Jazz /
Memory Lane
Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, played a part in the development of jazz rock in Japan. This work, "Memory Lane" recorded in 1980, was the final work under the same name. Inagaki said about this work, "We tried to create this work while predicting the fate of fusion music" and it is true that the sound is completely different from ordinary fusion. The mellow and emotional "Memory Lane" the stormy and refreshing "I Will Give You Samba" and the groovy and edgy "Take My Hand". The sound that was c…
In The Groove
2025 much needed repress!! Since its formation in 1969, Soul Media had been advocating a fusion of jazz and rock. The next step along that line was this album, In the Groove, recorded in 1973. The sharpness of jazz is brought to the forefront, with rock melting in to give it an edge, and funk injected to imbue it with power and resilience. The result was a strong, sophisticated, and simply "cool music" that could not be categorized within existing genres such as jazz rock, jazz funk, or fusion. …
It Could / If I
A joint release from US label Astral Spirits (Austin, Texas) and Thanatosis Produktion (Stockholm), It could / If I is the first album from Stockholm-based, longstanding duo Johan Jutterström (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). In addition to the duo’s own reimaginations of a few so-called jazz standards, it contains songs by artists such as Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and German 19th century composer Alexander Fesca.
"On this record what tunes are played somehow matters less tha…
FATHM
*100 copies limited edition* "Fathm isn’t so much an album as it is a question—a pause in the middle of a conversation no one’s having, but everyone’s pretending to understand. It asks nothing of you, but demands your presence, your ear, your breath. The flute, a tender and fragile instrument, becomes almost otherworldly—like a butterfly in another dimension with teeth, or a marsh wren that screams only in windings. It speaks in fragmented thoughts, tracing edges of longing, absence, and memory.…
Yowzers
Yowzers is a new album by Chicago composer, improvisor, instrumentalist and musical folklorist Ben LaMar Gay. The twelve track collection is a leap forward in the lexicon of Gay’s recorded output, and a veritable masterwork of ancient inner-body rhythms and intuitive melodic storytelling. It’s worth mentioning that a leap forward for Gay is no small feat. The musical ground he has covered in the last decade, both as a bandleader and collaborator, is immense. His de facto debut album—the 2018 com…
Sonor
For a few fleeting moments during a sunset, the sky is cast a vivid shade of amber. A dramatic flare of colour, a moment belonging to both the day and the night. It is within this vibrant, ephemeral world, that Mongolian-born, Munich-based Enji has written her new album Sonor. Sonor is a record full of life and optimism, from an artist finding the beauty of existing between two worlds, much as a sunset does. Between the cultures of Mongolia and Germany, tradition and innovation, nostalgia and ex…
Ex-perimento #5
2007 release ** "Pangolinorchestrà is a hybrid between a village band, ICP-tet, Liberation Music Orchestra, Albert Ayler Band, Jimi Hendrix Experience, N.E.E.M., Screamin Jay Hawkins, Jannacci and assorted Bennink-stuff. “Ex-perimento #5” - recorded at the “Centro Stabile di Cultura” in San Vito di Leguzzano and produced by the same Center in cooperation with Idee Nere and Stella Nera - gives a good image of a band whose forte should be the action directed from above the stage."
The Magic City
According to many enthusiasts and scholars, this album is among Sun Ra's most definitive studio recordings. The Magic City contains just four tracks, with the title- theme taking up the whole of the A side at a little over 27 minutes. Then on the B side comes The Shadow World, followed by Abstract Eye and Abstract I, which are two variants of the same composition. These pieces are essentially ensemble improvisations recorded live.
Original Album Series
2025 stock Includes the albums "Gris-Gris," "Babylon," "The Sun Moon & Herbs," "Dr. Johns Gumbo" and "In The Right Place" by Dr. John.
The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974
2025 stock Dr. John has proven to be one of music’s foremost generalists, a primary-care cat whose practice extends back some 60 years. His expertise encompasses rock ’n’ roll, swamp pop, New Orleans, R&B, funk, jazz, and the Great American Songbook—and he’s made worthy contributions to recordings by the Stones, B.B. King, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Buffalo Springfield, Gregg Allman, and others. The awards (six Grammys and counting) and accolades long ago validated the …
Compassion
Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with e…
Call On The Old Wise
With Call on the old Wise Nitai Hershkovits delivers an entrancing solo album. In this largely improvised solo rendering, the pianist draws from broad influences, ranging from his extensive work in jazz contexts and cutting-edge contemporary explorations to his background in classical music. This immaculate balance of idioms gives rise to an abundance of colours and timbres, explored by a pianist, who has successfully forged his very own voice as improviser and shape-designer.
With a soft tou…
Frozen Silence
*2025 stock* Frozen Silence is the third ECM release from alto saxophonist Maciej Obara’s Polish-Norwegian quartet bringing the story forward from Unloved and Three Crowns – and perhaps its strongest musical statement to date. Alert interactivity is the hallmark of the group’s approach in a programme of new Obara compositions inspired by the starkly dramatic landscapes of the mountainous Karkonosze region in south-west Poland. All four players make decisive contributions to the music. The pieces…
Gilles Peterson Presents International Anthem
Tip! Gilles Peterson presents International Anthem is a Deluxe Double LP compilation chronicling the infamous London-based radio host, DJ, label head, curator and cultural impresario's long-standing affinity for and interaction with artists and music from the Chicago-born record label International Anthem. The tracks on this compilation were chosen by Peterson via an extensive review of track lists from his broadcasts on BBC 6 Music, Worldwide FM, and various syndicated radio programs. The compi…
Le Temps Qui Passe
1989 release ** "Métarythmes de l’Air, a ten year-old band, consists of the prolific composer Christian Leroy, he is also an occasional keyboard and percussion player, contrebassist José Bedeur, a graduate from Huy Music Schaol, and Philippe Saucez, who has made a name for himself in classical clarinet playing. The trio has recently turned into an octet, with five new musicians, classical, contemporary, jazz or free-jazz: Jeannot Gillis (violin), Ivo Van Der Borght (percussions), Adelsan Defrise…
Millefleurs
2009 release ** "Millefleurs is a vocal ensemble led by Christoph Schiller. More precisely: an experimental choir. Imagine a dozen vocalists in the vein of Phil Minton and Joane Hétu joining forces. It’s a nice surprise. Twelve pieces, each featuring a different line-up of singers (between one and ten). Abstract, textural, guttural pieces without words. It gets long (70 minutes), and with two or three selected tracks edited out the album would have been tighter and better sustained the listener’…
Don't Worry Be Happy
2020 release ** "Isabelle Duthoit makes her throat jump like a madwoman, Thierry Waziniak grinds on the skins with rage and circumspection, Pascal Bréchet makes his electrocuted guitar implode and shred, Franz Hautzinger articulates by belching into the mouthpiece, detonating the vibrations of the air in the bell of his trumpet. What is astonishing is the precise alternation of interventions, which makes them play more as a three-piece than a four-piece, as each imposes brief silences, which ind…
