Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

* 2022 stock * Sunny Murray's Aigu-Grave, a nominal quintet date with percussionist Pablo Sauvage appearing on two of the five tracks; the rest of the group features French tenor saxophonist Richard Raux, Bobby Few and Alan Silva. Its two leading tracks, “Happiness Tears” and “Tree Tops,” are memorable Murray compositions which are given free and satisfying treatments. The theme of “Happiness Tears” searches through some minor intervals before resolving in a cheerful major chord. “Tree Tops” is …

Tip! * 2022 stock * This 1979 date by tenor saxophonist Billy Harper is one of his most transcendent. Rife with his deep study of Coltrane's modalism, and his own deep knowledge of the blues and Eastern music, Harper and his quintet take on three extended pieces: "Soran Bushi-B.H." comes in at over 12 minutes, while "Cry Of Hunger," is over 20; both work out of extended harmonic architectures to place improvisation as a new element (remember, this was 1979), as an extension of the jazz "song." T…

* 2022 stock * This new trio proposes a gritty and daring jazz, around the melancholy and the evil of homo urbanus... The singer Caroline Faber, known for her rhythmic energy and her contagious good mood (with DeNduM, BA-YA), explores here a blues space: She interprets her texts "written from the tip of her soul" (Pierre Gros, Culture Jazz) on compositions by Richard Bonnet (recently acclaimed for his work with Hasse Poulsen and Tony Mallaby) or great classics borrowed from Afro-American music. …

* 2022 stock * Jade is an ambitious blend of jazz, abstract improvisation, and classical sacred music. Recorded at the Organ Studio at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, the album features sax and trombone echoing regally against a backdrop of honest-to-goodness choral hymns, performed by a church organ and the 10-woman Volcanic Choir, led by mezzo-soprano Maria Forsström. In slow movements, as if to cherish the sounds and moods being created, the album blends its influences beautifully, conveyi…

* 2022 stock * Futura Records presents On the New Jersey Road: Dany Doriz (vibraphone), Philippe Duchemin (piano) & Patricia Lebeugle (contrebasse) – Invité sur trois titres : Enrico Granafei (harmonica) Paterson (New Jersey – USA) Recorded on 26th and 27th september 2005 at Bioya Recording Studios, Paterson (New Jersey - USA)

* 2022 stock * Futura Records presents Autumn Leaves: Ben Webster (saxophone ténor), Georges Arvanitas (piano), Jacky Samson (contrebasse) & Charles Saudrais (drums)  Recorded 5th june 1972 at studio Europasonor, Paris

* 2022 stock * This recording of a 1971 date pairs legendary hard bop pianist Freddie Redd with an obscure French rhythm section. Didier Levallet and Didier Carlier on bass and drums, respectively, are certainly good musicians; they comp and center very well around the changes Redd sets out in his original tunes such as "Diane I Love You," "Bleeker Street Blues," "To Bud With Love," "This Heart of Mine," "You," and "My God Is Love." Their backing is tight and organized, and that's the problem. R…

* 2022 stock * Recorded in Paris during a prime period, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon jams on four basic group originals, including his own "Fried Bananas" and "Dexter Leaps Out." The medium- to uptempo numbers clock in between 9½ and 12 minutes apiece, giving Dexter, trumpeter Sonny Grey and the French rhythm section (pianist Georges Arvanitas, bassist Jacki Samson and drummer Charles Saudrais) plenty of opportunities to stretch out. A fine jam session that was decently recorded.

* 2022 stock * Futura Records presents Live Again: Georges Arvanitas (piano & piano électrique), Jacky Samson (contrebasse) & Charles Saudrais (drums). Recorded on 13th jan 1973 in Levallois (France) Contrabass – Jacky Samson Drums – Charles Saudrais Engineer – Christian Boulnois Mixed By – Jef Gilson Piano, Electric Piano, Liner Notes – Georges Arvanitas Producer – Gérard Terronès

Futura Records presents For (and More): Daniel Beaussier & Manu Pékar with Jean-Lou Descamps & Pierre Marcault.Daniel Beaussier (saxophones, hautbois, cor anglais, clarinette, clarinette basse, flûtes en ut & sol), Manu Pékar (guitares), Jean-Lou Descamps (violon & objets sonores) & Pierre Marcault (percussion).Recorded 10th jan, 2nd jul & 20th nov 2016 at studio EDIM, Cachan (France).

* 2022 stock * Futura Records presents Chris meets Paris meets Chris : Chris Woods (saxophone alto & flûte), Georges Arvanitas (piano), Jacky Samson (contrebasse) & Charles Saudrais (batterie) Recorded on 24th octobre 1973 at Bilboquet, Paris. Crédits Alto Saxophone, Flute – Chris Woods Bass – Jacky Samson Coordinator – Marianne Fernel Cover [Drawing], Design – Pierre Delgado Drums – Charles Saudrais Edited By, Mastered By – Alexis Frenkel Engineer – Jef Gilson Photography By – Christian Fauchar…

* 2022 stock * Paris, February 1972. A few months after having released Le Massacre du Printemps, Jef Gilson was back behind his keyboards for a completely different experience. Heading up his Unit, he was joined by Sahib Shihab, ex- partner to Gillespie, Monk and Coltrane, for a brief stroll in the desert. For three-quarters of an hour, the caravan passes by, evoking, one after the other, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, Pierre Henry and Karlheinz Stockhausen... Oh yes, and one other thing, …

* 2022 stock * In 1971, the day after the death of Igor Stravinsky, Jef Gilson and his Unit (Pierre Moret and Jean-Claude Pourtier) made this curious homage to classical music. It is jazz, contemporary and electroacoustic music that the trio interrogate through a wild ‘noise’ session evoking as much John Cage as Pierre Henry, John Coltrane as the Percussions de Strasbourg, the Art Ensemble of Chicago as the Tacet by Jean Guérin. Le Massacre du Printemps, (the Massacre of Spring) is a strange kin…

Joachim Kühn (piano & piano électrique). Solos, vol. 2 (Inédit). Recorded 19th march 1971 at studio Europasonor Paris.

*2022 stock* Futura Records presents Jaki Byard Trio's Live at the Jazz'inn. Jaki Byard (piano & saxophone alto), Gus Nemeth (contrebasse) & Jean-My Truong (batterie), invited on a title: Gerald Byard (batterie / drums). More two unpublished titles with Siegfried Kessler on piano, and Jaki Byard on alto saxophone. Recorded live on July 26th 1971 in Paris. Digipak.

*2022 stock* Futura Records presents Dizzy Reece quintet's From in to out. Dizzy Reece (trompette), John Gilmore (saxophone ténor), Siegfried Kessler (piano), Patrice Caratini (contrebasse) & Art Taylor (batterie)  Recorded on 23th octobre 1970 at la Salle des fêtes de Créteil (France)

Bass solo by Barre Phillips recorded out of a 3 hour session in St James Norlands church, London 30 nov 1968.

*2022 stock* French avant-garde pianist François Tuskques's solo work released in 1970 is now available on CD for the first time with additional bonus tracks. This is a high quality work that c an be said to be the flowering of his creative and original sound world, which he has penetrated through repeated trial and error in various styles, further sharpened in the form of home recording and solo.

*2022 stock* Pianist Mal Waldron first ever live album has been released in 1970 on tiny French Futura label. It contains four longish (each - over ten minute long)compositions, recorded in May 1970 at American Cultural Center in Paris. Mal plays in his most comfortable format - trio,two other members are local musicians who will never record with Waldron again. Twenty-four years old bassist Patrice Caratini will play on Kenny Clarke's French-released album " Kenny "To Day"" in 1980 and will col…

*2022 stock* Tip! Michel Portal, a brilliant clarinetist, saxophonist and performer from the world of contemporary classical music, became one of the most important actors of the new European improvised music in the early 1960s.While pursuing a parallel career in classical music, he multiplied his encounters with the most active creators of the new European jazz, as well as with various foreign musicians visiting France. This album, recorded on the Futura label in 1970, was made possible thanks …

Temporary Super Offer! "These Half Note recordings from March 26 and May 7, 1965, two dates from an extended stay at the club, were captured as a radio broadcast. ezz-thetics has re-sequenced the music here to demonstrate Coltrane’s approach to incorporating all his inventions into a performance, while also mapping a future to his music." – Mark Corroto Producers note: "We have re-sequenced these tracks to allow the listener to become part of the development of the music and to follow J…

Temporary Super Offer! "Attempts to dismiss Sun Ra as an “outsider” artist, an eccentric who made strange claims, are always own goals. Of course he was an outsider. That was precisely his point. And not just an outsider. He came from so far away we could not imagine it. But he also came from right inside American culture and was deeply shaped by it. There is perhaps no more representative an American artist of the modern period. If the Saturn V rocket was the symbol one kind of hegemony, govern…

This is the third issue of the new We Jazz Magazine, 128 pages, 174 x 250 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. Stories include Joe Henderson by Daniel Spicer, International Anthem by Tina Edwards, Tokyo Jazz Joints by Philip Arneill, Ben Lamar Gay by Stewart Smith, Smooth Jazz by Francis Gooding, ESP-Disk by Matti Nives, Scottish Folk & Jazz by Gareth Allen, The Lisbon Scene by Rui Miguel Abreu, plus many more. This is a magazine put together by a qu…

Anteloper is the electric brain child of Jaimie Branch (fly or die, high life) and Jason Nazary (little women, helado negro, bear in heaven). Branch and Nazary have been playing together as trumpeter and drummer for years, since meeting at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2002, but in this duo both musicians include synthesizers to push further into the spectral space ship ether. With deep rhythmic passages, telepathic improvisations and effortless melodic negotiations, Anteloper pushes …

"It's a particular thing to hear Jeff play solo. He is an unusually selfless improviser, often times laying out and highlighting the contributions of his band mates. He's never been one to play three notes where none would suffice. On this recording however he is by himself, joined only by his own ideas, looped or frozen, to flesh out the music he's creating in his mind. Hearing him craft entire sound worlds on these eight selections gives us an opportunity to really see how Parker orders sound.…

Tip**Remastered reissue, released in conjunction with the artist**  James Tatum's stunning, spiritualised Contemporary Jazz Mass is one of the only true jazz masses ever released. Inspired by Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts, Tatum's masterwork was recorded on its first ever performance at St Cecilia Church in Detroit, and released on his own private label in 1974. At the time Ellington’s Concerts were quite controversial. Whilst they contained scriptural references they did not follow liturgica…

Includes three albums:   MJJ423CP - Eternal Now (LP, Pink)   MJJ424CB - Brown Rice (LP, Brown)   MJJ425CY - Hear And Now (LP, Yellow)

These three brand new recordings made between 2020-21 were all written specifically for bassist Chris Laurence by his close friend and long-time colleague, the late great jazz trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler. Of the three, Piece for Double Bass and Low Strings and Baroque Piece have never previously been recorded in any form. C-Man first appeared in this form on Kenny’s album ‘Kayak’ but was also rearranged and retitled as Ma Belle Hélène for his album ‘The Widow In The Window’. Whilst Kenn…

Recorded live in London before a studio audience on the 24th August 1961. Previously unissued. By the time this EP is released 60 years will have elapsed since the recordings contained within it were made, and nearly 50 years since the untimely death of pioneering West Indian free jazz altoist Joe Harriott on the 2nd January 1973, aged 42. Only in the very recent past has Harriott started to receive anything approaching the accolades he undoubtedly deserved during his lifetime. For those new to …

A breathtaking self-conscious free-jazz masterwork, 'Rise Vision Comin'' summarizes more than 30 years of musical and theoretical/political expression from renowned activist/scholar/free-jazz pioneer Haki R. Standing on the verge of spiritual jazz aesthetic, his music remains timeless & unforgettable after it's longstanding creation. The first album by the group Rise Vision Comin was released in 1976, and features among others Wallace Roney on trumpet, Clarence Seay on bass and Agyei Akoto on sa…

In 1959, flutist Herbie Mann put together a very interesting band that was in its brief existence (before Mann's interests shifted elsewhere) one of the top in Afro-Cuban jazz. Utilizing four trumpets (including Doc Cheatham), up to three percussionists and a flute-vibes-bass-drums quartet, Mann performs four standards (including "Dearly Beloved," "I'll Remember April" and "Autumn Leaves") and two originals in a style that was beyond bop and much more African- and Cuban-oriented.

Impressive session led jointly by Herbie Mann and John Rae. On side A, the group incessantly shifts from soft vibes-and-flute jazz to percussion-heavy Afro-Cuban rhythms to classic "Blue-Note" hard bop. Side B is the African Suite, a percussive trip across the Sahara.

**Limited Clear Vinyl edition, 300 copies** Recorded live in Bremen - Germany, on 27th September 1966, and originally broadcasted on Nordwestradio, this fine recording captures the young genius of Paul Bley at the head of his trio featuring bassist Mark Levinson and drummer Barry Altschul. A highly interactive piano trio whose peculiar instrumental interplay became a model for generations to come. The music played by Paul Bley with this line up stands as one of the most advanced statements among…

* Gatefold die-cut sleeve, replica of the original on Vertigo * "Essential debut and a defining moment of jazz-rock - this was recorded only a few months later than Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and obviously Ian Carr was very impressed (and a unconditional fan of Miles as he wrote two books about his life on top of other jazz encyclopediae) and he formed this band with amongst other Jenkins, Marshal and the chameleon of rock Chris Spedding after he left psych-blues group Pete Brown's Battered Orna…

Rare CD by this trio comprised of Masayuki Takayanagi (guitar and effects), Peter Kowald (double bass) and Keiki Midorokawa (cello), recorded on April 29, 1983 in Tokyo.

**This version also includes the bonus disc JDR-0011 Endless Final featuring the last recording of Takayanagi** Jinya Disc presents a live concert by New Direction. The album includes the last performance of Action Direct and the last performance of Takayanagi's life. In other words, it is Masayuki Takayanagi's "remaining work".  An astounding force set free upon the world, heaving with life and fire, bound to stop even the most seasoned listener dead in their tracks It’s hard to offer a better …

2026 Re-issue. A cornerstone of postwar Japanese free improvisation, captured before three thousand listeners at the ninth Moers New Jazz Festival on 26 May 1980 and issued later that year as TBM-5023. By this point Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi had spent more than a decade refining his theory of mass projection - a model of collective improvisation in which the ensemble operates not as a sequence of soloists but as a single density field, modulating texture rather than line - and the New Direction…

*2022 stock* Argonne Thornton (who in the late '40s changed his name to Sadik Hakim) had a particularly unusual boppish style in the '40s, playing dissonant lines, using repetition to build suspense, and certainly standing out from the many Bud Powell impressionists. Later in his career his playing became more conventional. Hakim originally studied music with his grandfather and started performing at local gigs in Minnesota. After a period in Chicago, he was heard by Ben Webster, who hired him t…

*300 copies limited edition* Orfeu Da Conceição was originally a stage play in three acts by poet and lyricist Vinicius De Moraes with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Premiered in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. The play put the basis for the classic films Orfeu Negro. Needless to remember that Jobim and De Moraes were two seminal figures in Brazilian music, two modernists whose work was a major influence for generations to come. In fact Orfeu Da Conceição can be considered the beginning of their songwri…

"Tee" in Tee and Company is the nickname of Three Blind Mice's founder and producer Takeshi Fujii, who formed the all-star group of eight top Japanese jazz musicians in 1977 for a series of concerts and seven days of studio recording that produced three separate albums. This supergroup included who's who of the Japanese jazz scene: Kenji Mori and Takao Uematsu on saxophones, Masaru Imada on piano, Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Hideto Kanai on bass, Nobuyoshi Ino on electric bass, Hiroshi Muraka…