Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* A blistering live performance by one of the greatest instrumental rock trios ever. Fred Frith, Bill Laswell and Charles Hayward have each been responsible for some of the greatest concerts in new music in the last twenty years, and collectively they take rock improvisation to ecstatic new heights. Beautifully recorded by longtime Laswell associate Oz Fritz at Robert Wyatt’s Meltdown Festival in London, 2001, Meltdown is one of the most exciting recordings by…

2024 Stock. Huge Tip! Spiritmuse presents “Pathways & Passages”, the debut album from “Cosmic Vibrations” the LA-based ensemble led by acclaimed jazz vocalist Dwight Trible that defines spiritual jazz in the 21st century. A genre-defying amalgamation of divine vocals, soul-stirring jazz, healing poetry, with a rich tapestry of African, Mesoamerican and indigenous North American percussion and instrumentation, taking you on a cosmic journey of spiritual improvisation and beyond. Cosmic Vibrations…

Based in Tokyo, Keiko Higuchi is a vocalist and instrumentalist internationally renowned both for her solo performances and extensive collaborations in the world of underground improvisation, jazz and the avant garde. On Vertical Language, Higuchi has created an evocative and hauntingly beautiful album that unfurls in equal parts light and darkness, form and emptiness. On solo voice and piano as well as in duets with bassist Louis Inage, Higuchi performs a collection of songs and improvisations …

*2023 stock* "Swedish multi-reed artist Mats Gustafsson was just beginning to come into his own at the time of this recording. The oddly titled Mouth Eating Trees and Related Activities catches him at the cusp when his prodigious technical abilities were starting to be subsumed into an impressive musical presence. It doesn't hurt that his companions for this freely improvised session are stalwarts like Barry Guy and Paul Lovens, who provide accompaniment that's creatively telepathic. While Gusta…

Temporary Super Offer! "For the followers of Ornette Coleman’s music, 1963 and 1964 were the lost years. His final session for Atlantic Records, Ornette on Tenor, was in March 1961, and though he played sporadic club dates in ’62, his self-produced Town Hall concert in December was to be his last significant appearance until he accepted a Village Vanguard gig in January 1965. The reasons for this hiatus, apparently, were personal, economic, philosophical, pragmatic, and artistic, all at the same…

Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Roy Haynes' 1971 LP 'Hip Ensemble,' recorded in New York for Bob Shad's Mainstream Records and featuring Hannibal Marvin Peterson, George Adams, Teruo Nakamura and Lawrence Killian. Together the musicians create a superb mix of jazz funk and spiritual Jazz showcasing Haynes powerful drumming and creativity. "Hip Ensemble" is reissued here for the first time on vinyl since 1971, in its original gatefold artwork with first generation photos and includes the bon…

1996 release (RARE) **  Music conceived and performed by Hon ShonTim Wilson: Chinese and Westem Flutes, Saxophone, MelodicaSimon Hiu: Double Bass, Ghatam, Ocarina, PercussionLung Heung Wing: Vibrophone and Percussion

Fall Into a Rabbit Hole of Delicious Sound with New Trio Album from Up-And-Coming Saxist Eric Shorter & 577 Records

A New Quartet Has Been Born from the Souls of Daniel Carter, Ayumi Ishito, George Draguns, and Ed Wilcox, and Their Debut Album Stands to Redefine Experimental Music Entirely

Brooklyn’s 577 Records is ecstatic to introduce you to a soaring trio making a name for itself in the global experimental community.  Their debut album, Siesta, delivers blissful, organized chaos bolstered by these artists' seemingly limitless imaginations.  Expect the unexpected.  Forged from a 2024 chance meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Wallace, Vazquez, and von Schultz project came together as quickly as it did naturally.  Their “big bang” moment of origination occurred at the suggest…

Rising UK Trio Sveið Unleashes Human-AI Improv Collaboration That Will Blow Your Mind Wide Open

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock* The Brooklyn-based noise-jazz violinist Sana Nagano often finds herself at the center of the storm. As other instruments crash and careen around her, her assuredly melodic violin works to ground and stabilize the overall sound. And nowhere is this better heard than on Smashing Humans, her new quintet album coming March 19th on 577 Records. Featuring Peter Apfelbaum on sax, Keisuke Matsuno on guitar, Ken Filiano on bass, and Joe Hertenstein on drums, it’s an L…

2024 stock. With her new album, I Went This Way, (due October 23, 2020), Rachel Musson debuts her own ambitious compositions, incorporating spoken word text and daring instrumental experimentation, alongside eight other accomplished musicians. The ensemble was built around the close working relationship between saxophonist Rachel Musson and drummer Mark Sanders. The music, a blend of compositions and improvisation designed to highlight all of the different musical voices in the ensemble, is susp…

Federico Ughi Together with Leo Genovese and Brandon Lopez Explores the Spaceways in the New Multidimensional LP ‘Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1’

Joona Toivanen Trio returns to We Jazz Records with their new album "Gravity", out 31 January 2025. A landmark work for the long standing group, the album showcases the forward-looking sound of the band, moving way beyond the basic scope of the "piano trio". There’s a startling sense of telepathy and intimacy at work in the music of the Joona Toivanen Trio, something you can glean from the opening moments of their latest album, Gravity. It’s that rare synergy that can only come with years of tim…

Chicago-based saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark was invited to arrange a set of seventies music for a concert in 2019, and among the pieces he chose were tracks by funk legends Parliament and post-punk iconoclasts DNA. On this 12-inch 45rpm EP, Vandermark's band Marker presents a unique take on "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples," drawn from Parliament's 1975 LP Mothership Connection, and DNA's "Egomaniac's Kiss," which first appeared on the classic 1978 Brian Eno-produced collection No …

2014 release ** "Trees brings together an unusual quintet of string trio—viola (Ernesto Rodrigues), cello (Guilherme Rodrigues) and double bass (Gianna de Toni)—with soprano saxophone (Christophe Berthet) and electric bass/objects (Raphael Ortis). The five tracks contain a deep range of sounds from all of the instruments: Sparse textures evoking creaking wood and the rustling of dry leaves (Ancient Trees); long bowed tones from the cello and double bass and suspended harmonics (Whistling Trees);…

*2025 stock* This eclectic group features the legendary multi instrumentalist Daniel Carter as well as the scientist/pianist Matthew Putman, drum wizard and 577 Records co-founder Federico Ughi, together with the brilliant up-and-coming member of the New York downtown scene, Texas-born clarinet player Patrick Holmes plus veteran bassist Hilliard Greene, a mainstay of the avant-garde for the last 20 years.

Collaborations are unique to their combinations, producing totally original and innovative ideas with the addition of a single factor. In this case, legendary musicians and 577 mainstays join together in this unique arrangement for the first time, allowing for yet another reinvention. Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, pianist Leo Genovese, bassist William Parker (also playing Gralla and Shakuhachi on this album), and drummer and vocalist Francisco Mela, unite for another impro…

1991 release **

2008 release ** ""Nicola Cipani's "Ill-Tempered Piano" is a suprising and playful album of solo improvisations played on broken and untuned pianos. Cipani's accomplished melodic and rhythmic approach and his responsiveness to each instrument's raw potential set this project apart. The recordings were made over the span of two years in different New York City warehouses, on several keyboard instruments (among the pianos you hear also a clavichord), some of which are so damaged as to be hardly rec…

** Rare original copies. Early 80s LP reissue. Unplayed copies from a dead-stock, minor wear due to ageing on covers ** A seismic moment in the history of free jazz, Sonny’s Time Now stands as a raw, uncompromising manifesto of musical liberation. Recorded in New York City in November 1965 and released on the visionary Jihad label founded by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), this is the first album led by the revolutionary drummer Sonny Murray-and it’s nothing short of essential. With a lineup that re…

2010 release **

4CD Set "Originally released across two edited volumes by Shandar in 1971, the concerts are now being reissued by Strut in a stunning 4CD set, Limited Edition 4CD Set. Features a 36-page booklet featuring liner notes by by Daniel Caux, Jacqueline Caux and Paul Griffiths and stunning restored photos of the festival by Philippe Gras. Sun Ra’s Nuits de la Fondation Maeght recordings are legendary within his extensive canon. Across two nights in August 1970, these were the first concerts Ra and the …

Tip! In the first years of its existence, starting in 1997, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet worked as a collective, inviting all and any of its participants to contribute compositions to the band's repertoire.  Eventually, the Tentet would jettison scores and pre-planned structures altogether, opting for free improvisation, but on their early tours and initial recordings they played pieces written by the various band members.  A marathon set of summer studio sessions in 2002, just off a U.S. …

Recorded on March 14th, 2024 by Mikko Innanen in Hietsun Paviljonki, Helsinki Maria Faust- alto saxophone Mikko Innanen - alto, sopranino and baritone saxophones Fredrik Ljungkvist - soprano and tenor saxophones Liudas Mockūnas - sopranino, soprano and bass saxophones

Søren Skov Orbit's debut album, "Adrift," is at once subtle and profound. The Danish saxophonist and his collaborators have created something quite special and consistently deep. This record may not easily be classifiable, but the most interesting music creeps between the lines. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Søren Skov (Debre Damo Dining Orchestra) and keyboardist Peder Vind co-founded the trippy quintet Søren Skov Orbit in 2016 to explore “more jazzy ideas,” as the saxophonist puts it. Joined b…

Following the April 2022 reissue of the album Shrimp Boats, We Are Busy Bodies presents companion titles Plum and Cherry and Deeper in Black to round out a Lionel Pillay and Basil Mannenberg Coetzee “trilogy” as part of the label’s As-Shams South African jazz archive series. The connection between these three albums is tight as the 1987 release Shrimp Boats compiled unreleased recordings from both the 1979 session for Plum and Cherry and the 1980 session for Deeper in Black. These two rare recor…

Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe is a powerful and often ignored 1970 recording from the American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer Albert Ayler. Apart from the posthumous album The Last Album, this was to be Ayler's last studio album, recorded and released before his death in November 1970. The album was initially judged as too difficult by Down Beat, then recognized by the most as “an important portrait of a man facing a life and death inner struggle beyond the bounda…

*In process of stocking* Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson might have a separate discography for his solo records. He's investigated the possibilities of unaccompanied reed music from almost every angle. Presented with the opportunity to make a new solo record under the isolation of the pandemic, Gustafsson returned to a project he'd conceptualized but never realized: the playing-card pieces of Peter Brötzmann. Although these Fluxus-like prompts are better known through the two card sets the G…

Mats Gustaffson and the Fire! Orchestra return with an album recorded in the company of Jim O'Rourke entitled Echoes and to be released on 14 April 2023 by Rune Grammofon. For the 14th anniversary the Fire! Orchestra presents itself with a gigantic line-up of 43 elements. Within the big band we also find the confirmation of singer Mariam Wallentin, as well as the addition of the voices of David Sandström and Joe McPhee (also present as tenor sax). Echoes is a new chapter within the discography o…

Temporary Super Offer! The music on this CD is an impressive document of such a search for meaning and artistic legitimacy. It doesn’t want to add something even louder to the supposedly spectacular. On the contrary: Here, it is about the subtle intimacy and emotionality of human relationships, about breathing as one. It is about being interested in each other beyond ever new superlatives. This is where the unobtrusive authenticity of this music comes from, what makes it special and thoughtful. …

These tracks capture Ra's electronic peregrinations during the 1970s and '80s. The Arkestra occasionally makes a cameo appearance but Ra commands the spotlight, not so much composing music as painting soundscapes with electronic keyboards. In the collection we've titled Stray Voltage, Ra is not so much composing music as painting soundscapes with electronic keyboards. Ra doesn't simply play these consoles — he attacks, cajoles, and pounds them. He upends and transports them where they weren't bu…

Imagine it’s late afternoon, you’re outside by the lake, and there’s sunlight on the water. This is the peaceful and contemplative scene that Matt Gold and Resavoir set on their collaborative LP Horizon. Across 10 lush and exploratory tracks, it’s the product of two Chicago-based musicians—Will Miller, the acclaimed trumpeter, composer, and producer who’s worked with SZA, Whitney, and more, and Gold, a seasoned multi-instrumentalist and accomplished guitarist—effortlessly combining their distinc…

Finnish bassist Antti Lötjönen returns in February 2023 with his second Quintet East album on We Jazz Records. With Verneri Pohjola on trumpet, Mikko Innanen and Jussi Kannaste on saxes, and Joonas Riippa on drums, Quintet East is a hard-hitting ensemble of Helsinki scene A-listers. The new release sees the quintet work with Lötjönen's inspired new music with remarkable spirit, spreading out on a quest for new sounds and ideas, and returning to base with a fresh batch of acoustic creative music,…

"Colapesce” is an album that delves into the dark and mysterious depths of the Sicilian legend, reinterpreting it through a contemporary and experimental lens. Colapesce, the legendary man-fish who sacrifices himself to support Sicily, becomes a symbol of resilience, metamorphosis, and sacrifice. The album blends elements of free jazz, musique concrète, electronic music, and radical improvisation to evoke an underwater journey into the unknown, amidst sound waves and unfathomable abysses. This w…

Jeff Parker’s 2016 album The New Breed was a turning point for both Parker and International Anthem, changing the trajectory of his solo career as well as drawing an abundance of attention to our fresh imprint despite our then very limited catalog. Most importantly though, the album is the first to give voice to Parker’s wholly unique take on sample-based beat construction augmented by improvisation and live instrumentation (performed in this case by the high-level crew of Paul Bryan on bass, Jo…

Irreversible Entanglements’s self-titled debut album was originally released in September 2017, and features the first music ever played together by the freshly assembled Philly/NY/DC-based quintet of poet Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), bassist Luke Stewart, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. The explosive collection of improvised free-jazz with spoken word accompaniment was born after the group's initial meeting at a Musicians Against Police Bruta…

**CD version** "A primal force of something... real. I have listened back and forth to the new album of Anna Högberg's “Attack” numerous times now and it hit me like a split axe in a split second: this music is for real! Wham Bam! This is liberating music. Allowing music. It hits me just as the split axe hits the wood. Without hesitation, but still very sensitive. Pure power does not cut the wood automatically. No fancy flirts with post-this and post-that. Just the force. Of itself. This music i…

When Michael Bisio heard Korean pianist Eunhye Jeong's ESP-Disk 2021 album NOLDA, he expressed interest in working with her. After a successful and riveting duo concert in Kingston, NY showed what a good match they were, ESP was eager to document their musical affinity. One of the concert attendees was avant-jazz sax icon Joe McPhee, who guested with the duo at their subsequent studio session along with one of ESP's favorite drummers, Jay Rosen. Magical moments abounded, as you can hear on this …