile of…

The John Carter and Bobby Bradford Quartet/Quintet were critical to the progressive jazz movement around Los Angeles in the late 60s alongside the likes of Horace Tapscott. Both hailed from the Watts area and trumpeter, Bradford played with a woodshedding Ornette Coleman for two years in the early 60s when the legendary free movement leader decided not to record for a while but wanted to hone his trademark sound on the saxophone. Multi-reed player, Carter also worked with Coleman who brought the…

This is an unusual album in the catalogue of Ornette Coleman, and one that passes by most critics. It is however a unique insight into the ‘free jazz’ pioneer’s way of working in the early 70s. Recorded at his large loft space in downtown New York which inspired a whole scene of experimental musicians who were locked out of playing established venues. The music is a romp showing Ornette playing trumpet as well as saxophone. His quartet which featured second saxophonist Dewey Redman alongside lon…

New York-based Zoh Amba first cultivated her musical passion in the lush forests of the Appalachian mountains, playing to the woods around her home, before she studied at classical conservatories. Her music honors her roots, full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerfully-executed Free Jazz. Her sound is courageous and bold, soaring from muted hums to squeaky trebles, producing a confident sound imbued with an innate spirituality. On this project, Zoh Amba is jo…

Collaborations are unique to their combinations, producing totally original and innovative ideas with the addition of a single factor. In this case, legendary musicians and 577 mainstays join together in this unique arrangement for the first time, allowing for yet another reinvention. Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, pianist Leo Genovese, bassist William Parker (also playing Gralla and Shakuhachi on this album), and drummer and vocalist Francisco Mela, unite for another impro…

Huge Tip! Oiro Pena is a Finnish jazz collective helmed by prolific composer Antti Vauhkonen. Their last album, Puna, recorded in bedrooms, studios and other salubrious locations around Helsinki during 2022, is a mix of lo-fi spiritual jazz, experimental, and avant-garde music forms. It includes four vocal tracks recorded with Merikukka Kiviharju, which feature both original lyrics and those sourced from traditional Finnish folk songs. Vauhkonen first attracted attention as saxophonist in the gr…

"Here, then, are three men who have, if you will, won the argument already. They don’t need excess volume or headline soloing to get their message across. Their message is inscribed in elegant lower-case and rarely used aural fonts. You will find yourself leaning forward because not a note or whisper should be missed ..." - Brian Morton

Temporary Super Offer! The music on this CD is an impressive document of such a search for meaning and artistic legitimacy. It doesn’t want to add something even louder to the supposedly spectacular. On the contrary: Here, it is about the subtle intimacy and emotionality of human relationships, about breathing as one. It is about being interested in each other beyond ever new superlatives. This is where the unobtrusive authenticity of this music comes from, what makes it special and thoughtful. …

"Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam is a piece in two movements for alto saxophone, upright bass, and drum set. Each movement was transmuted from a two-part poem of the same name, which was first drafted on a bus to my home of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The pang to return to where nature is abundant wasn't something I expected would be so strong when I moved to New York, but Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam is a product of those emotions. Written with my dear friends Mathias Jensen and Eliza Salem in mind, I knew I…