Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

**ltd/numbered 1/50, with paste-on cover** Three long tracks, amazing/perfect duo (they'd have played a lot together, real tight/know each other real well); both musicians are still very very underrated ?! fantastic solos by Mr. Reid. Recorded at the New England Repertory Theatre; Feb. 25 1980 . One of the unsung baritonists in jazz, Charles Tyler had a huge tone on his instrument and played with a great deal of fire, usually in fairly free settings. After studying piano growing up in Indianapol…

This debut release of The New Jazz Orchestra BBC broadcasts from 1971 measure a year of change for the band’s musical director, Neil Ardley. The first session captures the full majesty of the NJO at the height of its powers in a ‘Jazz Club’ session from February with a 20-performer line-up pre-recorded at London’s Camden Theatre. Humphrey Lyttelton helms proceedings; musicians include Ardley, Harry Beckett, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Derek Wadsworth, Mike Gibbs, Don Rendell, Barbara Thompson, Dick…

Voted top singer in Melody Maker’s 1971 Jazz Poll, Norma subsequently recorded this, her first album, to be released the following year on Decca’s Argo label. Although she began her career in 1965 singing jazz standards, her exploration of the use of voice took Norma to experimentalism and the evolvement of a wordless approach to improvisation that she was to make distinctively her own.Featuring the cream of modern British jazz talent including Kenny Wheeler, Paul Rutherford, Frank Ricotti, …

Reissued for the first time, The New Jazz Orchestra’s 1968 release ‘Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe’ features key players in modern British jazz including Henry Lowther, Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Derek Wadsworth, Barbara Thompson, Dave Gelly, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Frank Ricotti, Jack Bruce and Jon Hiseman, under the directorship of Neil Ardley. ‘Nardis’ features solos by Ian Carr on flugelhorn, George Smith on tuba and – rarely heard – Jack Bruce on acoustic bass.  Complementing this is what might be…

"Both World's Experience Orchestras albums were recorded in and around Boston, Massachusetts in the mid to late 1970s and committed to vinyl in minuscule press runs by a visionary, bassist/composer/arranger John Jamyll Jones. Jones is a magical type, who communicates with his instrument, his ensembles, and jazz's ancient lineage in a manner so profound that his late-'70s album are out of time with jazz's trajectory, but timeless when presented today. By the late '90s the music of World's …

Limited remastered edition of 250 copies only. Nearly everyone on the planet has heard Mtume. Notorious B.I.G.’s sample of his 1983 single Juicy Fruit, is as iconic as they come. What few know, is that prior to entering the world of R&B, the drummer James Mtume was a seminal figure in the 1970’s New York free jazz scene - among the wildest of its fiery voices. Part of a remarkable musical legacy - his father and uncles made up the Heath Brothers, he began his career working with Don Cherry, Herb…

A double 10" set featuring Sun Ra recordings. Initially released on two separate 10"s back in 2010/13. Volume 1 features "Along Came Ra", a previously unissued live track recorded in Paris in 1983. The legendary Disco 3000 concert tapes are on the flip. Volume 2 lifts three fine selections from the Sub-Underground Saturn LPs. "Love Is For Always" and the driving, roots-y "The World Of Africa" come from 1974's Temple U; while the myth-science poetics of "Space Is The Place/We Roam The Cosmos" com…

The holy grail for Sun Ra collectors and fans, his original album previously released on Jackpot, with Tip-on Gatefold Jacketand Transparent Blue Colored Vinyl and an album that forever gave them a slogan to live by! The record's different than some of the other Arkestra work from the time – in that it's a bit tighter and more spiritual, more in keeping with the style of the Blue Thumb label, for which it was recorded – and soaring along on a wave of post-Coltrane spiritual jazz enthusiasm…

When, back in 2013, we were asked by the Ensemble Dissonanzen to publish a massive retrospective edition of some of their most representative works, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, we knew it would have been a challenge. We were – and are – quite conscious of the fact that the work of an all-acoustic New Music ensemble with a heavy dose of improvisation may appear out of place within the Die Schachtel's catalogue that. although eclectic, is more biased towards electronic/experimental …

Karl Records catch Konstrukt and Keiji Haino in collaboration as you’ve never heard them. Veering from a killer spin on Turkish psych disco with wigged sax, wails and electronics harnessed to a disco thump on the 1st track, thru to mathy free jazz, exothermic outbursts, and a thrashing avant-punk piece, then coming to rest on a cooler ‘70s jazz-fusion tip. We’d love to hear someone deploy that 1st cut on an unsuspecting disco crowd!

Souffle Continu Records present the first ever reissue of Workshop De Lyon's Tiens! Les Bourgeons Eclatent..., originally released in 1978. The collective methodology of the Workshop De Lyon led to the creation of the Association Searching for an Imaginary Folklore (ARFI) in 1977, their aims were very much a mission statement "encourage improvisation, spread diverse musical styles and provide means of expression to others with similar ideas, establish a folklore..." Their reference was the As…

Blurring the edges between philosophy and mysticism, modern art and radical political critique, the Afrofuturist impulse has been a cultural force since the mid-20th century. That’s when jazz visionary Sun Ra Arkestra first touched down on Planet Earth and told humanity that space (outer and inner) is indeed the place. It’s an impulse that in the new millennium has only grown more diverse thanks to a proliferating number of African-American musicians who use Afrofuturism as a platform to launch …

Another unmissable, scorching Matsuli revive! Tete Mbambisa and co, chasing the mbaqanga in Trane. Five originals and Love For Sale, from Johannesburg, 1969. 'Both urban Africans and urban Americans were consciously crafting 'modern' music -- and in South Africa's case, it was a modernism deliberately and defiantly set in opposition to the narrow, backwards-looking parochialism of apartheid, where some white universities did not even permit gender-mixed dancing until the 1970s. The sophisticated…

Back in stock! 2016 repress of this landmark afro-jazz album from South Africa! Matsuli follow up their brilliant Dick Khoza reissue with a deep spiritualised afro-jazz album from 1974! An urgent Batsumi sound, reverbed-drenched, propulsive, tight-locked drums and mesmerising bass. Some of the tracks here featured on Strut's fabulous 'Next Stop To Soweto' compilation. Out of print since the 1970s, and never issued outside of South African in its entirety.  

This album is about a way to simply make raw, basic, natural and joyful music. This album is also about and with the Swedish saxophone visionary Bengt Nordström, ”Frippe” who first of all talked to me about making and playing natural music. The legend of Bengt Nordström (1936-2000) tells how he picked up the clarinet and the saxophone after being deeply touched by the music of Tony Scott and Sonny Rollins. Then meeting Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler changed his musical vision; so much tha…

Swedish sax player Anna Högberg's all-female sextet Attack's debut album is one of the most expected releases this year. Attack premiered in the 2013 edition of the Stockholm Jazz Festival and since then its performances gained praises all over, including a heartfelt endorsement from Högberg role-model, sax-titan Mats Gustafsson, who promises that Högberg’s Attack will “melt your brain as we know it”. Attack features Högberg (who plays also on Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra, guested in The T…

Bassist Kent Carter chose the ensemble of two string and two wind players from amongst the most experienced musicians in Europe to record the studio and live compositions in this exceptional 3 CD set. "The meeting of four of the most experienced musicians in Europe, all of whom have worked with each other in various groups, except that this was the first time that Jorgensmann and Rolin had met. The totally improvised music shows their individual strengths as well as their ability to work …

"All of two exceptional Worcester (Massachusetts) and Los Angeles concerts: clarinet and cornet duos and solos in improvisations on original compositions. Even those who know Carter and Bradford's work in larger groups will be astounded. The original CDs were the first (non-video) release of this duo performing unaccompanied, and the sound has been cleaned up considerably for this double CD set."-Emanem

Awesome analog recordings from this quintet of European Free Improvisers taken from their 1975 Incus LP, and a previously unissued recording live at London's Little Theatre Club, 1973. 'The 1975 release of the Teatime LP introduced the outside world to five of the 'second generation' London-based improvisers: Steve Beresford (piano & toys), Nigel Coombes (violin & low grade electronics), John Russell (electric guitar), Dave Solomon (percussion) & Garry Todd (tenor saxophone). The main contents a…

Paul Hubweber, trombone. Philip Zoubek, prepared piano. The whole of a duo concert on trombone and prepared piano, recorded at L'Archiduc in Brussels - a bar whose art deco interior is featured on the cover. This is the second CD by this duo following on from the highly acclaimed Nobody's matter but our own on NurNichtNur. Both musicians are now amongst the freshest exponents of their respective instruments, and they interact with each other superbly.

Both Charlotte Hug (viola and voice) & Frédéric Blondy (piano) use extended techniques on their respective instruments making their duo sound like no other. The feeling varies from agitated and fast to calm and still, and the sound world from acoustic to electronically mysterious even though no electronic manipulation is used. The CD is summed up in Dan Warburton's notes as 'top-notch music made by two outstanding performers with exceptional ears for pitch, rhythm, timbre and structure…

Paul Rutherford (b. 1940; d. 2007) and Paul Rogers (b. 1956) are two of the finest improvisers around, both as soloists and as group members. They are also two of the finest exponents of their respective instruments. Putting two excellent musicians together does not always make an excellent duo. In this case, it certainly did. All the magnificent music performed one evening in Birmingham is included on this CD in the order it was performed - except that, sadly, a couple of minutes had to be ch…

The 1977 Derby concert performance by the SME quartet with John Stevens (percussion, cornet, voice), Nigel Coombes (violin), Colin Wood (cello) & Roger Smith (guitar) features an extended (!) tribute to Anton Webern. The CD also contains also 1984 and 1988 London concert recordings by the trio without Wood." (Emanem)

"The longest lasting and most controversial edition of the SME was that featuring John Stevens (percussion, cornet, voice) with two vastly under-rated acoustic musicians: Nigel Coombes (violin) & Roger Smith (guitar). This selection has an extended home performance from 1980, and three concerts from 1991, one of which has Neil Metcalfe (flute) and John Rangecroft (clarinet) added to the trio. 76 minutes - previously unissued." (Emanem)

Limited to 150 handmade covers, promotional 7". For almost twenty years, Peter Brötzmann and Swedish drummer Peeter Uuskyla have been playing regularly together as a duo and in a trio with Danish bassist Peter Friis Nielsen. Brötzmann’s collaborations with drummers are many, but the duo with Uuskyla represents an alternative to those with, say, Hamid Drake or Steve Noble. Uuskyla’s style is jagged, full of twists and turns. Brötzmann adapts by harking back to his sound of the 70s and 80s. Straig…

We’re proud to introduce the new Superfly reissue of splendid deep independent jazz LP! Great from start to finish, this is the kind of record you want to play again and again! You won't find the name Bobby Jackson in the jazz books. Yet here is a remarkable man who did more than anyone to promote live jazz in his hometown of Minneapolis, risking everything to open a venue for jazz lovers and putting on such luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Roland Kirk and Elvin Jones. In so doing, he rode the…

This essential title is also available under the moniker of Sun Song (1956). Regardless of its name, this long player contains some of Sun Ra's most complex but most accessible efforts. Ra had been an active performer since the late 1940s, recording with his various combos or "Arkestra(s)," as he dubbed them. Since this was the first widely distributed platter that the artist cut, it is often erroneously referred to as his debut. The tracks were documented by then-unknown Tom Wilson. If the name…

Angels And Demons At Play was compiled from two different sessions, recorded four years apart (1956 and 1960), that reflect Sun Ra's evolution from hard Chicago bop towards exotic styles that transcended easy categorization. The album was released in 1965 with a distinctive sleeve design by Sun Ra, featuring an identical illustration on both sides, and no sleeve notes. Besides the leader, there's overlapping personnel at the two sessions, yet the two LP sides were somewhat incongruous, demonstra…

"The Spanish Suite was written to magnify the contribution that Moorish Spain made on the European Renaissance. The relationship of music to cosmic rhythms and harmony was altered from the original state of Spanish music and eventually distorted down to the 12 tone equi-temperment system of tuning. The Artistic Heritage Ensemble was taught to play outside of the 12-tone system and to recognize natural tone relationships. The musicians had to be dedicated to music for life in order to reac…

Derek Bailey, solo guitar. Recorded on 22 June 1991 at approximately the times indicated.

Derek Bailey plays electric guitar plus VCS3 synthesiser on Where is the police?; on Christiani Eddy he plays electric guitar unamplified and on The squirrel and the ricketty-racketty bridge he plays two acoustic guitars at the same time (not double-tracked). The improvisations are on electric guitar.' Recorded February 1971; equipment and recording Hugh Davies and Bob Woolford. Improvisations 4, 5, 6, and 7 and the three compositions were previously released on Incus LP 2 in 1971. In 1978 the r…

On November 17th 1961, John Coltrane played at the Granada Theatre in Walthamstow. On November 23rd, 55 years later, free jazz legend Evan Parker made this six track recording in the same space with John Russell and John Edwards. This recording has personal resonances for Evan: he attended Coltrane's performance 55 years ago at the Granada. Evan Parker: "John Russell, John Edwards and I are going to record in that same cinema. It has had the usual chequered life of classic old cinemas of the…

Doxy present a reissue of George Russell Sextet's Ezz-thetics, originally released in 1961. The sextet features George Russell, Dave Baker, Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Steve Swallow, and Joe Hunt. Includes bonus track. Edition of 300 (numbered).  "With a group of musicians assembled for the occasion, pianist/composer/theorist George Russell goes into Riverside's studios in 1960 to record Ezz-thetics. Nowadays frequently found on 'greatest jazz albums' lists, this fantastic record is difficult to cat…

A fully improvised communion of 3 of America's masters of music. The manifest intent: sowing seeds of sound & bringing them to full blossom. Abstract, organic, & fully inviting. Recorded live at NYC's The Stone in June of 2008, this was the 3rd meeting of drummer GERALD CLEAVER, bassist WILLIAM PARKER, & pianist CRAIG TABORN. An immersive experience yielding magic & inducing a calming mystical ambience. Improvising in long, fluid ideas, Mr. Taborn's solos were housewreckers.

Blick : voice and texts. Jean-Marc Foussat : AKS Synthi, voice. Recorded in 2016. Voice imprecation and electronic environement, both always in movement.

Christiane Bopp : trombone. Jean-Marc Foussat : Synthi AKS, voice. Jean-Luc Petit : contrabass clarinet & sopranino saxophone. Makoto Sato : drums. 2016

Benoît Kilian, horizontal big drum. Jean-Luc Petit, contrabass clarinet, alto and sopranino saxophones. Recorded by Antonin Rayon, 2016.

Xavier Camarasa : piano. Jean-Marc Foussat : AKS Synthi, voice. 2017.

"Illtet is here to cure one's ills while shaking up one's beliefs, to make you react, think, feel and not just sit still. Just listen!"(Rogue Art). Crossing NY and Chicago artists, the quartet of Mike Ladd on vocals & synth, Jeff Parker on electric guitar, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, trombone & electric piano, and HPRIZM/High Priest on synth create thought-provoking spoken environments of intense improv.

A fiery, raw burst of fusion jazz played by a large group with incendiary energy, Eero Koivistoinen’s commanding saxophone controlling the chaos! Don't be put off by the long name, or the overuse of vowels in the title – because this album's a killer batch of free jazz, filled with loads of choppy sax riffs, sweet Fender Rhodes licks, and plenty of heavy drums. The record's got a hard fusion groove – and all the tracks are long instrumentals served up with plenty of power, and plenty of …