Double Bass
All records with double bass · Solo double bass only
Blue Vertical
The final recording by bassist Mario Pavone, made in March 2021 two months before his death, with his Dialect Trio of Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey and Dave Ballou on trumpet and arrangements.
Asp Nimbus
Cellist Christopher Hoffman's quartet with Bryan Carrott on vibraphone, Rashaan Carter on bass and Craig Weinrib on drums, plus David Virelles on one track. Translucent red vinyl, limited to 200 copies.
Dyads
Father and son duo: Michael Formanek on double bass and Peter Formanek on tenor saxophone and clarinet, recorded in December 2019 after their first tour together, with pieces by each of them and by both.
The Complete Night: Live at the Stone NYC
The complete first concert of the two-trumpet quartet of Herb Robertson and Dave Ballou with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey, recorded at The Stone NYC in June 2007: the first set reissued, the second issued for the first time.
Atlantic Extraction
First vinyl edition of Nick Dunston's 2019 debut Atlantic Extraction, on translucent yellow vinyl limited to 200 copies: a quintet of double bass, flutes, violin and viola, guitar and drums.
Air Ceremony
Guitarist Dustin Carlson's septet with Nathaniel Morgan, Eric Trudel, Danny Gouker, Matt Mitchell on Prophet 6, Adam Hopkins and Kate Gentile, recorded in 2017 and mixed and mastered by David Torn.
Crickets
Fifth anniversary LP of Adam Hopkins' 2018 debut Crickets, the first Out Of Your Head release, on 180g black vinyl with redesigned TJ Huff artwork and the extra track Grounded, recorded remotely by the sextet in winter 2020-2021.
Jazz Frontier
Reissue, originally released in 1963. Lou Blackburn's debut Imperial session has to be considered mostly a bop album, even though traces of contemporary pop culture and soul are clearly an influence. The trombone player is joined by Freddie Hill (trumpet), Horace Tapscott (piano), John Duke (bass), and Leroy Henderson (drums). Blackburn was born in Rankin, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s, he played swing music with Lionel Hampton. In the early 1960s, he began performing with musicians like Cat An…
East Coasting
Recorded in 1957 this is one of Charles Mingus's lesser known sessions. Here the master was at the head of an awesome band including some of his regular sidemen. Jimmy Knepper - trombone, Shafi Hadi - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone and Dannie Richmond - drums, along with nothing but Bill Evans on piano! This is dense, lyrical and very stimulating music deeply rooted in the bop tradition yet with an open ear to other sound territories.
In a Minor Groove
'Dorothy Ashby was the very best and most swinging performer on the multi-stringed instrument associated with the gates of heaven. Here on Earth, Ashby adeptly plucked and strummed the harp like nobody else, as evidenced on a single reissue containing her two best LPs for the Prestige and Prestige/New Jazz labels from 1958 -- Hip Harp and In a Minor Groove. Alongside her prior efforts for the Savoy label, they collectively represent a small but substantive discography for the Detroit native in s…
Intents and Purposes
A singularly visionary work, Intents and Purposes by Bill Dixon transforms the jazz orchestra into a vessel for avant-garde poetics. With bracing counterpoint and lush timbral complexity, Dixon’s 1967 RCA masterwork dissolves boundaries between composition and improvisation, charting new territory for collective sonic exploration.
Live and Radio Recordings 1957-1962
Spanning five pivotal years, Live and Radio Recordings 1957-1962 captures Krzysztof Komeda at the edge of Polish jazz’s modernist awakening. These performances surge with lyricism and quiet provocation, showcasing a composer whose restlessly poetic imagination reshaped European jazz sensibilities.
The Complete Uppsala Concert Vol. 1
September 1961. Eric Dolphy - already a legend in the making, having revolutionized the alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute with his radical approach to tone, interval, and phrasing - arrives in Sweden for his first tour as leader. What happened in Uppsala that night became one of those whispered-about concerts that collectors chased for decades, a performance that existed more as rumor than documentation. Until now. The Uppsala Concert captures Dolphy at a crucial moment - post-Charles Min…
High In The Sky
Big tip!
Hampton Hawes - one of the finest jazz pianists of the 1950s, a fixture on the Los Angeles scene who had brought his own interpretations to the dominant Bud Powell style - was rebuilding his career after five years in prison on heroin possession charges. Pardoned by President Kennedy in 1963, he'd spent the late '60s finding his way back, relearning how to navigate a jazz scene that had changed dramatically in his absence. High in the Sky, leading a dynamic trio with virtuoso bass play…
Decision In Paradise
Absolute killer session recorded at Vanguard Studios, New York, September 24 and 28 in 1984, with an intense line-up of some of our all-time-fav players of free music, including of tenor-saxophonist Frank Lowe, trumpeter Don Cherry, trombonnist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Geri Allen, bassist Charnette Moffett, and drummer Charles Moffett, ensures that this music is worth going for. Phrasing is super articulated and the whole vibe is just contagious. Outstanding interaction. The tandem communicat…
Variations (LP)
* 250 copies, hand numbered * On Nils Vermeulen’s first solo album, the sound of the double bass is the main variable. Recorded at the empty Ghent Opera, where every note, attack and vibration comes through, including the creaking of the wooden floor. There is no hiding in reverb, nor in easy playing. The strings Vermeulen uses on this recording (‘Tempera’ strings by Gerold Genssler), are inspired by traditional gut strings, and have lower tension to let the instrument resonate freely. The pie…
Prayer For Peace
Big Tip! While stationed in Germany in the RAF during the late 1950s and early 1960s, York-born alto and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts met the drummer John Stevens, with whom he would form the Spontaneous Music Ensemble upon returning to the UK in 1965, which became an important vehicle for British free improvisation. Watts’ spin-off project Amalgam came two years later with Stevens and bassist Jeff Clyne, previously in the Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott; their debut LP Prayer For Peace is j…
Live In Ankara
Recorded in November 1969 at the US Embassy, Live In Ankara saw the adventurous jazz trumpeter Don Cherry performing with saxophonist Irfan Sümer, bassist Selçuk Sun, and drummer Okay Temiz, with arrangements by trumpeter Maffy Falay, who had introduced Cherry to Temiz in Stockholm. Mostly comprised of Cherry originals and adaptations of Turkish folk songs, there are one-off takes of compositions by Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders as well, the sparse musical ensemble giving Cherry ample room…
John Heward Quintet
Live improvised concert by the John Heward Quintet, celebrating drummer John Heward and bassist Barre Phillips, both eighty at the time, with Lori Freedman, Joe McPhee and Dana Reason.
18 July 1971 Nice, France
This is tenor sax giant Pharoah Sanders caught live in France in summer 1971, when the man was still in full post-Coltrane mood. At the head of a strong quintet featuring: Lonnie Liston Smith - piano, Cecil McBee - bass, Jimmy Hopps - drums, and Lawrence Killian - congas, Pharoah delivers two very intense yet serene versions of his milestone piece "The Creator Has A Master Plan" and "Let Us Go In The House Of The Lord", a traditional gospel hymn arranged by Lonnie Liston Smith. This is deep spir…