Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Produced in the twilight of the '80s in London and originally released on white-label LP with homemade rubber stamp impression, Witch is the mysterious and powerful debut from poet, artist, and musician Leslie Winer. It's an infectious patchwork of dub beats, tasteful samples and Winer's sultry blend of spoken word with cool, folksy lullabies that later became popularized by acts such as massive attack and tricky. Even though Witch predates those artists' breakthroughs by a year or more, Winer q…

finally ZU are back, with an amazing new line-up. Full album to follow in summer.

In December 1979, two Art Ensemble of Chicago members - Joseph Jarman and Don Moye along with the great South African bassist Johnny Dyani gathered together under the name of Black Paladins. Inspired by the words of the great black poet Henry Dumas, the music traces a deep, dense sound path; from ancient Africa through the rural American south to the modern urban contrast. After almost thirty five years, Black Paladins still resounds with grace and power in the history of Great Black Music.

One of the essential albums of 70’s creative jazz, and a landmark recording in the second wave avant-garde movement of that era. The music of the late great saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill presents a strong combination of Blues roots, free energy and bop complexity. Hemphill's compositions were meaty enough to offer the improvisers plenty of ideas, but they were airy and open, too. They left room for solos, accompanied by the rhythm section and unaccompanied, and for group improvisation…

Good vibrations and resonances are distributed along 9 tracks, which explores worlds of peace. Jungle, abysses, distant stars, every place can be right where express the Cosmic Love. Thanks to the usual blend of traditional and exotic instruments, including space effects and loving choirs. Recorded at El Guscio studio in Milan. It's available in 400 vinyl copies, and a special 100 on splattered vinyl + tour poster.

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* The latest in John Zorn‘s second Masada songbook, the highly melodic and dynamic Book of Angels, the 10 songs on Alastor come courtesy of master composer and violist / multi-instrumentalist Eyvind Kang. Though Kang generally skews towards classical, chamber, and ambient, his take on Zorn’s hand-picked selections is a surprising and gorgeous collision of styles. “Hakem” opens with synthesized accents and a strong Indian and Persian inflection—elements that re…

Locus, the seventh album by the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), follows on the heels of their acclaimed 2012 Northern Spy release Age of Energy. Bits of breakbeat and Afropop are heard within the jazz, ambient and electronica elements of their unmistakable grooves. Also in the mix is a Ghanian folk tune and Ennio Morricone played on cornet, drums, mbira, ballophone, bamboo flute and Game Boy. The pairing came out of the Chicago Underground Orchestra founded by Mazurek almo…

"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

Violinist Coombes explains things perfectly in his hilarious liner notes. Beethoven, he says, realized that the piano and violin sound horrible together, the instruments literally hate each other, and gave up after ten sonatas. "For us to try and surmount Beethoven's problems, for example, in the heat of trying to make the music up as we go along is almost laughable." Nonetheless, a blindfold test of this record to a knowledgeable listener often results in the music being misidentified as…

Fingerpainting is the first solo release of Greek percussionist and electronic music composer Christos Chrondropoulos. The main source of inspiration for this one sided, 45 rpm, solo percussion album are the documental recordings of musicological record labels such as Smithsonian Folkways, Tangent and Ocora. Following the short recording time format that is encountered commonly in these releases, Fingerpainting gives the impression that it's a recording of an unknown music culture that operates …

Solo release by Antoine Chessex, Fools presents studio material recorded in 2008 in Berlin. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Chessex is his ability to take a single instrument Ña tenor saxophoneÑ and seamlessly move between the hallmarks of musical genres that many others simply get stuck in. As an immersive journey into the physicality of sounds, FOOLS features phasing microtonal explorations of time and space, dense layers of harsh electrified explosions, deep droning textures and moments …

Peter Brötzmann, alto, tenor & baritone saxophone, e-flat clarinet, tarogato. Harry Miller, double bass. Louis Moholo, drums. On Opened, But Hardly Touched, the Brötzmann-Miller-Moholo combination, displays the most accessible approach of the live trio recordings surveyed. An extemporaneous master who puts the spur in the spur of the moment, reedman Peter Brötzmann is surely one of Albert Ayler's most vital sons for his blowing stamina and savage sense of humor. Bassist Harry Miller and drummer …

Not enough is heard from Brooklyn-born bassist Adam Lane. He boasts an impressive track record, illuminated by a series of outstanding recordings, mainly on the CIMP label, but culminating in the acclaimed Ashcan Rantings (Clean Feed, 2010). Nothing has surfaced under his own name since, so any new disc grabs attention. That's not to say he has been idle, notching up notable appearances on drummer William Hooker's excellent Bliss Suite (Not Two, 2010) which also featured rising star saxophonist …

Daunik Lazro - baritone & alto sax. Jean-François Pauvros - electric guitars. Roger Turner - drums & percussion. Tracks 1 and 2 recorded live at Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) by Jean-Marc Foussat and Dominique Pauvros on 7th November 2008. Tracks 3 and 4 recorded live at festival Jazz en Frache-Comté (Besançon) by Jean-Marc Foussat on June 30th 2010. Edited and mixed by Jean-Marc Foussat

Recorded 9th February, 2004 at Steam Room Studios, London. Recording engineer Jon Wilkinson. Photos by Gérard Rouy except photo of Tony Bianco by Christopher Trent. Mastered by ArÅ«nas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer - Valerij Anosov

All the music is improvised by Jean- Luc Cappozzo, Gerry Hemingway and Christine Wodrascka. Recorded in October 18th 2012, live in Le Carré Bleu, Poitiers, France. Recording, mixing by Miké Goupilleau. Photos: Framboise Estéban (photos of the musicians). Mastered by ArÅ«nas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by Freddy Morezon Prod and Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov. Partners: Jazz à Luz Festival, Toulouse II University, Jazz à Poitiers

All compositions by Max Johnson (Max Johnson Music ASCAP). Recorded 20th December, 2012 by Tom Tedesco at Tedesco Studios, Paramus, NJ. Mixed by Eivind Opsvik at Greenwood Underground, Brooklyn, NY. Mastered by Tim Cramer at Cramersound, New York, NY. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by Max Johnson. Executive Producer - Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov. 

CD1: Edward "Kidd" Jordan – tenor saxophone, Alvin Fielder - drums, percussion, Peter Kowald – bass. Recorded on 28th April, 2002 at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana / Coordinator - Eduardo Young / Engineer - John Crutti Jr. All titles composed by Edward "Kidd" Jordan (Danjor Music, ASCAP), Alvin Fielder (ASCAP) and Peter Kowald (GEMA) Special thanks to Rene Broussard, Rob Cambre and Dr. Jimbo Walsh CD 2: Edward "Kidd" Jordan – tenor saxophone, Alvin Fielder - dru…

Sophie Agnel, piano. Olivier Benoit, guitare. Recorded at Césaré, July 2011. Highly recommended ! 'In my mind, the music of Sophie Agnel and Olivier Benoit has always contained something like a disclosure of the intimate. They are not overly prolific when it comes to phonographic output. They have no time for superfluous chit-chat. This is their second opus in almost fifteen years of collaboration, and in this sense, Reps is a finely selected jewel bearing witness to the sensitivity that animate…

Featuring two American ex-pats on bass (Barre Phillips) and drums (Stu Martin), and English saxophonist (John Surman), The Trio is a monster 2LP of avant-garde and free jazz originally released on the Dawn label in 1970. By the time this double album was recorded, the various band members had developed quite a pedigree having played with the likes of Archie Shepp, Paul Bley, Bob James, Mike Westbrook, Attila Zoller, Gong, Marion Brown, and more! Their experience and expertise are visible here as…

Originally released in 1971, 'Tales Of The Algonquin', is one of the finest artifacts of the British modal and free jazz scene of the 1960s/1970s. Johns Surman and Warren, like their contemporary Mike Westbrook, take the big band form and flip it on its head by incorporating elements of modal, free, and progressive jazz. The results are powerful and this album is perhaps the greatest example of that quintessentially British jazz style. Long sought after by jazz collectors across the globe, this …

Originally released on Deram in 1967, 'Celebration' is one of the most important albums of the 1960s British progressive and avant-garde Jazz scene. The Mike Westbrook Concert Band included some of the UKs most important jazz figures of the time, including John Surman, Mike Osborne, and Harry Miller. These recordings, culled from two days of studio work, are equal parts swinging and experimental, boundary pushing and accessible. Original copies on Deram now fetch a hefty sum, thankfully the folk…

All for now, by Thollem McDonas (Piano, Voice) and John Dieterich (Guitar). Celebrating their first public collaboration, All for now is one of those special moments, when the empathy and complicity between two players emerges into something far wider, complex, and profound than the simple circumstance of their encounter. In fact, as they play along, one wonders how did they have achieve such maturity in their first work together, evoking both their idiosyncratic inner voice and years of traditi…

Wasteland Jazz Unit is a Cincinnati duo by Jon Lorenz (saxophone) and John Rich (clarinet). Caustic Gate is no exception to their previous works, consolidating the reputation theyve built in the past times in the lineage of great mavericks and art provocateurs, standing therefore beyond any easy definition of free jazz, noise or improvisation. The sound of their instruments is stretched to the extreme, until they are barely recognizable, revealing new sonic and formal possibilities. This is musi…

Berlin based improviser Olaf Rupp combines multiple elements and parameters into one very unique and personal idiom, whether he plays acoustic or electric guitar. Recorded last year in Berlin, "AuldLangSyne" inspired by a traditional Scottish poem is a mirror of that amalgamation of sound. Olaf Rupp's versatile approach to freeform guitar ranges from folk tinged arpeggios and heavy strumming to dense chord clusters. Possessing miraculous technique,he lashes out harmonics overtones and cluster no…

Recorded in Vienna during Winter on a snowy night, Berlin-based musicians Magda Mayas & Anthea Caddy present on "Schatten" a dense and piercing improvisational statement. Focusing mainly on texture and structure,but also the percussive possibilities of their instruments, both artists display a continuum of immense creativity, pushing their instruments to higher limits and even beyond recognition with each new aural event surpassing the previous one. Magda Mayas explores both the outside as well …

Falaise is the first meeting between two major players of the Portuguese improvisation landscape. For those paying attention, neither should be a stranger by now. Besides being a powerhouse bassist with extraordinary technique, Hernani Faustino is one of the people behind the Clean Feed Label and integrates Nobuyasu Furuya's formations and Red Trio, who recently recorded albums with John Butcher and Nate Wooley.Pedro Sousa is among the most gifted improvisers of a younger generation of musicians…

Long awaited monolithic boxset release from Manuel Mota, his second so far on Dromos. Material spreads from solo electric and acoustic to various live performances across the five discs. After more than a couple of decades of activity one might believe he knows what to expect of Mota, but the evolution in his work is constant and ever-developing. Throughout each disc and piece of music, Manuel Mota's suspended structures and isolated notes resonate with the intimacy and sentiment Manuel always h…

Dave Rempis, alto, tenor, baritone saxophone. Ingebrigt Hoeker Flaten, bass. Frank Rosaly, drums. Tim Daisy, drums. The Rempis Percussion Quartet is a free - improvising whirlwind that draws inspiration from a shared interest in West African and Latin American rhythms, coupled with American funk and free jazz. Using these influences, the band creates spontaneous music which nevertheless maintains a focus on ensemble motion and compositional structures. Led by saxophonist Dave Rempis (The Engines…

Tenor saxophonist Edward Kidd Jordan and drummer Alvin Fielder have been a fixture in their southern outpost for nigh on forty years, but they've rarely been heard to such good effect as on Trio and Duo in New Orleans. This wonderful two CD set brings together music from three separate dates. The first disc (also available as a double LP) comprises a 70-minute exchange between the American pair and hugely talented peripatetic German bassist Peter Kowald in April 2002, five months before his unti…

Dredd Foole, vocals, Paul Flaherty, horns, Steve Baczkowski, horns, Chris Corsano, drums, Bill Nace, electric guitar. 

On the jazz front with these blogs I get exposed and in turn expose you to a fair number of names you may not know well. In the free-avant realm that has something to do with the underground nature of much of the music. I am glad to hear the music a great deal of the time--and pass along the news when something seems worthwhile to me.In the instance of Sleepless in Chicago (No Business NBLP 70) we have another in the admirable series of small-quantity release LPs No Business devotes to artists o…

Even for the standards of NoBusiness, a label that sometimes features artists who haven’t been very well known so far, YAPP is a really young band, all of the band members seem to be around 30. It’s Bryan Rogers ­on tenor saxophone, Alban Bailly ­on guitar, Matt Engle ­on bass and David Flaherty ­on drums, and they cultivate the field between post rock, modern jazz, minimal and improvised music. I must admit that I was rather skeptical when I realized that Bryan Rogers has played in Melody Gardo…

For avant modern jazz piano trio music at its free best, you can't go wrong with RED Trio. And their LP on No Business (NBLP 67) is as good a place as any to start. They give us three supercharged cuts. Hernani Faustino's double bass cavorts, rumbles and brings in a storm from the lower depths throughout. I love his pizzicato and his arco equally and he sets up the churning excitement the band generates. Gabriel Ferrandini has the drum dynamics covered--senses the sound colors and thrust needed …

While it would be an exaggeration to suggest that there was a house style for the adventurous Lithuanian No Business imprint, the European saxophone trio nonetheless forms a significant strand in its output. Recent winning entries in the format have included sets from the Anglo Polish Riverloam Trio, Thomas Borgmann's excellent US-German unit, and Evan Parker's longstanding trio. To these illustrious sessions must now be added the Fabric Trio featuring German reedman Frank Paul Schubert alongsid…

Finally reissued, the debut album by this psychedelic band mixing etnic and african influences with the colors of the desert. Deluxe Edition, Gatefold Cover on Tobacco's Paper, 180 gramms in transparent vinyl splashed in black, postcard, numbered 600 copies"Equally stirring and equally necessary for mental health are those spectacular cave recordings contained within the grooved wares of Al Doum & the Faryds’ self-titled debut LP. Released on the Italian El Guscio Records (elguscio.it), this…

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.

Michel Doneda (saxophones), John Russell (guitar) and Roger Turner (percussion). Recorded at Studio Honolulu in France (2009). 'What story can a non-figurative music tell if not that of the men that made it ? The memory is adjusted to the shape of the present, the space is open to the need to communicate; the transparency of brass, steel and wood, of the flesh and of the soul, through which passes the evidence of an unfinished ancestral sound. The substance is fleeting and the incessant gestures…

Taagi – which takes its title from the Apache word for “three” - is his first trio recording with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez. Recorded on successive nights during May 2009 performances in Dallas and Austin, this album represents a great collaboration between jazz veteran and great piano maestro Curtis Clark and young, but very talented Gonzalez brothers - Aaron and Stefan. Piano trio at it’s best. Curtis Clark (piano), Aaron Gonzalez (contrabass) and Stefan Gonzalez (drum…

Recording during concerts in Chicago by Mikolaj Trzaska - saxophones, bass clarinet; Steve Swell - trombone; Per-Åke Holmlander - tuba; Tim Daisy - drums