Jazz /
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’…
Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith
Released in 1967 with personnel including Lonnie Liston Smith (piano), Ronnie Boykins (bass), and Grady Tate (drums), Now Please Don’t You Cry… marked the beginning of Roland Kirk’s groovier explorations that would eventually lead him to record Blacknuss (1971). It’s vintage Kirk in a pared-down setting and is considered an essential Kirk album. Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
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…
Erogenous Biome
Madronas’ debut LP Erogenous Biome is an amorphous, murky, cathartic offering. A duet of modular synthesizer and winds that’s equal parts doom and devotion, it’s the sound of a majestic butterfly emerging from it’s slimy chrysalis just in time to catch the sun setting on the end of days, a bewitching, heavy ceremony, a power-wash of both mind and spirit. Tracked in one continuous take at Brooklyn’s Heavy Meadow studio, individual tracks were gleaned from the purge and eschew predictable structur…
Lehto / Korpi
Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen makes his We Jazz solo debut with Lehto / Korpi, a widescreen environmental jazz ambient album effortlessly bringing together Lyytinen's saxophone, field recordings and extended instrumentation. Lyytinen's solo music is built on textural compositions, extended saxophone techniques and electro-acoustic soundscapes and layers. Think albums like Evan Parker's "With Birds" and "Schwarzwaldfahrt" by Brötzmann/Bennink but with a whole other world of sounds to work wi…
II
Finnish quartet Superposition returns with their second album, "II", on We Jazz Records, 19th July. The band will premiere their new album live on the same day at Helsinki's Odysseus Festival, organised by We Jazz. Led by drummer Olavi Louhivuori, Superposition features Linda Fredriksson and Adele Sauros on saxes and Mikael Saastamoinen on bass. Having won the "EMMA" prize for the Finnish jazz album of the year with their debut (We Jazz Records, 2020), Superposition takes leaps forward with thei…
!ICP! 50
Rare original! Half a century of fearless experimentation, boundary-smashing improvisation, and irreverent creativity is immortalized in !ICP! 50, the landmark LP from the legendary ICP Orchestra (Instant Composers Pool). Originally released as a celebration of their 50th anniversary, this album remains a vital testament to one of Europe’s most influential avant-garde jazz collectives. A golden jubilee of sonic rebellion, !ICP! 50 (ICP 050) captures the anarchic spirit and razor-sharp musiciansh…
Rivers Of Dreams (Live At Radio3)
2004 release ** "In 1981, Italian Drummer Tiziano Tononi And Saxophonist Daniele Cavallanti Established Nexus An Avant-Garde Constantly Evolving Jazz Ensemble, Who Recorded Extensively For Splasc(H) Records Nexus Today Releases Its Eleventh Album With Unchanged And Renewed Passion. The Sound Continuity Is Represented By The Combined Presence Of Both The Violin And The Vibes. The latest Nexus issue is a live recording published in September 2004, "Rivers Of Dreams", that defines under the name Th…
Volume 1
Brooklyn-based pianist Eva Novoa delivers a masterfully executed trio album of melodic themes replete with touches of swing, grooves and exquisite electronic landscapes. Novoa’s articulated playing flows with plenty of room gifting the band full freedom of improvisation.
On the track ‘Rocket Man’ you can hear the possibilities of the traditional jazz trio format as it projects into the future, combining the acoustic beauty of the piano with the electronic tapestry of modular synthesizer. The gro…
The Gowanus Recordings
*2025 stock* This eclectic group features the legendary multi instrumentalist Daniel Carter as well as the scientist/pianist Matthew Putman, drum wizard and 577 Records co-founder Federico Ughi, together with the brilliant up-and-coming member of the New York downtown scene, Texas-born clarinet player Patrick Holmes plus veteran bassist Hilliard Greene, a mainstay of the avant-garde for the last 20 years.
Extension Red, White & Blue
1985 super rare tape, original copies ** The legendary ICP Orchestra (Instant Composers Pool) pushes sonic boundaries with their super rare tape-only release, Extension Red, White & Blue. A vibrant fusion of free jazz, avant-garde experimentation, and razor-sharp improvisation, this album captures the ensemble’s signature irreverence and mastery in a format as raw and immediate as their live performances. Extension Red, White & Blue is a riot of color and sound—a testament to ICP’s half-century …
Beautiful Africa
Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late 70's / early 80's. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American Jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass. First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, "Beautiful Africa" stands as a fierce stat…
Black Saint
Billy Harper is one of the great tenor saxophonists in the post-Coltrane mold. Originally from Houston, TX and with a degree from the venerable University of North Texas College of Music, Harper emerged on the New York City jazz scene in the late 1960s performing with Art Blakey, Max Roach, Lee Morgan and others. Known for his soulful and propulsive tone, Harper was already a highly regarded and prolific session man before the release of his debut album as a leader on the cult favorite Strata-Ea…
Elastic Wave
*2025 stock* Drummer Gard Nilssen’s ECM leader debut follows acclaimed recordings for the label with the Maciej Obara Quartet and with Mathias Eick. Elastic Wave presents Nilssen’s powerful trio with fellow Norwegian André Roligheten on reeds and Swedish bassist Petter Eldh. The group’s dynamic interaction, dancing sense of pulse and boldly etched themes – all three players contribute compositions – make Acoustic Unity one of the most engaging bands on the circuit today, able to address fiery an…
The Blue Land
*2025 stock* For the follow-up of his ECM-leader-debut La traversée, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave expands his trio of German pianist Florian Weber and Swiss bassist Patrice Moret with the unique sensibilities of drummer James Maddren, whose unrelenting pulse adds deft counterpoint to the group’s already idiosyncratic sound. Besides the soulfully angular rendering of John Coltrane’s “Compassion”, the quartet tackles eight Bordenave-originals that bridge the gap between chamber-jazz dynam…
A New Day
*2025 stock* Rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travellers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point –, on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here. Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and differe…
Blood On The Leaf - Opus No. 1
2000 release ** "Founded by Village Voice icon Greg Tate and co-led with Dayton Ohio monster bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop spectrum. Burnt Sugar was originally conceived as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of Ameri…
Vibrant Kaleidosonic Rhythms
Tip! Tip! Tip! New funky soul record of FNR! All music written, recorded & mixed by Pavel Grachav.
The Rayvelles
All music written, recorded & mixed by Tuck Nelson & Ferj Gainsbourg at Echo Ray Studios, London, UK.