★Hat Hut Records

Bonecrusher creates an immersive sonic landscape that captivates listeners, drawing them into a world where chords crackle, howl, and vibrate eerily. Founded in 2020 by trombonist and composer Matthias Muche in Cologne, the ensemble showcases its latest work through four innovative compositions. Each musician explores the trombone’s capabilities with meticulous detail, crafting evolving sonic states that morph fluidly, resembling a tightly woven net. The ensemble faces a unique challenge; those …

Gerry Hemingway Live At Bau 4 features a profound collaboration among Gerry Hemingway, Izumi Kimura, Frank Gratkowski, and Christian Weber, creating a vibrant interplay of rhythms and melodies. Recorded live at Bau 4 in Altbüron, Switzerland, where Hemingway has lived since 2009, the album opens with “Slivers,” a 20-minute exercise in sound that resembles a kaleidoscopic landscape of textures and colors. This piece pays tribute to Bau 4's founders, Hildegard and Walter Schaer, celebrating their …

New Conference Call brings together Gebhard Ullmann, Uwe Oberg, Joe Fonda and Dieter Ulrich for an engaging session rooted in deep listening, spirited interplay and exploratory textures. Their varied compositional voices and dynamic rapport yield music that stretches from reflective lyricism to intricate rhythmic conversations, underscoring their ability to blend innovation with ensemble empathy.​

Christoph Gallio unveils his latest album, Yet Dish, a compelling journey through sonic textures and emotional landscapes. This record showcases Gallio’s ability to fuse experimental soundscapes with intricate rhythms, crafting an immersive listening experience that defies genre boundaries. The album beautifully balances elemental rawness with refined compositions, inviting listeners to explore themes of transformation, fragility, and resilience. Each track offers a distinct narrative, woven tog…

"In times like ours, such an absence of the ordinary, of the real, may not exactly be a political statement. But as a social concept, this kind of music might be a beginning—a step toward a different, perhaps better, perception of the world around us. And that’s precisely what “The Art of Sound(s)“ is: Because as soon as the molecules start dancing in this chamber of reflections, art is becoming a true and selfless act of existentialism." - Rudolf Amstutz

"Ultimately, the best free improvisation performances—and the best films—are those that refuse to be bound by rigid formulas yet still adhere to a fundamental sense of logic and cohesion. They remind us that while structure is important, the real magic happens in the space between the rules." - Mark Corroto

"Speechless (2019) is an opera for 4 vocal soloists, bass orchestra and community choir, and is intended as a personal response to the plight of refugees worldwide. It inspired by the Australian Human Rights Commission report, ‘The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention,’ overseen by Gillian Triggs. When this report was tabled in the Australian Parliament in 2014, I was overcome with the cruelty of the debate around the future of detained asylum seekers. Spee…

"Their differences intensify the soundscape. Francesca Gemmo provides a sensitive, contemplative, but deceptive lyricism, with memories of the wistful antique modes of Satie or Debussy’s impressionist palette twisted into shadowy subterranean echoes and knotted note clusters. Magda Mayas imaginatively extends Henry Cowell’s innovations of touch and timbre, alternately coaxing and attacking, releasing previously concealed phantom textures, percussive episodes, near-electronic hues, and micro-alte…

"First visit to the audio equivalent of a graphic novel. Follow A Very Heavy Person is more than an album—it is an experience, an inquiry, an adventure into the unknown, defying easy categorization and existing in the liminal space between music, poetry, and philosophy. Armaroli and his quintet have crafted something truly singular—a journey through sound that is both timeless and profoundly rooted in the ephemeral beauty of the present moment." - Mark Corroto

Elisabeth Flunger - bass drum Dominic Lash - double bass Kathryn Williams - bass flute "Recording the Dissenting Voices confirmed the extent of their divergence from The Future That Never Was. Music always has something to do with the sonic architecture of instruments, but it is also about the fantasy with which musicians like Dominic, Elisabeth and Kathryn choose to play." - Christopher Fox

Though they may not have recorded together until 1953, when Rollins was 23 years old, Sonny was introduced to Monk while a senior in high school, already part of a cadre of young neighborhood jazz neophytes. Monk became a mentor to them, offering home-based instruction on the new possibilities restructuring bop harmonies and rhythms, or as Rollins later put it, “the geometry of musical time and space.” - Art Lange

"Christian Weber said in an interview for “Jazz’N’More": No matter how I move along the timeline, my attention is focused on what is to come. At the same time, I always keep in mind what happened before, without analyzing. This way, I avoid the improvisation becoming arbitrary. Both arbitrary openness and narrow restriction, neither suits me." And therein lies the whole secret of this record and ultimately the definition of great art: it is the ability of a musician to have control over space an…

"A standard takes on a new shape when it is realized through Trio New York’s methods. Their improvised preludes promote refreshed readings studded with bright accents and pungent embellishments, reinforcing the qualities that have enabled these tunes to endure, be it the sweet sentimentality of “Memories of You” or the devil-may-care of “Just One of Those Things.” By embracing the tenets of free improvisation – experimentation, discovery, and, on a good night, elucidation – Trio New York has tra…

Joe Henderson Our Thing To In ’N Out Revisited notes: The Blue Note label in the early and mid 1960s was a haven for musicians engaged in the process of expanding the jazz vocabulary with unconventional harmonic strategies and new compositional infrastructures that elicited equally exploratory improvisational responses. And it was an ongoing process, benefiting from the sporadic, albeit calculated, interaction of different perspectives and methods of creative inspiration. Established or working g…

Big Tip! As poets from Shakespeare to Heine have recognised, “the forest” is not just about grandeur and most expansive of gestures; it is also about intimacy and there is a remarkable intimacy to Christopher Kunz’s and Florian Fischer’s music. The forest is both inhuman, wild, and, because it houses us and to a degree depends on us, profoundly humane. You’ll find these qualities here as well. Focus, breathe and listen. (Brian Morton)

Joe Maneri’s last Microtonal recordings from the year 2002. These are not typically arranged songs, but asymmetrical, asynchronous constructs that develop from simultaneous, complimentary but peripheral gestures of the mind and heart. The harmonic contrasts that result from Joe Maneri’s breathy microtones; the fixed pitches, inclining towards atonality, of Tyson Rogers’ piano; and Jacob Braverman’s ambiguously scored percussion color their contrapuntal angles and parallel lines. Layers of energy…

First visit to the audio equivalent of a graphic novel.

The relationship between Ludwig van Beethoven’s "op. 132 string quartet" and Luigi Nono’s "Fragmente – Stille, an Diotima" spans 155 years while sharing several conceptual dimensions – among them, their respective composers’ intense idealism in the pursuit of art as a transformational, unifying experience; their utopian visions of political and social justice; and the struggle to translate a profound personal expression into a consequential public reality. - Art Lange

First visit live offers new mastering of the trio’s first performance at the cellar cafe, New York City 1964.

"It was once said of Paul Bley that he was the only pianist who could make a concert grand sound like an  upright. While that is not literally true, or only partly so, it makes a point that strikes home on these often  strange, offbeat, otherworldly tracks. It is a quality preserved by Michael Brändli’s typically sensitive sonic  Paul Bley-upright piano Steve Swallow-double bass Pete LaRoca-drums restoration, which increases the probability of rapture. Enjoy." – Chris May

"The special qualities of this music emerge from the focus on Lacy’s soprano saxophone in this unique instrumentation; the transparency and intimacy of the bass and guitar create a nuanced background set against the variety of improvisational strategies." - Art Lange"The removal of two recorded compositions and the editing here is based on notes originally written by Steve Lacy on the cassette he sent me to listen to and evaluate the music for release. I acquired the original recording in 1985 f…

"This, it seems to me, is the great strength of Sophie Lüssi’s music here on Atlantic Puffin. It is clearly skilled and doesn't deal in casual approximations. It is built on solid technique, a brilliant appropriation of classical violin methods in the interests of improvisation. But her music, which draws on folk as well as canonical forms, is one that emanates from and addresses the whole person. It's generous music, kindly and open, and in its gentle humour it engages a part of the spirit that…

"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

"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

"No music making can be entirely non-idiomatic. Removing the metaphor, the claim is that it is characterless, without personality. But despite his best intentions, perhaps, one can hear a range of influences in Bailey’s own work – even if jazz isn't one of them. And the present album shows that "non-idiomatic" is the wrong description for much free improvisation. The common description "abstract" is also misleading. All music is abstract in form, humane in utterance."  – Andy Hamilton

"Tadd Dameron remains better known and more widely admired among fellow musicians than with the record-buying public, and yet most will know at least some of his sophisticated compositions: “Lady Bird”, “On A  Misty Night”,  “If You Could See Me Now”. A thoughtful manner and an early death conspired to keep his  reputation somewhat subdued. Here is an opportunity to hear two of Dameron's best recordings in modern  sound. An intelligent rather than dramatic player himself, he nonetheless deserves…

"Today’s wine tasting is once again hosted by sommelier Claudio Sanna. He presents more local Sardinian varieties with a round of flights, much like the 2022 release Compositori Sardi Contemporanei. Instead of grape cultivars and vintner, Sanna presents multiple composers and performers for you to sample, not with your tongue but your ears. Just like a wine tasting experience, these tracks are a sample of the rich and fertile Sardinian landscape of creative musicians." – Mark Corroto

To experience this music, over the relocations of time and place, is an opportunity to confront complex truths and seductive mysteries, discover the poetry in sound, and share a rare “ecstatic instant.” – Art Lange Ran Blake pianoDave Knife Fabris electric guitar (tracks 11-18)

"...How Time Passes... and Essence were issued at a time when jazz history was being made practically on a monthly basis. There are a few reasons why they became submerged in the tsunami of groundbreaking  albums released in the first years of the 1960s. For starters, Candid and Pacific Jazz simply did not have the  market clout of Atlantic, Impulse, and other labels. Furthermore, Don Ellis’ music differed significantly from that of the avatars of free jazz, occupying a space between contemporar…

"Kontakte makes contacts between acoustic instrumental sounds and electronic music, its multidimensionality and its invitation to time travel, all promised a future in which humanity might transcend the limitations of material reality. In Spiegelung and Geschichte der Gewalt the electronic sounds emerge as transformations of this reality." – Christopher Fox

"A long life can contain a certain amount of waste. Live long enough and posterity doesn’t notice the  occasional unproductive gap. A short life adds value to every moment and every creative act. This new  issue of Albert Ayler’s brief association with Don Cherry includes further material from their time in  Copenhagen, a period when the saxophonist daily reinvented the themes that were coursing through  his mind, breath and fingers. These are not a collector’s fetishes. These are fresh document…

"Given their distinct backgrounds and individualistic sense of creative process, it’s not surprising to discover that the sounds Levin, Mariam and Miguel generate do not fall into common improv tactics, stylistic clichés, or the isolation of chance. There are individual characteristics that affect our perception of the flow, cessation, and singularity of events heard here, and serve to identify and intensify the moment." – Art Lange

“We are in the business of transformation, applying our knowledge of improvising together for twenty-five years, interwoven with our resonance with these melodies and forms. We have found our collective way with honouring what these pieces express to us, through our personal language, comments Gerry Hemingway.” He agrees that there's a concept of authenticity”. “The feeling of swing is our own, but shaped by the pieces we are playing”. Authenticity is acquired through assimilating traditions, an…

Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman. It was released through Atlantic Records in September 1961: the fourth of Coleman's six albums for the label. Its title named the then-nascent free jazz movement.  About Ornette! Brian Olewnick commented that Coleman is found "plumbing his quartet music to ever greater heights of richness and creativity," concluding that the album was "a superb release and a must for all fans of Coleman and cr…

"The two reissues presented herein include the last sessions that Donald would record with his brother, bookending a turning point in Ayler’s music. The Village Theater sessions, from late 1966 and early 1967 (the latter without Donald) mark, arguably, a high point in his work to that date, where the musical ecstasy he sought was as close to realization as he ever achieved – and new avenues may have been opening up – whereas ‘Love Cry’, from the summer of 1967, indicates at least partially a piv…

"The material on From Out Front To Booker Little And Friend Revisited is Little’s collective chef d’oeuvre. It is exploratory but also strewn with retentions from tradition. The dense yet sonorous dissonance, the graceful tempo and metre shifts, the extended forms that give equal weight to composed and improvised sections, together these „alter the present“ and „direct the past“." – Chris May

"It is not easy to find a description of what constitutes “the art of the duo” in jazz or improvised music. Suffice to say that any credible description would have to encompass the duo of Gallio and Turner, their approaches to playing together and the contents of You Can Blackmail Me Later." - John Eyles

"To me, these guys sound as if they have a story to tell and enough confidence to believe that they can tell and retell the old stories in new and exciting ways. Hendriksen and Gisler have formed together on this kind of thing, but if it remains true in jazz that rhythm and the percussionist are at the heart of every new step forward, then Paul Amereller’s role in the trio is crucial. No one will mistake him for anything but a contemporary, but he plays in full knowledge of the history of the mu…

"In its entirety, the concert is lively and penetrating evidence of Braxton’s remarkable facility, powers of invention, and commitment to his principles at this point in time, with special emphasis on saxophone techniques energizing variables of tone color, texture, and timbre to affect separate phrases, extended lines, and sectional contrasts."  – Art Lange Producer’s note: "I experienced over many years Anthony Braxton different performances. His solo performance 1984 in Bern belongs into the …

"It is a message, and you will hear it sounding firmly through the various pieces that make up The Human Factor, that tells us much about how we might live together: sharing, giving way, simple giving, lifting up, helping ... above all, listening ..."  - Brian Morton