Jazz /
The Return
*First pressing of 200 copies* Drew Gardner - Drums, John Tchicai - tenor & soprano sax (1, 4), Marco Eneidi - alto sax (3), Roberto De Haven - alto sax, Vytas Nagisetty - bass. Recorded by Myles Boisen at Guerilla Euphonics Studio, Oakland, CA 1995. All compositions by Drew Gardner (Elklag Music) ASCAP
Forest Standards Vol. 3
What is a standard to a forest? What makes that different to what’s a standard, in that jazz classic compositional sense, to a desert? To a city? To a suburb? To a plain? A wetland? A grove? The only thing standard in a forest, like any other environment, is the search for balance. Nature seeks an equilibrium and, given enough time, it finds it. It’s the only way to ensure survival and growth. For three albums, David Lord has been exploring this idea, seeking out some sense of the ethereal, with…
III
Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble III is an album full of shimmering harmonic atmospheres. It’s emblematic of the Chicago-based ensemble, whose music explores the textures and resonances of their string instruments, namely six and 12-string guitar (Elijah McLaughlin), upright bass (Jason Toth), and hammered dulcimer (Joel Styzens). Throughout Elijah McLaughlin III, they expand their usual palette by including analog synths, field recordings, and melodies from guest musicians cellist Katinka Kleijn and …
Lockdown
Leaney's lyrical and multi-textured tenor and alto saxophone playing is featured throughout, as is his playing on the Zimbabwean mbira and west African flulani flute. The record comprises equally of planned and deeply rehearsed compositions by both Leaney and Thouin, each with their own flavour brewed together to form a uniquely organic music. This is the first documented studio recording of 83 year old Thouin's lifelong exploration in sound and rhythm featuring his folkloric, DIY hybrid setup b…
Lovin' Mighty Fire (Nippon Funk • Soul • Disco 1973-1983)
The first official collection of Japanese soul, funk and disco in the West. Available in CD and deluxe vinyl formats.
Live at IUCC 2/25/79
Volume 2 out of 11. Edition of 333 copies, one-time pressing. This is the last recording with Jesse Sharps as the Bandleader before he left for the Army. An incredible afternoon of music and a fitting “Departure” for a Jesse, a true pillar of the 70’s Arkestra. Macrame was originally released in 1979 on the IUCC 2LP, it is presented here, in a raw transfer of the master reel. Mykowski’s 1st Fifth is nothing but pure fire with those blistering solos by Sharps, Session, and a very special reading …
Symphony No. 107 - The Bard
Black Truffle is pleased to announce Symphony No. 107 –The Bard, a previously unheard archival recording of the legendary improvising ensemble MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva), captured in concert at Bard College, New York in 2012. Formed by a group of American expat composers in Rome in 1966, the MEV ensemble played an important role in the development of free improvisation, bridging the live electronics tradition begun by John Cage and David Tudor and the high-energy squall of free jazz. Early re…
Prophet
Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut! What happens when a Prophet meets a Prophet? The answer lies within these grooves. Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, under their various guises, the majority were recorded in concert or in makeshift studios such as their early 19…
Kwanza
Temporary Offer. These 1969 recordings (released 5 years later) combine Archie Shepp’s free jazz bonafides and a blend of blues and funk through an African lens, all in a big band setting. The all-star brass section, featuring James Spaulding and Charles Davis on sax along with trombonist Graham Moncur III lead the way on stand outs including “New Africa” and “Spoo Pee Doo.” This Verve By Request LP features transfers from analog tapes and remastered on 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in De…
Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy
Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts fro…
Akhenaten
*2023 repress* Akhenaten was the first album Nat released on the fledgling Gondwana label back in 2009, it was the second release on the label and has remained a hugely popular and much sought after album ever since. Jazzman Records issued a vinyl version in 2016 (which quickly sold out and is now a collector’s item) and Nat reissued a CD version a few years later, but this is a much needed and long awaited new vinyl pressing. Featuring four original compositions the album is a deeply meditative…
Waves of Sound
Small combo beat laden jazz experimentations, drawing influences across the rare groove spectre in this unique funky mashup.The group consists of Finnish players including Aleksi Heinola on drums, Temu Åkerblom on bass and Markus Holkko on reeds & flute. Second album in our New Library Series, recorded and produced at Jazzaggression’s own PELTO studio!”
Scheiße ’71 (LP)
Following on from the Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett’s anarchic Live ’82 (BT095), Black Truffle continues its deep dive into the archives of legendary drummer/accordionist/photographer/composer/conceptual prankster Sven-Åke Johansson with Scheisse ’71. Recorded in November 1971 during the Berliner Jazztage at a heavy-hitting concert that also included the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and groups led by Peter Brötzmann, Manfred Schoof, and Masahiko Sato, Scheisse ’71 is the only document of a w…
Story Of Wind Behind Left
** Black Vinyl edition ** Recorded in September 1975 at Columbia Studio, “Story Of Wind Behind Left” is a symphonic poem in the shape of a suite. On the album, Masahiko Togashi uses music to communicate the same feelings evoked by nature. The drummer demonstrates unique composition and performance skills in the way he imitates the sounds of nature or takes inspiration from nature itself to make music. With “Story Of Wind Behind Left” Masahiko Togashi revolutionized the Japanese free jazz scene,…
The Big 4
*2023 stock* Japan's legendary drummer steps out here with a killer combo – definitely a "big 4", given that the group features excellent tenor work from Hidehiko "Sleepy" Matsumoto, plus Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano from Hideo Ichikawa! George Kawaguchi's famous sense of swing really gets the whole thing going – that big, round approach to the drums that was somewhere in a space between Art Blakey and Buddy Rich – and which was definitely hitting some of its hipper tones by the time of this…
Time & Condition
** The first cassette edition of this album to exist in the universe, ltd to 100 copies in white **Malik King was an important part of the St Louis jazz scene of the 70's & 80's. He studied under Albert Ayler in NY in the early 70s before returning to the Midwest. He was a member of the Shirley Le Flore's ensemble "Free N' Concert". He also served as musical director of The Creative Arts & Expression Lab, The African Peoples Continuum, & The Black Arts Alliance, The worrier poets, The Human Arts…
Artistry
** The first cassette edition of this album to exist in the universe, ltd to 100 copies in white ** Artistry was Sirone's first album as a leader, recorded in 1978, just after the split of the Revolutionary Ensemble. Artistry has an Atypical combination of instruments, bass, cello , flute and percussion and delivers aplenty. Listen and you will know. Sirone ( Norris Jones) had an enormously prolific career as a bassist, both as a member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and playing with many of the …
Conspiracy
** 100 copies limited edition cassette with j-card (with ltd edition poster by Shabaka Hutchins) ** Jeanne Lee (1939-2000) was an African-American vocalist, poet, composer, improvisor, activist and educator. In her 40 year career she performed with Archie Shep, Marion Brown, Gunter Hampel, Frank Lowe, William Parker, Andrew Cyrille, Anthony Braxton, Ran Blake, Billy Bang, Cecil Taylor, John Cage, Rashsaan Roland Kirk, Pauline Oliveros, Reggie Workman, and many others.
"Jazz is a music that comb…
Blues For Gassman
Limited edition The most valuable of Gürtler’s (founder of Saar Records in 1950) jewels came from the jazz world. Gürtler donated all his passion and expertise to jazz, financing every project without complaints. The jewel in the crown of his productions was the LPJ 5007 album (Basso-Valdambrini Octet), considered by critics the best one ever published in Italy till that moment. The records selection, to which also Gürtler took part, leaned towards the classic themes of the American repertoire, …
Androids
Reissue for the first time worldwide. Obscure and Rare album of Spacey Fusion grooves, played by a group that includes Robert Rockwell on reeds, plus Bobby Lyle on piano and electric piano. Lyle's presence gives the album a nice groove.Bob Rockwell, born in Miami, Oklahoma, is an American jazz saxophonist who emigrated to Denmark in 1983 and has lived ever since.