Jazz /
The Way Out of Easy
January 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business.
Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band th…
Red Hot Ice
Dunmall continues his run of very special releases on Discus Music. Working with a nine piece group centered around his Birmingham based colleagues, and which includes double keys and electronics, Dunmall delivers a swirling mix of spacey big band music which breaks down into atmospheric and exciting open ended improvisations from time to time. Paul considers this to be a milestone release, and one which is unlike anything else in his extensive discography. Edited and produced with respect, love…
Recording Rites
“For me this music felt like coming home. Or perhaps I should say this feels where I should really be; proud to be associated with it.” - Sam Richards
What Happens Has Become Now
What Happens Has Become Now is Jessica Pavone's fifth solo viola album and her fourth for Relative Pitch Records. Over the past twenty years, Pavone has been developing solo music based on the pitches of the open strings intended to accentuate the natural sympathetic resonances of her particularly loud viola. Over the years, she has incorporated and experimented with electronic effects to give herself a "partner" to play with and more texture to her compositions. This album features a track perf…
Wild Peacock In Transit
SORBD brings together 5 musicians from the European improvised music and free jazz scene who have distinguished themselves as strong artistic personalities. The five instrumentalists and composers are characterized by their own sound language and the development of contemporary concepts of ensemble playing. The improvisation in various constellations, as well as conceptual composition sketches, lead to a high degree of interactive playfulness, surprising moments of noise and sensual sound images…
Tendresse
Tobias Klein, Marta Warelis and Frank Rosaly have been playing trio since 2020. Right from the start there was a remarkable chemistry between them — intense and relaxed at the same time — and very personal.
It Was Always Time
It Was Always Time, the debut duo release from Berke Can Özcan & Jonah Parzen-Johnson out November 1 on We Jazz Records, is a refreshing and full-throated expression of joy and curiosity. In a year when 76 countries hold national elections and we find ourselves in an existential battle against apathy and cynicism, this effortlessly authentic album offers an innocent reminder that the antidote to stagnation is curiosity and the fuel for change is the joy of building something transformative toget…
Second Edition
*200 copies limited edition* Again recorded live at Cafe Oto (London, UK), Colin Webster re-assembled his large ensemble, with the exception of John Edwards (who couldn't make it) being replaced by Caius Williams on the double bass, for another performance that pushed the barrier. Released on Colin's own Raw Tonk Records.
Floating Similarities
*100 copies limited edition* Freshly on Creative Sources is this debut duo collaboration by French 11 string guitarist Christian Vasseur and Belgium's Dirk Serries on his archtop guitar. Performed and recorded at the stunning Oude Klooster chapel in Brecht (Belgium). Both musicians met each other for the first at the Alternative Guitar Festival, organised by Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg in 2023 at Haekem Theatre (Brussels, Belgium) and immediately felt a kindred spirit for the abstract and immense…
Modern Jazz Au Club St-Germain
"After hitting Paris in 1950, saxophonist Bobby Jaspar enthralled jazz fans and jazzmen alike with his smooth, elegant playing, with the lyricism of his tranquil phrases heavily influenced by Stan Getz in particular. So when Jaspar began regularly performing with a small ensemble at the Club St-Germain five years later, he adopted the same instrumentation as that of his idol’s illustrious quintet, with Sacha Distel on guitar and René Urtreger on piano in the roles of Jimmy Raney and Al Haig, res…
Live In Paris '65
A never-before released Art Blakey 1965 live recordings. First official release with the full permission and cooperation of the Art Blakey Estate & INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel).
Lower Marsh
The record can be considered a sort of farewell note to one of London’s most crucial venues for improvised music and sound art after its unexpected closure in late 2023 due to gentrification. John Butcher had previously collaborated with these three musicians in different contexts, but Unlockings documents a first-of-its-kind quartet line-up.
"I wanted a new combination, but made of players I’d worked with over the years" says Butcher. "Choosing is probably 75 % about the player and 25 % about t…
Black Disco 3
With a Yamaha organ and a dream, Pops Mohamed started his musical journey in mid-1970s South Africa as the founder of Black Disco, creating a hip and innovative blend of chill-out jazz with spiritual overtones. Playing original compositions as well as reimagined soul and pop hits, the group appeared on producer Rashid Vally's As-Shams/The Sun label alongside Abdullah Ibrahim and Harari.
On the band's self-titled debut from 1975, Mohamed's cosmic organ is supported by two of the most sought-after…
Black Disco
With a Yamaha organ and a dream, Pops Mohamed started his musical journey in mid-1970s South Africa as the founder of Black Disco, creating a hip and innovative blend of chill-out jazz with spiritual overtones. Playing original compositions as well as reimagined soul and pop hits, the group appeared on producer Rashid Vally's As-Shams/The Sun label alongside Abdullah Ibrahim and Harari. On the band's self-titled debut from 1975, Mohamed's cosmic organ is supported by two of the most sought-after…
Joao Gilberto
*Back in print by popular demand!* Joao Gilberto's self titled third album, is the fruit of the collaboration between Gilberto and the great composer and arranger Antonio Carlos Jobim and Walter Wanderley and his ensemble. This is one of the greatest pieces of work in the field of Brazilian music. Gilberto's delicate singing moves on top of extremely subtle, elegant orchestral arrangements of various songs from the classic repertoire, "Samba da Minha Terra" and "Saudade da Bahia" (Dorival Caymmi…
Jazz Harpist
*Back in print by popular demand!* This is Dorothy Ashby's debut album, originally released in 1957 by the Regent label. Recognized as the woman who gave the harp a jazz voice, here Ashby is at the head of a highly distinctive combo featuring Frank Wess on flute, Eddie Jones or Wendell Marshall on bass and master Ed Thigpen on drums. The Jazz Harpist is an unprecedented mix of evocative classic sounds and jazz soul, awarded by Allmusic as her first and best album, period!
Ritual Sound Exposures
"The long-standing duo of German multi-reedist & brass player Udo Schindler and drummer Eric Zwang Eriksson are joined by percussionist Erwin Rehling (HAMMERLING) for the 4-part free and eclectically authoritative improvisatory work "Ritual Sound Exposure", recorded live at the music venue and bookstore BASIS_Klangraum at the Munich Community Arts Center." - SquidCo.com
Canto Senza Parole (Allegria)
"Experimental chamber music from the German trio of Udo Schindler on tenor saxophone, bass saxophone & cornet, Eric Zwang Eriksson on percussion and Sebastiano Tramontana on trombone & voice, performing at BASIS_Klangraum in MUCCA, Munich, the title translating to "singing without words" from the poetry cycle "Il taccuino del vecchio" by Guiseppe Ungaretti." - SquidCo.com
In Search Of Surprise
"Unique voicing through the orchestration of saxophones, basset horn, glissotar (a modern continuous pitch wind instrument) and vibraphone, heard in this recording at the international artist house Villa Waldberta, in Feldafing-Munich, Germany, for seven recordings that blend free jazz forms with chamber jazz approaches with remarkable sophistication and composure." - SquidCo.com
Conspirational And Fulminate Things Happen
"The quartet of Udo Schindler on reeds, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Nuno Torres on saxophone are heard in Munich, first in a wildly interactive live performance at Schindler's Salon successor: BASIS_Soundscape at MUCCA; then live in the studio for 7 improvisations with track titles borrowed from and under the influence of the poetry of Allen Ginsberg." - SquidCo.com