Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

CD eissue of Don Cherry's classic Eternal Rhythm Group, recorded at the Berlin Jazz Festival, 1968. An amazing line up of: Cherry (cornet, gender and saron [gamelan], flutes), Albert Mangelsdorff (trombone), Eje Thelin (trombone), Bernt Rosengren (tenor sax, oboe, clarinet, flute), Sonny Sharrock (guitar), Karl Berger (vibes, piano, gender), Joachim Kühn (piano, prepared piano), Arild Andersen (bass), & Jacques Thollot (drums, saron, gong, bells, voice). Two "side-long" pieces with gamelan under…

*2024 stock* "This release Shintaro Quintet’s private press release ‘Evolution’. It’s another well-chosen release that comes with superb packaging, high sound quality and some interesting sleeve notes which give a fascinating in-depth insight into the music and the musicians in Japan within the specified time period. Recorded in New York, the one-off recording by bassist Shintaro Nakamura and his quintet features the brilliant trumpeter Shunzo Ohno, who has played on many of the quintessential J…

Ascension, released in 1966 on Impulse!, stands as one of John Coltrane’s most radical and influential works. Subtitled “Edition I & II” to reflect the two complete takes recorded at the session - and presented together on LP for the first time - the piece is a nearly 40-minute large-ensemble performance marking Coltrane’s decisive embrace of the avant-garde. Recorded on June 28, 1965, at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio and produced by Bob Thiele, the session assembled an expanded ense…

Follow up to 2020's Plays For Trane, this is Plays For Trane Vol. 2. The band dives further into John Coltrane's catalog, turning it inside out, bending it, holding it with care. Forkelid, together with Mattias Ståhl, David Stackenäs, Vilhelm Bromander and Jon Fält, revisit the jazz giant in a celebrated transformation, reimagining the sounds of John Coltrane.

At long last, after remaining out of print for decades, the Milan based imprint, Dialogo, dives into the legendary catalog of Cramps, bringing forth the first ever vinyl reissue of Steve Lacy’s LP, "Straws", issued as the sixth instalment of the label’s DIVerso series in 1977. Truly singular in the legendary American saxophonist’s discography - featuring stunning solo excursions and dialogs with himself - it remains one of the great documents of 1970s improvisation, and is as engrossing, creativ…

Montreux, 7 July 1973: Gary Bartz brings the NTU Troop on stage as a quartet and plays the first half of the concert as one unbroken suite. Langston Hughes turned into song, alto and soprano over electric piano and bass. First vinyl edition since 1975, cut AAA from the original tapes by Kevin Gray.

Jan Garbarek's 1998 double album with Rainer Bruninghaus, Eberhard Weber, Marilyn Mazur and Bugge Wesseltoft, on vinyl for the first time in ECM's Luminessence series: tip-on gatefold jacket with booklet.

Tip! *Repress with new obi-strip* Japanese label P-Vine sure know how to pick out the essential spiritual jazz reissues. This is another gold standard that came originally on Strata East in 1974. Vocals feature throughout and often soar to the highest of heights and make it a charismatic album. Sample hounds and hip hop lovers might well recognise the track 'Optimystical' which has been pillaged by Detroit great Andres before now. Elsewhere there is real freeform magic on 'Music Is Nothing But A…

*2024 stock* Clamor rethinks the notion of 'women's work' as a space for both collaboration and singular voice. Just as our ensemble is limited and enabled by the written score, so might be individual enunciations of how gender norms limit agency. Clamor utilizes a collective, improvisational vision that prioritizes an intentionally fluid style by employing indeterminacy, navigated by the performers via time-based scores. These principles are balanced with metered notation to shape the overall f…

Solo percussion album recorded in August 1980 by Masahiko Togashi, alone with drums, gongs, bells and hand percussion on a kit of his own design, reissued on LP with obi and liner notes in the Spin This Now! series.

Huge Tip! Small repress. "I stood on top of the mountain and looked out over the landscape. It was so beautiful that my chest hurt. The light vibrated, time stood still, and the contours dissolved for a moment. Everything had changed; I felt it then. I took their little hands so as not to lose contact with the ground. Then we ran down the mountain, scraping our knees. Still, we didn't make it. You had already put away all the nautical charts, loosened the moorings and steered out among the skerr…

Historic 1969 Paris session by the american saxophonist-vocalist-intellectual who conveys his deep anguish at the loss of a civil rights icon.

Where Future Unfolds is a new work spirited by Chicago-based sound & visual artist Damon Locks. Starting as a solo sound collage piece (where Locks pulled samples from Civil Rights era speeches and recordings to create an improvisational pallet for performance on his drum machine), over 4 years the project has blossomed into his 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble – featuring musicians (including Angel Bat Dawid on clarinets and Dana Hall on drums), singers (alumni of the Chicago Children's Choir),…

The impact of Weldon Irvine’s music across a wealth of genres cannot be overstated with his jazzy piano playing and compositions regularly passed down to newer generations. Artists like Q-Tip and Mos Def are noted admirers of the jazz-funk artist, and the distinct sounds of Irvine echo across the ages in samples etched into hip-hop history. The album version of Time Capsule was originally released in 1973, and this is a brand new 10 inch EP edit aimed at DJs looking to incorporate its album trac…

Iconic musician and political activist makes a typically thought-provoking statement on historic 1969 recording.

A breathtaking self-conscious free-jazz masterwork, 'Rise Vision Comin'' summarizes more than 30 years of musical and theoretical/political expression from renowned activist/scholar/free-jazz pioneer Haki R. Standing on the verge of spiritual jazz aesthetic, his music remains timeless & unforgettable after it's longstanding creation. The first album by the group Rise Vision Comin was released in 1976, and features among others Wallace Roney on trumpet, Clarence Seay on bass and Agyei Akoto on sa…

One for the ages here.  Unearthed from the ESS archives and officially released for the first time ever, a previously unknown half-hour from cosmic mythologist and sound scientist Sun Ra's 1971 U.C. Berkeley course "The Black Man in the Cosmos." Ra's soft-spoken intensity is underscored by the sound of chalk on the board as he ambles effortlessly through his potent and prescient ideas. The class session closes with two musical tracks, a piano version of "Love In Outer Space" and a blistering Moo…

** Deluxe 180gr. Black vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1969 BYG album facsimile-edition. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Exclusive liner notes by author John Masouri ** 'A Jackson in Your House' is the first of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s renowned trio of albums for BYG's Actuel series. This album is The Art Ensemble’s most celebrated release and finds the American avant-garde jazz collective at their most sensational, mocking and sta…

Masahiko Togashi was a pivotal figure in the development of the Japanese free jazz scene in late 60s. Percussionist and composer, he lost the use of the legs in an accident which nevertheless didn’t not prevent him from continuing an astonishing career that includes long and established collaborations with figures of the likes of Steve Lacy, Charlie Haden, Mal Waldron and Paul Bley. This session, recorded in Paris at the Ramèse Studio Du Village in 1979, sees an explosive collaboration by the t…

Jim O'Rourke plays a lot with Japanese Free jazz legend Akira Sakata in various formations. Together with Italian composer and pianist Giovanni di Domenico and the drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto they form this powerful band. This is their first release, combining contemporary Avantgarde and Free Jazz in a beautiful way.Line-up:Akira Sakata - sax, clarinet, voiceJim O’Rourke - double bassGiovanni di Domenico – piano, hohner pianetTatsuhisa Yamamoto - drumsRecorded at Pit Inn Tokyo on 10 January 2017

*2026 stock* A precious documentary capturing Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band’s (OSBB) first European tour. It’s their first live release in ten years. Formed in 2013, OSBB has performed concerts and live shows, contributed scores for productions including Ama-chan and Idaten, and taken part in many unique and demanding projects—most notably the Bon Odori that began in Fukushima. For this tour they undertook 12 performances across seven European countries. Prior to the tour, the band changed th…

"Ramune and the Power Plant" is the first duo album by Otomo Yoshihide and Ruike Shinpei, who have performed together many times in groups such as ONJQ. This recording captures almost the entire completely improvised live set held in October 2024 at the café-music gallery Kakululu in Ikebukuro. In this project Otomo primarily uses turntables as his main instrument and, on some tracks, electric guitar; Ruike plays trumpet as his primary instrument and employs electronics on certain pieces. Record…

**250 copies, 2020 stock** Sonata Islands is a cultural association, born from an idea of Emilio Galante, that promotes and performs new music and jazz. They organized many concerts and festivals in Italy. After Sonata Islands goes RIO (dedicated to the music of Univers Zero, Fred Frith and Thinking Plague) and Nippon Eldorado Kabarett (with the same musicians, dedicated to Japanese RIO music of the '80s with pieces by After Dinner, Wha Ha Ha, Kiyohiko Semba and Haniwa All Stars), here they pay …

"The legend of the world of improvisation and the field of double bass virtuosity, Joelle Leandre, needs no introduction. She is one of the most expressive and original artists in the world! The singer and composer Elisabeth Harnik is probably already remembered by music lovers enough to follow her musical journey with bated breath, and Zlatko Kaucic, well, if you are in love with percussion painting, sensitivity, and expression combined with communication skills, this is one of the best address…

Brooklyn-born trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill, hailed as a leading light of the new American jazz scene, announces his bold new quartet project Elephant. With this ensemble, O’Farrill expands his sonic language into a fresh, genre-blurring space that fuses the intimacy of the jazz quartet with the emotional depth of 20th‑century minimalism and the rhythmic urgency of contemporary electronic and dance music. Elephant features a powerful lineup: O’Farrill on trumpet and electronics, Yvonne R…

Eye of the Universe" is the latest offering from Finnish sax player and composer Markus Holkko. Grounded in his musical heritage, the album explores a range of influences, from straight to Latin and spiritual jazz, with subtle hints of west coast cool and psychedelia.

Janel Leppin - The Realist (OOYH 048), featuring the incredible new trio of Janel with Devra Hoff (Sharon Van Etten, Nels Cline, Xiu Xiu) on bass, and Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo, Marc Ribot, jaimie Branch) on drums, which Phil Overeem called "the freshest sounds from one of the most fascinating artists in creative improvisation."

Caprice returns to the Öppet series, their curatorial collaboration with Mats Gustafsson and Roger Bergner, with Fyra, Öppet number four, dedicated to the Norwegian vocalist Karin Krog. Two never before released sessions made in 1970 in Germany: raging radical experiments, hard blown free jazz fire, and thrilling reconstructions of vocal based jazz.

The first time the band that became LuMiSong ever played together was during the Great Lockdown of July 2020. The others wore masks while I stood twenty feet away with the door behind me open to a Gowanus side-street. I hadn’t shared a sound or negotiated an eighth-note with anybody for months and the experience overwhelmed me with emotion. (The most basic facts of collective music-making are the most profound.) We all brought in music to that session and to the many that followed. Matt and Sant…

What if the blue that I see is different from the blue that you see? This question is an infrastructure for my Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera, Colla Voce. Often, when we think of Surrealism, we think of subconscious mental states, dreams, nightmares-those unexplored corners of our psyche. But Afro-Surrealism protests: what if that which one calls a ‘dream' is a nightmare to another? What if that which one calls ‘rational' is completely baseless to another? And surely, we must have varying ideas of w…

The Tomeka Reid Quartet - dance! skip! hop! (OOYH 041) releases February 13 2026 (LP/CD/limited streaming) on Out Of Your Head Records, featuring the steady quartet of Tomeka Reid (cello) with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Jason Roebke (bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). Soon after finishing these compositions in June 2025, Reid realized that much of the music made her want to dance. Inspired by the title of Josh Berman’s stellar A Dance and a Hop, as well as her tendency to skip in public, the title…

Anna Webber & Angela Morris - tenor saxophone, flute, conductorJay Rattman - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, fluteCharlotte Greve - alto saxophone, flute, clarinetAdam Schneit - tenor saxophone, clarinetLisa Parrott - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet Nolan Tsang, Ryan Easter, Jake Henry, Kenny Warren - trumpets Tim Vaughn, Zekkereya El-magharbel, Jen Baker, Reginald Chapman - trombones Yuhan Su - vibraphoneDustin Carlson - guitarMarta Sánchez - pianoAdam Hopkins - bassJeff Davis - …

Out Of Your Head Records is proud to announce the release of “Dream Up,” the latest groundbreaking work from acclaimed drummer and composer Tomas Fujiwara. Known for his dynamic presence on the New York creative music scene, Fujiwara now turns his visionary artistry to the percussive universe, presenting a suite that explores the boundless possibilities of rhythm, texture, and collective expression. “Dream Up” is a suite composed specifically for a unique percussion quartet, featuring top-tier c…

The Hemphill Stringtet: Curtis Stewart - violinSam Bardfeld - violinStephanie Griffin - violaTomeka Reid - cello All music by Julius Hemphill (Subito Music Corporation).Recorded, edited, and mixed by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio.Mastered by Paul Zinman, Soundbyte Productions.Cover photography by Nina Contini Melis.Artwork + design by TJ Huff (huffart.com). The Hemphill Stringtet would like to thank the Aaron Copland Fund and Continuum Culture for their generous financial support. We would also …

Adam O’Farrill - trumpet & flugelhornMary Halvorson - guitarPatricia Brennan - vibraphoneDavid Leon - alto saxophone & fluteKevin Sun - tenor saxophone & clarinetKalun Leung - trombone & euphoniumTyrone Allen II - double bassTomas Fujiwara - drums Produced by Spencer Murphy.Conducted by Eli Greenhoe.Mixed by Chris Krasnow.Recorded at The Bunker Studio by Chris Krasnow, Alex Conroy, Nicky Young.Mastered by Alex DeTurk.Artwork + design by TJ Huff (huffart.com). All works composed and arranged by A…

Blood Burden is the debut album from Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Alfredo Colón. Deeply rooted in the blues tradition, Alfredo brings harrowingly raw emotion in the form of barely-contained chaos to Blood Burden — a meditation on the interplay of Dominican folklore and Catholic imagery and ethos, and an ode to his immediate family members in the face of intergenerational trauma. Recorded at Figure 8 studios in New York with Lex Korton on piano, Steve Williams on bass, and…

*2024 stock. 300 copies limited release* The Wind (music by Scott Clark, lyrics by Laura Ann Singh/Scott Clark)Dawn & Dusk (music by Scott Clark, lyrics by Laura Ann Singh)Silent Singing (music and lyrics by Scott Clark)Above The Gray (music by Scott Clark) Tracks 1-4 recorded August 16, 2021 and mixed at Minimum Wage Recording by Lance Koehler.Tracks 5-8 recorded live March 28, 2022 and mixed at Spacebomb Studio by Curtis Fye.Tracks 1-8 mastered at Minimum Wage Recording by Lance Koehler.Album …

"Death is a lack with weight. At the moment that you realize that someone you love is irrecoverably gone, a small tear in your life opens up. As days go by, the sliver of grief grows, becoming a rift, a gap, a gulley, a canyon. At the point that you feel lost in the immensity of space where that person used to be, the expansion stops; the hole—the vast and airy part of your life that used to be occupied by that person—becomes solid. Maybe it decreases in size, but more likely, your memories grow…

* 180 gram vinyl * The cover of Thrust reveals a lot of the album. Herbie's sitting comfortably his spaceship controlled by a synth froman alien world, reachingto the clouds and beyond. Well, that's what his stature was in 1974 - one of the seminal renewers of Jazz by incorporating new electric instruments like theARP synthesizer. Thrust is the follow up to Head Hunters using the same band except for drummer HarveyMason, who is replaced by Mike Clark, a Jazz great in his own right. Again, only f…

The first release of a 1995 studio session, produced by Evan Parker. The Kenny Wheeler Sextet includes Ray Warleigh, Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence and Tony Levin.