Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

Black Editions Archive is ecstatic to announce the next chapter in the Milford Graves Archive series, the double LP Children of the Forest, previously unreleased 1976 sessions with Hugh Glover and Arthur Doyle that re-write the book on Milford Graves' ensemble music of the 1970s. Graves recorded these sessions himself in his legendary Queens basement laboratory and workshop in the months immediately leading up to the March 1976 session that produced what many consider his most iconic album, Bäbi…

2023 repress. LP version. 180 gram virgin vinyl, with original artwork restored. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, le…

"On a good day it is strenuous to stay current with pianist Matthew Shipp's imposing and voluminous output. On an even better day it is a fool's hardy errand to say the least. Now with the planned re-issuing of some of his great early deconstructions of musical thought and theory, starting here with 1990's daringly incongruous yet hypnotically accessible, Circular Temple, keeping up just got a whole lot harder. With William Parker on bass and Whit Dickey on drums, this four-movement suite for pi…

On The Will Come Is Now, Ronnie Boykins finally moves from Sun Ra’s bass chair to the centre of the frame, leading a septet through six originals where earthy groove, cosmic harmony and astonishing arco work reveal the band’s quiet architect as a full‑blown composer.

On Trio, Lowell Davidson explodes the piano tradition from the inside out, trading clustered storms, sudden lyric breaks and pregnant silence with Gary Peacock and Milford Graves in a one‑off 1965 session that still feels dangerously new.

Rip, Rig & Panic (1965) and The Jaki Byard Experience (1968), the two albums Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Jaki Byard made together, on one CD: restored and mastered by Michael Brändli, with an essay by Art Lange.

The 19-piece Fire! Orchestra moves to We Jazz with a largely vocal album: thirteen tracks, from a Thee Oh Sees cover to a Ukrainian folk song sung by Sofia Jernberg, with words by Joe McPhee and Greta Thunberg.

On Light, Palle Mikkelborg condenses a lifetime of orchestral colour into a quietly radiant final opus: solo trumpet, flugelhorn and piano drift through self‑designed soundscapes, joined sparingly by harp and guitar, like hymns remembered in slow motion.

*50th Anniversary Remaster* Outstanding!! Matsuli Music presents soul, spirituality and avant-garde jazz from South African political exile Ndikho Xaba. Its rarity has until now served to obscure both its beauty and its historical significance. Making profound links between the struggle against apartheid and the Black Power movement in the USA Ndikho Xaba and the Natives is arguably the most complete and complex South African jazz LP recorded in the USA. It stands out as a critical document in t…

Tip! **First time Officially reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes and housed in a deluxe gatefold cover. Edition of 500 copies** A body of evocative recordings included in Pupa O Crisalide with three different line-ups for this fantastic album by Enrico Rava which, thanks to Dialogo Records, finally sees the light for jazz lovers. Enrico Rava was the first Italian jazz artist to represent the country internationally, born in Trieste in 1939. A border city with a long history as part o…

On And the birds sang…, Larry Stabbins revisits two of his deepest musical friendships, paring everything down to duets with Keith Tippett and Louis Moholo‑Moholo, where tenderness, ferocity and crooked song coexist in fiercely alive, small‑room intensity.

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.

Trio session by Binker Golding (saxophones), Olie Brice (double bass) and Eddie Prévost (drums), recorded at All Saints Church, High Laver, Essex, on 3 February 2026; the fourth volume of Prévost's High Laver series.

Masayuki Takayanagi alone with his electric guitar in August 1982: his first solo improvisation album, made after his recovery from near death, from Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman to Lennie's Pennies. Official Three Blind Mice reissue on 180g vinyl.

Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi's 1970 album named after his nickname: twin keyboards and twin drums, Kohsuke Mine on saxophones, and the long groove of Dancing Mist. Japanese reissue by Universal Music on vinyl.

To mark 50-years since a 22 year old Michael Gregory Jackson recorded his groundbreaking first release, "Clarity / Circle / Triangle / Square", recorded with the mind blowing group of his contemporaries Oliver Lake, David Murray and Leo Smith. This album is like no other I know, a new world, finding a perfect balance between multiple genres. Moved-By- Sound is very excited and honored to be involved in releasing the first reissue authorized by Michael Gregory Jackson since the original release i…

** 2026 limited edition double vinyl with the original cover by Tal R. ** After 14 years of filming/recording some of today’s most influential musicians, the music from Andreas Koefoed’s and Jørgen Leth’s celebrated film “Music For Black Pigeons” is now available for the first time (vinyl only). The soundtrack is based on compositions by Jakob Bro, performed by Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Craig Taborn, Paul Motian, Andrew Cyrille, Arve Henriksen, Midori Takada and many others. Venice Film Festival…

Chicago guitarist Eli Winter leads a band with Tyler Damon and Sam Wagster, plus guests David Grubbs and Mike Watt, through six pieces that include covers of Don Cherry and Carla Bley.

Third album by the Buenos Aires sextet led by bassist Carlos Quebrada: avant-garde jazz with a Rock in Opposition streak, long ostinati against free forms, recorded in December 2016.

Radio Diaspora, the duo of drummer Wagner Ramos and trumpeter Romulo Alexis, sets free jazz and improvisation against electronics and percussion over seven tracks recorded in São Paulo in the spring of 2020.

First vinyl edition of Showtime, Sei Miguel's 1996 album and his first proper studio record, recorded live in Lisbon in 1994 with Rafael Toral on guitar, now presented as one piece with the cover photo originally planned.

Double album by Miles Davis combining concert recordings from the Cellar Door, Washington, D.C., December 1970, with Gary Bartz, John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Michael Henderson, Jack DeJohnette and Airto Moreira, and 1970 studio pieces by Hermeto Pascoal.

Double album by Miles Davis compiling studio recordings made in New York between 1970 and 1974, with Michael Henderson, Al Foster, Mtume, Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas, produced by Teo Macero and first issued by Columbia in 1974.

Studio album by Miles Davis recorded in New York in June and July 1972 with Michael Henderson, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Badal Roy, produced by Teo Macero and first issued by Columbia in 1972.

Yusef Lateef's 1968 Atlantic album, recorded at RCA Studios, New York, on 23-24 April 1968 with Blue Mitchell, Sonny Red, Kenny Burrell, Buddy Lucas, Hugh Lawson, Cecil McBee, Bob Cranshaw and Roy Brooks, produced by Joel Dorn.

Silver Vinyl version. New York-based Zoh Amba first cultivated her musical passion in the lush forests of the Appalachian mountains, playing to the woods around her home, before she studied at classical conservatories. Her music honors her roots, full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerfully-executed Free Jazz. Her sound is courageous and bold, soaring from muted hums to squeaky trebles, producing a confident sound imbued with an innate spirituality. On this p…

Clear Vinyl version. Originally from Kingsport, Tennessee, New York-based Zoh Amba is a notable rising star in the avant-garde music scene. Growing up in the Appalachian mountains, Amba practiced saxophone to the forest that surrounded her home before she later traveled to study with David Murray in New York, and also at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music & New England Conservatory in Boston. Today, her music is full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerful…

Translucent Blue Vinyl version. 'The Uproar in Bursts of Sound and Silence is a sort of emergent collage that came together over four years of composition, improvisation, and production. The foundations for this album were initially recorded in 2018 by producer/engineer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Skinyard) at Soundhouse in Seattle, WA with myself (Evan Strauss, electric bass and upright bass), 5-Track (Guitar) and Sheridan Riley (Drums). The initial foundations of this music co…

Coloured Vinyl version. 'Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) spoke the truth (and the truth under his tongue was sometimes a hammer, sometimes an anvil, sometimes a sickle, sometimes just a breath or a blast). Baraka had no tongue in cheek. Sometimes he drew his language (his thought) and in the barrel of his language (his thought), there was the cartridge of criticism, the cartridge of ranting, the cartridge of analysis, the cartridge of sedition, the cartridge of poetry, the cartridge of music. Heroes …

Coloured Vinyl version. SSWAN presents their first outing "Invisibility is an unnatural disaster" a raucous jaunt of free jazz on the premiere fire music label 577 Records. The music is rooted in the Black American art form of jazz, stemming into the branches of free improvisation, noise and experimentalism while pushing to the edges of each idiom. The idiosyncratic playing of guitarist Jessica Ackerley starts off the album's title track and jumps headfirst into a Hendrix-tinged duo with drummer…

Translucent Sea Blue Vinyl version. Super groups are always risky—the potential for disappointing fans or warring musical styles is high—but when longtime friends and masterful improvisers come together, they usually work. Evident in their first collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, John Dikeman (Saxophone; When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) joined musicians Pat Thomas (Piano; Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), John Edwards (Bass…

Coloured Vinyl version. Can music liberate us? Francisco Mela, who worked and partnered with the legendary jazz musician McCoy Tyner, believes so. On this album, the second volume of Music Frees Our Souls, Mela collaborates with pianist Cooper-Moore and bassist William Parker to build a 2-part extended track project of advanced dialogue between 3 of the genre's most important instruments. Tyner was well-known for his boundless musical talent, and perhaps best-known for playing in John Coltrane’s…

Blue Vinyl version. Before any instrumentation, Francisco Mela addresses his fellow musicians, pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, with a sense of anticipation and affirmation, “Okay guys, ready? Rolling!” The sense of camaraderie and his artist-focused approach is heard throughout the album’s majestic improvisation—as well as in its inspiration, dedicated to Mela’s longtime musical partner, the legendary jazz musician McCoy Tyner. Tyner was well-known for his boundless musical tal…

Coloured Vinyl version. In the first lockdown, Matthew Putman (on keyboard) and Michael Sarian (on trumpet and flugelhorn) began to meet up (with precautions) for semi-regular sessions in Sarian’s makeshift home studio. The conditions were less-than-ideal—a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, an inadequate microphone, and cramped NYC apartment acoustics—but they continued their “weekly pilgrimages, searching for [their] cadences, rhythms and melodies through the Fall.” The sessions gave them much-nee…

Coloured Vinyl version. New York United is an experimental group at the musical intersection of a classic New York avant-garde scene and forward-looking electronic production. Comprised of multi-instrumentalist and 577-cofounder Daniel Carter (Saxophone, Flute, Trumpet, Clarinet), electronic producer Tobias Wilner from Blue Foundation (Synthesizers, Percussion, Vocals, Piano, Guitar), Wu-Tang Clan bass player Djibril Toure and 577’s Federico Ughi (Drums), their sound reflects their decades of co…

Coloured Vinyl version. How do you welcome adventure? Longtime comrades, legendary Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver investigated this in their first album, Welcome Adventure, Vol. 1, resulting in 577 Records’ best-selling release in the 20 years we’ve been operating. Now, the group is trying the question again with their second astonishing volume, taken from the same historical recording session. Daniel Carter (Saxophone, Clarinet) has been collaborating with Willi…

Cloudy Clear Vinyl version. Are you ready for magic? The master musicians Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver will provide access with this album, the first they have released after playing together for decades. Daniel Carter has been collaborating with William Parker since the early 70s and with Matthew Shipp starting in the mid 80s. This trio has played together on many recordings but by adding legendary drummer Gerald Cleaver to the mix they have created a masterpi…

Yellow Vinyl version. Dave Tucker says that he brought this disparate group of musicians together for a live performance at London’s Cafe Oto last March on “an educated guess,” predicting that the artists - Mark Sanders (Drums & Percussion), Pat Thomas (Piano & Keys), Dave Tucker (Guitar) and Thurston Moore (Guitar) - would be able to create something extraordinary through improvisation. The condition of their encounter would later become the collective’s name, an “Educated Guess” and the eponym…

* LP on black vinyl, pressed at RTI and housed in a heavy-duty tip-on Stoughton jacket, with insert. * In 1968, Don Cherry had already established himself as one of the leading voices of the avant-garde. Having pioneered free jazz as a member of Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet, and with a high profile collaboration with John Coltrane under his belt, the globetrotting jazz trumpeter settled in Sweden with his partner Moki and her daughter Neneh. There, he assembled a group of Swedish musicians …

* 2xLP on black vinyl, pressed at RTI and housed in a heavy-duty tip-on gatefold Stoughton jacket. * In the late 1960s, the American trumpet player and free jazz pioneer Don Cherry (1936–1995) and the Swedish visual artist and designer Moki Cherry (1943–2009) began a collaboration that imagined an alternative space for creative music, most succinctly expressed in Moki’s aphorism “the stage is home and home is a stage.” By 1972, they had given name to a concept that united Don’s music, Moki’s art…