Jazz /
Tao
*2023 stock* "When I had asked Steve Lacy how he should intervene with the percussion behind Lacy’s thematic statements and subsequent improvisations; the enigmatic Lacy replied: “Play what you feel.” Since then, this has been the guiding principle behind each work of art and everyday action of my artistic life. Here you can hear what Steve Lacy did mean saying that. This CD is dedicated to his memory. Even if we spent just short periods together I always kept a great memory of him in my heart: …
Gemini II
The first album by Marcus Belgrave, featuring two of the founders of the legendary Tribe label, Wendell Harrison and Phil Ranelin, as well as Harold McKinney and Roy Brooks, all legends of the Detroit jazz scene in the 70's. This is the world's first LP reissue in the original jacket of this masterpiece full of spirituality and strong blackness, led by the spacey jazz funk "Space Odyssey," which was later covered by Carl Craig, a major figure in Detroit techno!
This is the first album by Marcus …
Wooden Music I
Tip! It would appear that Polish jazz is a well-known subject through and through. Dozens of outstanding albums, biographies of the masters, hundreds of journal articles. As it turns out, it is still possible to find music that has been waiting for years to be discovered. On the 80th birthday of Tomasz Stańko, Astigmatic Records presents the first part of Wooden Music, a conceptual project created by the maestro and his legendary quintet, which has been stored in the archives of Radio Bremen fo…
Rustiques
A study of contrasts as French improvising synth player Jean-Marc Foussat joins with legendary saxophonist & bass clarinetist Sylvain Guerineau, whose work in both jazz tradition and free playing finds him a lyrical and expressive player, bringing flexibility in combination with a seemingly disparate foil in Foussat, heard in six succint dialogs of unconventional compatibility.
"Recorded at home in November 2022 in the Loiret, this curious little regional river which gives its name to the depart…
Libres (Festival de Massy 26 Octobre 1975)
"Armonicord. In 1977 an album was released under the name of Armonicord, of which I have just found a copy through a mutual friend: Esprits de Sel. Having heard of the album's release at that time, the memory of the presence of harpsichordist Odile Bailleux and drummer Christian Lete undoubtedly made me imagine a possible sort of chamber music. In the cover, we can admire the graphic scores of baritone saxophonist Jouk Minor, all in curves and ellipses with instrument and timing indications. A m…
At The Golden Circle Stockholm (Revisited)
"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 time to varying degree…
One Step Beyond To New And Old Gospel (Revisited)
"One Step Beyond is rightly seen as a pivot point in Jackie McLean’s evolution, but its adventurousness was not without precedent. As A.B. Spellman noted in Four Lives in the Bebop Business, “Quadrangle” – the opening track for 1959’s Jackie’s Bag; it was first recorded as “Inding” for Lights Out!, a 1956 Prestige date – “involved an elaborate group construction that [McLean] was afraid was too far-out,” so he used “I Got Rhythm” changes to mainstream it, which he later regretted. His decision m…
The Warriors
*2023 stock* Long awaited, never before published live chronicles of legendary Kondo / Chadbourne / Centazzo 1979 Italian tour. The document of the time, the music, and one of the direction of the improvised art form in late 70s. "We showed up at the train with all the equipment, 50 cases of percussion. The organizer is five hours late to meet. Then we all get searched on highway by the Italian police, looking for terrorists of the Red Brigade…" - Eugene Chadbourne
Cjant
*2023 stock* Released originally as double LP: Cjant - First Concert For Small Orchestra Based Upon Friulian Folk Songs, is Centazzo's first orchestral composition combining a string section along with the original Mitteleuropa (Free Jazz) Orchestra. The name for the ensemble came not only from the cultural background of its members but also from middle-European mold of the music written for it.
In the Mitteleuropa Orchestra, Centazzo brought together the finest artists in the field of creativ…
Moon In Winter
*2023 stock* "In February 2010 my good friend, pianist Nobu Stowe, invited me for some concerts in the Baltimore area. Since in the same period I was scheduled to perform in duo with John Zorn in New York, I gladly accepted. What thrilled me was the idea to play again with Nobu and with some terrific musicians that I never had the chance to perform with Dave Ballou, Daniel Barbiero and Achille Succi. The quintet recorded some of my compositions structured in the way to present instrumental combi…
Escape From 2012
*2023 stock* "On February 20th 2010 I had the privilege to start my musical collaboration with Don Preston, performing live a concert of improvised music at the South Pasadena Conservatory of Music. A very versatile keyboardist who deserves much greater recognition, Don is one of the few synthesizer players to develop his own sound on the instrument. Preston may be best known as the keyboardist with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, but is first and foremost a fine jazz pianist who has worked …
Eternal Traveler
*2023 stock* After being inspired by contemporary artists and later by Far East culture, composer/percussionist/video artist Andrea Centazzo founded in Leonardo Da Vinci a new lymph for his multimedia concept. The music while retaining his contemporary flavor is widely open to all influences, namely sacral music. The show and music material is divided in 6 parts each inspired by a different subject of Leonardo Da Vinci genius.
Visions
*2023 stock* "Nine years passed between the "Indian Tapes" triple LP box set and this "Visions" CD. It’s a long period of time in a musician career; especially when you are continuously changing from one artistic activity to another: from solo percussion performing to orchestra conducting; from composing for large ensemble to improvising; from video making to teaching and writing books… Through the years playing percussion became just a part of my artistic vocabulary. This was not only due to th…
Mandala
*2023 stock* In this project inspired by the name of the Buddhist Universe, Centazzo once again combines percussion, digital percussion and computer sequencing with his award winning videos bringing the emotion of a new sonic and visual adventure to the audience. Using an array of 200 percussion instruments and the latest models of digital percussion linked to the computer, Centazzo create a sonic landscape where the interaction of live sounds and sampled sounds are endless in a blend of astonis…
Music Of John Coltrane
*2023 stock* "There have been many tributes to the great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane since his passing, and the years have done nothing to dull the power of his music. This is a heartfelt nod to Coltrane from a collective group consisting of Dominic Duval on bass, Jimmy Halperin on tenor saxophone and Brian Willson on drums. The group plays music from each phase of Coltrane's influential career, and they make their own personal statements from these well known compositions. Opening with "Gia…
Live in Europe 2022
Live recordings of heavy weigh Japanese saxophone wizard Akira Sakata Europen tour in 2022. In Greece together with Giovanni di Domenico: piano, Giotis Damianidis: electric guitar, Petros Damianidis: double bass, Stephanos Chytiris: drums; in Italy with di Domenico, Damianidis and Balázs Pándi on drums; and in Belgium with di Domenico, Damianidis and Aleksandar Škorić on drums.
Clangs
*2023 stock* "I have a vivid memory of the time I first met Steve Lacy in Milan: I had finally the opportunity not only to know but to perform with one of the myths of the avant-garde scene of the time. As hermetic and polite as his music, Steve was the man who, with his phrase 'play what you feel' tore down the curtain that separated my technique from my creativity. Clang swas the fruit of a number of concerts and two weeks we spent together, sometimes talking, sometimes just simply in silence,…
Transcendental Numbers
*2023 stock* "Flanked by a pair of stalwarts who, in his own words, “have a history going back over thirty years”, guitarist Terrence McManus brings the right attitude and a considerable number of no-frills approaches to an instrument that, especially in jazz, has the potential to become the mother of all commonplaces. On the contrary, ever since the opening track “Written In The Cracking Of The Ice”, an unexpected subversion slashes the ears: not a clean pitch in sight, clumsily introverted str…
Odysseus
Odysseus, Eero Koivistoinen's first proper jazz album, gets its title from the wandering spirit of its songs, traveling from one mood to another. Performed by the Eero Koivistoinen Quintet & Sextet, because Koivistoinen wanted to extend his standard quartet (Koivistoinen-Sarmanto-Laine-Hietanen) to a quintet and invited trumpetist Bertil Lövgren to join. Also Juhani Aaltonen is questing on two tracks. Odysseus is an excellent, youthful package of forward-thinking jazz played by ambitious young j…
The Attic
*2023 stock* "This is a stellar freely improvised session featuring Rodrigo Amado on tenor saxophone, Goncalo Almeida on bass and Marco Franco on drums, recorded live in Portugal in December of 2015. "Shadow" opens the album with scraping bowed bass that is recorded beautifully, giving the sound a physical immediacy and presence. After the epic bowed bass opening, Amado's raw, rending saxophone and Franco's measured percussion enter, imposing their power upon the proceedings, burning a path thro…