Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Huge tip! It is a huge honour to announce the publication of Peter Brotzmann’s final concerts on Otoroku. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe OTO back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and …

"We’re bringing you the exciting sound of the Misha Panfilov Sound Combo today. Hailing from Tallinn, Estonia, Misha’s music is frequently reviewed on the pages of Flea market Funk simply because it’s that good. The latest release on the Detroit powerhouse Funk Night Records is “Gin and Tonic” FNR-169 is really a gem. Moving right into some fuzzy guitar, heavy break drums, and some spacey synths, Panfilov and company add the soundtrack to your night with a sound that is on some over there shizz.…

"The music is never the same. It verifies its positions and conditions, its peculiar way of listening to the cavities, the motions started, the tensions between sound and silence, tone and memory. Nature is present not only as trees and clouds, light and shadows. It is a readiness for what is constantly changing, a heightened awareness on the minimal variations in the materials and processes at hand, what it means to slowly examine a rough surface, the transformation of a rhythm, a melodic phras…

2024 stock These days, where a young generation worldwide discovers good swinging Jazz again, where Dexter Gordon returned after so many years in exile like a triumphator to New York and "young swinging Scott Hamilton" becomes something like a 'super-star', it is hard to believe that this album was recorded 13 years ago - hard to believe by both artistic and technical standard. At this time, in the year of 1966, Beatlemania reached its peak and the beat and/ or rock wave ruled the world of music…

Specially released for Record Store Day 2012, April 21th. Recorded during two 'Saxophone' projects of The Ex in Ethiopia. Trio-side December 28 2009 in the Bateau Ivre, Kazanchis, Addis Abeba. Solo-side Februari 22 2011 at Yared Music School, Sidist Kilo, Addis Abeba.

In what many consider to be the birth of jazz fusion, Emergency!, led by Tony Williams (drums) with bandmates John Mclaughlin (guitar) and Larry Young (organ), is a true adventure in the beginning of the jazz-rock blend that would take shape in late 1960’s and beyond. From the opening title track, the direction is decisive and commands attention as Williams leads his crew through a mixture of swing, rock and free jazz that cements its place as one of the most influential albums of the time. The …

Tip! Misha Panfilov, the Estonian contemporary jazz mover whose many Janus faces amount to more than just two, resulting in many album avatars - here shares a live recorded rendition of a recent pair of shows, played back to back in Stockholm, then Tallinn. The first recorded at Fasching, Stockholm, on August 16, 2023, and the second recorded at Paavli Kultuurivabrik, Tallinn, August 19, 2023, this live record is composed of pieces otherwise heard on Panfilov's earlier albums, and they're choppe…

There are many facets to Misha Panfilov's music. As a music lover himself, reflecting on his extensive catalogue reveals numerous references in his harmonic palette, making it challenging to fully encapsulate. This septet's formation embodies his unique sound on this, their second album "The Mesosphere And Beyond." The music is imbued with optimism, featuring airy, soothing space-age voicing reminiscent of Terry Riley and Raymond Scott, all revolving around jazz. The integration of the unconvent…

Trost Records proudly announces the latest release in its ongoing cooperation with Berlin’s legendary FMP label, with the long overdue reissue of two classic live albums by the singular alto saxophonist Noah Howard, a key figure in New York’s free jazz revolution during the 1960s. Berlin Concert was recorded live in the titular city in January of 1975 with a quartet featuring pianist Takashi Kako, bassist Kent Carter, drummer Oliver Johnson, and percussionist Lamont Hampton, while Schizophrenic …

Trost Records proudly announces the latest release in its ongoing cooperation with Berlin’s legendary FMP label, with the long overdue reissue of two classic live albums by the singular alto saxophonist Noah Howard, a key figure in New York’s free jazz revolution during the 1960s. Berlin Concert was recorded live in the titular city in January of 1975 with a quartet featuring pianist Takashi Kako, bassist Kent Carter, drummer Oliver Johnson, and percussionist Lamont Hampton, while Schizophrenic …

List of Demands, Damon Locks’s first foray into creating an entire album from spoken and text-based work, finds the Chicago-based musician and educator collecting cultural abstractions and reorganizing them into a firm truth. The album lays out a vision of Black liberation and transmits it outward as a song cycle of bite-sized Nikki Giovanni-meets-MF DOOM-style rhythm experiments. The sample-based constructions are steeped in a lifetime of not only keen cultural observation, but direct communal …

2024 Stock. Minor signs of wear from long-time storage. Live recording of the fully-staged Anthony Braxton opera Trillium R - Composition No. 162 -- An Opera in Four Acts/Shala Fears for the Poor (dedicated to Nelson Mandela). Liner notes by Anthony Braxton. Trillium is the name I have given to a preconceived series of thirty-six autonomous one-act operas that will hopefully be completed in the next ten to fifteen years. I have conceived of this effort as an “opera complex” that allows for the i…

"Those who know know. Muriel Grossmann's reputation as a leading practitioner of spiritual jazz that grooves, deeply grooves, has grown steadily with every new recording. From early albums such as 'Quartet' in 2008 to 'Birth of the Mystery' in 2010 to her breakout album 'Golden Rule' in 2018 and her recent 'Devotion' in 2023, Grossmann's music has won accolades from critics and adoration from listeners around the globe. From her recording studio and her own label Dreamlandrecords on the island o…

'High quality music to be enjoyed by many people all around the world, no matter where they are' Andreas Brunner-Schwer, MPS Records

*100 copies limited edition* The Pennsylvania improvising trio of Kevin Sims, James Searfoss, and Justin Dorsey continue to hone their fierce and potent relationship with texture, rhythm, and amorphous sound forms. This album is laced with musical paths travelled and skirted, conversant with drone, electroacoustics, and free jazz. “Glint” functions as a bit of an overture, and as “Once Threw” expands on the clatter and clamber, Dorsey’s bass becomes a focal point, taking a prominent position in …

Ovules is a series of improvisations performed by ZAÄAR in various spaces over the kingdom of Belgium. Ovules is a triptych inspired by Tchouang-Tseu's fable “The Dream of the Butterfly” (莊周夢蝶) about dream and reality reciprocity. Ovules is a surrealist jazz manifestation due to a collaboration between labels WV Sorcerer Productions and Subsound Records and the preacher of the band's first proper studio album. ZAÄAR is a Belgian collective, twin project of Neptunian Maximalism, the cosmic free-j…

To begin with, there was only me, and John Stevens. Not in person, of course - this was 2021, many years after he died. But I had this plugin that I liked, designed to spice up drum loops, and I wondered what would happen if I put free jazz drumming into it. I sourced a solo recording of Mr Stevens, and was very taken with the results. I put some layers on top, and contacted Richard Harding to add some Chapman Stick. A couple more layers, and I had a track I was very taken with. So taken, in fac…

Huge Tip! A true exploration in spiritual jazz that follows Work Money Death's acclaimed previous albums, with pianist Richard Ormrod, bassist Neil Innes and drummer Sam Hobbs creating a powerful trio foundation for Tony Burkill's soulful tenor saxophone. Blending influences from Indian ragas to African rhythms, its intricate layersiharmonium, congas, trilling fluteibring warmth and depth to tracks like 'Headwaters Of The Soul' and 'The Fast Flowing River.' Spiritual jazz at its most immersive a…

Huge Tip!  First-time reissue in 40 years of German jazz group Green Cosmos. Night time jazz music from 1983. LP with printed 4 page insert, 500 copies "Some melodies are like taking a deep, refreshing breath. They strike us with the compelling force of a heartbeat or the moon reappearing from behind dark clouds. The music of Green Cosmos makes us realize that our never-ending quest for love can find fulfilment. You take a long, slow breath and feel the magic of transcendent wisdom. It’s like lo…

Dynamite Cuts gives you Two tracks taken from the Iconic "Changing times" Album. The incredible Changing times - stand the test of time in its beauty, what an amazing sound. We have made a perfect little 7" releaae. On the Flip is Love and Affection, a superb funky dancer. Shows Ikes funkiness. This 7" was released back in the day but sells for over £400.00 Both tracks are taken from the orignal tapes. Dont miss this.....

"This, the third release from the sequence of remarkable performances by Cecil Taylor’s Unit recorded at Fat. Tuesday’s in New York from 8-10 February 1980 (the previous two are It Is In the Brewing Luminous [Hat Hut], and Live At Fat Tuesday’s, February 9, 1980 [ezz-thetics 101]), is a further illumination of the transformational premise which conceptualized and catalyzed Taylor’s music, from creative impulse to spiritual and self-defining fulfillment." – Art Lange

"Would the following advice alone be sufficient? Look at the cover of this album, then close your eyes and listen to the wonderful performances of these two musicians. Because in the end, all art speaks for itself." – Rudolf Amstutz

The love it took to leave you, is the title track to Colin Stetson’s first solo recording since 2017. It features new ways of capturing his music and instrumentation, intensifying his practice and to continue challenging the historical canon of the bass saxophone while crafting emotive, haunting and harmonically innovative music. Recorded over a week in early 2023 at The Darling Foundry, a 144-year old former metalworks facility in Montreal now transformed into a 3500m3 contemporary art complex,…

Kevin LeGendre, journalist, presenter, author, fell in love with Finnish music following his many visits to the rich musical festivals of that country. It seemed a logical step to compile an album of the best Finnish music for his long-running, occasional series of albums based on the radio show that he presented some years ago. Fresh from Finland joins critically acclaimed collections of contemporary Jazz, French music and fusion sounds. Fresh from Finland is a powerful selection of music from …

By far one of the most outrageous performers of the early years of rock, prone to emerging from coffins on stage, with a flaming skull named Henry as his constant companion, Screamin' Jay was an insanely theatrical figure long before it was even remotely acceptable. His 1958 debut, At Home, featuring his legendary "I Put A Spell On You," along with surreal hits like "Hong Kong," "Take Me Back To The Boot And Saddle," or his wild-ass reinventions of old standards like "I Love Paris" and "Deep Pur…

Wendell Harrison was born in Detroit in 1942 where he began formal jazz studies for piano, clarinet and tenor saxophone. At 14, while still in high school, Harrison started performing & recording professionally with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Grant Green, Sun Ra, Hank Crawford … and many others. In 1971, Harrison began teaching music at Metro Arts (a multi-arts complex for youth) where he also connected with Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKinney and Phil Ranelin…soon after they formed the (now lege…

Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, Ches Smith. "Ou Phrontis" means 'who cares' in Greek. Inscribed on the lintel above the door of Thomas Edward Lawrence's cottage on Clouds Hill, it symbolized a place where Lawrence felt at home, free from the cares of the world. This fourth CD by the dynamic piano trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder and Ches Smith ("Suite for Piano," "The Fourth Way," "Ballades") features eight challenging Zorn compositions inspired by Stoic philosophy and science. The telepathic …

Huge Tip! Pianist, Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist Eva Novoa Releases First Album from Her Newly Forged Trio with Sax Legend Daniel Carter and Beloved Drummer Francisco Mela. It’s not a rumor.  Brooklyn’s Eva Novoa has formed a new trio!  Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 1 marks their first sparkling album together (which is also Eva’s third with 577 Records).  The group performed live for the first time in Cambridge (Boston) in 2022 and at the NY Forward Festival in August 2024.  In an invigora…

In the third installment of the High Laver Levitations series, Ute Kanngiesser, Seymour Wright, and Eddie Prévost create an immersive listening experience that blends the unique voices of cello, alto sax, and drum kit with the resonant acoustics of All Saints Church in High Laver, Essex. Known for exploring the boundaries of sound in live improvisation, this trio uses the space's natural reverberation to enhance each extended improvisation, revealing subtle textures and dynamic contrasts as they…

Big Tip! Luxurious 180-gram LP in a special edition on yellow vinyl. Bengt 'Beche' Berger is undoubtedly one of the most formidable forces of Swedish jazz. Ever since the 70s, he has been involved in developing and renewing the music. You can hear him on albums with Arbete & Fritid, Rena Rama, Don Cherry, Bernt Rosengren and more, to name just a few in addition to all his own projects. Beche is a true musical master who operates far beyond genre boundaries! He recently turned 80 but continues to…

2024 Stock. Limited to 300 copies. Se och Hör first got together in the fall of 2011, and it’s been a free jazz love story ever since. The four fearless voices of the band’s members make their music unpredictable and a borderline dangerous listen. They have performed at clubs, festivals, churches and in the streets—both in and outside of Sweden—and have attracted many with their catchy and addictive music. Their debut album “Hör och häpna” (2014) was received with overwhelmingly positive respons…

Following his success with “Blow Up,” the once-weekly favorite bassist Isao Suzuki returns with his fourth release under the Three Blind Mice label. The heavy, groovy sound he crafts alongside the eccentric talent Kenji Mori remains timeless and undiminished by the years.

Girl Talk completes the "trilogy" of great records that started with Midnight Sugar and Misty, Girl Talk solidified Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's reputation as Japan's premier jazz pianist. Though he would continue to tour and record for Takeshi "Tee" Fujii more than a decade, Girl Talk became the pinnacle of his career. This trio of classic LPs together are a benchmark in Japanese jazz records in particular and recording engineering in general. As usual, master recordist Yoshihiko Kannari worked with Yam…

At the age of 14, Ayako Hosokawa was already performing in the American military clubs in Japan, picking up the English language by singing international pop songs of that time. Now, she represents feeling and soul within her songs, no matter whether she sings in English or Japanese. After her marriage, she moved to the United States and was discovered and sponsored by Earl "Fatha" Hines. She found enthusiastic fans touring San Francisco, Las Vegas, Montreal and lots of places in California, per…

2 LPs packaged in cardboard sleeve with paper insert | Produced and directed by Christopher Williams | Executive production by John Corbett & Jim Dempsey | Edition: 500. Inklusive is a play written by Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz. It is part of a trilogy of radio plays from 1971 titled Trilogie Münchener Lebens. The play was first broadcast as a radio play in former West Germany on Südwestfunk in 1972. A second version was broadcast in former East Germany on Rundfunk der DDR in 1974. T…

NYC Bassist Brandon Lopez Teams Up with Gayageum Master DoYeon Kim in New Album, Redefining What We Thought Was Possible with Improvisation. Prepare to have your wig blown back by the improvisational force of nature that is adored bassist Brandon Lopez.  He has returned to 577 Records once again – this time with gayageum master DoYeon Kim!  Syzygy, Vol. 1 delivers a cosmic blast of experimental fascination that will open the door for you to leave our reality. Based in NYC, Brandon Lopez has been…

An album inspired by childhood culinary experiences, where memories and fiction mix in an explosive cocktail of cinema, rock & roll and psychedelia. The album sounds rough, as if it were played live by a band, even though it is instead a one man session. The skeleton of each track is characterized by the most classic of drums, bass and guitar combos. Behind the pseudonym Louis Fontaine is a Paris-based composer, self didact and multi-instrumentalist from Italy, with a passion for soundtracks and…

''This recording was done on a four track tape recorder. Meaning the process of recording was a bit different this time around. Most of the tracks had to be recorded more or less in one take all the way through which means more room for mistakes. As I didn't have the ctrl-z option of the computer I had to try and fix my mistakes by turning them into features. This problem solving on the fly approach is why I'm calling the record ad hoc''. - Gustav Horneij / Organic Pulse Ensemble

Noah Howard's 1971 album, recorded in the Netherlands with Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and Earl Freeman and the first he released on his own Altsax label. Free jazz built on melody and pattern.

Bomb! Obscure and outstanding free jazz album reissued for the first time since its original release in 1969. Old-style gatefold LP, with liner notes by Ed Hazell. In the late 1960s, young jazz musician Bobby Naughton, a keyboardist and vibraphonist, faced significant challenges as he sought to record his first album. With major record labels and jazz clubs catering only to big names, Naughton and other creative musicians of his generation found themselves sidelined by the mainstream music indus…