Jazz & Improvisation / Contemporary

*2024 stock* The compelling sense of vulnerability you get from walking barefoot on the grass connecting with the earth is аn immersive experience. It opens you to the energy within, walking at your own pace, appreciating where you are, comprehending the impenetrable mystery of life within and around you. It settles you into a restful state of mind and expands your awareness. Recorded live on all analog tape in Hämeenlinna, Walking On The Grass is the first album by Mush Tone Ensemble. There is …

RR Gems brings to you EEG Coherence. An album consisting of Devin Brahja Waldman - saxophone and keyboards, Sam Shalabi - guitar, Liam O’Neill - drums, Morgan Moore - bass, Janice Lowe - flute and voice, and Ala Dehghan - voice; with woodblock artwork by Ryock. For reference, EEG means electroencephalogram: a scientific test that measures electrical activity in the brain. When our right brain and left brain hook up, coherence is born. The third eye pops out. The mind and heart become one. As int…

*2024 stock* A group of musicians invited by Devin Brahja Waldman and Ziad Qoulaii for a recording session in Montreal, QC. This music speaks about freedom and evolution of consciousness. The album could be categorized as improvised Gnawa Jazz Krautrock: a combination of sounds we are able to discover for the first time thanks to the artists involved.

*2024 stock* Muriel Grossmann has been living in Ibiza, Spain for about 20 years composing her distinguished brand of soulful spiritual jazz. ‘Universal Code’ is a 80-minute musical journey of modal jazz with influence of African music and soul jazz. It was composed as a natural successor of 2019 record ‘Reverence’. This album was achieved as a part of Muriel Grossmann’s spiritual and musical explorations. "This music on Universal Code is long on contemplative, instrumental dexterity, as well as…

2005 release ** Cardboard sleeve. "This project is the product of over thirty years of musical collaboration and personal friendships. The three of us met in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early seventies and worked together in many contexts, exploring improvisation and new music. When I moved to New York in 1983, there was a brief hiatus, and then, on hearing a composition of Mel Graves played here, I asked him to write me a piece. This led to my premiering many works of his and making sever…

Huge Tip! Deluxe LP edition, comes with a 8-page insert .This is a live recording of the Peter Brötzmann Trio (Peter Brötzmann, Sabu Toyozumi, and Jason Adasiewicz) from their performance at the 5th OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival at B10 Live, Shenzhen, in 2015. After the performance, the B10 Live team conducted a warm and friendly interview with the three musicians. The transcribed conversation has been edited and included in the liner notes of this vinyl album.Liu Ying Studio delivered exceptional mixi…

Created for a modern Polish stage production of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, John Zorn has created a music filled with nostalgia, tenderness, violent power and a great sense of mystery. Featuring the dark ambient bass tones of Bill Laswell, the sensitive keyboards of Rob Burger, Kevin Norton on drums, vibes and percussion and Zorn on sax, this is a moody and menacing program of music for late night listening. Romantic ballads, ambient soundscapes and hardcore intensity!

From March to May 2015, John Zorn composed 300 new tunes that were eventually collected into a book of music he called The Bagatelles. After five years of performances around the world in venues large and small, the choicest ensembles have gone into the studio and the results are some of the most exciting and varied music Zorn has ever presented. Volume four features the scintillating soundscapes of electronic music wizard Ikue Mori, and she has arranged these pieces with grace, elegance, and a …

By no means a secret, (and in steady demand,) but certainly in the category of IYKYK, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Shaw is one of Los Angeles’s brightest young Composers, Producers, Arrangers, Band Leaders, and Music Directors. In his Home Studio that he shares with his older Brother, Lawrence (together making up the group Black Nile), Shaw can be found playing Saxophones, Clarinets, Flutes, Keyboards, Drum Machines, and also Engineering Sessions. A frequent fixture at The World Stage in Leimert …

Hikmah is the astonishing new solo piano work from Pat Thomas - virtuosic sound scientist, deep and compassionate thinker, and UK-based musical treasure. A singular album in his now substantial body of work, it marks his first release for TAO Forms. Born in Oxford to Antiguan parents on July 27, 1960, Thomas belongs to a remarkable generation of piano masters. Just over four months separate his birth from that of Matthew Shipp (December 7, 1960) - whose The Piano Equation inaugurated the TAO For…

*100 copies limited edition* "Will and I have been playing together for a very long time and in a lot of very different contexts. Our musical history goes back to playing basements and art galleries in Providence in 2008, wanders through a years-long informal residency playing as a sax and guitar duo in Bushwick and Ridgewood, and brings us up to just last week when Will joined Taper’s Choice at a sold out Brooklyn Bowl to celebrate Relix Magazine’s 50th anniversary—more on that again later. In …

*200 copies limited edition* "The contemporary Los Angeles jazz renaissance has a rich cast of characters. Among the most interesting are Dave Harrington, Billy Mohler, and Jay Bellerose, all established players with fascinating discographies. While these musicians are integral to the current L.A. jazz scene, they’ve traveled various pathways to their current destinations. Harrington is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, well-known as the guitarist for Darkside, who have recorded extensively …

Unclassified Affections is the entrancing new release from drummer and composer Dan Weiss that features the convergence of some of the most intriguing musicians on the scene: Peter Evans on trumpet, Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, and Miles Okazaki on guitar. The new compositions, which were written by Weiss specifically for these musicians, range from deep, meditative moments to intense, high-energy peaks, while every track unveils a new layer of exploration.   Brennan’s sonorous mallet work co…

Unknown Rivers is bassist Luke Stewart’s debut for Pi Recordings. An omnipresent and galvanizing force on the music scene, Stewart is a leader or co-leader of such bands as Irreversible Entanglements, Exposure Quintet, Blacks’ Myths, Heart of the Ghost, and Remembrance Quintet. He is also among the most in-demand collaborators, having performed with the likes of David Murray, Nicole Mitchell, Moor Mother, Jaimie Branch, Nate Wooley, Ken Vandermark and countless others. Stewart is also a curator …

On Live in Kallio, Markus Holkko Quartet turns a Helsinki neighborhood into a pressure chamber of color and rhythm, blending proggy contours, retro-fusion heat and modern Nordic lyricism into long-form live explorations that feel both heady and immediate, cerebral yet unafraid to let the groove bite.

Lantern in the Woods is the new album from musician and multi-instrumentalist Misha Sultan – a project that marks an important milestone for the artist. It is his first work conceived and realized as a coherent, unified statement, from the earliest ideas and sounds to the final mastering. The story of the album began back in 2021 in Saint Petersburg, during studio jam sessions with Anton (Mårble), Vova Luchanskiy, and Nikita (Minereed). These live improvisations eventually led to the formation o…

Portico Quartet / Hania Rani brings the singular Polish pianist and composer, Hania Rani, and East-London based widescreen minimalists, Portico Quartet, together for a unique collaboration. The idea was simple, each artist would rework one of each other's tunes. The result is a beautiful collaborative work that feel less like straight forward remixes and more like a new recording that brings the two acts distinctive sound worlds to a new place. The first track to be shared is Hania Rani - Nest (…

The Scandinavian project Arcanum brings together four artists all well-known to followers of directions in music at ECM: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari.  They’ve played together in many permutations over the years, but this is their first album as a quartet.  Compositions by Anders Jormin and Trygve Seim, the Finnish traditional “Armon Lapset” (Children of Mercy), and Jormin’s arrangement of Ornette Coleman’s “What Reason Could I Give” are slotted into a programm…

South-Asian vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ganavya releases her new studio album  “Like the sky I've been too quiet” on Shabaka Hutchings’ Native Rebel Recordings. The album features contributions from artists including Kofi Flexxx, Floating Points, Carlos Niño, Leafcutter John and Mercury-nominated bassist Tom Herbert. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, UCLA and Harvard, Ganavya has quickly become a much-in-demand artist on the US scene who consistently confounds expe…

Anchored in the idea that, despite all obstacles, the human experience casts a net of possibilities, Defiant Life – Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith second duo recording for ECM – proves a profound meditation on the human condition and both the suffering and resilience it entails. An ethereal iridescence glistens between Leo Smith’s unmistakable trumpet wail and Vijay’s textural key strokes on piano and Fender Rhodes, conjuring multi-dimensional spaces of thoughtful musical conversation. “We work…

Crossed & Recrossed presents two works composed by Peter Knight & inspired by mappings of imagined places by iconic Australian novelist, Gerald Murnane & Italian master, Italo Calvino. Simultaneously celebrating & deconstructing the tropes of minimalism, Crossed & Recrossed creates a series of musical mirages that form on an endless sonic horizon, reflecting & reimagining the wide open spaces described in Murnane’s iconic novel, The Plains & the labyrinthine streets of Calvino’s Invisible Cities…

Sympathetic Magic is an ecstatic, delirious, and deeply touching piece of music; a towering new work in Kim Myhr’s increasingly substantial output as an artist and composer. It is the follow-up to Kim Myhr’s 2017 album You | me, which was widely praised and received an honorary mention at the 2018 Nordic Music Prize. While the immersive warmth of You | me is still present, Sympathetic Magic is more expansive than its predecessor. A band of eight musicians playing a wide variety of instruments in…

*2023 stock* Geir Sundstøl has made a name for himself as an innovative session musician on hundreds of Norwegian and international albums. 2015 saw the release of Furulund, the first self-composed long player from this Master of Strings. Langen Ro, Norwegian Grammy winner Brødløs and St.Hanshaugen Steel, followed soon after. Now, the stage is set for something quite different. The Studio Intim Sessions, Volume 1, Sundstøl's fifth solo album, has taken a trip on its own, away from the cinematic …

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Warrior. Recorded october 13th, 2013 at John Kilgore Sound and Recording, New York. All music by Richard Bonnet Richard Bonnet / guitar Tony Malaby / saxophones Antonin Rayon / Hammond organ Tom Rainey / drums

*2022 stock* Futura Marge presents Alice's Evidence by Sophia Domancich Quintet . Recorded live on 24 and 25 May 2016 at La Dynamo in Pantin (France).Ray Anderson (trombone), Géraldine Laurent (alto saxophone), Sophia Domancich (piano), Hélène Labarrière (double bass), Nasheet Waits (drums)

NoBusiness Records proudly presents Live at Charlie's Tap, a mesmerizing live album from the Bobby Naughton Trio that captures the raw, improvisational spirit of jazz in an intimate club setting. Recorded live at the renowned Charlie’s Tap, this release showcases the trio’s exceptional chemistry and profound musical dialogue. Bobby Naughton’s inventive vibraphone melodies intertwine seamlessly with the dynamic interplay of bass and drums, creating an immersive experience that transports listener…

Acclaimed jazz artists Lao Dan and Vasco Trilla join forces on New Species, an album that pushes the boundaries of modern jazz with inventive compositions and masterful improvisation. Blending elements of traditional jazz with contemporary influences, this collaboration offers a compelling journey through intricate melodies and dynamic rhythms. New Species showcases Dan Lao’s versatility on saxophone and woodwinds, paired with Vasco Trilla’s innovative approach to drums. Together, they create a …

NoBusiness Records proudly presents You, Full Of Sources And Night, an evocative new album by Ziv Taubenfeld / Helena Espvall / João Sousa. This extraordinary collaboration unites three innovative musicians whose distinct voices converge into an intricate tapestry of sound. Ziv Taubenfeld’s masterful saxophone textures weave seamlessly with Helena Espvall’s haunting cello melodies and João Sousa’s immersive electroacoustic landscapes. Together, they craft a richly layered sonic journey that expl…

Music for an Imaginary Ballet is both a creative landmark and a musical diary of Arkady Gotesman long and rich career spanning over three decades. In 2023, Arkady presented his solo project of the same title. This chamber solo performance reflects his entire creative path, bearing the deep imprints of every colleague he has ever worked with, and embracing all the artistic directions that have shaped him. In Music for an Imaginary Ballet, Arkady evokes not only reminiscences of his friends and co…

CD Edition - Fifteen years in, Joshua Abrams and his Natural Information Society have stopped trying to impress anyone and started building something genuinely necessary. Perseverance Flow strips away the expanded lineups of recent efforts, returning to the core quartet—Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, and Abrams on guimbri—for one continuous 37-minute meditation that feels less like composed music than a natural phenomenon you've stumbled u…

Jazz Festivals have often provided the opportunity for a first encounter with musicians that were “on the radar” , so to speak , but for various reasons (often geographical) never came to fruition. Jazzdor in Strasbourg was no exception, and on the 15th November 2023, at the invitation of its director Philippe Ochem, the Trio of Angelica Sanchez, Ramón López and myself performed a set that continued my lifelong association with piano trios. Ramón is no stranger to me and we have collaborated on …

*2025 stock* "Barry Guy and I first met and played together in a version of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the days of the legendary Little Theatre Club. The late John Stevens, visionary prophet of the coming music was the key figure at the centre of things who brought us together. “So it goes“ – John often used this figure of speech. I was reminded of this when I was looking through Samuel Beckett’s Collected Letters, hoping to glean some titles, knowing that Barry would be happy with a Beck…

*2025 stock* "It was at Ramón’s suggestion that we record as a duo in the downtime of another studio session, and perhaps it was his constellation of drums and cymbals that prompted the thought of a metaphorical planetary system. So Sidereus Nuncius - The Starry Messenger the title of Galileo Galilei’s short astronomical treatise published in early 1610, did not necessarily stretch the imagination unduly – there it was in front of me! Galilei’s telescopic observations of the moon and other celes…

*2025 stock* "Peter Evans and I have occasionally met in larger ensembles for special projects. This particular concert in Uster (Switzerland) within the PAM festival on 18. November 2016, allowed us to delve into the minutiae of duo performance where intense listening and decoding of intentions kept our minds and bodies in high alert. This occasion had us playing somewhat athletically, pushing and pulling ideas around, and to be honest, we both felt exhausted after the concert but also exhilara…

*2025 stock* Free jazz trio made up of leading improvisers pianist Agusti Fernandez, bassist Barry Guy and drummer/percussionist Ramon Lopez, recorded live in Cologne in 2013. Agusti Fernandez gives some insight into the music, “I believe that the essential thing for us is our shared desire to create an extraordinary, unexpected and unusual moment through music. A moment that cannot, perhaps, be described in words, but which can be perceived perfectly, as one of those fantastic occasions when mu…

*2025 stock* Important for this composition commissioned by the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra from Barry Guy, is the unity of composed and improvised passages, the concern for the capabilities and strengths of individual players, the way in which small groups are part of the larger structures. Based on “Ay, but can ye?” a Russian poem translated into Scots by Edwin Morgan and using images of Wassily Kandinsky, this mostly graphically notated score is a musical adventure for the players as well a…

*2025 stock* "There was a sense of excitement as the trio opened their first set in Birmingham of a mostly north England tour. Adjectives such as spiritual, energized, even devotional all come to mind. The meeting with Ken Vandermark in a classic trio formation of Saxophone (doubling clarinet), bass and percussion was suggested by Mark Sanders reacting to a tour proposal by the indefatigable organizer of Jazz events in the U. K. Tony Dudley-Evans. The music was like an initiation, a very special…

*2025 stock* When Evan Parker, Barry Guy and percussionist Paul Lytton renewed their association at l’Auditori in Barcelona in March 2006, they chose to call the resulting CD ZAFIRO, or “Sapphire”. The following day, the trio was joined by Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández at the same venue to record the Topos album. The chemistry changes to an almost microscopic world of shifting colours and densities prompted by Fernández’s mercurial articulations of the piano keys and the strings inside the in…

*2025 stock* "In this provocative journey towards lost innocence, the pianist imposes restraint in the use of instrument not only upon himself, but also asks his colleagues Barry Guy and Ramón López, to simplify their interventions in a similar way. Who would have thought it of these three indomitable, red-hot hyper-virtuosos? However, this three-way understanding goes back a long way, for they have been generating high-voltage spontaneous combustion together in different formats for years, and …

Elisabeth Flunger - bass drum Dominic Lash - double bass Kathryn Williams - bass flute "Recording the Dissenting Voices confirmed the extent of their divergence from The Future That Never Was. Music always has something to do with the sonic architecture of instruments, but it is also about the fantasy with which musicians like Dominic, Elisabeth and Kathryn choose to play." - Christopher Fox