Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Jazz in Silhouette is Sun Ra’s third album, hailed as an early masterpiece blending jazz tradition with innovation. Featuring original compositions, it marks a transitional phase before his avant-garde explorations, showcasing Ra’s talents as composer, arranger, and performer leading jazz into new territory.

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…

Wheelhouse reunites as a trio after a decade apart. Their new work, "House and the Home," reflects years of artistic growth, personal change, and enduring bonds, capturing the essence of shared musical evolution and community.

** 180-gram pressing with a Japanese OBI and a new translation of Haruomi Hosono's original 1975 liner notes. Blue Ocean Vinyl. ** Fifty years after its original release, Haruomi Hosono's Tropical Dandy finally receives its first-ever international reissue through Stones Throw Records, marking a momentous celebration of one of Japanese music's most influential yet overlooked masterpieces. Originally released in 1975, this cult classic marked Hosono's pivotal shift toward genre-blending fusion, c…

Lucifecit’s debut “Devoção” blends anthems, mantras, and hypnotic grooves—homage to a forgotten deity. Led by Lobo (bass), Pereira (drums), Almeida & Tembe (trumpets), it fuses spiritual jazz, punk-Gnawa bass, modal forms, and radiant horn improvisations.

3d and final repress. In the intimate confines of a Kortedala apartment just outside Gothenburg, Gustav Horneij has quietly assembled one of 2024's most compelling statements in spiritual jazz composition. Organic Pulse Ensemble's fifth album, Zither Suite, represents the culmination of a decade-long creative process that transforms modal meditation and ancient Swedish melodies into transcendent chamber folk with deep connections to the spiritual jazz tradition pioneered by Pharoah Sanders and h…

"Offend these people....".....said Franz West to Marco at an opening at a blue chip gallery while shoving a stack of Euros into his hand. Marco worked for him for a time when he moved to Vienna from Oakland. West & Eneidi were a great match in many ways. The world is a worse place without their dark, mischievous & hilarious viewpoints. They had a similar over the top, over-achieving approach to their work. My first real improvised music concert was a trio with Marco and Gino Robair. I went in ri…

Anna Webber & Angela Morris - tenor saxophone, flute, conductorJay Rattman - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, fluteCharlotte Greve - alto saxophone, flute, clarinetAdam Schneit - tenor saxophone, clarinetLisa Parrott - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet Nolan Tsang, Ryan Easter, Jake Henry, Kenny Warren - trumpets Tim Vaughn, Zekkereya El-magharbel, Jen Baker, Reginald Chapman - trombones Yuhan Su - vibraphoneDustin Carlson - guitarMarta Sánchez - pianoAdam Hopkins - bassJeff Davis - …

2018 release ** "Pauline Oliveros was only partly serious when she coined the term "deep listening" 30 years ago. The American composer, accordionist and electronic music pioneer first offered the phrase after recording an album 14 feet underground. Regardless, it has grown to become a meaningful term in avant-garde music circles, promoting the idea that artists can (and perhaps should) listen and react to their environment when performing. This new effort from Xenofox - electric guitarist Olaf …

A monumental 9CD set, Piano Music (1968–2000) captures Anthony Braxton’s uncompromising vision for solo piano: dense, notated landscapes performed by Geneviève Foccroulle with rare clarity. Eschewing jazz convention, these works map a radical terrain of sound, intellect, and interpretive freedom—an essential document of the avant-garde.

Reissuing and remastering eight landmark albums released between 1956 and 1962, this collection traces iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor's evolution from bop-influenced beginnings to the groundbreaking free jazz forms he helped pioneer, featuring collaborations with Steve Lacy, John Coltrane, Kenny Dorham, Archie Shepp, Clark Terry, Roswell Rudd, and others, culminating in his trailblazing trio with Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray.

A 4-CD box set collecting 8 albums under Steve Lacy's name from 1957 to 1965, with sidement including Don Cherry, Mal Waldron, Kent Carter, Carla Bley, Louis Moholo. Soprano Sax; Reflections; The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy; Evidence; Disposability; Jazz Realities; Sortie;The Forest and the Zoo.

1981 Brazilian Soul Funk Gem from soulman Hyldon, produced by the legendary jazz-funk band Azymuth with participation of Tim Maia. This is the fourth album from Brazilian soulman Hyldon—singer and instrumentalist—who formed, alongside "Tim Maia" and "Cassiano", the legendary triad of Brazilian soul music in the 1970s.Sabor de Amor (Continental, 1981) is perhaps his most consistent work. On it, he's backed once again by his trusted buddies "Azymuth" with a stellar lineup of musicians, including A…

Secular Music Group’s Volume Two, featuring new members, was recorded live to analog tape with vintage gear. This LP tightens structures, foregrounds piano, and blends spiritual jazz, folk, and 70s library influences for a timeless, contemporary sound.

2016 release ** "With America’s National Parks, visionary composer and Wadada Leo Smith offers his latest epic collection, a suite inspired by the scenic splendor, historic legacy, and political controversies of the country’s public landscapes. Writing for his newly expanded Golden Quintet, Smith crafts six extended works that explore, confront and question the preserved natural resources that are considered the most hallowed ground in the U.S. – and some that should be. His 28-page score for Am…

Shifa is a name taken from the Arabic word for healing, شفاء. The trio's members are three of the UK's most experienced and in-demand improvising musicians.

Whenever the term “Free Jazz” gets mentioned, the same questions more or less present themselves: “Is this easy to listen to?” “Is there structure, or is this just a few friends playing over each other?” “Is this another Coleman/Taylor/Dolphy homage?” Yes; yes; maybe—who cares? Free Jazz is (in my definite opinion) the last bastion of music (and maybe even art as a whole) where true innovation is not only still possible but also extremely well-executed—if done right. Enter “Second Sight” by Oslo…

Gustav Horneij’s Organic Pulse Ensemble blends jazz tradition with modern groove, inspiring unity & protest, uplifting listeners in the fight for freedom and justice for all.

2016 release ** "Mixing the opaque with the diffused and blurring the lines between electric and acoustic, Rob Mazurek’s wide ambition continues to race toward the outer limits of what is possible in music. These nine selections were recorded in Texas; they offer an almost entirely new view of SPU, one that falls outside musical classification. Here, east and west, northern and southern hemispheres, speak through tropical, desert, ritual, and party sounds that are all inscribed upon one another …

2015 release ** "...The Celestial Squid is so special... Here are two of the greats....no, the greatest." – Jim O'Rourke. "The Celestial Squid pairs guitarist/improviser Henry Kaiser with one of his earliest idols, British guitarist, producer, arranger, and composer Ray Russell. Kaiser has a long history of recording with players he admires and has been influenced by, including John Abercrombie, Derek Bailey, David Lindley, and Fred Frith. Russell may be somewhat of a cipher to non-guitar heads.…

1992 release ** Christy Doran on acoustic and electric guitars and delay devices.

Endless Happiness reissues Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s experimental 1973 album, “Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle”—a visionary, layered jazz masterpiece showcasing Kirk’s multi-instrumental mastery and boundary-pushing sound.

One Flight Up by the legendary Dexter Gordon. Recorded in Paris on June 2, 1964, this album stands as a testament to Gordon’s leadership and the vibrant European jazz scene of the era.

Jerome Deupree, Sylvie Courvoisier, Joe Morris, Lester St. Louis unite for an album of explosive solos, profound improvisation—a canyon where all musical worlds collide in boundless synergy.

Long-time collaborators and legends of the British improvised music scene, the great saxophone virtuoso John Butcher and the master of the double bass John Edwards, join forces in a duet journey through a fascinating land of sounds, sometimes undiscovered, sometimes impossible, and always breathtaking.

1989 release ** Heupel studied flute at the Cologne University of Music. From 1980 to 1985, he was a member of the multimedia group Boury. Since 1984, he has also performed as a soloist with his own compositions. He has toured Asia, Africa, and Latin America with Norbert Stein's Pata Masters. He has been a member of many of Norbert Stein's Pata projects for many years. In a duo with Xu Fengxia, he played bass flute and subcontrabass flute. In 1990, he founded his own quartet. He has also worked …

Available for the very first time, the intergalactic icon Sun Ra and his Arkestra’s Lights On A Satellite: Live at the Left Bank was recorded on July 23, 1978 at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland by the Left Bank Jazz Society. The limited-edition 2-CD set contains audio from the Sun Ra Archives and was researched and compiled by Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson. The critically acclaimed independent filmmaker Robert Mugge has also provided audio from the recordings he made at the Lef…

Antonio Borghini and Banquet of Consequences continue on their path of jazz, freedom, and rigor, in which writing, improvisation, tradition, and chaos coexist in a vital and surprising mixture. Well-organized music that uses disorder to its enrichment and is a harbinger of melodic flourishes and references many different kinds of music.

Tip! Two long pieces, a live performance and a rehearsal at home, make up this work by the Braida Locatelli duo, a new stage in their 30-year journey. Improvised music that often sounds composed. Improvised, decomposed, recomposed, composed? A true duo, where one plus one makes one.

A cornerstone of avant-garde jazz, B-X0 NO-47A captures Anthony Braxton at a pivotal moment in his career and in the history of the Association For The Advancement Of Creative Musicians (AACM). Recorded in Paris in 1969 and newly restored from the original master tapes, this classic session finds Braxton leading a quartet of fellow AACM visionaries: trumpeter Leo Smith (before adopting the name Wadada), violinist Leroy Jenkins, and drummer Steve McCall. The group’s instrumentation is strikingly …

On September 30, 1963, American saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk and his quartet gave a small concert in the TV studios of Radio Bremen. The concert was broadcast on ARD in the spring of 1964 as part of the popular "Domino" series. Now the original tapes have resurfaced in the station's archives. Sensational! The former sideman of Charles Mingus, Gil Evans and Quincy Jones had come to Germany not only with his successful Mercury albums "Domino" and "We Free Kings" in his…

Alto saxophonist Marion Brown was an initially underrated hero of the jazz avant-garde. It was only after he moved from Atlanta to New York and joined John Coltrane that the public and the critics took notice of him.Dedicated to discovering the far-reaching possibilities of improvisational expression, Brown possessed a truly lyrical voice. In the early seventies, she played with Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, Bennie Maupin, Jeanne Lee, and Chick Corea, among others. On this recording he was ac…

Some of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's most interesting recordings are his earliest ones. After spending periods of time playing with Dixieland groups and then with Cecil Taylor (which was quite a jump), Lacy made several recordings that displayed his love of Thelonious Monk's music plus his varied experiences. On this particular set, Lacy's soprano contrasts well with Charles Davis' baritone (they are backed by bassist John Ore and drummer Roy Haynes) on three of the most difficult Monk tunes…

2025 stock   Bringing together three of the most voracious and energetic musical minds in new music, Painkiller was one of the most intense live bands ever. Here they are captured at their absolute peak. Culminating their legendary 1994 tour of Japan in a masterful set featuring one of their longest and most inspired improvisations, the thirty-five minute Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia. Beautifully recorded by the unsung fourth member of the group sound engineer Oz Frith and packaged in deliriousl…

2025 stock  John Zorn and Bill Laswell are two of the Downtown scene’s most consistently intrepid musical explorers, and PainKiller, formed in 1991 is their longest running project together. “The Prophecy,” the first official PainKiller release in over ten years, was recorded live in Europe in 2004–5 and pulls together music from several concerts into a powerful and mind blowing suite unlike anything the group has ever released before. Featuring master drummer Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Korekyojin)…

2025 stock  Tzadik is proud to release a new recording by Steve Lacy, MacArthur Fellow and for 40 years the undisputed master of the soprano saxophone. Recorded at his home in Paris from February to April 1998, Sands is Steve Lacy's most personal and remarkable solo document, and explores a wide variety of musical and dramatic subjects. Portraits of close friends Barney Wilen and William Burroughs; collaborations with the texts of Allen Ginsberg and Samuel Beckett; and of course his own peculiar…

2025 stock  A breathtakingly beautiful document of new compositions from a founding member of Chicago's AACM and one of the world's most important contemporary creative musician/composers. Featuring his ensemble Nda-Kulture and the California E.A.R. Unit, Tao-Njia blends jazz, blues, poetry and the cultural traditions of Africa, Asia, Europe, Indonesia and America into lyrical and profoundly moving music. Wadada Leo Smith-trumpter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser-has been active f…

2025 stock If you went looking for a poster-child for Chicago's multidirectional, cross- pollinating, interstylistic music scene, you couldn't find a better one than Jeff Parker. Parker: jazz guitarist with pro credentials, widely travelled and prized by top soul-jazzers and hard-boppers. Parker: inveterate rocker who revitalized Tortoise with his ferocious improvising and tasty licks. Parker: experimentalist willing to try new dub, hip- hop, electronic, collage, free, chamber - anything worthwh…

German pianist Georg Graewe reunites with drummer Hamid Drake and bassist Brad Jones in a fiery 2024 trio debut at Konfrontationen Festival. Capturing the spirit of his 1990s Chicago collaborations, More Than Anything showcases masterful free improvisation and Graewe’s genre-blurring brilliance.

Org Music releases Sahib’s Jazz Party by legendary saxophonist Sahib Shihab. This classic album showcases his vibrant, innovative jazz, preserving his legacy for fans and collectors.