Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

At age 19, guitarist John D. Thomas was enlisted as a sideman by both Jimmy McGriff and Joe Henderson for recordings and concerts. In the following years he worked with some of the greatest names in jazz, including the AACM Big Band, Stanton Davis, Carter Jefferson, Andrew Cyrille, Kenny Drew, John Lewis, Harold Ousley, and Chet Baker. After his 1977 move to Europe, he toured the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East, performing extensively with Charles Tolliver (1980-90), Joe Henderson, Art Tay…

John D. Thomas's band of the 1980s, Serious Business (heard on Serious Business (ESPDISK 5006CD)), focused on his fusion and "free funk" compositions played with an electric sound. Extremely Serious Business marked a turning point, a return to a more acoustic setting while remaining true to the pioneering spirit of "improvisation along the edges." Extremely Serious Business showcases Thomas's unique compositional skills and style while carrying on the long lineage of cutting-edge soloing "outsid…

Bomb! Sourced from the master tapes. First-time vinyl reissue Black vinyl single LP version. The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny …

Recorded in Royal Alzheimer Hall, Thessaloniki, Greece, January 2015, Limited release of 500 unique record covers for the 500 hand-numbered copies of the Basenezmen music project. Two of the most important musicians in Greece are currently together for the first time to present ‘basenezmen’ project. They improvise under rythmic structures in form of jazz, rock, ambient and folk music.

Killing Time by Massacre—the trio comprised of Fred Frith, Bill Laswell, and Fred Maher—is a molten collision of avant-punk velocity and improvisational deconstruction. With Frith's wiry guitar, Laswell's brutal bass, and Maher's manic percussion, every track lunges between catastrophe and comic relief.​

This is the third album by Wadada Leo Smith’s all-star Golden Quartet. Recorded live, the sound on Tabligh veers from a sound akin to early electric jazz ala "In A Silent Way" and especially 'the lost quintet' of Miles in late 1969/early 1970, to both more sparse and modern jazz fare, all of it informed by the distinctive personalities of these four players and their leader's musical concepts. Wadada Leo Smith is a well-respected trumpeter and composer working in avant-garde jazz and improvisati…

Timeless atmospheres, hypnotic sonorities, minimal arrangements. And a composer gifted with a never ending passion for music, experimenter in his genetic code, innovator by vocation, at ease with various instruments in order to forge avant-garde themes. Piero Umiliani was already forward in building completely new sounds in the late Seventies. “Tra Scienza E Fantascienza” finds his alter ego Moggi experimenting with alternative grooves, electronic music, jazz tunes and soundtrack motifs. One of …

In Nov. 1987, a three-concert Ed Blackwell Festival was held in Atlanta. The festival served as a good excuse to reunite the members of Old And New Dreams (trumpeter Don Cherry, tenor-saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Blackwell), a quartet comprised of Ornette Coleman alumni. The unit interprets three rarely-performed Ornette Coleman compositions and a tune apiece by Blackwell and Redman. All of the musicians are in top form on this no-changes music, creating fresh and …

Originally released in 1991 this was Henry Threadgil's new band's debut release. That's where Threadgill introduced the unique concept of dual tubas and dual electric guitars. In Very Very Circus's ultra-layered sound world all roles melt equally into an unprecedented sound experience. A big step forward in modern jazz from one of the greatest composers of our time. Henry Threadgill - alto saxophone, flute, Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, Brandon Ross - electric guitar, Marcus Rojas, Edwin Rodriguez …

Singer Petra Haden excels in this beautiful and unique program of songs penned by the songwriting team of Zorn and Harris. Friends for many years, they began working together on “The Song Project” in 2012, and eight years later this LP presents the full fruits of their collaboration: thirteen Zorn compositions with original lyrics by Jesse Harris. Including selections from a wide variety of Zorn projects (and one original that has never appeared before), the melodies are catchy, the lyrics heart…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* One of the first, longest running and most acclaimed improvisational rock ensembles in the world presents a special collection of live recordings culled from the private archives of guitarist extraordinaire Fred Frith. Hand picked for this release, the music comes from their exciting 1999 European tour, and from their most recent onslaughts in 2008. An essential document of one of the most incendiary rock trios in music history.

Tip! *2022 stock* 'Recorded in 1997, Wadada Leo Smith's N'da Kulture has created a music that transcends all forms by integrating many of them into an amorphous yet deeply moving whole. This sextet, which uses Eastern and Western instruments, authors into being a kind of folk music for the emerging century, one that relies deeply on poetry, improvisation, subtleties in tone, timbre, and rhythm. The six pieces here reflect Smith's ongoing concern with marrying the vanguard jazz tradition he comes…

*2022 stock. In process of stocking.* "The 3rd release by Ken Vandermark's School Days is a double CD of studio material recorded with the Oslo quintet Atomic. Both bands have the same rhythm section of Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass. The group includes Magnus Broo: trumpet, Jeb Bishop: trombone, Fredrik Liungkvist: reeds, Ken Vandermark: reeds, Hevard Wiik: piano & Kjell Nordeson: vibraphone. 9 new compositions 1 each by all the members (2 by Mr. Liungkvist)." - S…

Alice Coltrane had an enormous legacy to overcome in her late husband- her debut album, "A Monastic Trio" stuck pretty close to what John Coltrane's last bands were doing the studio, "Huntington Ashram Monastary" finds her branching out. Recorded in mid-1969, a year after her debut and two years after the death of her husband, Coltrane performs on piano and harp and is backed by bassist Ron Carter and drummer Rashied Ali.Musically, it's a bit more relaxed than before, with Coltrane's playing a b…

Includes three albums:   MJJ423CP - Eternal Now (LP, Pink)   MJJ424CB - Brown Rice (LP, Brown)   MJJ425CY - Hear And Now (LP, Yellow)

** Edition of 250 ** Remastered from a new source tape by Joe Lambert in 2021 and re-posted as one long session. Master tapes were recently unearthed of New York saxophonist Alan Braufman and pianist Cooper-Moore performing live as a duo on Columbia University's radio station, WKCR on May 22, 1972. The session occurred two years before Braufman, Cooper-Moore and a full band recorded Braufman's legendary debut album on India Navigation, "Valley of Search."

** First LP reissue of rare 1974 Canadian Free Jazz album ** Beyond the striking photography of the cover artwork, a cursory glance at this LP may appear misleading. One could be forgiven in thinking that what they had discovered was of a more obvious British provenance, but on closer inspection the truth is revealed… London in fact refers to London, Canada, an artistic hotbed that famously spawned the highly influential insurgent noise ensemble, ‘The Nihilist Spam Band’. Less celebrated yet equ…

Among the fiercest and greatest documents of Free Jazz is a lone LP - Al-Fatihah - self-released in Ohio by Black Unity Trio in 1969, the official reissue of which stands before us now. A hard cut diamond of pure fire and artistry, it’s a good as improvised music from this era gets and absolutely not to be missed

** 180 gram audiophile vinyl ** On The Blue Yusef Lateef (1968), listeners get an amazing chapter from the late '60s, an amazing period when everything in the world of Jazz was changing. Yuseef Lateef was big on concept recordings. This album examines all the different ranges of emotion contained within the blues genre. With a band that included Detroit Jazz gods Roy Brooks on drums and Kenny Burrell on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Hugh Lawson on piano, Sonny Red on alto, Bob Cranshaw on el…

I first met Mark sometime in the early 90’s when we were both working in Chelmsford. He was running Soundworld Records above the musical instrument shop of the same name, I was over the other side of town in an insurance brokers. I’d played quite a bit of free improvisation at that point, mostly at the old LMC in a quartet called Make Shift together with Peter Urpeth, Stuart Wilding and long-time colleague and playing partner Geoff Collins. But had been away from it for a few years and wa…

Just when you thought it would be safe... Ground Zero are back with a CD of extraordinary covers, some are massive, others strange, all add something to their originals and were selected because of their importance to founder Otomo Yoshihide's personal musical biography - all explained in his excellent accompanying notes. Just the version of Shed a Little Tear is worth the whole CD.

Trost continues its Trost Jukebox Series of 7"s. Raymond Boni is a French jazz guitarist and composer. Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day. Raymond Boni - guitar and electronics / Joe McPhee - soprano saxophone, vo…

New CD issue of this classic album, with bonus track and improved sound (previously issued by Mantra). Upon it's original release, 1984, with it's unusual combination of lengthy abstract sound-journeys and short, weirdly devolved James Brown-inspired pieces, gained much critical acclaim. 1984 was an extremely unusual release for 1973 and an extremely unusual project for CBS Records, who first released it. Like the groundbreaking novel after which it was named, Hopper's record was truly ahead of …

Here is another example of the remarkable versatility of Anthony Braxton. For this series of nearly eighty minutes of carefully arranged duets, Braxton performs on flute; contra-alto, contrabass, Bb, and soprano clarinets; and sopranino, alto, and F saxophones. Brett Larner joins him on traditional 13-string koto and 17-string bass koto. The combinations of sounds are utterly fascinating; the duo allures with deceptive simplicity. While some of the compositions lean toward familiar abstraction, …

The great improvising guitarist, Joe Morris, returns with Luther Gray on drums and adds the masterful string section of Katt Hernandez on violin and Junko Fujiwara Simons on cello for his follow up to 2009's Colorfield . Drawing inspiration from the assembly of tones in film and photography, Morris leads his quartet in stopping time to highlight the value and unpredictable sensation that each moment offers and the pleasure in exploring the layers of experience and form contained within them.

Following up the critically acclaimed 2008 release, Stéphane Furic Leibovici and Chris Cheek return for this second volume, produced by Jim Black and featuring the alto saxophone giant Lee Konitz. An achievement in balance and taste, the resulting music is so thoughtful, intent and vibrant that it need not be forced upon you. The music unfolds for the listener in the subtlest of ways, as if the composer is challenging our very notion of what will come next. Like a mediation on color and space, y…

ESP-Disk is proud to announce its newest artist, Tsigoti, an international band combining revolutionary politics and intelligent semi-acoustic avant-punk fervor. Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party was recorded with a group of players that have run the gauntlet of life experience and musical explorations and you can hear it in the vitality and urgency of the music. Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party still holds the same raw improvisational qualities of their debut re…

In Search of the Mystery, Gato Barbieri’s debut album as leader, was recorded March 15, 1967, on the heels of his work on Don Cherry’s famed Blue Note recordings: Complete Communion and Symphony for Improvisers. This avant-jazz masterpiece from the Argentine tenor saxophonist shows off his volatile, shrieking sound to full and unrelenting affect, fueled by the twin interweaving strings of cellist Calo Scott and bassist Norris Jones (Sirone) and Bobby Kapp’s impressionistic drum splatter. Recorde…

Recorded 8/8/8 in Portland, OR, The Naked Future, is a quartet of four drunken wizards conjuring up a heady brew. Their diverse backgrounds - from the classical, rock and experimental realms - forge a release modernist in its construction with more than a pinch of old time alchemy. ESP is proud to welcome them to its circle with their first CD release, Gigantomachia. After several solo albums and shared projects with Rick Rivera, Edoardo Ricci, Rent Romus and dancer, Germaul Barnes, classical pi…

Charles, Barnacled's new full-length, and first outing for ESP-Disk', is a rollicking, propulsive offering featuring the band in some of its most intricate formations. This deftly arranged record follows Barnacled as it tightens itself into high corners, only to purposely fall down, find new ground, and pick itself back up again. This work is highly playful, even at its most intense—and it does get intense, with saxophone battles surging over electronics and highly distorted accordion fire offer…

Composed by bassist/composer Stephane Furic Leibovici (The Twitter Machine, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry - Soul Note Records) this 'trio music is based on compositional material which is developed through organic means (not repetitive means).' This session was recorded with long time collaborators Chris Speed and Chris Cheek, produced by Jim Black and recorded by Joey Marciano in NYC on June 20th, 2006.

CD version. In February, 1968, as the false Spring of hope was rising in occupied Czechoslovakia, ESP instructed Karl Velebny to record his group of improvisers during their upcoming tour of Germany. In April, 1968, the clandestine project was completed. Karel survived a terrible auto crash and sent photographs to ESP, which were utilized on the LP cover as a symbolic reference to the plight of the Czech people. A must for anyone interested in European jazz and the history of its relationship wi…

Drummer James Zitro is far from the most obscure ESP-Disk' artist, but he has not recorded prolifically (this LP, his debut, is half of the output under his name) or maintained a high profile. According to Sonny Simmons, who used him on his second ESP LP, Zitro had studied tabla in India. It was that appearance with Simmons that led to ESP's interest in a Zitro-led album that came to fruition the following year. Zitro is masterful throughout, whether laying down a dense polyrhythmic carpet under…

Lester Young is one of the most influential tenor saxophonists of the bebop era. ESP-Disk is now releasing previously unavailable 1950’s broadcasts recorded at Birdland, with an array of stellar side-performers. It is our pleasure to pay homage to Prez (Lester Young) with this disc. Featuring Jesse Drakes (trumpet), Earl Knight (piano), Aaron Bell (bass), Lee Abrahams (percussion), Steve Allen House Band, Count Basie Orchestra.

John Coltrane live at the Village Vanguard, New York, 2 and 3 November 1961, with Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, first released by Impulse! in 1962. Acoustic Sounds Series reissue, 2022.

Live recording from Donaueschingen, 17 October 1992: Michael Riessler's project on Abélard and Héloise, with Valentin Clastrier, Michel Godard, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Rabih Abou-Khalil and others, recorded by Südwestfunk.

Julie Tippetts' 1975 album, first issued on Utopia, with Keith Tippett, Elton Dean, Mark Charig and Louis Moholo. Esoteric Recordings CD, 2022, remastered, with a booklet essay by Sid Smith.

ECM :rarum 16 (2004): nine Paul Motian compositions chosen by the drummer from six ECM albums recorded 1972-1987, with Keith Jarrett, Charles Brackeen, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Paul Bley and John Surman.

The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (Giuffre, clarinet; Paul Bley, piano; Steve Swallow, double bass): the 1961 Verve albums Fusion and Thesis, recorded in New York in March and August 1961, plus unissued pieces, remixed by ECM in 1990.