Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

first-ever reissue of a 1978 jazz-rock album on Cramps and comes in a nice digi-pack. "These Italian guys were playing a really awesome jazz fusion on their one and only album. Excellent musicianship with lots of (reeds) and a fantastic guitar playing. All tracks on this unfortunately rather short album (well it has still been in the vinyl era!) are just brilliant. This completely unknown Italian band with a name, from which you wouldn't expect anything interesting created with their only …

Vi Är Alla Guds Slavar is the latest missive from the long-running duo pairing of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, etc) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, Dream/Aktion Unit, etc).Thurston had first come across Mats' playing on a duo disc with Barry Guy and had assumed he was one of those older beardy European improv guys - Remember this was before the internet and everyone knew everything. Their first actual meeting goes back to the early 90s at Bl…

“Skylark” (Mercer/Carmichael) plays under different forms as The Skylark Quartet with Orlando Lewis, clarinet, Franz-Ludwig Austenmeiser, keyboard, Hayden Pennyfeather, bass, Roland Spindler, drums. Producer is Sam Sfirri with the help of Taku Unami.Strange jazz, highly conceptual.

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0050). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."The great thing about this trilogy/set is how naturally everything flows. . . . each subdividing of the group, each solo excursio…

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0040). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."Brötzmann's regular trio was joined by the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, one of the most respected German jazz musicians,…

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0030). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."What reveals itself in the über energetics on display here is the ability of one quartet to take so much for granted and ye…

As listeners to the experimental, improvised, Jazz, Ethiopian and style-free music communities in Sydney will testify, Peter Farrar has been doing astonishing solos the last few years. He’s been honing techniques that use various extensions on his alto sax, (mainly plastic bags and bottles as mutes). Instead of an instrumental line, he produces startling layers of distorted tones and overtones with pervasive, insistent, generative rhythms. This is pioneering research — he has re-imagined the ins…

Modern Silence present a reissue of Albert Ayler's The Hilversum Sessions, originally released in 1980. "Recorded in the Dutch city of Hilversum, The Hilversum Sessions presents Albert Ayler in all his blowzy, testifying glory, fronting a quartet that includes trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Sunny Murray. The repertoire includes five Ayler originals, notably his signature tunes 'Angels,' 'Ghosts,' and 'Spirits.' It's easy to forget how starkly original Ayler was, given…

At Last! Intents And Purposes, revered as Bill Dixon's singular masterpiece, has been lovingly remastered and reissued on LP by the ever lucent Superior Viaduct. Visionary, dark and mysterious, the late trumpet innovator's magnum opus is not only Dixon's defining statement as a composer, but also one of the most luminous moments in the history of avant-garde jazz."Combining orchestral timbres with free jazz intensity, Dixon leads a ten-piece ensemble including such heavyweights as Byard Lancaste…

Shining sounds from the dawn of the Sun Ra Arkestra. "El is A Sound of Joy" was recorded in 1956 and appeared the following year on the very first Saturn LP, Super-Sonic Jazz. Incredible is the fact that saxophonist Charles Davis, here providing the soulful baritone anchor line (counterpoint to Ra's formidable left hand), remains in the front-line of today's Sun Ra Arkestra directed by Marshall Allen. Shuffle swing breakdown jets leisurely, casually, masterfully, painting lush, post-modern impre…

"Plutonian Nights," the opening jam from the 1959 Afrofuturist classic album Nubians of Plutonia, is Sun Ra's quintessential, astro-majestic party joint. Among the top grooves in his immense catalog, Ra reveals his love for R&B is inseparable from his embrace of Jazz. (He once told bassist Richard Evans, "We don't play Jazz, we play Dazz.") Pat Patrick's bari sax morphs into a Fender bass, while the swinging flow of John Gilmore & Co. gives new meaning to the notion of 'Blowing' (Out From Chica…

Sun Ra's angular yet strident and soulful "Saturn,” recorded in 1958, displays bluesy cubist bop in perfect alter-dimensional extension of Fletcher Henderson. It's also a showcase for John Gilmore's sax acrobatics and supersonic swing. Gilmore dove deep into the Ra Omniverse; "got the concept" - as Coltrane described the tenor giant - hooked by this composition, and never left. Dual baritones of Pat Patrick and Charles Davis (who continues in the front line of the living, glowing Arkestra of 201…

Just when you thought it would be safe... Ground Zero are back with a CD of extraordinary covers, some are massive, others strange, all add something to their originals and were selected because of their importance to founder Otomo Yoshihide's personal musical biography - all explained in his excellent accompanying notes. Just the version of Shed a Little Tear is worth the whole CD.

Doxy present a reissue of Ahmed Abdul-Malik's The Eastern Moods Of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, originally released in 1962. One of the most compelling albums ever recorded by Ahmed Abdul-Malik, the set's got a style that's very strongly in keeping with the "eastern moods" of the title - with less of a jazz sound than some of Abdul Malik's other work, and more spare, exotic instrumentation overall. The group on the set is a trio - Ahmed on bass and oud, Bilal Abdurrahman on alto, Korean reed flute, …

Although this is technically the soundtrack to a film of the same name by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Step Across the Border actually serves as an excellent overview of Fred Frith\'s groundbreaking work as a soloist, bandleader, and collaborator. There\'s an example of his \"guitars on the table\" approach (\"Romanisches Cafe\"), and a couple of excellent duos with tape manipulation whiz Bob Ostertag (\"Voice of America, Pt. 3,\" from the lost and lamented Voice of America album they m…

In a country and a musical domain where you have someone like Evan Parker, it’s difficult for any emerging sax player to establish himself, but John Butcher managed to do it and with his own personal style, very different from Parker’s. Now, he’s one of the main figures of the United Kingdom free improvised scene and his name crossed frontiers. “So Beautiful, it Starts to Rain” is a transnational enterprising, and another product of the British / Scandinavian connection, reuniting the tenor and …

CD version. BeJazz is happy to come up with a true “holy” modern/free jazz gems of the late 1960s. The original double LP was issued by Meno Liechtenstein’s CB Records – he was also the organizer of the “International Holy Hill Jazz Meeting” in Heidelberg/Germany. The sound quality on the original album was not really bad – but it certainly was not really good as well. We spent a lot of work on a proper restoration of the live tapes. The result is truly amazing – after almost 50 years we are now…

Radiation Deluxe Series present a reissue of Lol Coxhill's Ear Of Beholder, originally released in 1971. Ear Of Beholder is one of the most beguiling and adventurous records of the 1970s, which is saying a lot as that is a musical decade marked by groundbreaking creativity. Originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label, Lol Coxhill's sprawling double album debut is an avant-garde jazz masterstroke that features Robert Wyatt and much of the Whole World group, Kevin Ayers's backing band at…

The Département d’Éducation Psychique group - Dynamo Dreesen and SVN : Andreas and Sven = DRESVN & Jean-Marc Foussat - was born in Paris June 25, 2014 in La Java, at a concert organized by Xavier Ehretsmann. The proposal of Xavier and our deep desire at all was to “mix” various networks for the unexpected meeting, improbable, surprising… of artists referenced “techno”, here DRESVN, with others from the “improvised music” in this instance Jean-Marc Foussat. And so as the duo DRESVN the German has…

Vampisoul present a reissue of Perujazz's self-titled album, originally released in 1987. "Manongo Mujica (drums, percussion), Jean Pierre Magnet (tenor saxophone), Julio 'Chocolate' Algendones (percussion) and Enrique Luna (electric bass) founded Perujazz in 1984. All four already had embarked on diverse musical ventures when they formed the band. Mujica had played as a jazz drummer and also with the psychedelic rock group Los Mad's and then as an experimental music percussionist. Jean Pierre…

Dancing Wayang present a new and rare studio album by US noise legends Borbetomagus titled The Eastcote Studios Session. Recorded in 2014, it unites fire-breathing saxophonists Jim Sauter, Don Dietrich and face-flaying guitarist Donald Miller whom together summon one of their most forceful yet detailed sonic onslaughts to date. The bulk of Borbetomagus releases over the last forty years have been taken from live recordings. This particular workout, however, took place in the eponymous studio …

In Summer 2015 A L’ARME! Festival invited Konstrukt to perform with William Parker so we teamed up with Matt Bordin of Outside Inside Studio and invited the quartet to play two shows in Italy on their way to Berlin. Plans overlapped leaving two days off which were spent playing with no interruption at Matt's studio in Montebelluna and capturing four incredible tracks.Now, Konstrukt are well known for their many collaborations with key players and real giants of worldwide jazz scene, but -…

A replica reissue of a legendary, sought-after album, a worthy and historical addition to the collections of all fans of avant-garde duos. Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe's Duo Exchange LP from 1973, originally released by Survival Records. From Thurston Moore's Top Ten Free Jazz Underground (1996): "Frank Lowe has been studying and playing a consistently developing tenor sax style for a few decades now. At present he's been swinging through a Lester Young trip, which can be heard majestically on …

A live recording of the trio comprised of John Butcher (saxophones, feedback) Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer) Matthew Shipp (piano) performing at Cafe Oto, London on 19 February 2014. "the standout album of 2016. There’s a raw vitality to the performance, and the music is unabashed and direct in channeling relatively conventional lyricism: Tangle is supremely listenable, and should grab listeners who usually find improvised free music elusive, as well as devotees . . . This is thrilling…

Digipack incl. 16-page booklet. Dusko Goykovich - tp, Derek Humble - as, Karl Drevo - ts, Francis Coppieters - p, Jonny Fischer - b, Stuff Combe - dr, Kenny Clarke - dr. Previously unreleased radio sessions 1958-1961 in Cologne, West Germany. During his career Dusko Goykovich built his own style recognizable for the preciseness and brilliance of his technique. His warm sound is like a mirror of half a century of jazz history. Goykovich set technical standards and played with all the greats of th…

CD digipack incl.20-page booklet. Unreleased recordings from 1963 sessions! The 22 musicians presented on this album can be referred to as the leading names of jazz in Germany. In the “'German Jazz Poll 1963' Albert Mangelsdorff was elected 'musician of the year', the prize winners on individual instruments from trumpet to bass are included, as are the two leading ensembles – the Michael Naura Quintett as the best modern jazz combo, the Feet warmers as the best traditional band. Rarely ha…

CD digipack incl.12-page booklet. Unreleased live recordings from the 4th Antibes Jazz Festival. Since 1960 a jazz festival is held in Juan-Les-Pins at the Côte d'Azur, which is regarded as one of the best summer festivals worldwide. Apart from the big names - from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis or Keith Jarrett - it also featured legends such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. The 4th Festival in 1963 saw a meeting of representatives of traditional and mo…

CD digipack incl.24-page booklet. Unreleased live recordings from the 9th German Jazz Festival 1964 in Frankfurt am Main! Apart from well-known bands such as the Jazzensemble des Hessischen Rundfunks and the Klaus Doldinger Quartet, the German Jazz Festival 1964 focussed on jazz from our Eastern neighbouring countries, here represented by the Zagreb Jazz Quartet from Jugoslavia. Saxophonists Karl Drevo, Emil Mangelsdorff and Joki Freund also played an important part and are featured in thi…

Unreleased live recordings - featuring the pioneers from the Euro-pean New Jazz scene! This is the third in our series of exciting jazz albums with beautiful unreleased live recordings from the German Jazz Festival 1966! Please check the whos's who of the European jazz scene in the tracklisting.This 2-CD set comes in a SABA-style packaging. We had the impression that those recordings could easily have been part of the SABA/MPS catalogue back in 1966 - that's why we decided to design the co…

Tomasz Stanko was considered the first free-jazz trumpeter in Europe. He debuted at the end of the 1950s in Krakow and in the1960s joined Krzysztof Komeda’s quintet, later recording a masterpieceof European jazz, the album “Astigmatic”. In the early 1970s he was part of the international free jazz sceneand performed at major European festivals with his Tomasz Stanko Quintet. In the 1980s Stanko played with Cecil Taylor, and led his own bands that incorporated reggae, latino, electronic, and rap …

When 20-something saxophonist Trevor Watts was demobbed from the RAF in the early 60s, he moved to London and co-founded the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Although clearly aware of Ornette Coleman’s new conception of Jazz in America, he soon developed his own, more fluently inclusive style, filtering and synthesising the history of jazz saxophony like few others—David Murray is one obvious counterpart in that respect—and giving it a personal twist. He also developed a unique conception of musical …

Alto Saxophone – Trevor Watts Bass – Barry Guy Drums – John Stevens Recorded at Riverside Studios, London, May 1977. Previously unissued.

Free improvisation. Some may think of it as the art of 'making it up as you go along'. But it is much more than that. English vocalist Maggie Nicols has spoken of the necessity for a sort of 'social virtuosity' amongst improvisers: chops and instincts and reflexes simply aren't enough to make great music in a free improv situation. One must listen attentively, and approach music-making with true openness. German clarinetist Theo Jorgensmann captured another aspect of that 'something more' quite …

The trio of drummer John Stevens, bassist Barry Guy and saxophonist Trevor Watts was one of Stevens ’ s hottest small groups and the two records they cut for Spotlite in the late 70s are Atlantic straddling classics that reconcile the emotive supernatural force of the late Albert Ayler with the exacting microdetail of the post SME set. Application Interaction And… was the second of these discs, the first, No Fear, having already been made available on CD by Hi 4 Head. At points the fidelity is p…

Recorded in May of 1977 and released a year later on Spotlite, No Fear is one of drummer John Stevens' excellent jazzier sessions. Backed by his regular acolytes Trevor Watts and Barry Guy, the leader of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble revels in the hot free jazz licks he and the saxophonist came up with. His playing is superbly detailed by the recording, the interplay between his hi-hat cymbals and snare drum being particularly impressive in this jazz context. Watts pours a lot of soul into his …

Awesome re-edition for this legendary 1973 spacey album, killer sound quality. One of a handful of albums Sun Ra released on Impulse in the early '70s, Astro-Black provides a comprehensive picture of where the Arkestra was around the time, drawing to the end of their ultra-free period and beginning to investigate some traditional jazz forms. The opening title track explores some of Ra's spacier side, sounding a bit like a calmer alternative to his well-known "Space Is the Place" with June Tyson'…

Strut are proud to present the brand new studio album from West Coast jazz mavericks, The Pyramids, led by their inspirational bandleader, Idris Ackamoor.  Alto saxophonist Ackamoor first met Margo Simmons (flute) and Kimathi Asante (electric bass) whilst students together at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio where one of their teachers was renowned pianist, Cecil Taylor. After founding the band in Paris in 1972, performing in Holland and embarking on a “cultural odyssey” across Afric…

The immense output of Sun Ra and his many backing bands, coupled with the limited production of many of his releases has long defied dedicated collectors. Parallel to a vast list of LP releases, Sun Ra released numerous 45 RPM singles; one-off meteorites from his prolific cosmic journey. Working closely with Sun Ra LLC and Art Yard Records, it is with great pride that Strut presents a definitive collection of the rare singles released by Sun Ra across his illustrious career, spanning 1952…

Currently a trio featuring Helge Sten, Arve Henriksen and Ståle Storløkken, Supersilent ’s album number 13 marks a turning point in the group’s two-decade career. After a dozen recordings under the umbrella of the diverse Rune Grammofon label, Supersilent have now signed to Oslo based Smalltown Supersound, where they join the likes of Lindstrøm, DJ Harvey, Prins Thomas and Andre Bratten as labelmates. After live and studio dalliances with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones in the last few years, the…

Bitter Funeral Beer Band was a unique band with an early world music with an own identity that mixes african funeral music and improvisation with a nordic touch that has not existed before or after the few years in the 80’s that the band was active. Led by Bengt Berger who had studied a couple of years in Ghana, the band based a lot of the music on the funeral music concept of the Lo-Birifor people of northern Ghana.The band did its first cd, Bitter Funeral Beer, on ECM and then one more,…