Jazz /
For Sepp (Selections From The Edgar Allan Poe Suite)
Over the course of five decades, the legendary Austrian free jazz collective Reform Art Unit (and their offshoot groups) have collaborated with countless musicians, including Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Evan Parker, and Jim Pepper. Documented collaborations with free jazz notables include Impressions (Kovarik's Musikothek, 1978) with Anthony Braxton and Clifford Thornton; Subway Performances (Granit, 1994) and Illumination (InRespect, 1995) with Sunny Murray; and With Milo Fine (Granit, 1999). Milo …
The Bottle Tapes
Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series (1996-2005) is a six-CD anthology that captures the vibrant, unpredictable pulse of Chicago’s improvisational scene. Meticulously compiled from over 500 performances curated by John Corbett and Ken Vandermark, this box set chronicles a crucial era with recordings from nearly 100 international artists, immersing listeners in the fearless experimentation that defined the Empty Bottle’s celebrated Wednesday nights.
Let the Spirit Out/Live at 'Mu' London
Big tip! This is it! Chicago spiritual jazz master Kahil El'Zabar delivers one of the most powerful live recordings in recent memory! Captured over two unforgettable nights at "mu" in London - July 15th & 16th, 2024 - this is music as ancient ritual, as communion, as healing force. El'Zabar created new material specifically for these performances, alongside reimagined arrangements of classics like Wayne Shorter's "Footprints", Gershwin's "Summertime", and Duke Ellington & Juan Tizol's "Caravan".…
West and East Baying
West and East Baying by Oakland Reductionist Orchestra investigates the porous boundaries between acoustic improvisation and electronic sound, favoring the subtle friction and microdynamics of “lowercase” performance practice. Across two extended pieces—one live, one studio-crafted—this Bay Area supergroup reveals the intricate textures, restrained intensity and deep listening that define the West Coast reductionist scene.
Seeing the Way the Mole Tunnels
Seeing the Way the Mole Tunnels by James McKain, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter immerses listeners in an unmediated environment of spontaneous improvisation, where baritone saxophone, double bass and percussion fuse into a dense lattice of collision, momentum and subterranean drift. Their interplay balances volatility, swift exchange and the elusive logic of movement beneath the surface.
To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1
** With a 12-page 11x11" insert booklet (new for IA11, with unpublished photos and new liner notes by Alabaster DePlume), IARC 2025 obi strip and printed poly-lined printed inner-sleeve. ** In the words of Emma Warren: Alabaster DePlume is not doing things properly, and this makes him very happy. DePlume is a Manchester-born, London-based bandleader, composer, saxophonist, activist and orator. He’s a resident at the legendary London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre, a recording artist for…
Volume 2
Unstoppable Rising Pianist Eva Novoa Reunites with Bassist Drew Gress and Drummer Devin Gray to Bring Us Another Blazing Interplay Banger
A Mountain Sees a Mountain
A Mountain Sees a Mountain, the new duo recording by Hamid Drake and Pat Thomas, captures two master improvisers engaged in an intimate yet expansive dialogue. Released in October 2025 via Old Heaven Books, the album bridges African rhythmic philosophy and European avant-piano traditions, achieving a deep equilibrium between motion, meditation, and melodic abstraction.
Defiant Jazz: a Joe McPhee Taster
From the viral Severance TV dance party to spiritual jazz explorations, this vinyl compilation spans five decades of the Poughkeepsie legend's most electrifying moments. Funky grooves, cosmic transcendence, and raw improvisation collide.
Pay Now, Live Later
Limited edition CD & download retrospective of the pianist Gordon Beck’s musical journey from the 1960s to 1985 from a trio and quintet of Beck, Dave Green and Spike Wells plus Ray Warleigh and Iain Ballamy. The single CD comes in a 6-panel digisleeve, with a 20 page booklet written by Simon Spillett, incorporating memories provided by Iain Ballamy, Dave Green, Liam Noble. The cover art for both sleeve and booklet are original drawings from the brilliant Alban Low.
Journey to the Ancient
Yusuf Mumin's Journey To The Ancient is an archival treasure from a pivotal figure of the 1960s Cleveland free jazz scene. Drawing from previously unheard recordings preserved in his private collection, the album combines spiritual jazz’s expressive depth with experimental intensity. Featuring Mumin's multi-instrumental performance alongside percussionist William Holmes, it conveys a journey through esoteric, Afro-spiritual soundscapes with moments of serene calm and fiery bursts that reflect Mu…
Homage
2005 release ** Cardboard sleeve. "This project is the product of over thirty years of musical collaboration and personal friendships. The three of us met in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early seventies and worked together in many contexts, exploring improvisation and new music. When I moved to New York in 1983, there was a brief hiatus, and then, on hearing a composition of Mel Graves played here, I asked him to write me a piece. This led to my premiering many works of his and making sever…
Five Nights
2006 release ** "If cutting-edge music presages the course that society will take, then this release from Trio Tarana indicates that at some point we will be heading down the right path. Percussionist Ravish Momin leads a trio of musicians with diverse ethnic backgrounds with the stated purpose "of sharing their unique Asian-American musical concept and identity with different audiences, worldwide." With Five Nights, recorded live at Washington DC's beautiful Freer Gallery of Art amidst their ex…
Openings and Samādhis
"Samādhi,- a Sanskrit word meaning “concentration,” can refer to both the activity of Buddhist meditation and the absorbed state of mind of a meditating person.
Wherever I’ve known the improvisatory gesture to manifest – whether in experimental music, live art, writing, radical research workshops or the subtle space of meditation – I’ve found a similar set of energetic qualities budding. Openness, presence, surprise, delight and even sometimes the ‘dropping off of mind and body’ (as 13th century…
Kabell Years: 1971-1979
From 1971-1979 Wadada Leo Smith released four albums on his own, privately pressed label Kabell. Under the supervision of the composer, this material has now been collected, remastered and coupled with over two hours of unreleased bonus tracks, including the second set of the influential Reflectativity concert and the legendary Mapenzi solo concert from 1976. Complete with a twenty-eight page booklet featuring session photos and tributes from musical associates such as George Lewis, Alvin Single…
Red Sulphur Sky
The first solo recording in over thirty years by the brilliant composer/performer Wadada Leo Smith. Born in Leland, Mississippi, Leo was a founding member of the AACM in Chicago, and has been performing his music all over the world since the mid-1960s. His compositions for solo trumpet, highly acclaimed yet rarely documented, are some of his most personal and delicate creations. Red Sulphur Sky is the music of one of the true masters of creative music at the height of his powers.
Golden Quartet
A longtime dream project of Wadada Leo Smith, one of creative music’s most original voices, Tzadik is proud to present the first recording by a modern jazz supergroup. The four instrumental giants that comprise the Golden Quartet are veterans of some of the most influential bands in jazz history and here they are at the height of their powers. Five new compositions bring together lyricism, groove and fireworks in this exciting recording destined to become a classic of new jazz.
America
Two creative music legends who share a remarkable spiritual connection in their first duo outing. Originally proposed to ECM in 1979 and rejected, this rare musical treasure is a project that has been brewing for thirty years. Featuring six new compositions by one of the most consistently brilliant composer/performers out of the legendary AACM, and telepathic interplay by two virtuoso instrumentalists who have been pushing the musical envelope since the 1960s, Red Trumpet is one of the highlight…
Nosferatu
Created for a modern Polish stage production of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, John Zorn has created a music filled with nostalgia, tenderness, violent power and a great sense of mystery. Featuring the dark ambient bass tones of Bill Laswell, the sensitive keyboards of Rob Burger, Kevin Norton on drums, vibes and percussion and Zorn on sax, this is a moody and menacing program of music for late night listening. Romantic ballads, ambient soundscapes and hardcore intensity!
John Zorn's Bagatelles Vol. 4
From March to May 2015, John Zorn composed 300 new tunes that were eventually collected into a book of music he called The Bagatelles. After five years of performances around the world in venues large and small, the choicest ensembles have gone into the studio and the results are some of the most exciting and varied music Zorn has ever presented. Volume four features the scintillating soundscapes of electronic music wizard Ikue Mori, and she has arranged these pieces with grace, elegance, and a …