Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

Friends and colleagues since the late 1970s, Evan Parker and John Zorn are two of contemporary music’s most uncompromising saxophone innovators, and here they collaborate on a surprising and long overdue studio project. Recorded in New York and Britain from 2025 to 2026 Those Landings is an achingly beautiful exploration of modern reed music with an ambient touch from two radical musical philosophers who use the saxophone as a sound source. Astonishing!

Tzadik is proud to present a new solo piano CD by the legendary pianist and edu-cator Ran Blake. Now in his 90s, Ran has been associated with New England Conservatory since 1967 and is one of America’s greatest cultural treasures. Here he performs an eclectic program of jazz, folk, gospel, film noir, and Christmas Music in his inimitable deconstructuralist style. Produced by Ran’s longtime friend and colleague Hankus Netsky, “Voices” is a seductive and dreamy exploration of piano music at its mo…

In As Serious As Your Life, photographer and historian Val Wilmer chronicles the free jazz revolution as a Black cultural vanguard, situating Ayler, Coltrane, Coleman, Sun Ra and others within the struggles, hopes and solidarities of 1960s–70s America.

Whenever the term “Free Jazz” gets mentioned, the same questions more or less present themselves: “Is this easy to listen to?” “Is there structure, or is this just a few friends playing over each other?” “Is this another Coleman/Taylor/Dolphy homage?” Yes; yes; maybe—who cares? Free Jazz is (in my definite opinion) the last bastion of music (and maybe even art as a whole) where true innovation is not only still possible but also extremely well-executed—if done right. Enter “Second Sight” by Oslo…

*2024 stock* New York city based bassist and visual artist Josh Werner was awarded an artist in residence from The Cell Gallery located in New York NY. As a part of this residency which occurred in the month of July 2020, Josh presented various works in different mediums from visual art to music. In lue of the 2020 pandemic Josh was unable to present music to a live audience and instead offered a pre-recorded live performance to be aired at a later date. Werner was able to put together an ensemb…

From the same producer who brought you Brahja, Kadef, EEG Coherence, Watermelancholia and Nebulizer, Infinity Zero offers yet another journey through shimmering soundscapes, soulful expression and rhythmical trance. “Modern jazz multi-instrumentalist, Devin Brahja Waldman, is an underrated force to be reckoned with, within the international alternative jazz scene. Brahja (the band) is an exemplary collective of musicians, all who fall in-line with modern jazz philosophy and have reflected it wit…

Vladislav Delay, primarily known as a highly regarded electronic music innovator, steps ahead with his acoustic jazz quintet. Echoing the forward-looking vd musical vision always ahead of the curve, the new album does not fit into any specific category, forging a path of its own across the 10 tracks. Recorded at Candybomber Studio in Berlin, the album brings vd together with Maria Bertel, Lucio Capece, Derek Shirley and Max Loderbauer. This is shape-shifting, elastic music that exists left of an…

Mysterious quartet Oaagaada has for some years been one of the best-kept secrets in the vibrant Finnish scene. Now, the band is ready to share their eagerly-awaited debut album on We Jazz Records, 15 November, just ahead of their performance at Helsinki's We Jazz Festival. Oaagaada's music is "togetherness music" in the lineage and spirit of the great acoustic free jazz innovators, but always moving forward and developing on its own path. This music is far-removed from the sterile "contemporary …

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on…

Jonathan Bäckström Quartet is an acoustic improvising quartet based in Helsinki with members from Finland and Sweden. Bassist/composer Jonathan Bäckström leads the quartet and they are set on a mission to navigate and discover the music that is being created in the moment. The quartet's expression consists of minimalistic landscapes and explosive, multi-layered free improvisation and is the result of each musician bringing their individual voices to create a strong, collective statement. The gro…

Tip! *300 copies limited edition* This is a live recording of the Peter Brötzmann Trio (Peter Brötzmann, Sabu Toyozumi, and Jason Adasiewicz) from their performance at the 5th OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival at B10 Live, Shenzhen, in 2015. After the performance, the B10 Live team conducted a warm and friendly interview with the three musicians. The transcribed conversation has been edited and included in the liner notes of this vinyl album. Liu Ying Studio delivered exceptional mixing work, perfectly cap…

Italian saxophone, cornettophone, and bansuri flute player Gianni Gebbia makes his debut on Minority Records with Sleep, released on LP and Bandcamp on May 1, 2026, the same day that marks the artist's 65th birthday.Sleep can be considered an introspective and ambient meditative work, whose structure does not correspond to traditional jazz compositions, but rather consists of extensive improvised hypnotic soundscapes without precise boundaries, using soprano saxophone and cornettophone with elec…

Still Life with Lemons began as a ‘Reflex’ commission from the Amsterdam venue Bimhuis. This album is a live recording of that special first performance. Powerful musical characters meet on stage in a spirit of exploration, friendship, and openness, through the energetic and interplay-driven world of Marta Warelis’ compositions, where each musician’s distinct approach shines collectively. They explore the multilayered and the multiphonic, with a special interest in beat frequencies. This collect…

This recording brings together the forty known compositions for Saxophone Quartet by Julius Hemphill (1939-1995). These works were composed between 1978 and 1989 for performances with the World Saxophone Quartet. These compositions are, with the fewest of exceptions, written specifically “on” the saxophone quartet.  He will at times set a piece written for his small-group ensembles onto the saxophone choir, but in the main, this music is created on and through the saxophones. He uses the saxopho…

In March 2022, Joe Fonda and Silke Eberhard met at the Downtown Music Record Store in New York, and just six months later they were on stage together with Austrian drummer Emil Gross in Berlin. The Josilemi Trio was born. The collective trio's compositions and improvisations are powerful, driving, elegant, structured and refined, combining diverse influences with improvisational inspiration. It is music that is completely connected to the moment and yet totally future-oriented. It is Music for h…

Other:M:other is a trio from Austria, consisting of Judith Schwarz (extended drums), Jul Dillier (prepared piano) and Arthur Fussy (modular synthesizer). Judith is a drummer and composer and internationally well known with bands like Chuffdrone, Little Rosies Kindergarten or the duo Hofmaninger/Schwarz. Arthur is a sound designer, composer and engineer. He also works for theatre productions in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Jul describes himself as a sound poet. He works as a solo artist, per…

The Eddie Prévost Quartet with Larry Stabbins, Veryan Weston and Marcio Mattos: Continuum, recorded live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival on 3 July 1983, plus four pieces recorded at Porcupine Studios, London, on 27 and 28 March 1985.

Long-time collaborators and legends of the British improvised music scene, the great saxophone virtuoso John Butcher and the master of the double bass John Edwards, join forces in a duet journey through a fascinating land of sounds, sometimes undiscovered, sometimes impossible, and always breathtaking.

"A small gift for a great Cecil Taylor history. On 23 April 2016, Jay Sanders organised and recorded a concert whose significance at the time was impossible to estimate. The great Cecil Taylor was accompanied by the wonderful musicians Okkyung Lee, Tony Oxley, Harri Sjostrom and Jackson Krall. After the concert, Cecil announced that it was time to return to the legendary formula he had used several times in his career, which served as an emblem of what was particularly important in his work.   U…

*2024 stock* The cliffhanger collaboration by Masataka Fujikake and Takeharu Hayakawa, which has been going on since 2007, is now complete with a live performance of the May 2011 session with Jim O'Rourke as a guest. The trio's bold arrangements are a powerful work centered on a solitary guitar sound that only Jim O'Rourke could express.

"The next chapter of the Natural Information Society is here. Since Time Is Gravity, credited to Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown, presents a newly expanded manifestation of acclaimed composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams nearly 15 year, 7 albums &-counting flagship ensemble. Joining the core NIS of Abrams (guimbri & bass), Lisa Alvarado (harmonium) Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet) are Hamid Drake (percussion), Josh Berman & Ben Lama…

*2025 Repress!! 150 copies limited edition* Rich in musical associations yet utterly singular in its voice, joyous with an inner tranquility, the music of Natural Information Society is unlike any other being made today. Their sixth album in eleven years for eremite records, descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is the first to be recorded live, featuring a set from London’s Cafe OTO with veteran English free-improv great Evan Parker, & the first to feature just one extended composition. The 75-…

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 powerfully executed Free Jazz…

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 project, Zoh Amba is jo…

Double LP, Gatefold edition. This landmark compilation continues the unfoldment of diabolically obscure yet culturally and artistically essential recordings that have been hidden and precariously balanced on the precipice of obsolescence. For the first time ever, Tramp Records is proud to present an "all German" artists version of the Peace Chant series, including liner notes printed in German exclusively with an English translation downloadable. Focused on rare recordings from German musicians …

*2026 repress* The soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's 1986 film Down By Law is composed and performed by John Lurie, who also plays the pimp Jack in the movie. His world-weary avant-jazz pieces like "Please Come to My House," "What Do You Know About Music, You're Not a Lawyer," "Strangers in the Day," and "Fork in the Road" convey the film's seedy but humorous crime story.

*100 copies limited edition* There is a strange form of clairvoyance that does not look to the future, but digs back into the earth, into the ground itself. Etruscan mythology tells that the small Tages who emerged from the furrow of a plowed field at Tarquinia was not an ordinary child, but memory itself—coming from the earth’s innards—to dictate its divinatory secrets. For the seventh installment of the Drove catalog, the ensemble Oracle Column turns this myth into sound material, treating mag…

*2026 stock. 500 copies limited edition* Lynx started in 2004 and is a doubledrumleadrhythmsectionpowerband. Based on Antonis’ compositions the music is developing in collective improvisations. Combination of arithmetical structures and spontaneous decisions. Hypnotic melodies, ecstatic drumming and extended sound trips. Studio prize 2005 of the Culture Senat in Berlin! Cool dark sounds in Jazzy and Latin ways!

This is not a Ben Vida, Booker Stardrum, and Will Epstein record; it’s a Play Time record. That’s a subtle but important distinction, for a couple reasons. One, the sound of Magic Object—a polymetric blend of improv and pulse minimalism for saxophone, drums, and Moog—doesn’t really sound anything like any of their many other ensembles or respective solo projects. And two, it was only while making Magic Object, their debut album, that Play Time realized they were a band at all. Let’s back up. The…

We are excited to announce the first reissue of Tony Scott's iconic “Manteca” album originally released in 1973. This 180-gram vinyl audiophile edition captures the essence of a true master of contaminated jazz, allowing listeners to experience Tony Scott's vibrant artistry like never before. Originally described in the album’s liner notes by Sam Charters, "Manteca" embodies the spirit of the jazz musician’s journey—a testament to durability, warmth, and exuberance. Charters notes, “You have to …

Reissue of the Japanese group Air featuring percussionist Yuji Imamura. Seems like half split between moderate Jazz Rock with monster improvised parts and outlandish Avant Jazz with strong percussion minimalism and tribal rhythms, the instrumental arsenal is huge and promising (various strings, winds, keyboards, electronic equipements). Two side long instrumental tracks, the material is mostly based on individual soloing depending on each musician.

*2023 stock* "This album, the first under the band's name in six and a half years, is a jazz alternative album with a multilingual and hardcore taste that differs greatly from previous albums.  The recording for this album started in June 2020, during a period when many of our activities were being cancelled due to Covid-19. It had been a while since I last met or played with the members of this band, with whom prior to the pandemic I would regularly get together for gigs at various venues or tr…

A much-needed and expanded reissue of this 1970s Offbeat label LP of cellist Keiki Midorikawa in duo with Masahiko Togashi, Masayuki Takayanagi and Masahiko Sato. Keiki Midorikawa (cello, bass), Masahiko Togashi (percussion, drums), Masayuki Takayanagi (guitar) et Masahiko Sato (piano). Recorded on January 16, 1976 at Nichi-futsu kaikan, Tokyo. The original LP of this work has duo with Takayanagi on A side and duo with Sato on B side. But in the concert, Midorikawa played duo with Togashi about …

This 2013 debut album by South Korean bassist and composer Kim Sung-Bae is a remarkable masterpiece. Anchored by a two-horn quintet, the music blends Eastern and Middle Eastern modes with spiritual jazz, weaving a soundscape that is deeply emotional, beautiful, and profoundly moving. The overarching narrative carries an epic, cinematic scale that commands repeat listens. From the sublimely beautiful, oriental-tinged piano trio masterpiece ‘Eastern Restaurant’ to the spellbinding Middle Eastern m…

On Hidden Fire, Sun Ra turns the late‑’80s Arkestra into a digital seance, using Yamaha DX7 shards, strings and haunted vocals to swap cosmic swing for dissonant ritual, opening one last, ominously glowing portal in his Saturnian saga.

On Volume 3, Secular Music Group expand to a five‑piece and turn a single 4‑track tape machine into a labyrinth: live, no‑rehearsal performances that swell from lean modal vamps into ten‑part sound worlds where library funk, holy minimalism and jazz coexist.

Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts fro…

Wrens creates music that is modern and without immediate comparison. This is revolutionary art, both musically and lyrically. Had Miles Davis lived to be 100, continuing on his path of repeatedly changing the direction of jazz, it would be easy to imagine that by 2026 it could have sounded like Wrens, not only because of the heavily affected and brilliant trumpet playing, but because it feels so contradictory to the institutions that breed much of this music today. When asked about the meaning b…

"A fine musical trio is always more than the sum of its individual parts, and over two decades the grouping of pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen has developed a distinctive character that hasn’t simply yielded a number of fine recordings, but has helped to set Luxembourgish jazz on the international map. Now, working with an orchestra conducted by Vince Mendoza --who also penned some of the arrangements --and with guest saxophonist Joshua Redman, they have deliver…

In June of 2013, a new label for improvised music was born. After years of working with other labels in the “business,” saxophonist and label founder Dave Rempis saw the writing on the wall that many of those outlets for underground music would soon go belly up. With shifting modes of consumption and distribution due to the wave of digital options drowning out traditional music media, it became clear that artists working outside of the mainstream would have to take over their own production and …