Jazz /
Wooden Music I
Tip! It would appear that Polish jazz is a well-known subject through and through. Dozens of outstanding albums, biographies of the masters, hundreds of journal articles. As it turns out, it is still possible to find music that has been waiting for years to be discovered. On the 80th birthday of Tomasz Stańko, Astigmatic Records presents the first part of Wooden Music, a conceptual project created by the maestro and his legendary quintet, which has been stored in the archives of Radio Bremen fo…
A Story Like Fire
For their first release, Uroboro play nakedly romantic, passionate music which can also travel strange and disturbing territories. Keith Jafrate's compositions are designed to be completed through improvisation, so in a way they are never finished. But they are far from random, creating focused, narrative music that is lyrical, beautiful and fierce, passing through a range of moods, from balladry to abstraction, via sinuous, funky rhythms and outstanding solo work.
Uroboro is Italian for ourobor…
Bright Light A Joyous Celebration
For his third Discus Music, towering free jazz saxophonist Paul Dunmall has brought together an absolutely incredible group of musicians, including saxophonists Soweto Kinch and Xhosa Cole, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba and drummer Hamid Drake. Four punchy compositions and one group improvisation allow everyone maximum space for expression and exciting interaction.
Recording session sponsor Tony Dudley-Evans writes: "The music was magnificent, full of energy and the name of the session, Bright Light…
Songs Of The Ancestors - Afro Trane Chapter II
This album was made in celebration of the ancestors who carried the Music in their blood and bones and spread it around the Earth, from the earliest times until now. Music crosses continents and cultures and time, and when it speaks of the truth it transcends musical genealogy and continues a timeline from the earliest sources up to the present day. This album pays tribute to the music and musicians that spoke to me from their hearts to mine, inspiring me in so many ways, not just musical ones. …
Rustiques
A study of contrasts as French improvising synth player Jean-Marc Foussat joins with legendary saxophonist & bass clarinetist Sylvain Guerineau, whose work in both jazz tradition and free playing finds him a lyrical and expressive player, bringing flexibility in combination with a seemingly disparate foil in Foussat, heard in six succint dialogs of unconventional compatibility.
"Recorded at home in November 2022 in the Loiret, this curious little regional river which gives its name to the depart…
Ecstatic Jazz (Crypte Des Franciscains Béziers 12 Février 1982)
"A newly discovered, enthusiastically received 1982 concert from three avatars of French Free Jazz captures the triumphs and the trajectories of improvised music at the time. Veterans, even at that time, saxophonist Daunik Lazro, now 78, and known for this work with Michel Doneda and many others; bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel (1948-2014), a Steve Lacy associate for years; and pianist Siegfried Kessler (1935-2007) who had a similar relationship with Archie Shepp; are as usual expressive and explora…
Libres (Festival de Massy 26 Octobre 1975)
"Armonicord. In 1977 an album was released under the name of Armonicord, of which I have just found a copy through a mutual friend: Esprits de Sel. Having heard of the album's release at that time, the memory of the presence of harpsichordist Odile Bailleux and drummer Christian Lete undoubtedly made me imagine a possible sort of chamber music. In the cover, we can admire the graphic scores of baritone saxophonist Jouk Minor, all in curves and ellipses with instrument and timing indications. A m…
Inspiración
This top-notch spiritual jazz album from Argentina will leave fans of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane astonished. Recorded in 1975 and still surprisingly off the radar, this is one of the deepest jazz albums from South America. Inspiración is the meeting of two generations united by music: Ara Tokatlian and Guillermo Bordarampé, members of the influential 70s rock band Arco Iris (which Tokatlian cofounded with the now Oscar award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla), join forces with Enrique …
Zzebra
Established by members of the British brass-rock outfit IF with the former Osibisa percussionist Loughty Amao, Zzebra was a forward-thinking hybrid mixing jazz, rock, and world music. Chief songwriter/saxophonist Dave Quincy keeps the arrangements complex and Loughty injects the African element, former Elastic Band keyboardist Gus Yeadon and guitarist John Terry adding layers of melodic inventiveness. Yielding a progressive jazz style that roped in funk, blues, and west African rhythms, this ent…
Panic
Established by members of the British brass-rock outfit IF with the former Osibisa percussionist Loughty Amao, Zzebra was a forward-thinking hybrid mixing jazz, rock, and world music. Chief songwriter/saxophonist Dave Quincy keeps the arrangements complex and Loughty injects the African element, former Elastic Band keyboardist Gus Yeadon and guitarist John Terry adding layers of melodic inventiveness. Yielding a progressive jazz style that roped in funk, blues, and west African rhythms, this ent…
The Time Is Now!
Phil Ranelin's first record as a leader is worlds away from his later 1976 offering, Vibes From the Tribe. The Time Is Now is a vanguard jazz record, full of the spirit, determination, and innovation inspired by John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, and Archie Shepp. Recorded in 1973 and 1974 and released at the end of 1974, the set shows Ranelin to be an imposing composer and frightfully good trombonist. The original album contained six compositions that are a deep musical …
After The Rain
The pianist and bandleader Frank Strazzeri enjoyed a distinguished jazz career. After backing Billie Holliday and Woody Herman, Strazzeri became a mainstay of the west coast jazz scene. His excellent album After The Rain, released by Catalyst in 1976, straddled different styles and moods, Strazzeri’s piano and synth melodies abetted by top accompaniment from Herman’s horn alumni Sam Most and Bobby Shew, playing alongside Cal Tjader’s bassist Harvey Newmark and percussionist Don Alias of Blood Sw…
My Own Time And Space
Of Filipino descent, the expressive keyboardist, vocalist, and composer Flip Nuñez enjoyed a varied career in jazz. After backing Bev Kelly, Jon Hendricks, and others in the 1960s, Nuñez impacted in the Latin jazz-rock act Azteca. The marvellous My Own Time And Space, his only solo album, showcases his versatility; the Latin cadences of Willie Colon and former Santana bassist Tom Rutley and the keen jazz phrasings of guitarist Michael Howell and drummer Vince Lateano make superb backing for Nuñe…
At The Golden Circle Stockholm (Revisited)
"For the followers of Ornette Coleman’s music, 1963 and 1964 were the lost years. His final session for Atlantic Records, Ornette on Tenor, was in March 1961, and though he played sporadic club dates in ’62, his self-produced Town Hall concert in December was to be his last significant appearance until he accepted a Village Vanguard gig in January 1965. The reasons for this hiatus, apparently, were personal, economic, philosophical, pragmatic, and artistic, all at the same time to varying degree…
One Step Beyond To New And Old Gospel (Revisited)
"One Step Beyond is rightly seen as a pivot point in Jackie McLean’s evolution, but its adventurousness was not without precedent. As A.B. Spellman noted in Four Lives in the Bebop Business, “Quadrangle” – the opening track for 1959’s Jackie’s Bag; it was first recorded as “Inding” for Lights Out!, a 1956 Prestige date – “involved an elaborate group construction that [McLean] was afraid was too far-out,” so he used “I Got Rhythm” changes to mainstream it, which he later regretted. His decision m…
Zither Deluxe
*2023 stock* Following high praise for her debut release on Nice Music in 2022, a stack of live performances with an ever evolving cast of players and a collaborative release with Simon J Karis, Isobel D'Cruz makes her next move as Hantu - 'Zither Deluxe'. Puzzlingly uncategorisable, 'Zither Deluxe' is nothing short of a post-minimalist masterpiece. A meticulous capture of the Hantu ensemble in peak form, recorded in two continuous takes over a single day by Patrick Telfer (Helen Svoboda, Isolat…
The Warriors
*2023 stock* Long awaited, never before published live chronicles of legendary Kondo / Chadbourne / Centazzo 1979 Italian tour. The document of the time, the music, and one of the direction of the improvised art form in late 70s. "We showed up at the train with all the equipment, 50 cases of percussion. The organizer is five hours late to meet. Then we all get searched on highway by the Italian police, looking for terrorists of the Red Brigade…" - Eugene Chadbourne
Cjant
*2023 stock* Released originally as double LP: Cjant - First Concert For Small Orchestra Based Upon Friulian Folk Songs, is Centazzo's first orchestral composition combining a string section along with the original Mitteleuropa (Free Jazz) Orchestra. The name for the ensemble came not only from the cultural background of its members but also from middle-European mold of the music written for it.
In the Mitteleuropa Orchestra, Centazzo brought together the finest artists in the field of creativ…
Moon In Winter
*2023 stock* "In February 2010 my good friend, pianist Nobu Stowe, invited me for some concerts in the Baltimore area. Since in the same period I was scheduled to perform in duo with John Zorn in New York, I gladly accepted. What thrilled me was the idea to play again with Nobu and with some terrific musicians that I never had the chance to perform with Dave Ballou, Daniel Barbiero and Achille Succi. The quintet recorded some of my compositions structured in the way to present instrumental combi…
Escape From 2012
*2023 stock* "On February 20th 2010 I had the privilege to start my musical collaboration with Don Preston, performing live a concert of improvised music at the South Pasadena Conservatory of Music. A very versatile keyboardist who deserves much greater recognition, Don is one of the few synthesizer players to develop his own sound on the instrument. Preston may be best known as the keyboardist with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, but is first and foremost a fine jazz pianist who has worked …