Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

Henriette Eilertsen's solo debut from 2021, "Poems for flute", is regarded by many as one of the classics in the Motvind Records catalogue. Since then, many concertgoers have also been thrilled by the flautists fresh trio, with Joel Ring (cello & electronics) and Øystein Aarnes Vik (drums). Finally, we are all approaching the opportunity to dive deep into this warm, mysterious and alluring sonic bath. Henriette Eilertsen Trio's debut album "Moder" is characterized by captivating compositions, an…

Best known as a multi-instrumental member of Tortoise and a pillar of the Chicago jazz and experimental music scene, Jeff Parker has been incomparably prolific over the last 20+ years while merely producing 5 albums as a “lead artist” (just 2 since 2005, including 2016’s duo recording with Rob Mazurek on Rogue Art). “Lead artist” is in quotes here, because though his name is seldom seen in marquees, his distinctive guitar sound has been essential to every project he’s been part of. It was in tha…

After many supporting appearances on IARC across the years (including Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings in 2018, Daniel Villareal's Panamá 77 in 2022 and Lados B in 2023, Bex Burch's There is only love and fear also in 2023, and earlier this Summer as a core member of SML on Small Medium Large) we could not be more ecstatic to announce our first lead artist release with Anna Butterss!!! The Adelaide, Australia-born bassist and composer "has built their career around unshakable rhythm, blinding …

Pharoah Sanders' seminal 1974 album Elevation, a cornerstone of spiritual jazz, receives a stunning all-analog reissue on 180-gram vinyl via the prestigious Verve Vault Series, set for release on March 13, 2026. Originally recorded in 1973 across live performances at Los Angeles' Ash Grove and a studio session, this Impulse! masterpiece captures Sanders at the peak of his transcendent powers, blending ecstatic saxophone improvisation with modal grooves and profound cultural resonance.  Produced …

Loveland Music presents 8, a studio recording featuring an all-star ensemble of Jakob Bro, Brian Blade, Craig Taborn, Chris Cheek, Jesper Zeuthen, Anders Christensen, Larry Grenadier & Marcus Gilmore, playing compositions by Paul Motian and Jakob Bro. The album was recorded in a single session at New York's Power Station with engineer James Farber, following a week-long residency at the Village Vanguard.  "Danish guitarist and composer Jakob Bro is celebrated for his pure reflective expression a…

In a new duo collaboration that defies conventions and background, Midori Takada and Jakob Bro took up residence in Tokyo’s Avaco Studios to record their first album, あなたに出会うまで / Until I Met You. The title, taken from a Midori Takada composition, refers to the spiritual bond that arises in every new friendship, whether in music or in life. Until I Met You is pure acoustic music, a tapestry of dreamlike compositions with beautiful melodies that sees ambient music icon Midori Takada on grand piano…

Cortizona proudly unveils Cortizona Heritage, a new sublabel created in partnership with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (SVM) to revive and showcase hidden chapters of Flemish music history.The debut release sets the tone: blending the exuberance of a marching band with the unpredictability of free improvisation, WIM Fanfare brought raw, joyful musical anarchy to city squares, parades, and unsuspecting audiences.

Trost Records proudly announces the latest release in its ongoing cooperation with Berlin’s legendary FMP label, with the long overdue reissue of two classic live albums by the singular alto saxophonist Noah Howard, a key figure in New York’s free jazz revolution during the 1960s. Berlin Concert was recorded live in the titular city in January of 1975 with a quartet featuring pianist Takashi Kako, bassist Kent Carter, drummer Oliver Johnson, and percussionist Lamont Hampton, while Schizophrenic …

** Gatefold 2 folders with booklet 24 pp. and Cd with black sleeve **  From Gleam Records, one of Italy's most engaging imprints dedicated to the outer reaches of jazz - comes a true marvel: the first ever vinyl reissue of Modern Art Trio's lone self-titled LP, originally released by Vedette in 1971. A rare and thrilling artifact that utilizes serialism and 12 tone technique within the idiom of freely improvised jazz and hard bop, its absolute singularity and distinct sound has placed it as one …

NYC Bassist Brandon Lopez Teams Up with Gayageum Master DoYeon Kim in New Album, Redefining What We Thought Was Possible with Improvisation. Prepare to have your wig blown back by the improvisational force of nature that is adored bassist Brandon Lopez.  He has returned to 577 Records once again – this time with gayageum master DoYeon Kim!  Syzygy, Vol. 1 delivers a cosmic blast of experimental fascination that will open the door for you to leave our reality. Based in NYC, Brandon Lopez has been…

And just like that, you’ll never think of improvisation the same way again. GPS is the emerging trio raising the bar for improvised music, and 577 Records is elated to present its debut album, Directions + Destinations. The group includes clarinet wizard Guillermo Gregorio, Yamaha Performance Artist Charley Sabatino on the double bass, and flourishing saxophonist Jeff Pearring. What they make isn’t just music; it’s an unforgettable experience.  Recorded in two sessions a year apart, Directions +…

Originally issued by Impulse in 1971, this is definitely one of the best  truly cosmic jazz orchestrations ever realized. Recorded at the Coltrane home studio, Dix Hills, New York on November 8, 1970. Alice Coltrane (harp, piano); Pharoah Sanders (soprano saxophone, perc); Charlie Haden (bass); Rashied Ali (drums); Cecil McBee (bass); Vishnu Wood (oud); Tulsi (tamboura); Majid Shabazz (bells, tambourine). "Swamiji is the first example I have seen in recent years of Universal Love or God in actio…

*50 copies limited edition* Francisco Mela's new solo album, Carnaval De Oriente, arrives this October via 577 Records. A deeply personal statement from the acclaimed drummer and composer, the album draws on the rhythms, spirit, and traditions of his Cuban roots while embracing fearless improvisation and sonic exploration. Carnaval De Oriente will be available this October on 577 Records.

Deluxe edition, housed in a reverse board printed sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Three LPs came out on Jihad, the label Amiri Baraka ran out of his own house in Newark. Two of them - Sonny's Time Now and A Black Mass - entered the canon of the New Thing decades ago. The third stayed a rumour: a title traded between collectors, a track a radio DJ might drop once a year, a record far more people had heard about than heard. Original copies surface rarely and sell for three figures. Black and Bea…

"The edges of Schlippenbach’s trio/quartet music have gradually feathered over the past dozen years, a process benchmarked by “Anticlockwise”. Evan Parker’s careening tenor prompts a dramatic sweep from the group that echoes Coltrane’s last period, as on Ore; his multiphonic-oriented soprano style elicits a more spiky rapport. The exceptional American bassist Alan Silva makes an intriguing debut with the quartet, his incisive phrasing and nuance-filled arco technique serving as a lynchpin betwee…

Noah Howard's 1971 album, recorded in the Netherlands with Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and Earl Freeman and the first he released on his own Altsax label. Free jazz built on melody and pattern.

Tip! *300 copies limited edition* {scope} came to life in 2020, when musicians Laura Agnusdei, Matteo Pennesi and Luca Sguera got selected for Holydays Festival, an artist residency in Scopoli, a small village in Umbria, central Italy. Despite having never played together before, the musicians found a common musical language which emerged in their first album "A week from Monday", recorded during the residency and released by ViaIndustriae and Rous Records. At the start of 2022 a new opportunity…

*200 copies limited edition* Jump is a new pan-European trio bringing together three musicians from different generations and backgrounds: British pianist Pat Thomas, Danish saxophonist and composer Maria Dybbroe, and Italian vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrea S. Giordano. The three met in Oslo in August 2021, as the pandemic was finally beginning to loosen its grip. Their first encounter was immediate and symbiotic, making it clear that a new band had taken shape. Since then, J…

*100 copies limited edition* Some ensembles begin with a repertoire. Others begin with a community. Airlft emerged in Philadelphia in 2022 as an ongoing monthly gathering initiated by drummer and percussionist Kevin Diehl: a space where composers, improvisers and listeners could meet in an open process of experimentation. Over the course of four years, that process gradually evolved into a shared musical language, one shaped less by fixed personnel than by sustained collaboration. Spatial Recogn…

* Edition of 100 copies * Two kits, facing each other, one night. On 10 April 2025 Lily Finnegan put a quintet on stage at Elastic Arts in Chicago with a second drummer sitting opposite her, and Bill Harris ran tape on it. Forty minutes, released here as three continuous parts, nothing reshaped after the fact. The second drummer is Vincent Davis, and the choice tells you a good deal. Davis is an AACM member with a Chicago pedigree that runs back through Roscoe Mitchell and Jodie Christian, along…

* Edition of 100 copies * Two people in a room, and not one moment of merging. That is what makes All I Know In The City remarkable, and it is not a small thing. Potliquor is the duo of pianist Sharon Udoh and turntablist Allen Moore, caught live at Elastic Arts in Chicago on 18 January 2026 and issued by Amalgam, the artist-run Chicago collective and label founded in 2015 by drummer and engineer Bill Harris, who also recorded, mixed and mastered the session. Amalgam has spent a decade documenti…

* Edition of 100 copies * Two years of sessions went into this record, spread between 2023 and 2025 at Marmalade, the West Loop studio Ishmael Ali co-founded and works in as an engineer. Nobody was watching the clock. You can hear that in the shape of the thing: ten pieces that were never meant to add up to a single argument, solo cello miniatures wedged between full band tracks, a couple of them actual songs with words and a singer. The solo pieces may be the strangest part of it. Ali amplifies…

Albert Ayler did it once, and only once. On February 24, 1964, in New York, on the same day as the session that would become Spirits, he recorded a program of spirituals and standards with no screaming, no glossolalia, no demolition of form: "Goin' Home", "Ol' Man River", "Down By The Riverside", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Deep River", "When The Saints Go Marchin' In", "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen". Songs of suffering and salvation, played with a devotional restraint that hits harder th…

"Utility Modern represents a kind of full creative circle for me. My musical journey began under the influence of Bill's work, and now we find ourselves collaborating, building something new together. In many ways, Utility Modern is an homage to the guitar and to the guitarists whose music shaped my artistic voice.My work is rooted more in process than in concept, and that process is deeply informed by an ongoing exploration of the instrument—its technique, physicality, and expressive possibilit…

Back at the end of 2023, Giotis Damianidis and Aleksandar Škorić, while finishing their tour with Entasis, began talking and dreaming about a tour of the Balkans—starting from Thessaloniki (Damianidis’s hometown) and heading north to Novi Sad (Škorić’s hometown). Next came deciding the lineup. John Dikeman on saxophone and Petros Damianidis on double bass were the obvious choices, as Škorić, Dikeman, and the Damianidis brothers have worked together for many years. On March 16th, 2024, the tour w…

Wewantsounds presents the first official release of a legendary 1977 concert, capturing Don Cherry, Collin Walcott and Leon Thomas in their only documented performance together, joined for part of the night by the rest of Oregon. Long circulating among a few Cherry fans, Sunrise is a hypnotic forerunner to Codona, newly remastered, with Moki Cherry artwork and new liner notes by Jason Weiss.

In September, 1967, three of the primary ensembles of free music in Northern Europe gathered for a mini-festival on Radio Bremen: the Manfred Schoof Quintet, the Peter Brötzmann Quartet, and the Irène Schweizer Trio. Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach appeared as part of the Manfred Schoof Quintet, but in these sets, which mixed the dozen members of the ensembles, as well as presenting them on their own, Schlippenbach in fact either led or was at the center of several groupings, presenting two …

All music previously unissued! Transferred from the original tape reels restored by Michael D. Anderson with audio remastering by Joe Lizzi and lacquers cut by Matthew Lutthans at Cohearent Audio. Includes extensive booklet with previously unpublished photos from the actual performances by Hal Rammel; liner notes by acclaimed author John Corbett; and testimonials from Marshall Allen, David Murray, Dave Burrell, Matthew Shipp, Thurston Moore, Amina Claudine Myers, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Weiss &…

180 gram Vinyl Edition. Gatefold Cover. The fourth album as a leader by spiritual jazz saxophone titan Pharoah Sanders, Jewels of Thought was released in 1969. It Consist of two extended tracks, one of which had to be divided into two parts in order to fit onto the LP. Sanders was incrediblt active in 1969, recording lo less than four albums and releasing three. The band on Jewels of Thought includes several major stars, among them Idris Muhammad, Roy Haynes, Richards Davis, Cecil McBee, Leon Th…

"The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe -- Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom at play, structures but liberties and no need for elaborate explanation. Everyone spoke the same shorthand. Cues were understood; timings were implicit and considered; space was made for chances to be taken. In creative music, you sometimes need to re…

** 2CD version is housed in foil digipak** Strut present the definitive edition of Sun Ra’s classic ‘Lanquidity’ album from 1978 . Recorded overnight at Bob Bank’s Blank Tapes on 17th July 1978 after the Arkestra had appeared on Saturday Night Live, the album is unique in the Ra catalogue. “Most critics felt that it was more of a fusion-inspired record,” explains Michael Ray. “As the name suggests, the album is liquid and languid.” Bob Blank continues, “Musically, it was very ad hoc and freeform…

** Limited edition housed in a die cut craft sleeve, flooded pocket, in printed inner sleeve, with insert ** Artistry was Sirone's first album as a leader, recorded in 1978, just after the split of the Revolutionary Ensemble. Artistry has an Atypical combination of instruments, bass, cello , flute and percussion and delivers aplenty. Listen and you will know. Sirone ( Norris Jones) had an enormously prolific career as a bassist, both as a member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and playing with man…

Bomb! ** Sourced from the master tapes. First-time vinyl reissue ** Groundbreaking early work from drummer Milford Graves and pianist Don Pullen – a set of long, free improvisations that were originally issued on Graves' Self-Reliance Productions label! The music is even more striking than sounds from the time on the ESP label – and also really predates some of the freer work of this type from the European scene – as Graves is a monster on the drum kit and a range of percussion, reaching out wit…

* Limited edition housed in a die cut craft sleeve, flooded pocket, in printed inner sleeve, with insert * Malik King was an important part of the St Louis jazz scene of the 70's & 80's. He studied under Albert Ayler in NY in the early 70s before returning to the Midwest. He was a member of the Shirley Le Flore's ensemble "Free N' Concert". He also served as musical director of The Creative Arts & Expression Lab, The African Peoples Continuum, & The Black Arts Alliance, The worrier poets, The Hu…

“Peace is not the word to play” rapped Large Professor on Main Source’s 1991 debut album. His plea to stop abusing the word “peace” simply for rhetoric flair sounds just as valid in today’s genocidal world as it did in the streets of New York over 30 years ago. For Oiro Pena to name this album Béke, meaning peace in Hungarian - or white people in French Caribbean creole - it seems like they finally have something to say.With this group/concept/project called Oiro Pena, circling as a creative vor…

Gon Muruaga: Lines in the Sky. Music Shaped by Listening Some musical encounters begin long before the first note. Others begin in the instant of listening.

Introducing a musical treasure from the enigmatic Sun Ra's expansive discography, Strut Records proudly presents "Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC”. This extraordinary album unveils previously unreleased recordings from the year 1986 for the very first time, showcasing a unique chapter in the Sun Ra catalogue, officially released for Record Store Day 2024. Introducing the inaugural release of "lost" sessions from 1986, where Sun Ra encountered the OVC. These remarkable recordings wer…

Org Music’s reissue captures Cecil Taylor’s pivotal 1962 trio concert in Copenhagen. Remastered, complete, with rare notes, it’s a vital document of avant-garde jazz, praised for fearless innovation.

Purple Vinyl! How do you make a documentary film about a man who was also a myth? About a musician who was more than a musician? About someone who asked us to trust our intuition more than our rational minds? This double LP contains the original soundtrack to the accompanying PBS documentary! Includes liner notes from executive producer Bradford Smith about the making of Sun Ra: Do The Impossible, interviews from members of the Arkestra and a BluRay disc of the doc! Firelight assembled an incred…

**2023 repress** Out of print and hotly pursued on the secondary market, we’re thrilled to announce a much needed reissue initiative, dedicated to Ictus’ back catalog, beginning with four LPs, Steve Lacy and Andrea Centazzo’s Clangs, originally issued in 1976, Derek Bailey and Andrea Centazzo’s Drops, originally issued in 1977, Steve Lacy, Andrea Centazzo, and Kent Carter’s Trio Live, also from 1977, and John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, Toshinori Kondo, and Polly Bradfiel…