Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Chicago-based saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark was invited to arrange a set of seventies music for a concert in 2019, and among the pieces he chose were tracks by funk legends Parliament and post-punk iconoclasts DNA. On this 12-inch 45rpm EP, Vandermark's band Marker presents a unique take on "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples," drawn from Parliament's 1975 LP Mothership Connection, and DNA's "Egomaniac's Kiss," which first appeared on the classic 1978 Brian Eno-produced collection No …

'During the first lockdown of the Covid era in spring 2020 my creative fire was still burning. All concerts were cancelled, but I still wanted to play and improvise. That's were the idea for long-distance improvisation came up. I sent emails to some of my friends and other musicians who I admired and hoped that they might be interested in doing such a project. I'm really happy that some of the best improvisers in Europe were happy to participate in this project. I'm such a fan of all these playe…

*2022 stock* Exact repro, originally released in 1978. One of the hippest, tightest sessions ever recorded by drummer Sunny Murray – a large group set recorded with his Untouchable Factor group – a great ensemble that includes Frank Foster on soprano sax, Oliver Lake and Arthur Blythe on alto saxes, Hamiet Bluiett on baritone, Don Pullen on piano, and Cecil McBee and Fred Hopkins on bass! The sound is somewhat straighter than Murray's free jazz of a few years before – almost in the mode that Fos…

Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings.

Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.

*2023 stock. Blue Transluscent Vinyl* 'Every morning, about an hour before sunrise, the day breaks gradually, with little noticeable fanfare. It’s the best time of day outdoors. The nighttime goblins have gone to their hiding places, loud day creatures have yet to rise, and it’s just us with the cool morning mist and that dim kind of landscape that lets us see only what we want to see.When Water Babies was recorded in 1967 and 1968, Miles Davis had with him one his best working units. His and Wa…

Gideon Nxumalo was a key figure during the formative years of South African jazz in the 1950s, helping shape the emerging South African jazz sound as a pianist and composer and contributing to the scene as a radio presenter, music teacher and arranger. His recorded output as bandleader/composer is comprised of three iconic albums from Jazz Fantasia (1962) to Gideon Plays (1968) to Early-Mart (1970). Early-Mart was Gideon Nxumalo's tribute to his friend and musical compatriot, drummer Early Mabuz…

'A lost bit of jazz funk from the 70s! This set is a lot more obscure – issued on the short-lived Encounter imprint, who gave us a handful of albums – all of them great! Sir Edward, we've been told, is really Harold Vick (although we've also heard that it might be Edward "Sonny" Stitt) – although we're not sure, and the album cover never gives a clear picture of Sir Edward's face. It does show the other players, though, like bassist Wilbur Bascomb, vibist Omar Clay, percussionist Jumma Santos, a…

A live (first class quality) recording of the duo from 2002 - from the personal archives of Tony Oxley.

When I proposed this trio it was intentional to create an instrumentation which closely matched that of the classic Leo Smith Trio of the 1970s – a line up which allows space and fire to co-exist. Of course, the fact that Martin Pyne doubles on both vibraphone and drums gives us a few extra sonic possibilities, and these have all been exploited by the suite of 12 compositions which the 3 of us have created together. While my own music output veers off into a wide range of bands and territories, …

Mycorrhiza is the term describing the symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and a plants root system. The fungi forms networks between the trees, allowing them to communicate. Often nicknamed the ‘wood wide web’, the network allows trees to send each other nutrients and warn each other about predators such as bugs, deer, or harmful pathogens. This album is inspired by natural systems like this and is concerned about the human impact and the corruption surrounding it. The album flows l…

"Talk about your dynamic duos. Drummer/bassist Tony Bianco and violinist/violaist Faith Brackenbury have pooled their talents to come up with one of the best such meetings in recent memory." - Darren Bergstein, DMG NYC A no holds barred free jazz duo equally balancing fire / momentum with space / texture. Faith – “Everything is first takes and no edits, and so captures some raw feelings. It feels to me that all my learning and training, and unlearning and exploration has come to this point in a …

Recorded by Maxim Khaikin at Dom Cultural Center, Moscow, on November 6th 2017

This 1983 recording, originally issued on Sackville LP, features jazz trumpeter Joe McPhee with the Bill Smith Ensemble.      ” …a stimulating set of avant-garde music. The interplay between these masterful improvisors on group originals and Albert Ayler’s classic ‘Ghosts’ is consistently impressive and worthy of a close investigation by the more open-eared segment of the jazz audience.” — Scott Yanow, Allmusic       “Vistation breathes as if it were music that was recorded yesterday. Joe McPhee…

"This giddy avant pop affair is rather more avant than pop, with a large backing band of musicians steeped in the stylings of early 1970s psychedelia, mutant prog, free jazz saxophone solos, slinky blues (particularly on “Red White And Blue”) and moody spy soundtracks in the vein of John Barry’s score for 1965’s The Ipcress File. “Last Exit To Lublin” has a spoken word interlude in which the Cold War language of such films is remapped for the era of Brexit: “Papers, please/How long have you been…

Orfeo 5 formed in 2002 out of a series of text/music projects curated by The Word Hoard artists’ co-op. They’ve composed and toured a number of commissions in different line-ups, and released two CDs, a year on the ice from The Word Hoard in 2009, and in the green castle from Discus in 2017. The core of the group’s sound comes from longstanding members Shaun Blezard on electronics and Keith Jafrate on saxophones, with other players from an extended family of musicians and poets joining them from…

This duo, and the resulting album developed out of conversations between Robert and Shirley whilst working on Robert’s Invocation project in 2014. Their discussions explored the varied paths of their respective backgrounds, and different relationships of all aspects of those musical paths to improvisation. Both have a shared classical training, in which the absence of an improvisation became both a frustration and source of inspiration. Part of the story of this album lies in their different for…

Anthropods is the new band from American drummer and composer, Mark Holub. Holub, known mainly as bandleader of the acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated Led Bib has with ‘Anthropods’ created his first project as a leader since starting Led Bib in 2003. While some of Holub’s trademark Led Bib style is evident here, the album is full of contrasts, from pastoral beauty to dense free improvisation to heavy grooves, showcasing sides of Holub’s work well beyond his work with Led Bib. Holub has been b…

"This giddy avant pop affair is rather more avant than pop, with a large backing band of musicians steeped in the stylings of early 1970s psychedelia, mutant prog, free jazz saxophone solos, slinky blues (particularly on “Red White And Blue”) and moody spy soundtracks in the vein of John Barry’s score for 1965’s The Ipcress File. “Last Exit To Lublin” has a spoken word interlude in which the Cold War language of such films is remapped for the era of Brexit: “Papers, please/How long have you been…

"These inspired duets sound so unforced and unconstrained that they blow fresh life into that well-worn image. From the outset, two quite distinct pianists establish common ground, where they interweave and spring surprises. It's wonderfully fertile ground too. Strings of scintillating moments bound seamlessly into musical mesh, now mysteriously chromatic, now alluringly melodic, fractiously dissonant, propulsive or ethereal. Tippett's speaking voice, heard fleetingly, suggests a degree of physi…

Temporary Super Offer! 'Was there more than one Miles Davis? Could he be both the Prince of Darkness and the purveyor of cool? A drug addict and an athletic boxer? A hip bebopper and a protohippie? A flamboyant dresser and a shy vulnerable soul? A brutal misogynist and an insecure romantic? The answer is yes, and yes. Miles Davis was both a creator and a destroyer. His chameleon-like nature can be explained by the times in which he lived and created his art. These live recordings in Stockholm, S…

Temporary Super Offer! These sessions were recorded exactly two years apart, in early November 1966 and 1968 (both were released in 1969). While they can’t be called “bookends” by any means, they do bracket a remarkable period in Don Cherry’s musical evolution, on his journey from the more strictly jazz environments, as adventurous as they were, of Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and others, to a philosophy that embraced many non-Western traditions. While these included various African forms, espe…

Recorded live may 03 2018 at Porgy&Bess, Vienna recorded by Wolfgang Racher & Gerald Domjan mixed and mastered by Martin Siewert released March 14, 2022 Konrad Bauer - trombone Georg Graewe - piano John Lindberg - double bass

Grey-area LP reissue, exact replica of the original * ldris Muhammad's legendary first album for Prestige, a great synthesis of the disparate elements that went into the era's Spiritual Jazz, Grooves, Soul and Free Experimentation and an indication of the many changes that were to occur in Black Music generally over the immediate years following the end of the 1960s.   "Parts of the second solo album by Prestige Records' house drummer, Idris Muhammad, are an even poppier affair than Black Rhythm…

*2022 stock. Hardcover edition* This is the republication of a book first published in 1973, and as such—and without the benefit of rose-tinted nostalgia—it offers a snapshot of a British jazz scene that was extraordinarily vibrant and diverse. Trumpeter, bandleader and author Ian Carr was ideally placed to chronicle the events and personalities of the era, and his story reveals a scene that was creative despite, rather than because of, the artistic establishment of the day. Discussion of that b…

"As the bassist for the Matthew Shipp Trio for some dozen years, Michael Bisio has still made time to initiate a cornucopia of side projects, all distinct, all persuasive and all showcasing the deep and wide artistry of Bisio. But now, his side roads have led him back to the heart of his best-known gig. The just-released Flow of Everything centers on the bass-piano symmetry of the Matthew Shipp Trio. This isn't the first time Bisio has made a duo record with Shipp, but it's been nearly a decade.…

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Live At The Sunset by Other Dimensions In Music (Roy Campbell trumpet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, recorder & double flageolet, Daniel Carter alto saxophone, flute, trumpet & voice, William Parker double bass & musette & Hamid Drake drums & skin drum).Recorded in Paris at the Sunset on October 17th & 18th, 2006

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Wha's Nine by Trio 3 (Oliver Lake alto saxophone, Reggie Workman doublebass & Andrew Cyrille drums). Recorded in Paris on October 28th 2007, live at the Sunset.

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Hors Pistes by Laurent Geniez (alto & soprano saxophones, effects, machines, synthesizer, children's toys, washing machine pipes, guitar, electric bass, percussion, tins, various objects & vocals), Paco el Lobo (vocals, guitar & hand clapping) & Octave Z (trumpet, keyboards, programming & decks. Recorded between 2005 & 2007 at studio Z, and at l'Auditorium in Paris

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Shape by Alexandra Grimal (tenor & soprano saxophones ), Antonin Rayon (Hammond & Clavinet) & Emmanuel Scarpa (drums) . Recorded on June 30th 2008 at the Sunset, Paris. Digipak.

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents A Night In Paris / Live at the Sunset by FAB Trio (Joe Fonda doublebass, Barry Altschul drums & Billy Bang violin). Recorded on April 19th 2008 at The Sunset, Paris.   Recorded live in Paris at the Sunside on July 22nd, 2006. ℗ & © 2006 Terronès

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Existences by Trio Passeurs (Véronique Magdelenat alto and soprano sax, Bernard Santacruz doublebass & Christian Rollet drums). Recorded live 15th november 2008 at l'AJMI - La Manutention in Avignon (France)

Martin Archer and John Jasnoch have a musical relationship which goes all the way back to the early 1980s when they were both a part of jazz-punk pell mellers Bass Tone Trap. Over the subsequent years they have played and recorded together occasionally, previously as ASK, and now as this no frills improvised music duo which allows both musicians to utilise the full range of their respective instrumentation. This new work was recorded in the same place at the same time, one day in July 2021. The …

The extraordinary, powerful and characterful French singer Carla Diratz (described by none other than Robert Wyatt as "the soulful Ms Diratz") collaborates here with composers Martin Archer and Nick Robinson to deliver an extremely diverse set which runs from out and out prog through avant-rock to improv, electronic collage and modernist chanson - "Improg" is the name we've given to this mixed up school of music. Lyrics sung in English, French and Italian ultimately present a very personal view …

I have wanted to make a trio recording – that simplest and yet most demanding configuration for any saxophone player – for many years, but had been unable to decide who the other players should be. It was only when I heard Michael’s solo work that I realised that his approach to the bass, combined with Walt’s textural playing, would make the foundation which I was looking for. I wanted a trio sound where the saxophone could inhabit the music from within - as opposed to riding upfront in the role…

TAO Forms is rather stoked to present this astonishing new work from the fertile creative mind of tenor saxophonist–composer James Brandon Lewis. Performed by the Red Lily Quintet, an exceptional & singular inter-generational ensemble, this album speaks to the forever-evolving continuum of the jazz tradition.

** 2022 much needed repress ** Milestone! Recorded in 1972 at the legendary Landsdowne Studios in London, Cosmic Eye is an extraordinary piece of recorded music. Led by Indian born guitarist Amancio D’Silva, Cosmic Eye was a highly innovative studio experiment in which ‘Jazz Meets World’. Following in the footsteps of other pioneering Landsdowne jazz recordings such as Joe Harriott & John Mayer’s Indo Jazz sessions, Cosmic Eye is modal, but is also under-pinned with traditional Indian instrument…

Pharoah Sanders, live at the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins on July 21, 1968. Experimental jazz titan Pharoah Sanders made a lasting impact with his unorthodox approach to tenor saxophone. Born Farrell Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1940, he was given the nickname Pharoah by grandmother, in reference to the potential regal lineage of his African heritage. Playing clarinet at church services during his youth, he began playing tenor sax at high school. In 1959 he moved to Oakland, Cal…

** 2022 repress ** Available on vinyl for the first time in 40 years, Outernational Sounds proudly presents a crucial document from the Los Angeles jazz underground - the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra at their most together, stretching out on home turf in 1979, with the legendary Horace Tapscott at the helm. Horace Tapscott is one of the unsung giants of jazz music. A gifted composer and arranger, a boldly original pianist, and above all a visionary bandleader, Tapscott’s recorded footprint is sm…

** 2022 Repress ** Outernational Sounds presents a cornerstone document from the Los Angeles jazz underground, Flight 17 -- the first appearance on record of the legendary Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, led by their founder and mastermind, Horace Tapscott. Available on vinyl for the first time in 40 years. The Arkestra would allow the creativity in the community to come together, would allow people to recognize each other as one people. Horace Tapscott's Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (P.A.P.A.) wa…