Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

Tip! "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 skerries. Mum stood wavin…

The source material is drawn from moments of pure improvisation, recorded live in performance, shaped as much by the room and audience as by the musicians themselves.

Rare 2016 re-issue on Pladeselskabet Centrifuga, in an edition of 300 copies with insert and stamped innersleeve, of ultra-rare Danish free-jazz monster from 1967 (originally on V 58).

Excellent and diverse album on Supraphon from 1978, a wild hybrid of modal and postbop arrangements populated with Penderecki and Ligeti-like choral writing in a dizzying array of styles.

Musical messages from Oslo, New York, Basel and Lugano – recorded between 2018 and 2022 – are juxtaposed and recombined on an absorbing recording that features Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen solo and in a series of duets . With such partners as Craig Taborn, Chris Potter, Sinikka Langeland and Jorge Rossy,  the musical frame of reference is very broad.  Elements from Langeland’s’s archaic-sounding folk to Potter’s post-Coltrane saxophone and Taborn’s whirlwind modernist piano each find their p…

Looking Ahead is the debut album by American jazz musician Ken McIntyre, recorded with fellow alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy in 1960 and released on the New Jazz label in January 1961. From the beginning Mr. McIntyre considered himself part of the avant-garde or ''new thing'' movement in jazz, as spearheaded by musicians like Ornette Coleman, Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, although his own music was considerably more traditionally melodic than theirs. He played a whole fleet of reed instruments, inc…

This vinyl album by Micheal Mantler is new old stock from Ecm archives. Original first pressing – printed in the USA in 1977. The record has never been played and the vinyl is in mint condition. However, the sleeves are sealed but may have slight marks and ringwear on the cover and signs of aging.  In 1977, Michael Mantler and Carla Bley's WATT label unleashed a quietly revolutionary take on Silence that still resonates today. This wasn't just a reissue - it was a complete reinvention, stitched …

Over the years, Pat Metheny Group's Grammy-winning double live album Travels has earned a singular reputation among jazz aficionados as one of the most distinctive and impeccably recorded live jazz albums of all time. Upon its initial release, it appeared on numerous year-end best-of lists, with The Wire hailing it as simply "remarkable" and "superbly recorded." The album captures the Pat Metheny Group during their 1982 US tour, a period when Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos had become a…

The New York Composers Orchestra is a big band formed in 1986 by its artistic directors Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb with the idea of giving new life to a classic format and to further the tradition of new music bridging the worlds of notated and improvised music. “ ... the music evokes Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky as much as Count Basie and Charles Mingus; the playing is not just precise but committed to making the music jump.” —            －The New York Times

3 Phasis is the companion disc to the Cecil Taylor Unit, both set down over four miraculous days in April 1978. It too is a testament to the perfectionism and unpredictability that are hallmarks of Taylor’'s music. As always, he is the instigator and barometer of the torrents of energy channeled through his able and sympathetic collaborators. This is music of a fierce and uncompromising beauty which sweeps all before it.

"There was a school of philosophy in ancient China whose core theory stems from a debate entitled “A White Horse Is Not a Horse.” In a book by Gongsun Long (公孫龍 320-250BC, about 200 years after Confucius) in the Warring States Period, two persons argue if a white horse is a horse: the protagonist argues it is not, because ‘white’ is the color of a (particular) horse while a ‘horse’ is a shape and a generic term. It’s a linguistic/logical paradox, or sophistry. Ridiculed by his contemporary philo…

For the follow-up of his ECM-leader-debut La traversée, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave expands his trio of German pianist Florian Weber and Swiss bassist Patrice Moret with the unique sensibilities of drummer James Maddren, whose unrelenting pulse adds deft counterpoint to the group’s already idiosyncratic sound. Besides the soulfully angular rendering of John Coltrane’s “Compassion”, the quartet tackles eight Bordenave-originals that bridge the gap between chamber-jazz dynamics and post-…

180 gram reissue / Limited Edition 400 copies Includes OBI and 4 pages insert. Text in Japanese / English . Cinedelic presents Jazz in Fabbrica by Enrico Intra. Recorded in Ratti’s Factory in Guanzate (Como) on October 31, 1972. Pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, among the most important ones in the history of European jazz, Enrico Intra has developed a poetics aiming at the encounter betwee the most exquilisitely jazz language and contemporary music of a cultural matrix, and for this re…

*200 copies limited edition* Technicolor Band is a revolving-cast, cross-genre improv unit based in Bloomington, IN. The group, initially instigated by multi-instrumentalists David Brown and Caleb Hickman as a regular gathering to explore improvisation behind closed doors, eventually made its way into public via a residency at a 50 cap bar called Orbit Room. Over the next two years a core lineup formed around the quintet of Brown (keys, percussion, tape manipulation), Hickman (alto sax, electron…

This album captures the debut performance of Billy's 12-piece chamber-jazz ensemble Grande Família, recorded live at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club. The concert, which sold out two months in advance and received a full standing ovation, features expanded arrangements of music from his critically acclaimed debut album 'Penelope'. The original studio album was created as a surprise for Billy’s mother Penny during her struggle with pancreatic cancer in summer 2023. Released in her memory in Janua…

1995 release ** “The music on L’âme de l’objet is strongly fed by Côté’s work for theater and dance performances, as it bears a remarkable plastic quality. One can feel the movement. All pieces (initially written by individual members and worked out by the whole band) are very atmospheric and often fitting a strange avant-gardist film noir mood, thanks mostly to the trumpet plus saxophone arrangements and Martin Tétreault’s remarkable performance (and highly original choice of LPs).”

1994 release ** "Although altoist Julius Hemphill gets top billing on this CD, his heart surgery in 1993 forced him to stop playing. However, this saxophone sextet was his regular group; he contributed six of the eight compositions (the other two are free improvisations) and the chancetaking heard throughout this adventurous music definitely makes most of the performances sound like they came from a Julius Hemphill recording even if his alto is missed. The sextet has a very strong lineup (altois…

Tip! Featuring William Hooker (drums), David S. Ware (tenor saxophone), and Alan Braufman (alto saxophone), this recording captures a rare and electrifying moment in time. Recorded live at the New York Jazz Museum on January 14, 1977, the album has been newly mastered by Joe Lambert and is now released for the first time on March 28, 2025 via Valley of Search. This album was recorded at a pivotal moment in each musician's career. William Hooker, already recognized as one of the most innovative …

Il Giro Del Giorno In 80 Mondi by Enrico Rava is a landmark of early 1970s European jazz, blending burning trumpet invention with eclectic grooves and poetic improvisation. Recorded in 1972, this album stands out for its adventurous spirit, balancing fiery expressiveness with delicate textures.

2024 Stock. Minor signs of wear from long-time storage. Live recording of the fully-staged Anthony Braxton opera Trillium R - Composition No. 162 -- An Opera in Four Acts/Shala Fears for the Poor (dedicated to Nelson Mandela). Liner notes by Anthony Braxton. Trillium is the name I have given to a preconceived series of thirty-six autonomous one-act operas that will hopefully be completed in the next ten to fifteen years. I have conceived of this effort as an “opera complex” that allows for the i…

2 LPs packaged in cardboard sleeve with paper insert | Produced and directed by Christopher Williams | Executive production by John Corbett & Jim Dempsey | Edition: 500. Inklusive is a play written by Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz. It is part of a trilogy of radio plays from 1971 titled Trilogie Münchener Lebens. The play was first broadcast as a radio play in former West Germany on Südwestfunk in 1972. A second version was broadcast in former East Germany on Rundfunk der DDR in 1974. T…

''This recording was done on a four track tape recorder. Meaning the process of recording was a bit different this time around. Most of the tracks had to be recorded more or less in one take all the way through which means more room for mistakes. As I didn't have the ctrl-z option of the computer I had to try and fix my mistakes by turning them into features. This problem solving on the fly approach is why I'm calling the record ad hoc''. - Gustav Horneij / Organic Pulse Ensemble

When you wish upon a star… that turns out to be Saturn!

*300 copies limited edition* All compositions were written by Dennis Gonzalez.Rest in peace. 1954-2022. Aaron Gonzalez- Acoustic Bass, VoiceStefan Gonzalez- Drums, Vibraphone, VoiceRob Mazurek- Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, VoiceDrew Phelps- Acoustic BassJawwaad Taylor- Pocket TrumpetGaika James- Trombone, PercussionLily Taylor- VocalsDanny Kamins- Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Soprano SaxophoneJoshua Miller- Tenor Saxophone, Drums Recorded live at the Texas Theatre in Dallas, TX on Sunday Ja…

Recorded at Munich’s Muffathalle twenty years ago, in September 2004, this previously-unreleased concert recording of the Tomasz Stanko Quartet is a fascinating document, capturing a developmental chapter in the music between the song forms of the Suspended Night repertoire and the improvised areas that the Polish musicians would explore on Lontano.  The Munich show was a highlight in a year in which the Stanko Quartet played a record number of gigs, with extensive tours of the US and Europe.  T…

On My Prophet, Oded Tzur together with his quartet of pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis and the new group member Cyrano Almeida on drums, continues on the idiosyncratic musical path he has carved out for himself – a flowing jazz idiom that seamlessly combines multiple forms of expression –,  while delving deeper into the meditative and highly concentrated realm of improvisation. In the process, the saxophonist presents some of his fiercest playing yet. The quartet’s synergy is…

2008 release. Bobby "BlackHat" Walters, harmonica player, vocalist, and songwriter hails from Cleveland, Ohio and has been playing harp for over 30 years. While a member of the Black Rose Blues Band, BlackHat had the honor of opening for blues legends B.B. King, Taj Mahal, and Steady Rollin Bob Margolin. Featuring Larry Berwald (guitar), Mark Hopkins (guitar), Von Jose Roberts (bass), Marty Germain (drums), Tommy Fisher (keyboards) and Jackie Scott (vocals).

2014 release. Alan Sondheim was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; he lives with his partner, Azure Carter, in Providence, RI. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University. A new-media artist, writer, and theorist, he has exhibited, performed and lectured widely. His band Ritual All 770, whose debut The Songs (Riverboat, 1967) was reissued by the Fire Museum label, was included on the notorious Nurse With Wound list of outsider/avant-garde influences. Sondheim is the first artist from ESP-Dis…

In this third ECM release as a leader, Chris Potter presents a new acoustic quartet that naturally blends melodic rhapsody with rhythmic muscle. The group includes superlative musicians well known to followers of ECM’s many recordings from New York over the past decade: keyboardist David Virelles, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, who each shine in addition to the leader on multiple horns. The Dreamer Is the Dream features Potter on tenor saxophone – the instrument that has made him…

On his second leader album for ECM – following on from the prizewinning Gefion – Danish guitarist Jakob Bro continues to refine his trio project, with its emphases on melody, sound, space, layered textures and interaction. The rapport between Bro and Thomas Morgan (Bro calls him “my musical soul mate”) has become something extraordinary, and often guitarist and bassist develop improvisational ideas in parallel. There’s an historical aptness, too, in the choice of Joey Baron as the band’s new dru…

"After discovering the unique hand-wringing style of guitarist Christy Doran on Red Twist & Tuned Arrow, I was excited to check out this seemingly neglected record, for which he was again joined by drummer Fredy Studer, only this time, intriguingly enough, with two bassists: Bobby Burri and Olivier Magnenat. Burri is a familiar name in the ECM circuit, having shared stages with Pierre Favre, Manfred Schoof, and Tim Berne, and of course as a member of OM (also with Doran and Studer). Burri, it be…

*2024 stock* Between 1979 and 1982, the Miroslav Vitouš Group was the primary outlet for the abundant improvisational skills of leader Vitouš and John Surman. They made three ECM albums: this eponymously-titled disc from 1980 is the middle one. Vitouš and Surman were well-matched in lots of ways, with roots and influences that extended beyond jazz, a love of playing freely, a commitment to using all the sound potential of their respective instruments: Surman singing at the top of the baritone sa…

Mark Turner’s writing for his quartet on Return from the Stars (titled after Stanislav Lem’s science fiction novel) gives the players plenty of space in which to move, on an album both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression.  Solos flow organically out of the arrangements and, beneath the often-dazzling interplay of Turner’s tenor and Jason Palmer’s trumpet, the rhythm section of Joe Martin and Jonathan Pinson roams freely.   Although Turner has been a frequent presence on ECM in c…

Flesh and Bones is the latest release from drummer, composer, and poet William Hooker. The album marks his third full length effort for Org Music, following “Big Moon” (2021) and “Symphonie of Flowers” (2019). Hooker has also referred to the new work as his “Black Lives Suite”, a multi-disciplinary event which uses music and poetry to address the social issues of the times. Recorded at NYU Steinhart Studios, the recording features fellow New York based players Ras Moshe, Charles Burnham, On Davi…

*2023 stock* Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist, composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul. Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu de…

Following the highly-acclaimed release of Feeling Good and Inner Peace compilations, Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of two superb classic albums in our new mainstream records original classics series. The releases will be crammed with bonus material. Wewantsounds has gone back to the original negative to reconstruct the original artworks and will add many jaw dropping never-seen photo sessions and CD Bonus material with new liner notes. LPs will be released in glorious gatefol…

2010 release. Cosmoplitude is a sexy, ultra-limited-edition 45rpm 7" single co-released by ESP Disk' and Electric Cowbell Records. This historic record not only marks Talibam's first ever single and 20th record, but also ESP's first single in their legendary history as a vanguard label. Side A's "Cruisin' the Cooke Isle" and side B's "Cosmic Attidude" are ready for DJ spins on Milano fashion runways, in Brooklyn punk basements, or at hot tub parties from Vegas to Tibet... Ka-ching + Ohm = KA-BON…

*2024 stock*"Yellow brings together acclaimed LA-based musicians Kozue Matsumoto, Patrick Shiroishi, and Shoshi Watanabe. With total expressive command of their instruments, the trio unfurls a brilliant and impassioned free improvisation of the highest virtuosic caliber that is at once anguished, defiant, and vigorously hopeful. An astonishing musical work, Yellow is also a powerful political statement. The musicians came together on the basis of a mutual interest in exploring Japanese-American …

Matthew Shipp, the supreme jazz pianist of his generation, and Mat Walerian, the finest Polish jazz woodwind player of his, have combined their talents in concert on several occasions. This album documents one such instance, from May 2012. Shipp hardly needs an introduction at this point thanks to a career of over a quarter century, including not only many acclaimed albums under his own name but also a long and prominent tenure in the David S. Ware Quartet and a vast array of collaborations with…