Jazz & Improvisation / Contemporary

*2025 stock* Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to c…

*2024 stock* The Survivors’ Suite, recorded in 1976, is the crowning achievement of Keith Jarrett’s “American Quartet” with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, and one of the all-time enduring masterpieces in the ECM catalogue. Melody Maker: “The Survivors’ Suite is a brilliantly organized and full-blooded work which provides the perfect setting for all four talents. This is a very complete record. It creates its own universe and explores it thoroughly, leaving the listener awed and sat…

Mysterious, dramatic and alluring, Luminessence comes from a peak period in the creative association between Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek, recorded in 1974, immediately after their vibrant Belonging album. Here, Jarrett creates shimmering orchestral frameworks to spur Garbarek to some of his most concentrated, impassioned and expressive playing. “The melodies that Jarrett writes sound like Garbarek improvisations, so great is the rapport between the two men,” wrote Ian Carr in his  Keith Jarre…

Widely regarded as one of Pat Metheny's most inspired recordings and now considered a classic of instrumental and improvised music, *80/81* unveiled a bold new dimension of the then-26-year-old guitarist's sonic world. Released in 1980, this groundbreaking album marked Metheny's first collaboration with jazz luminaries from multiple generations, including bassist Charlie Haden, saxophonists Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Drawing equally from the freewheeling spiri…

"When Freysteinn Gíslason sent me the raw recordings from Sundlaugin in Mosfellsbær, I heard immediately what he and his ensemble had captured: a group of musicians operating at the outer edges of what jazz can contain. My job wasn't to shape these performances in the traditional sense—they were already fully realized—but to bring clarity and force to a vision that refused easy categorization. Thoughts is an album that exists in extremes. Not the extremes of volume or aggression alone, but of em…

A supreme soundscape! The world's first recording of a work released in 1997 by a composer/guitarist who has left his mark on the contemporary Mexican music scene. The latest release from SRRD label! Eblen Macari has been actively developing his unique musical style for 40 years, from the 1980s to the present. Eblen Macari has been developing his unique musical style for the past years. Eblen Macari was inspired by the sound of the guitar as well as the ecology of the trees used for the guitar. …

Themes For Dreams marks another left turn, finding Chicago-born and based musician, composer, and producer Will Miller at his most meditative, patient, and intentional. Across 13 gorgeous and strikingly cohesive tracks, the album eschews drums in favor of immersive melodies that float, dissipate, and linger. It's an album meant for rest, with arrangements so welcomely enveloping they feel like a warm blanket. While it's Miller's sparsest record yet, it still keeps his wildly collaborative ethos,…

Uphill Game is an acoustic contemporary jazz quartet based in Bristol, UK, led by double-bassist & composer Riaan Vosloo. Uphill Game play open, dynamic, driving, delicate, exploratory, groove and melody focused music, inspired by the likes of the William Parker Quartet but with its own distinctive collective voice. Currently one of the UK's best-kept jazz secrets, the band is delighted to release its first album this spring, recorded live in the sumptuous acoustic of St George's Bristol. Riaan …

*2023 stock* Healing Force is an album by American jazz pianist Don Pullen recorded in 1976 for the Italian Black Saint label.

Super Tip ** original copies, last ones ** 'Trumpeter Baikida Carroll was once again in the company of alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill for a January 1982 recording with pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff for Soul Note called Shadows & Reflections. The material here sounded like it could have been a late Blue Note recording; in fact, there were times when the horns brought back flashbacks of the Jackie McLean-Charles Tolliver front line of the '60s. And for…

On John Zorn’s Bagatelles Vol. 5, John Zorn hands eight spiky miniatures to the Kris Davis Quartet, who turn his angular “weirdo tunes” into a fierce, lyrical piano‑guitar quartet set where structure, swing and free combustion constantly collide.

Antonio Borghini and Banquet of Consequences continue on their path of jazz, freedom, and rigor, in which writing, improvisation, tradition, and chaos coexist in a vital and surprising mixture. Well-organized music that uses disorder to its enrichment and is a harbinger of melodic flourishes and references many different kinds of music.

Alvin Singleton’s (b. 1940) approach to music-making has all along been involved in an interplay with listeners and their psychology. While this does not mean he has been centered on simply pleasing his audiences, his work seems to constantly draw his audience into confronting challenges of listening, and they tend to end up pleased. Therefore, with so many of his pieces, they might be extremely complex and masterfully crafted, but seldom do you feel he presents the listener with something they …

On The Call, Bellbird turn their namesake’s piercing cry into a manifesto: an explosive yet intimate quartet music where twin saxes, rhythm‑led structures and “ugly” beauty carry climate grief and solidarity into a single, ringing shout.

Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen), Linda Fredriksson and Matti Bye enter the We Jazz Records realm as Kiri Ra! with their new album nen (out 22 May 2026). Kiri Ra! is a trio that creates their sound slowly, in a process of improvisation and discovery. Filtered through the musicians' long-standing friendship and collaboration, Kiri Ra!'s music is a testament to the joy of creation and invention. Their sound together draws from each of the the artists' work before, while creating new world of sound. The…

The Outskirts came together as a working band during bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s three-year stint as a Chicagoan from 2005-2008. They played regularly at all of the working venues for improvised music in Chicago at that time, including The Hungry Brain, The Velvet Lounge, The Hideout, and Elastic. They even made a live recording in April 2009 that they were eager to release. But unfortunately, the multi-track audio files were lost in a hard drive mishap, leaving only a barely usable rough m…

Frank London, a major voice in today’s Jewish music renaissance, who has worked with the likes of LLCooI J, LaMonte Young, Jane Siberry and Gal Costa, is a trumpetist, composer, arranger and musical scholar of startling range and creativity. The Debt is the first collection of his work for film and theater, and contains a wide variety of his musical obsessions: Latin grooves, Mingus-style jazz arrangements, classical chamber compositions, moody sound pieces, funky bachelor pad music and a gorgeo…

2025 stock  Tzadik is proud to release a new recording by Steve Lacy, MacArthur Fellow and for 40 years the undisputed master of the soprano saxophone. Recorded at his home in Paris from February to April 1998, Sands is Steve Lacy's most personal and remarkable solo document, and explores a wide variety of musical and dramatic subjects. Portraits of close friends Barney Wilen and William Burroughs; collaborations with the texts of Allen Ginsberg and Samuel Beckett; and of course his own peculiar…

A rhythm-driven, analog-leaning record built from hypnotic basslines, warm synth textures, and layered percussion, "Simulacra" is the debut LP from Venetian bassist and producer Eric Demuro, a fully realized studio statement that brings his compositional voice into focus. The album moves through hazy jazz-funk, ambient passages, library psychedelia, and Brazilian rhythmic language without settling into revivalism. Fender Rhodes figures, hand percussion, and vintage keyboards drift through spacio…

On Ola Tunji, Ola Tunji channel a luminous strain of spiritual and free jazz: collective meditations where Ornella Noulet’s fierce, tender saxophone rides a young quintet’s searching interplay toward something like secular devotion.

As students in the late 1980s, Julia Werntz and Pandelis Karayorgis both enrolled in Joe Maneri’s Microtonal Composition and Performance class at the New England Conservatory, beginning a formative period of mentorship and collaborations with musicians in the scene surrounding that course. During those years a special mindset was cultivated regarding rhythm and musical form, as well as the rich world of microtonal melody and harmony. We also were married during that period, but our musical paths…

“Composition 429” is the first piece using a new writing method that Braxton calls “Lorraine.” The composer’s notes to the piece describe Lorraine as “a music system that governs the ‘sonic winds’ of breath.” Saxophonist and longtime collaborator James Fei contributes an essay detailing the Lorraine system, which uses a combination of traditional notation and color-coded symbols of the composer’s design to indicate “specific sound types or performance techniques,” drawing from Braxton’s long his…

150 hand numbered copies. Kick-ass free music recorded in the glorious year of 1966 in Copenhagen. From Finn Von Eyben a leading exponent of the fertile Danish free jazz movement of the 1960s, comes these never-before-released live and studio recordings, offering an interesting addition to our understanding of a time in Danish music history where past, present, and future clashed to create a whole new sound.  This is as essential as it gets. Piano, double-bass & drums in total interaction. 150 h…

Gerry Hemingway Live At Bau 4 features a profound collaboration among Gerry Hemingway, Izumi Kimura, Frank Gratkowski, and Christian Weber, creating a vibrant interplay of rhythms and melodies. Recorded live at Bau 4 in Altbüron, Switzerland, where Hemingway has lived since 2009, the album opens with “Slivers,” a 20-minute exercise in sound that resembles a kaleidoscopic landscape of textures and colors. This piece pays tribute to Bau 4's founders, Hildegard and Walter Schaer, celebrating their …

On Dybbuk Tse!, Yoni Mayraz turns Jewish possession lore into a groove‑driven exorcism: live‑wire jazz, 90s NYC hip‑hop grit and Middle Eastern modes colliding in a story where a wandering spirit is forced out beat by beat.

On Grzyby, Błoto complete their mycelium cycle with a compact blast of medicinal‑and‑toxic club jazz: five mushroom‑named cuts of broken beats, sub‑heavy low end and live improvisation that argue for dialogue and interdependence in a world addicted to walls.

This album was made in celebration of the ancestors who carried the Music in their blood and bones and spread it around the Earth, from the earliest times until now. Music crosses continents and cultures and time, and when it speaks of the truth it transcends musical genealogy and continues a timeline from the earliest sources up to the present day. This album pays tribute to the music and musicians that spoke to me from their hearts to mine, inspiring me in so many ways, not just musical ones. …

2025 stock Silver is Ilhan Ersahin's latest project and a bit of a departure from his other musical undertakings A group consisting of himself on Rhodes keyboards and Tenor Saxophone, trumpet icon Eddie Henderson, bass legend Juuini Booth and drums, percussion sorcerer Kenny Wollesen. Silver emphasizes on mood and tone. The "bite-sized" approach of this ensemble translates as a string of 5-minute individual pieces. Silver couldn't sound the way it does if it weren't for the presence of two certi…

Spiritual keyboard improvisations performed by Laraaji and recorded in a Brooklyn Church by Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, The War On Drugs, Mary Lattimore). Sun Piano finds Laraaji fulfilling a lifelong ambition to return to his first instrument, learnt whilst growing up in 1950s New Jersey. A departure from his FX-soaked cosmic zither jams, these elegant miniatures nevertheless reveal enough personality and inner light to be clearly identifiable as ‘Laraaji Music’. This release is the latest step in…

Big tip! This is it! Chicago spiritual jazz master Kahil El'Zabar delivers one of the most powerful live recordings in recent memory! Captured over two unforgettable nights at "mu" in London - July 15th & 16th, 2024 - this is music as ancient ritual, as communion, as healing force. El'Zabar created new material specifically for these performances, alongside reimagined arrangements of classics like Wayne Shorter's "Footprints", Gershwin's "Summertime", and Duke Ellington & Juan Tizol's "Caravan".…

A groundbreaking session of European jazz – one of the first true moments of genius from singer Karin Krog! Tracks are long and experimental without getting too far out – and Karin's icy voice flows out magically over compelling tunes that still remain some of the most striking jazz vocals ever recorded! The set has Karin singing with a group of young, hip Scandinavian players that include Jan Garbarek on saxes, Arild Andersen on bass, and Terje Bjorklund on piano – all of whom stretch out in lo…

Renowned British saxophonist and composer Nat Birchall proudly presents his latest album, Liberated Sounds, a vibrant homage to the golden era of Jamaican ska. Drawing inspiration from the fiery horn instrumentals of the early 1960s, Birchall channels the spirit of legendary musicians such as Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, and Roland Alphonso—artists who helped shape the sound of groups like The Skatalites and Prince Buster’s All Stars. The album captures the energy, soul, and improvisational flair…

"An album that puts jazz at the center. Emanuele Cisi records his first release for Mono Jazz (Right Tempo) returning to those elements from which everything begins and in which everything is fulfilled. With melody and swing, a deep sense of blues—not just as a style but as a fundamental state of music—and spirituality, the improvisation here becomes a space where the pieces reveal themselves as springboards for self-expression. Rushin’ is not merely a collection of references and tributes, alth…

Yuvi Havkin aka Rejoicer returns with an exceptional collaborative album, California Space Craft. On this aptly titled record, he joins forces with seasoned LA bass polymath Sam Wilkes — known for his inspired studio work with Sam Gendel and his dynamic live performances alongside Louis Cole and Knower — and drummer Tamir Barzilay, completing the LA-connected trifecta alongside a select handful of key featured guests. The idea for California Space Craft was born out of a series of inspired live …

London - and Berlin - based quartet Let Spin return with I Am Alien, their fifth album and first release with UK label Discus, marking a new chapter in the band’s evolution. Building on the momentum of 2022’s Thick As Thieves, the record is a continuous, shape-shifting work that thrives on tension and risk, collapsing the boundary between composition and improvisation while distilling over a decade of shared history into a fiercely unified listening experience. Over more than 13 years of playing…

This is my fourth solo piano release on this wonderful label. The studio’s Yamaha piano is an older darling, bless her, with an easy mechanism and unusual bright tone - lovely to play! It was also my first time recording at Sansom Studios in the West Midlands, some distance from Lancashire where we live. The album was recorded in a few hours and is in three sections. Two tea breaks divided the music in effect, no edits, completely improvised. I was curious about recording in a studio again, most…

What do jazz improvisation, Polish Radio, dingy rap from Memphis, cassette tapes, trap, drill elements and hip-hop loops have in common? These are the ingredients that the Błoto quartet used in their lab to cook an explosive mixture for their third LP entitled “Kwasy i zasady” (eng,“Acids and bases”).  Nobody thought that a band who appeared suddenly and unexpectedly on the jazz scene would develop so rapidly and in such an unforeseen direction. A year ago, critics and music journalists treated …

Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.

*200 copies limited edition* "In a somewhat inconspicuous passage in Ursula K. Le Guin’s sci-fi classic The Dispossessed, its main character — the brilliant physicist Shevek — meets a composer who has translated Shevek’s revolutionary theories into music: ‘I’m writing a piece of chamber music. Thought I might call it The Simultaneity Principle. [Several] instruments each playing an independent cyclic theme; no melodic causality; the forward process entirely in the relationship of the parts. It m…

*300 copies limited edition* In October 2024, g a b b r o travels from Brussels to the mysterious village of Gabbro in Italy. Together with drumming virtuoso Casper Van De Velde, Hanne De Backer invites musical friends along the way to record in places that have personal significance for them. The quest to Gabbro takes them through five countries in seven days: Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland and Italy. The diverse landscapes and numerous encounters leave a deep impression. The pace of …