Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

*2025 stock* In essence, group improvisation is a conversation. It relates to a certain point in time, its current surroundings, personal expression and the stories each performer choses to tell from their musical paths. On Sound Flower three masters of improvised music from different generations meet for the first time as a trio and their world of sound (in Danish: klangverden) is immediately captivating. You can listen to each performer and they will tell you a story of their own, or you can t…

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with e…

A landmark in avant-garde jazz, The Finnish / Swiss Tour captures the irrepressible energy and inventiveness of the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble live in Europe. Recorded in November 1990 at the Tampere Jazz Happening (Finland) and the Internationales Jazz Festival Zürich (Switzerland), this album documents the group’s first European tour and was originally released by ECM in 1991. Led by multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell (tenor & soprano saxophones, trumpet, vibraphone, drums), the NRG Ensemble feat…

*250 coipes limited edition.* 'In this trying time of Covid and the serious curtail of gigs and record production opportunities, I’m glad to be in contact with Dark Companion Records and Max Marchini. Max seems to be the rare guy who puts the quality of contemporary music he produces much more to the fore than the financial considerations.. the investment in which is always tricky, and can hardly ever promise much in financial return. On to the music herein: Just before the Covid came on last ye…

"The shock and awe that Bitches Brew produced within and without the jazz world on its release in March 1970 was largely unexpected, the result of the music’s uncompromising power and what many felt to be its perplexing, eccentric sound and structure. In retrospect, we know how Miles’ unconventional studio methodology and Teo Macero’s subsequent compositional editing of the voluminous taped material innovated the remarkable finished product. But what has only marginally been discussed is the ext…

"In the beginning, the legend goes, it was Miles Davis’ electrifying jazz on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew – modernizing the ensemble sound as well as reconfiguring compositional flow with repetition and  variation – that begat what was to become known as fusion, exemplified by the subsequent spinoffs Weather Report (Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul), Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Headhunters (Herbie Hancock), and Return to Forever (Chick Corea), all of which emerged after 1970 and con…

Vienna FLAMMeS, or: The noise of these post-jazz improvisers resounds from paradise. According to a widespread cliché, improvisation in jazz is supposed to help promote the free play of the imagination. It was the Viennese flugelhorn player Franz Koglmann who vehemently contradicted the image of the naively self-actualizing jazz musician. As a composer of cerebral “cool” pieces, whose melancholy sprang from a razor-sharp analysis of his own means of expression, Koglmann was the most qualified pe…

The rhythm team by Rashied Ali and Reggie Johnson (with former Sun Ra member Ronnie Boykins adding texture on "Capricorn Moon") establishes a solid foundation, complemented by Alan Shorter's sharp trumpet, while Benny Maupin's close expressions in monophonic form also support it. The fact that pianist Burt Green recorded an almost unnoticed ESP album (just a month later) with Brown as a sideman illustrates how fluid and negotiable musical activities were within this nascent community. Although R…

The album "Spirits," released by a debut label based in Copenhagen, marked the first opportunity for Ayler to record his "free music" in February 1964 in New York. The musicians selected by him included notable figures such as Cecil Taylor (with drummer Sunny Murray), members from Sonny Rollins' band (bassist Henry Grimes), and musicians from his Cleveland period (trumpeter Norman Howard, bassist Earl Henderson). This work also represents his first focus on his own compositions, which includes H…

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but this recording, made in 2006, marked a change in my musical thinking. All the elements came together – my roots, the use of blues structures and the lifelong search for expression in music. I had unlimited time to think, to return again and again to a subject, to dig deeper into the blues.Falmouth is a large town by the sea in Cornwall. This recording was made at Falmouth Arts Centre on the Steinway grand in the main gallery where my wife Kate had a show. Th…

"These powerful performances from Copen­hagen and Bordeaux, released officially here for the first time, and the Newport Festival in the U.S., provide further evidence of the music’s collective necessity – the true ensemble co­ordination which Ayler adopted, elaborated and romanticized, from his awareness of historic New Orleans precedents." - Art Lange

*2025 stock* 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 title “Music for Black Pigeons,” directed by Danish filmmake…

The long-awaited debut album from bassist-composer Thomas Morgan is a lush, layered journey through ambient textures and open improvisation. Featuring an all-star cast—Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Immanuel Wilkins, Henry Threadgill, Dan Weiss, and Gerald Cleaver—the record is both spacious and intricate, with Morgan’s own virtual instrument woods shaping its organic feel. The inclusion of poet Gary Snyder’s voice adds another dimension to this environmental soundscape. Around …

Duo improvisation can be such a rare space to enter. Creating a common language in an open sea of infinite options, everything stands out. Especially with such fundamental natural instruments as the voice and bass. So what happens if you bring together Maria Laurette Friis, the Copenhagen-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and one of Scandinavia’s unique voices, and the exceptional double bass player Thomas Morgan in an improvised session? Well, it continues for more than three hours and deve…

Martin Küchen's trio Angles, with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Kjell Nordeson, joined by vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl of Angles 9: four Küchen compositions recorded in Stockholm in April 2024.

New compositions by Camila Nebbia for her sextet The Hanged One, with Julia Biłat on cello, Arne Braun on guitar and Andres Marino on electronics: intricate structures and open spaces with her tenor saxophone at the centre.

The saxophone and drums duo Sbatax, Bertrand Denzler and Antonin Gerbal, joined by Jean-Philippe Gross on electroacoustic device: a ferocious live set from Instants Chavirés where free jazz drive meets loops, feedback and crackling interference.

Absolute K.O. bout of free jazz poetry by a spry, 85 year old Joe McPhee, adapting his renowned improvised practice to words - juxtaposed with Mats Gustafson’s sparing brass and electric gestures. It’s an utterly timeless and transfixing salvo, another shiny notch for Smalltown Supersound’s brilliant Le Jazz Non Series.

Tip! *300 copies limited edition* Recorded in Stockholm on October 25, 1962, this session is one of Albert Ayler's earliest recordings, featuring a European backing group he assembled during his brief stay there, before returning to the States in 1963 and beginning his legendary run with ESP-Disk and Impulse. Though his genius is not yet fully formed, one can easily hear he's headed that direction, and this rare and long out of print recording is an essential piece of the history from one of Ame…

Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late 70's / early 80's. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American Jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.  First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, "Beautiful Africa" stands as a fierce stat…

*Contains printed inner sleeve with archival photos and extensive liner notes by two Italian soprano saxophone specialists Roberto Ottaviano and Eugenio Colombo, and pianist Martin Joseph himself* Recorded Live in Italy in October 1985 and mastered directly from the old dusty cassette, here's a previously unheard Steve Lacy recording from a rare duo appearance with pianist Martin Joseph, a little known yet fascinating British musician who had worked with Harry Beckett, John Surman, Ian Carr, Tub…

Frank Lowe was a very dynamic tenor saxophonist who derived inspiration from the initial and subsequent movements of free jazz throughout the 1960s. Lowe is most known for his collaborations with drummer Rashied Ali and a few of the many albums released under his own name. Throughout his career, he has often been overshadowed by the influence of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. He has left behind an outstanding collection of solo and leader work, including contributions to Don Cherry's Ralativity…

Big Big Tip! Certainly one of the most obscure and perhaps one of the most fascinating work of the English jazz revolution. Master of ceremonies is cellist Paul Buckmaster, known for his work with the Third Ear Band and for his (later) collaborations with Miles Davis, David Bowie and Elton John. Chitinous is his the only album as leader and it was recorded between 31 March and 13 April 1970, by an orchestra of no less than 51 players, with violins, violas and cellos. In this enormous line-up we …

Back in the mid 80's, Paul Motian, one of the greatest jazz drummers of all times, assembled one of the most inventive groups of the decade. Motian invited four highly individual players such as Joe Lovano and Jim Pepper on tenor sax, Bill Frisell on electric guitar and Ed Schuller on bass, and the result was a unique sound in perfect balance between post-Ornette free-bop and a new and spacier form of interplay. First released in 1987 "Misterioso" stands as a stunning example of modern jazz!

This was definitely a perfect title for Ornette Coleman's second and last album for Contemporary before switching on Ertegun's Atlantic label. Originally released in 1959 "Tomorrow is the Question" was an early evident step towards the revolution to come. An adventurous yet accessible, bluesy album with Coleman and Don Cherry tasting for the first time the freedom of a pianoless rhythm section featuring Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass and the great Shelly Manne on drums.

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Originally released in 1953 on Charles Mingus's own "Debut" label, this is Paul Bley's historical debut album. Here the young talented and technically strong pianist appears as leader of a super-trio with nothing but Mingus himself on bass and Art Blakey on drums. This is a beautifully varied set including both  renditions of classic standards such as "I can't get Started", and Bley's early originals like "Opus 1" and "Spontaneous Combustion" This is where you ca…

Saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi and drummer Jason Nazary present their new album, here i am no i, on September 18th. The release marks their duo debut for We Jazz Records, adding to an expanding release catalog also including Nazary’s solo album Spring Collection (2021). here i am no i is a free-flowing body of work with continuous forward-motion, building on the acoustic duo setting and expands with electronics and voice landing somewhere beyond genre. Dedicated to jaimie branch, the album is a s…

Following his striking 1968 debut Ghetto Music, the radical trumpeter and composer Eddie Gale presented an extension of that vision continuing to seek truth and justice through his music on his magnificent 2nd Blue Note album Black Rhythm Happening, recorded in 1969. Joining the Noble Gale Musicians (Gale, saxophonist/flutist Russell Lyle, and bassists Judah Samuel and Henry Pearson) and Noble Gale Singers (including Joann Gale Stevens and Fulumi Prince) are guest musicians including alto saxoph…

Like a breath that expands and slowly fades away, “Del Soffio”, Aniello Perduto’s debut for Maple Death Records, takes shape as a single composition lasting just under fifty minutes, stemming from an open score performed at the prestiguous AngelicA | Music Research Center. Amid echoes of European free jazz, electroacoustic improvisation, minimalism, and contemporary music, the trio brings to life an essential and instinctive sound in which every sonic gesture is guided by mutual listening while …

Alexander von Schlippenbach on piano and Sven-Åke Johansson on voice, accordion and drums, live at Onkel Pö in Hamburg in March 1978: a free improvised take on the German Lied, recorded by NDR.

Available for distribution for the first time! The new album by drummer producer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen continues where his trio 3TM was last spotted: "Atonal Drums", out on Helsinki's We Jazz Records, lives someplace in & around the new spots where acoustic jazz and electronic music spill into each other in ways previosuly unheard.

Guitarist Marc Ducret reworks Tim Berne's compositions, recorded mostly at home in 2021 with horns, flute, cello and a wide range of guitars, basses, daxophone and percussion, favouring colour and texture over soloing.

Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon and Tony Oxley in concert at Victoriaville on 19 May 2002: piano, trumpet and percussion in an intimate, often delicate trio set.

Marilyn Crispell alone at the piano, live at the Victoriaville festival on 2 October 1987: dense, Taylor-inspired clusters and open lyrical passages, with a Coltrane piece. The CD reissue of the 1988 LP adds Threads in the Ozone.

Four double bassists, Barre Phillips, Joëlle Léandre, William Parker and Tetsu Saitoh, live at Victoriaville on 23 May 2003 in memory of Peter Kowald: bowed and plucked basses and voices in a shared farewell.

Jean Derome and Louis Sclavis share a quartet with Bruno Chevillon on double bass and Pierre Tanguay on drums, live at Victoriaville on 19 May 2001: flutes, clarinets and saxophone on compositions by both leaders.

Barre Phillips on double bass, Catherine Jauniaux on voice and Malcolm Goldstein on violin, live at Victoriaville on 22 May 2010: three veteran improvisers in a delicate, conversational trio.

Bill Dixon's last large ensemble concert, at Victoriaville on 22 May 2010, weeks before his death: trumpets and cornets with Taylor Ho Bynum, Rob Mazurek, Graham and Stephen Haynes, with Glynis Lomon, Michel Côté and Warren Smith.

François Houle, Kate Gentile and Alexander Hawkins live at Victoriaville on 21 May 2023: clarinets and electronics, drums and piano, in a set named after the medieval nonsense poem where sound leads meaning.

Carla Bley's ten-piece band live at NDR's Studio 10 in Hamburg on March 14, 1984, with Michael Mantler and Steve Swallow: a joyful, humorous concert rescued from the NDR archives. Double CD on Moosicus.