Jazz /
Variations On A Blue Line / 'Round Midnight
2012 release. A reissue of Joe McPhee's Variations On A Blue Line / 'Round Midnight, originally released on Hat Hut Records in 1979. Variations On A Blue Line / 'Round Midnight was recorded in October, 1977, during a highly significant period in Poughkeespie, New York, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee's work, as he was pioneering the transatlantic, collaborative spirit that has helped to define the last three decades of his career. Blue Line comes from a concert in Rouen, France, when McPhee pla…
Glasses
2012 release. A reissue of Joe McPhee's Glasses, originally released on Hat Hut Records in 1979. Glasses was recorded in October, 1977, during a highly significant period in McPhee's work, as he was pioneering the transatlantic, collaborative spirit that has helped to define the last three decades of his career. Documented in Tavannes, Switzerland, the set contains sensational tenor work, including the title piece, which finds McPhee ringing out a rhythm on a half-full wine glass, from which he …
Live At Vassar 1970
2010 release. Poughkeepsie, New York multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee organized a great double-bill at Vassar College in 1970, featuring himself and his local underground jazz peers. One disc in the two CD set of previously unreleased music consists of a complete set of music by McPhee's quintet -- wild and deeply soulful free jazz quite close in spirit to McPhee's legendary 1971 debut, Nation Time (CVSD 011CD), with clear connections to Pharoah Sanders. On the other disc, a simmering Hammond B-…
Sound On Sound: Solo 1968-1973
2010 release. Sound On Sound is a two CD set of previously unreleased solo recordings by Poughkeepsie, New York multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, dating from 1968 to 1973. The extraordinary tracks document the very early years of McPhee's tenor playing (he was initially a trumpet player, though he was an absolute natural saxophonist) and his omnivorous interest in sound-making devices of all types (from drone organ to Nagoya harp, by way of soprano sax and hand percussion). They present a little…
Mayday
2010 release. Recorded May 1, 1966 at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival. Personnel: Peter Brötzmann - alto/baritone saxophone; Peter Kowald - contrabass; Pierre Courbois - drums.
La nuit est au courant
Souffle Continu Records present the first vinyl edition of Jac Berrocal's La Nuit Est Au Courant, originally released on In Situ in 1991. Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" on the radio, Renaissance motets, his grandfather in a Zouave military band, Syrian deserts... Columns of tanks in the streets, the soundtrack to Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), Juan Manuel Fangio's car, the fall of the Berlin wall: from the first and fantastic Musiq Musik (1973), this is where Jac Berrocal's trumpet com…
Pays Noir
Previously unreleased, the three tracks on Pays Noir come from recording sessions held at the same time as those for the cult album No Man's Land (FFL 026LP), produced by Jef Gilson in 1976, and published on vinyl by Souffle Continu Records in 2017. Singled out at the time of its release by Actuel, Rock & Folk, and Melody Maker, the tabula rasa of No Man's Land is the result of free-flowing experiments born of chance, if the two musicians are to be believed. Indeed, their approach to free im…
The Second Wave of English Free Improvisation, 1973-79
The much anticipated follow-up to his Beyond Jazz, Trevor Barre’s Convergences, Divergences & Affinities continues the story of early English free improvisation, tracing the path of the music from 1973 to 1979. It follows the progress of the early pioneers and the formation of the ‘second generation’ of improvisers, examining how they continued to develop the sound through such outlets as the London Musicians Collective, Company and Musics magazine. Particular attention is given to the regional …
Intra Musique
Some of the earliest music from groundbreaking French drummer Jacques Thollot – and proof that right at the start, he was already in a unique space that was all his own! His first release, released on the Futura Records in 1971, is called "Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Giraffe A La Mer"; it is a splendid example of spacey-like, fragile and imaginative compositional style fusing jazz, electronic experiments, culminating in a blissful listening experience and it has earned Thollot the place …
For Seun Matta
Featuring some of the most innovative players from Beirut, Cairo and Istanbul, Karkhana met for the first time in Beirut in 2014, bringing together influences from the three major experimental music scenes of the region and beyond. Through their live shows, the band’s seven multi-instrumentalists build a transcendental atmosphere developing what could possibly be called Free Middle Eastern music. Shades and traces of shaabi, tarab, sufi and much more are heard in the distinct blend of free jazz …
Mining The Seam - The Rest Of The Spotlite Sessions
Alto Saxophone – Trevor WattsBass – Barry GuyDrums – John StevensRecorded at Riverside Studios, London, May 1977. Previously unissued.
Fragments of parts
Roger Turner, drums. Witold Oleszak, piano. Recorded in 2012.'Both players are equally skilled in anticipating the moment at which exposed, entwined resonances will peak and yield their richest fold of textures. They can also both intuit, superbly, whether a given sound should be enhanced or, favouring momentary silence, they should cancel it out. Their closely-considered duets on this album make for a detailed, absorbing experience, every moment yielding the anticipated unexpected.'
My Undocumented Alien Clarinet
What constitutes an unidentified sighting, the rarely heard "alien" clarinet playing of Joe McPhee and the ineffable electronics of Bryan Eubanks? Penultimate Press present My Undocumented Alien Clarinet: a strange sensual addition to the ever inquisitive McPhee canon. My Undocumented Alien Clarinet is a beguiling document of a performance held at Alternative Books, Kingston, New York, Sunday, August 6, 2006 under the auspices of the Pauline Oliveros Foundation's New Vanguard Series. My Undocume…
The Elephant Clock of Al Jazari
Four exceptional improvisations of powerful solo piano with an unusual and inventive twist live at London's Cafe Oto
I Forgot to Breathe
Lean Left, the quartet of jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and saxophonist Ken Vandermark with The Ex members Terrie Hessels and Andy Moor, present I Forgot To Breathe. Personnel: Paal Nilssen-Love - drums; Terrie Hessels - guitar; Andy Moor - guitar; Ken Vandermark - reeds. A quartet bringing together two guitarists from the punk group The Ex with two major figures of the current free jazz scene. An overflowing energy in constant evolution
Cut Air
Jim Denley has been playing flute since 1969 - after 50 years of a curious love/hate relationship with the instrument this is his first solo flute-only recording. He aims to situate this music within a global outlook, with a pacific perspective. Being from a continent, Australia, where there is no flute tradition, he’s taken cues and elements from flute traditions that still have power and currency — the European flute with it’s purity, brilliance and dexterity, the earthy simplicity of bamboos …
Frogs (Ep)
7" picture disc for Barry Guy's 70th birthday. Interspecies personnel: Laubfrosch (Hyla Arborea) - acoustic sounds; Wasserfrosch (Rana Esculenta) - acoustic sounds; Barry Guy - acoustic sounds. Recorded May 30th, 2011 by Maya Homburger in Oberstammheim, Switzerland; Edited and mastered by Mikael Werliin at Studio Oodion Göteborg; Photos by Maya Homburger; Graphic design by Lasse Marhaug; Produced by Mats Gustafsson. Limited edition of 300 (numbered).
Refraction
I first met Mark sometime in the early 90’s when we were both working in Chelmsford. He was running Soundworld Records above the musical instrument shop of the same name, I was over the other side of town in an insurance brokers. I’d played quite a bit of free improvisation at that point, mostly at the old LMC in a quartet called Make Shift together with Peter Urpeth, Stuart Wilding and long-time colleague and playing partner Geoff Collins. But had been away from it for a few years and wa…
Free
Latin jazz percussionist Airto Moreira's third solo album, originally released in 1972. Featuring Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, Nelson Ayres and others. Airto has played with the likes of Miles Davis, Donald Byrd and, most recently, on Arthur Verocai's Timeless project.
East Meets West
Exact repro reissue of this Middle Eastern/jazz fusion LP, originally released by RCA in 1959. The late Ahmed Abdul-Malik was best known to jazz listeners as a bassist with Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, Coleman Hawkins, and many others. He made a few records as a leader, with this one being his most exotic and also the hardest to find. The Brooklyn native was of Sudanese descent; in addition to playing bass on this interesting blend of Middle Eastern instruments with those from the world of jaz…