Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Limited edition of 200 copies.* "In statistics, a ‘spurious correlation’ is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen, factor. Spurious correlations look like causal relationships in both their statistical measures and in graphs, but they're not real."

4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter", the companion piece to Solos, is the sonic result of a collaboration with artist Lawrence Weiner. As Landry remembers, “I was working for Keith Sonnier at Castelli Gallery and met Lawrence. He asked ‘can you make a video for me?’ So we did "To and Fro..." At some point he was working on "A First Quarter" (1973) and wanted me to do the music. I said ‘I already have the music.’ He said ‘what do you mean?’ I had recorded several pieces with Kurt Munkcasi and walk…

On February 19, 1972, a crew of mostly Louisiana-raised musicians came together at the Leo Castelli Gallery on West Broadway in Soho to perform a wholly improvised concert. This ensemble’s solos spring from collective improvisations and a tumultuous backbeat, loosely inspired by the creations of Coltrane, Coleman, Albert Ayler, and their brethren. The de facto leader was Richard “Dickie” Landry, a saxophonist and keyboardist who joined composer Philip Glass’s group in 1969. Landry had become a f…

Tip!   Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene.  After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam open…

*the LP and 2CD contain different material.* First physical solo release from legendary vocal improvisor, dancer, and performer Maggie Nicols, and the follow up to Creative Contradiction (Takuroku 2020). While she might be best known as an improviser (most notably in Spontaneous Music Ensemble, the Feminist Improvising Group and more recently with the likes of Les Diaboliques, Maggie Nicols’ talents stretch into song, dance, poetry, performance and composition. When Cafe OTO was shut over lockdo…

First physical solo release from legendary vocal improvisor, dancer, and performer Maggie Nicols, and the follow up to Creative Contradiction (Takuroku 2020). While she might be best known as an improviser (most notably in Spontaneous Music Ensemble, the Feminist Improvising Group and more recently with the likes of Les Diaboliques, Maggie Nicols’ talents stretch into song, dance, poetry, performance and composition. When Cafe OTO was shut over lockdown we invited her to follow up the wonderful …

Masahiko Togashi was a pivotal figure in the development of the Japanese free jazz scene in late 60s. Percussionist and composer, he lost the use of the legs in an accident which nevertheless didn’t not prevent him from continuing an astonishing career that includes long and established collaborations with figures of the likes of Steve Lacy, Charlie Haden, Mal Waldron and Paul Bley. This session, recorded in Paris at the Ramèse Studio Du Village in 1979, sees an explosive collaboration by the t…

* 2022 Repress. Wow! * Pianist Imada Masaru was 42 years old when he recorded this album in 1975. His adventurous spirit led him to use the electric piano for the first time in a recording, and thanks to his musicianship, he made it sound like he'd been playing the instrument for years. The program opens with the title track, a sophisticated urban funk. Guitarist Kazumi Watanabe plays a big role here. It is followed by a more intricate, fusion-like "Straight Flash." The all-original-composition …

*Limited edition of 250 copies.* Were We Where We Were is a recording of set of compositions by Michael Formanek, and performed here by him, saxophonist and clarinetist Chet Doxas, and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza, collectively as the Michael Formanek Drome Trio. These pieces were loosely grouped together as Palindrome Series 1 and Palindrome Series 2, from 2020. They started out as a series graphic scores that were then reinterpreted as conventionally notated music for this trio. The Drome trio lea…

William Parker’s Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, this Universal Tonality happening took place in December 2002. Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds – to j…

*In process of stocking.* The exemplary & well-traveled cornetist Kirk Knuffke here introduces a bold new trio – with bassist Michael Bisio & pianist Matthew Shipp – on an intimate & expansive double album. Gravity Without Airs features the three world-class musicians on both Knuffke compositions and in open form, together creating a tour-de-force of poetry and verve. “Rhythmically precise, New Orleans funky and full of grace, Kirk Knuffke’s music is a reflection of his multifaceted personality:…

Temporary Super Offer! Thelonious Monk devised a new theoretical basis for his compositional aesthetic, an unorthodox, deconstructed and reinvented pianistic approach that defined his music’s unique rhythmic and melodic parameters. The piano was the vehicle of expression for his compositional mindset. - Art Lange

Point of Departure was an inflection point in Hill’s output for Blue Note, his penchant for formal complexity and compacted materials – which he revisited beginning in 1969 with a nonet date, tracks with a string quartet-augmented ensemble, and an album with voices – giving way to what proved to be a short-lived foray into the minimally scored pieces that distinguished Compulsion!!!!!. The two recording sessions were separated by only eighteen months, but they were among the most convulsive in j…

* 200 copies.* The final chapter of Giovanni Di Domenico's mind-expanding trilogy arrives with the force of a philosophical manifesto encoded in sound! After The Ear Cannot Be Filled With Hearing (2017) and Reflection Is Circular (2019), Wesen completes this remarkable journey through funk music filtered through German existentialist philosophy and Gestalt psychology. This is deep, layered, uncompromising music that demands your full attention! Recorded between 2019-2021 in The Nest Cellar, Brus…

*In process of stocking.* If one was to interpret the whole output of EABS in general, an inquisitive listener would notice that each subsequent album stems from the previous one. The overtones are similar and they can be treated as variations on the same theme. The only thing that changes is the background of the story. It is all about life and death, the beginning and the end of the world, and the role of human beings entangled in all this existentially. Following the futurism lessons from Sun…

When internally the plan came up to release a bunch of vinyl singles for Unrock's 30th anniversary as an entity, Richard just like his brother Alan, the other keyholder of Sun City Girls legacy was among the first to take a deep look into his archives. Out came two shining pearls from different periods of his long career. "Taqasim For Omar (acoustic)" was recorded in Seattle in 2008. It was recorded before the Sir changed his mind and recorded the track with an all-electric band again for his Th…

If you ever witnessed an Alvarius B. show you are probably aware that there are a few things only in underground music matching this level. If you haven't, don't miss him when he's coming close next. Karaoke shows one of the many characters you could explore during his shows. As his brother Richard, the other keyholder of Sun City Girls legacy, Alan Bishop played a lot of shows not only under the Alvarius B. moniker on various Unrock stages through the years. "Solo Nostalgia" (E. Morricone) and …

*Limited edition of 500 copies* Drummer and composer Edward Vesala, the most internationally renowned jazz musician from Finland, was very keen on percussion instruments. Oddly enough, this broad and enduring interest is hardly evident on his albums.Whether playing on his own albums or contributing to other musicians’ work, Vesala played a standard drum kit most of the time. He hardly used external percussionists on his own albums either. And most of all: his music was almost never percussive, a…

The grand old man of Finnish Jazz, Eero Koivistoinen, has not kept still in his old age. Far from it, he's played with rappers from the younger generation, Argentinian tango singers, you name it. The Eero Koivistoinen Quartet, onto its 10th year in existence, is his outlet for what he knows by heart like no one else - cool quartet jazz in which Eero is aided by younger luminaries from the scene. Alexi Tuomarila is on the grand piano, Jori Huhtala on bass and Jussi Lehtonen on drums.  Diversity p…

Originally released in 1991 this was Henry Threadgil's new band's debut release. That's where Threadgill introduced the unique concept of dual tubas and dual electric guitars. In Very Very Circus's ultra-layered sound world all roles melt equally into an unprecedented sound experience. A big step forward in modern jazz from one of the greatest composers of our time. Henry Threadgill - alto saxophone, flute, Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, Brandon Ross - electric guitar, Marcus Rojas, Edwin Rodriguez …

Tip! Despite the title of the album, it is the Tullio De Piscopo's third work, recorded in 1976. Comprising nine tracks in total across its two sides, “Vol. 2” falls somewhere between fusion and prog, straddling darker, brooding temperaments with joyous, funky lines. Predictably, as is nearly the case with music of this sort, the playing and artistry is top-notch, the band locked together with remarkable precision, but the journey that “Vol. 2” takes is far from expected. Interspersed throughout…

* 2022 stock, few copies available * Recorded at Lila Eule, Bremen, Germany, November 1965. Published as a part of Stop Smiling, Issue 34 (2008) Peter Brötzmann, alto saxophoneHorst Prehn, alto saxophonePeter Kowald, bassGerd Panzer, drums

Tip! There’s not another album on the planet that sounds even remotely like vibraphonist Khan Jamal’s eccentric, one-of-a-kind masterpiece, Drum Dance To The Motherland. Thirty years after its release, the album’s tapestry of sound, fearless abstractions, relentless grooves, cool swing, flashes of ecstasy, & pan cultural embrace remain powerful & beyond category. One of only three albums released on the Philadelphia-based Dogtown label, it was barely distributed beyond the city’s limits when it …

Uusi Aika is a fresh new ensemble from Finland. Their self-titled debut album will be released by We Jazz Records. The band's music could be described as introspective and meditative, but that's only a part of the story. The instrumentation is acoustic and their sound organic to the bone, but the music's slowly unfolding character brings to mind some deep abstract electronic music or experimental dub explorations at times. That is, there's power just under the surface, just beautifully out of fo…

Its an honor for the AFJ-Series to introduce the self-titled debut album by Danish Oslo resident Signe Emmeluth. Recorded at Flerbruket, in the forest an hour outside of Oslo - Emmeluth alone in a room with her alto and tenor saxophones. A fantastic session of sax solo ecstasies recorded by Magnus Hemnes Nergård. Much like Joe McPhee's Tenor and Peter Brötzmann's 14 Love Songs, this album share the same beautiful intimacy. It is close, sparse, poetic and raw at the same time. Minimalist and soul…

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Originally released in 1953 on Charles Mingus's own "Debut" label, this is Paul Bley's historical debut album. Here the young talented and technically strong pianist appears as leader of a super-trio with nothing but Mingus himself on bass and Art Blakey on drums. This is a beautifully varied set including both  renditions of classic standards such as "I can't get Started", and Bley's early originals like "Opus 1" and "Spontaneous Combustion" This is where you ca…

We Jazz Records kicks off their new series of archival 7" releases with Esa Pethman "In Belgium 1967" released 23 September 2022. The two-tracker is licensed from the Belgian VRT radio archives and both of the pieces are previously unreleased. Finnish jazz legend Pethman, heard here on alto flute and tenor sax, joins forces with European jazz greats such as Heinz Bigler, Uffe Karskov and Jean Fanis. This is a small but valuable piece of unheard European jazz history from the early heyday of mode…

Famed house band at Ronnie Scott’s the legendary London jazz hub through the ages. Inspired by Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath who were tearing up the scene in ’68, Mike Westbrook’s big band, also starring John Surman, Mike Osborne, Nisar Ahmed Khan, Malcolm Griffiths and more, took the opportunity of the jam sessions to become one of the greatest UK jazz bands of all time.

Originally released on Deram in 1967, 'Celebration' is one of the most important albums of the 1960s British progressive and avant-garde Jazz scene. The Mike Westbrook Concert Band included some of the UKs most important jazz figures of the time, including John Surman, Mike Osborne, and Harry Miller. These recordings, culled from two days of studio work, are equal parts swinging and experimental, boundary pushing and accessible. Original copies on Deram now fetch a hefty sum, thankfully the folk…

* Edition of 300 copies * This latest instalment from NoBusiness Records collaboration with the Japanese Chap Chap label under the name of Yuji Takahashi with Sabu Toyozumi constitutes a real find. A wonderfully mystic vernal episode of free improv music recorded in Tokyo, 1998. Piano and percussion album of the highest beauty, interactive on a telepathic level and execution. Yuji Takahashi is a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. In Japan he was by then already well established as leadin…

300 copies. Mototeru Takagi (tenor saxophone) Kim Dae Hwan (percussion) Choi Sun Bae (trumpet). NoBusiness Records in cooperation with Japanese Chap-Chap Records has started a series of releases of unreleased concerts that took place in Japan in the 90s. Concerts were organised by big fans of free jazz and improvised music Takeo Suetomi and Sadamu Hisada. The idea of the series of the concerts was to arrange and record cooperative projects of American-European musicians with Asian musicians, as …

300 copies. Recorded on 11th April, 2007 at Park West Studio by Jim Clouse. The Ullmann/Swell Quartet is the latest format of Gebhard Ullmann and Steve Swell with bassist Hill Greene and legendary drummer Barry Altschul. This emotional and intense quartet was founded in 2004 and toured in the U.S. and Canada in the same year. in October and November of 2006 the Ullmann/Swell 4 performed in Europe for the first time and got raving reviews. More tours in the U.S. and Canada followed 2007 and 2008.…

Following up their 2019 album 'Summer Bummer', the trio of Rodrigo Amado on tenor saxophone, Goncalo Almeida on double bass, and Onno Govaert on drums are heard in this concert, recorded by Joaquim Monte at Namouche Studios, Lisbon, January 12th, 2020  in a solid set of confidently exploratory improvisation and engrossing group dialog balancing pensive reflection and fire.

Available officially for the first time, Revelations includes two hours of never-before-heard Albert Ayler recordings presented for the first time chronologically. Featuring some of the last recordings Ayler made before his passing in 1970. This is a major event in the music world, released in collaboration with INA France and the Maeght Foundation.  The 4 CDs are published in collaboration with Albert Ayler Estate & Ina France. This edition includes a huge 100-page booklet with unpublished phot…

Recorded 9-17-2020 by Jim Clouse at Park West Studio in Brooklyn NY. Kirk Knuffke is one of the most distinctive improvising cornetists working today, becoming a force on the New York scene with his boundless creative virtuosity and comprehensive understanding of the jazz tradition. As a bandleader, Knuffke’s projects include a longstanding quartet with trombonist Brian Drye, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Jeff Davis, and co-leading Sifter with guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Matt Wilson. …

Allium is the second recording by this chamber trio, a follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2018 release Ithra. On that record they made a singularly powerful statement delving into non-soloistic group interaction and compositional development in a free-improvised context. Allium ventures even further down that fertile path. In fact it’s frankly difficult to believe these pieces weren’t pre-composed and rehearsed at length. The beginnings, endings, development, and structure of each one demon…

An intimate solo set by Portuguese tenor saxophon player Rodrigo Amado, recorded at the Church of The Holy Ghost (Igreja do Espírito Santo), Caldas da Rainha (Portugal) on 4th July 2021. Amado is a key player of the current European jazz scene and has regular bandprojects with Joe McPhee, Chris Corsano, Hernani Faustino, Alexander Schlippenbach and leads his own groups Lisbon Freedom Unitand Motion Trio. "The lockdown meant focusing on a different kind of dialogue, a conversation with the tenor …

*2022 stock* "Ketil Bjørnstad´s credentials are so vast, it´s impossible to fit them all on a one-sheet. Born in Oslo in 1952, he soon became a prodigy, leaving primary school to study piano in Oslo, London and Paris. He made his debut at 16, playing Bartok´s Piano Concert nr. 3 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. But soon other pathways beckoned, discovering Miles Davis´s “In a Silent Way” and meeting poets, painters and jazz musicians around the creative music spot “Club 7” in Oslo. Amongst …

*2022 stock* 'From the early years of Norwegian jazz, few albums have stood the test of time as well as the venturesome and subtly psychedelic Plastic Sun. It was the Svein Finnerud's second disc, and was released on Sonet in 1970. Inexplicably for an album of such beauty, it has been a hard-to-find collector's item for decades, having only been reissued once before, in 1998, as a CD on the Norwegian Jazz Federation's Odin label. In April 2018, Odin have reissued it again, this time on CD and in…

*2022 stock* Plastic Strip Press presents the complete released works of the Norwegian avant-garde jazz pioneers Svein Finnerud Trio. After the critically acclaimed CD Preachers, containing the unreleased works of the trio, the label started the project to document the trios output throughout 31 years on different obscure labels and limited edition prints that is impossible to buy. Svein Finnerud Trio have achieved a cult following amongst musicians in Norway and are regarded as one of the most …