Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

**CD edition** 1974 recordings at WKCR in NYC from the quintet of Charles Brackeen (flute & sax), Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet), William Parker (bass), Roger Blank (drums) and Tony Waters (percussion), beautifully recorded and essential free improvisation. "The dominant influences at this time were John Coltrane and Albert Ayler (both of whom had passed away relatively recently); and Ornette Coleman (who had not yet gone Harmolodic). Although some musicians had sought to push the Fire Music of late C…

"As a band leader, Lugerner has released multiple albums to critical acclaim - Narratives (2010) These Are The Words (2010) & Live at The Bunker (2012). His compositions have been described as "a textured, nearly seamless blend of composition and improvisation" by Francis Davis of The Village Voice - while the New York Times calls him "an impeccably trained multi-reedist, with an emphasis on 'multi' - he plays clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, English horn and flutes, along with saxophones...…

"Deep & sophisticated spiritual jazz, following Mr. Gale's Ghetto Music tradition... including the marvellous African Sunshine, a 17 minute piece which goes on and on, and on and on... and you'll never get tired of the on; right ON ! Inner Peace music." EP/Sagittarius A-Star. Eddie Gale - flugelhorn & muted trumpet, James Garrison - tenor sax, Emily Haozous - alto sax, Leonard Thompson - piano, Yvette Zee - violin, Colette Zee - violin, Richard Duke - double bass, Allen Santos - double ba…

"Good old free music and the best one: never too wild but always outta sight. I liked it from the very beginning 'cos it's DIFFERENT & UNIQUE." EP/Sagittarius A-Star. Sabir Mateen - Tenor saxophone, Sirone - Bass, Andrew Barker - Drums. Recorded June 30, 2008 by Andrew Barker in Brooklyn, NYC. Cover painting by Karl Francke.

Ernesto Rodrigues, viola. Chris Heenan, alto saxophone, contrabass clarinet. Alexander Frangenheim, double bass. Ofer Bymel, percussion. Recorded 2010 in Berlin.

Ernesto Rodrigues, viola. Ricardo Guerreiro, computer. Christian Wolfarth, cymbals. Recorded 2012 in Lisbon.

Peter Frey & Daniel Studer, double bass.

Dominik Blum (Hammond C3 organ); Marino Pliakas (E-bass); Lucas Niggli (drums). The Swiss trio Steamboat Switzerland tackle the energetic and innovative border-crossings between hardcore and avant-garde and play compositions by Michael Wertmüller (drummer of Peter Brötzmann's Full Blast outfit) -- breath-taking, radical, exact. "The Hammond avant-core trio Steamboat Switzerland is a damn wild and absolutely virtuoso project. They have played many different festivals -- from Donaueschinger Musikt…

A vital and inspired early European Free Improvisation masterpiece. Cien Fuegos presents a 1969 album from the Manfred Schoof Orchestra -- headed up by popular European avant-garde jazz figure, Manfred Schoof. Originally issued on FMP, the label's first release. Features appearances from musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Paul Rutherford, Evan Parker. Born 1936 in Magdeburg, Manfred Schoof is one of the most popular jazz avant-gardists in Europe. He played in projec…

The Black Jazz recordings of Doug Carn are always a revelation – some of the most powerful, progressive work on the American underground of the early 70s – music that got Carn into way more record collections than you might expect! The sound here is a perfect summation of Doug's early genius – his own work on organ and keyboards, never overdone and mixed perfectly with a righteous array of acoustic sounds from Rene McLean on alto and tenor and Olu Dara on trumpet – both players who soar to the s…

Beautiful material from this legendary Bay Area soul jazz combo! The Sons & Daughters of Lite have an incredibly spiritual sound – one that sounds sort of like the best groups on the Strata East label, with touches of Roy Ayers or James Mason-esque soulfulness, but with a little less polish. Many of the cuts have sweet female vocals in the lead – with backing that includes vibe, electric piano, tenor, alto, and percussion by Babatunde. The record's a great one if you dig spiritual jazz funk – al…

A beautiful little record – and one that definitely earns the "suite" distinction in the title – given the thoughtful longform approach of the set! The album's got a more composed feel than other spiritual jazz sessions of the time – not in a stiff way, but in a style that shows that leader Donald Alexander Strachan really has a strong vision in his music – not just in the compositions he spins forth on the record, but also in the way he directs the rich energy of the ensemble! The lineup featur…

Ethnic Expressions by Roy Brooks & the Artistic Truth is one of two recordings drum master Roy Brooks cut for the tiny Afrocentric New York imprint Im-Hotep. Released in 1973, it has been one of the most sought-after "Holy Grail" recordings on the collector's market, with copies selling at auction for over $1,200. The reason is not merely its rarity, but the stellar quality of its music and the focus of its vision reinventing the unity of African-American self-determination through music. Record…

Incredible work from the amazing Dorothy Ashby – a brilliant set of funky and spiritual tunes, set to full backings from Chicago soul arranger Richard Evans! This album is easily one of Ashby's greatest, and it's dedicated to the writings of Omar Khayyam – one of the forces guiding Dorothy's more spiritual sound at the end of the 60s, clearly opened up in a way that's not unlike the direction of Alice Coltrane's work, but a lot more focused and a lot more funky! Ashby not only plays her…

Matsuli Music is proud is announce the re-issue of African Songbird, the masterpiece from South Africa's greatest jazz singer, Sathima Bea Benjamin. Originally released in 1976, African Songbird was a debut long overdue. The splendid vinyl reissue of African Songbird opens with a cavernous, spacious, enormous sound, Bea Benjamin’s voice is introduced by Dollar Brand’s plangent, lingering electric keyboards before the ensemble joins in like rolling thunder. The vibrant plucked bass (provided b…

CD. Ken Vandermark, tenor sax, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Lasse Marhaug, electronics. Recorded live November 23rd 2011 at the Vortex, London UK by Mick Ritchie. Mixed by Lasse Marhaug. Produced by Fire Room. Artwork by Naiel Ibarrola.

Western Front New Music is proud to announceÊEvan Parker's return to the Western Front to celebrate our 40th anniversary with a live performance and the release ofÊVaincu.Va! Live at the Western Front 1978. Restored and mastered from the original archived quarter-inch tape that captured his dynamic, innovative performance 34 years ago, Parker'sÊVaincu.Va!Êremains well ahead of its time. His work is unconventional and unpredictable, and this album, to be issued on limited-edition LP, with n…

Cleveland "Cleve" Eaton is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, right there with Nat Cole, Wilson Pickett, Martha Reeves, Jerry Wexler, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, and a few dozen other notables. "I don't play like nobody else," he told The Birmingham News when inducted in 2008. "I do my own thing. It's absolutely Alabama." Eaton's Plenty Good Eaton, recorded in Curtis Mayfield's soul Chicago at Chess Recording Studio with local hired-guns and first out in 1975, belongs to the R&B genre,…

In a fair and reasonable world, Roland Haynes would have compelled more attention than he did when his jazz-funk record 2nd Wave appeared on Black Jazz in the mid-1970s. Not to say the keyboardist was totally neglected back then, but he and other plugged-in pianists of his stylistic inclination (such as label-mate Doug Carn, Hampton Hawes, Don Grolnick, Larry Willis, and Gordon Beck) existed in the deep shadow cast by jazzman-turned-jazz-funk powerhouse Herbie Hancock, whose records with the H…

Whereas the earlier black jazz album Shawn-Neeq had its share of riff-based funk, Calvin Keys' second outing Proceed with Caution! (1974) sticks close to straight-ahead jazz verities with the 30-something guitarist in the studio with seven similarly young, on-the-rise musicians including Charles Owens (saxophones, flute), Oscar Brashear (trumpet), Al Hall Jr. (trombone), Kirk Lightsey (electric piano), Henry Franklin (bass), and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler (drums). Keys can really play the guitar, e…

Jazz-man Henry Franklin, widely respected for his service to the finest jazz players, brought that ineffable quality called soulfulness into play when he made his first record for producer George Porter at Black Jazz, The Skipper. Not unexpectedly, his follow-up affair titled The Skipper at Home teems with the same jaunty uplift. In sync with Franklin's musical spirit on the second recording are returnees Charles Owens on saxophone, Oscar Brashear on trumpet and Kenny Climax on guitar along wi…

Tracklisting: Space Towers, Cogitation, Skylight, The Alter Destiny, Easy Street, Blue Differentials, Monorails and Satellites, The Galaxy Way. Recorded at Sun Studios, New York 1966 (a home recording).

2022 restock, last copies. Recorded on April 18, 2010 at Clemente Velez Center, New York City. German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Peter Brötzmann: alto and tenor sax, B-flat clarinet, tarogato. American jazz drummer/percussionist, Hamid Drake: drums and percussion. Multi-reedist Peter Brotzmann and drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake met in the studio in New York City, April 2010, to record this double album of fiercely intense and beautiful improvised music. Consisting of 6 improvisati…

The complete remastered recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note is a monographic box-set collection aimed at recounting the most beautiful chapters that revolutionised the history of jazz. This new series was launched in March 2010 with the simultaneous release of four box-sets, including albums by some of the artists who participated in the success of the outstanding labels. A philological work, beginning with the original recordings on multi-track master tapes, patiently integrally remastered pa…

Hockey Night was born accidentally at the Colour Out Of Space Festival in Brighton in 2008. It's a free jazzy brainchild of four Finnish musicians: Arttu Partinen, Jaakko Tolvi, Jonna Karanka and Sami Pekkola.Recorded live at Lal Lal Lal Festival 2012 by Élg and Jussi Ahonen.Mixed by Élg, mastered by Pentti Dassum, covers by Jonna.

Jennifer Allum,violin. Ute Kanngiesser, cello. Grundik Kasyansky, theremin, electronics. Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, zither. Eddie Prévost, percussion. Daichi Yoshikawa, electronics. At Café Oto on Monday 21 May 2012.

The third CD by the trio of Rex Casswell (electric guitar), Phillip Marks (percussion) and Paul Obermayer (samples), creating beautiful jagged, sharp edged textures propelled by some of their tightest, strangest, most powerful rhythmic designs yet. The third CD by the trio of Rex Casswell (electric guitar), Phillip Marks (percussion) and Paul Obermayer (samples). Bark! again take their group virtuosity to new areas, creating beautiful jagged, sharp edged textures propelled by some of their …

Saxophonist Gerd Dudek's 2012 concert in London at the Vortex in a quartet with Hans Koller (piano), Oli Hayhurst (bass) and Gene Calderazzo (drums), with Dudek and Koller picking some of their favorite jazz tunes including works by Nichols, Shorter, Coleman, Wheeler, &c. Gerd Dudek (soprano & tenor saxophones), Hans Koller (piano), Oli Hayhurst (double bass), Gene Calderazzo (drums). Gerd Dudek came to London early in 2012 to give a concert at the Vortex. The next day the quartet went to…

Three open improvisations recorded in concert at Kunstencentrum Belgie Hasselt, Belgium in 2010 by sub-groups from the Electrocacoustic Ensemble, plus an extended performance by the whole ensemble: Richard Barrett, Peter van Bergen, Lawrence Casserley, Peter Evans, Agusti Fernandez, Barry Guy, Ishikawa Ko, Paul Lytton, Paul Obermayer, Evan Parker, Walter Prati, Ned Rothenberg, Joel Ryan, Marco Vecchi.

John Stevens, batterie et voix. Paul Rutherford, trombone et euphonium. Evan Parker, saxophones ténor et soprano. Barry Guy, contrebasse et électroniques. Londres, août 1978. Un quartet initialement sorti en vinyl chez View en 1980 et en CD chez Konnex en 1994. En bonus, Paul Rutherford, trombone et électroniques et Barry Guy, contrebasse à Milan en 1979. John Stevens, batterie et voix et Evan Parker, saxophone soprano à Londres en 1992. Free et historique!

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…

Lol Coxhill and Michel Doneda started playing soprano saxophone duets together in 2008. This improvised concert, recorded at Les Instantes Chavires near Paris in 2011, turned out to be their last musical meeting. Two musicians who manage to be themselves, stay out of each other's way, and yet make music together. Two fine improvisers at the top of their respective abilities.

Jason Yarde, alto and soprano saxophones. Oli Hayhurst, double bass. Eddie Prévost, drums. Recorded at Network Theatre, Waterloo, London on 7th August 2011. "The real discovery is Jason Yarde, and to come in a series after Evan Parker and John Butcher says enough about the esteem Prévost has for the young musician. The quality is obvious. He can shout and scream full of relentless energy, exploring new sonic environments and alternating with very lyrical and calm passages, with phrases and…

The fourth volume of Eddie Prevost's 2011 series of concerts at Network Theatre, Waterloo, London meeting with remarkable saxophonists, here with Bertrand Denzler, tenor saxophone, John Edwards, double bass, Eddie Prévost, drums. Recorded at The Network Theatre, Waterloo, on the 12th December 2011. Special thanks to the theatrical custodians of The Network Theatre and especially Keith Wait - for being so positively disposed for this series. Recorded by Giovanni La Rovere. Mixed and edited by Joh…

Gatefold LP compiled from tour recordings documenting the guitar-drum duo of Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano. Twelve tracks recorded August & September of 2012 in Brooklyn, Easthampton, Philadelphia & Baltimore. Edition of 500.""The photo you see above stretches across the inner spread of Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano’s The Raw and the Cooked LP. Each man’s mid-shred image occupies a whole half of the gatefold stage, their eyes connecting across the jacket’s spine, which lines up with the mic stan…

 After ten years from the date of its recording (2003), this surreal jam  between kaleidoscopic Stuttgart's collective Metabolismus and evergreen American improviser Eugene Chadbourne, is finally turning into a wax. You'll have the cheerful feeling of listening to Sun Ra jamming with Stockhausen while together on a trip to Stonedland! What's on this record is basically high lysergic psychedelia meeting crazy free jazz,  with some spared funky grooves and fragmented tapes manipulations. You'll be…

Dutch sax/drums duo Dead Neanderthals aims directly for the jugular with their new album Polaris, an all-acoustic tour de force mastered by the king of noise: Lasse Marhaug. This abrasive duo ventures into more abstract territory, where they firmly uncouple their music from structure, leaving behind any restrictions that the seemingly reasonable combination of sound and rhythm might bring and which results in an unhealthy dose of acoustic noise

Graham Lambkin first heard Keith Rowe's sixties work in AMM as a teenager growing up in Folkestone, a small town in Kent, England, and for him it was very influential. That same year, Lambkin formed his now legendary band The Shadow Ring and Lambkin says, For Darren (Harris) and I, AMM was one of the groups that gave us licence to just do what we wanted, regardless of whether it fitted with convention or employed 'accepted' techniques, and did so from a very English standpoint which held g…

Kriegspiel is the latest sonic excursion by this Parisian free Improvisation duo that feature prominent scene veterans Jean-Marc Foussat (VCS3) and Sylvain Guerineau (tenor sax). The former was responsible for what some consider as one of the greatest French Improvisation LP; the totally twisted 'Abattage' (1983)  while the latter has been very active since the early 1970's and has collaborated in the past with the likes of Sunny Murray, Henri Grimes, Joe McPhee or Francois Tusques. Limited to 2…

Decades before the advent of 'world music', bassist-composer Ahmed Abdul-Malik introduced Arabic music into jazz, creating a distinct, unique sound that was far beyond its time. Best known in jazz circles for his solid work with Randy Weston and Thelonious Monk, Abdul-Malik, who is of Sudanese descent, was also the first to use the oud, a pear-shaped, traditional Middle Eastern stringed instrument similar to a lute, as a jazz instrument. Recorded in 1958, with tenor saxophonist Johnny Gri…