Jazz & Improvisation / Contemporary

*Original masters licensed by Nippon Columbia for the first ever reissue. Includes OBI and insert.* 'Tapestry: Koto' is a 3-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: Koto. The beauty of the trilogy curated by composer Kiyoshi Yamaya, whose chapters are respectively dedicated to Sea, Hillside and Country, lies in the fact that they are a modern translation of tradition using newer and more avant-garde sound id…

Maurice Louca and his Elephantine Band commit a live, raw, collective sound to record. One of Egypt's most adventurous experimental figures pulls cosmic jazz, African and global musics and modal traditions into long stretches of hard-grooving, hypnotic intensity and avant-jazz abandon. Red and black vinyl mix.

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.

*300 copies limited edition* "This is the first LP (following a cassette) released under Drew Gardner’s name and it’s a doozy. Drew is a guitarist, probably best known as a founding member of Elkhorn (although his musical partnerships with Jesse Shepard go back way further than that), and his recent work with Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders has also been noteworthy as hell. The band here is a trio with Andy Cush (Garcia Peoples) on bass, and the extremely well documented Ryan Jewell on drums. …

Recorded directly to two-track digital Mitsubishi X-80 tape recorder at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on June 4th & 5th, 1987.

A great live Cd by drummer giant Roy Haynes. Roy Haynes's very active and his different approach to drumming comes out very well - hard swinging and with a lot of joy and very spontaneous.

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 …

Much-needed repress. First-time vinyl release. Old-style gatefold LP with liner notes by Kahimi Karie, Otomo Yoshihide & Tonoyama Taiji. Reissue, originally released on CD in 2005. Eric Dolphy's final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-60s post-bop. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and his all-too-brief life ended less than two months after that. It marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considere…

A previously unpublished recording of the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet's performances at the first jazz festival in Prague in 1964. An important, significant stop in the jazz career of the legendary pianist and composer appears on disc more than half a century after its recording. And it continues to delight. Krzysztof Komeda was received extremely enthusiastically in Prague. His original Quintet, by the way, played at an incredibly high level, electrifying the audience gathered in Prague's Lucerna.…

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…

This 1983 recording, originally issued on Sackville LP, features jazz trumpeter Joe McPhee with the Bill Smith Ensemble.      ” …a stimulating set of avant-garde music. The interplay between these masterful improvisors on group originals and Albert Ayler’s classic ‘Ghosts’ is consistently impressive and worthy of a close investigation by the more open-eared segment of the jazz audience.” — Scott Yanow, Allmusic       “Vistation breathes as if it were music that was recorded yesterday. Joe McPhee…

Two great improvisers, pianist Elisabeth Harnik from Austria and trombone master Steve Swell play together! It's their first CD release! Check out how deep and colourful can be improvised music world!

Do you remember the excellent album Tone Hunting released a few years on Clean Feed? Of course, you do! Now we have the second incarnation of that excellent band but with a change on the seat of drums. Kuba Suchar is here replaced by a great drum's painter and probably one of the most musical percussion master Vasco Trilla. So on saxophone, we have Berlin-based Anna Kaluza, on acoustic bass guitar Rafał Mazur, and Artur Majewski on trumpet.

It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…

It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…

In compiling a modern album of Elizabethan music, London Jazz Four were faced with both technical and interpretive problems. Musically they had to decide how far we could alter the original notation in order to allow ourselves a more modern basis for improvisation, and at the same time preserve the original character of the music. To achieve this, they concentrated on melodies that were strong enough to withstand at times rather violent re-harmonisation, without losing their Elizabethan flavour.…

CD digipack incl.12-page booklet. Unreleased live recordings from the 4th Antibes Jazz Festival. Since 1960 a jazz festival is held in Juan-Les-Pins at the Côte d'Azur, which is regarded as one of the best summer festivals worldwide. Apart from the big names - from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis or Keith Jarrett - it also featured legends such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. The 4th Festival in 1963 saw a meeting of representatives of traditional and mo…

Trio improvisations recorded at the Eremita de la Anunciada, Urueña, Spain, August 2007. Esteban Algora (accordion), Alessandra Rombolá (flute and tiles installation) and Ingar Zach (percussion) - three Madrid-based improvisers creating music where the room became a fourth member of the group. An entirely acoustic affair. The title, taken from a poem by Pablo Neruda, suggests the use of the space where the recording was made - an old stone church where the instruments amplify and extend the pote…

Double LP by Dave Okumu, Tom Herbert and Tom Skinner, recorded live at The Crypt in Camberwell, London, on 15 June 2018: covers of Abercrombie, Björk, A.K. Paul and Miles Davis alongside originals.

Homage to Stefano Scodanibbio by Sebastian Gramss and ten other double bassists, among them Barry Guy, Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips and Mark Dresser, recorded separately in 2014, plus a 2008 live duo of Scodanibbio and Gramss.

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.

Duo album by Manfred Schoof (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Rainer Brüninghaus (piano, keyboards), six original pieces recorded in October 1987 and May 1988 at Tonstudio Cornet, Cologne.

ECM :rarum XX: nine tracks featuring Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen, recorded 1974-1997 with Keith Jarrett, Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal, Masqualero, Ketil Bjørnstad and the Bobo Stenson Trio. Released 2004.

ECM :rarum 19 (2004): thirteen pieces chosen by Arild Andersen from his ECM albums recorded 1975-1999, with Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, Masqualero, Ralph Towner, Nana Vasconcelos, Vassilis Tsabropoulos and others.

ECM :rarum 14 (2004): ten tracks chosen by John Abercrombie from ten ECM albums recorded 1974-2000, with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Ralph Towner, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Feldman and others; original sessions produced by Manfred Eicher.

ECM :rarum volume VIII: Bobo Stenson's own selection of thirteen recordings from 1971 to 1999, with his trios (Arild Andersen, Anders Jormin, Jon Christensen) and with Jan Garbarek, Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko.

Four complete solo piano concerts by Keith Jarrett, recorded by the pianist himself in October 1996 in Modena, Ferrara, Turin and Genoa, released in 2016 as a 4-CD box on ECM.

Keith Jarrett's solo piano concert at the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice, on 19 July 2006: an improvised eight-part suite, The Sun Whose Rays from The Mikado and three encores. Released on ECM in 2018.

Solo double album by Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia on piano and prepared piano, recorded in concert and in a closed session at the Fazioli Concert Hall, Sacile, in May 2016, and arranged by producer Manfred Eicher.

Double album of new compositions by Tomasz Stanko's New York Quartet with David Virelles (piano), Thomas Morgan (double bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), dedicated to Wisława Szymborska. Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York, in June 2012; ECM, 2013.

Live double album by the Jan Garbarek Group: Garbarek (soprano and tenor saxophones, selje flute), Rainer Brüninghaus (piano, keyboards), Yuri Daniel (bass) and Manu Katché (drums), recorded on 20 October 2007 at the Alter Schlachthof, Dresden.

Pat Metheny Group (Metheny, Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby, Dan Gottlieb, Nana Vasconcelos) live in Dallas, Philadelphia, Hartford, Sacramento and Nacogdoches, July-November 1982. 2CD.

Keith Jarrett's European quartet with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, live at the Village Vanguard, New York, May 1979: six Jarrett compositions on 2CD, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Double live album by Nik Bärtsch's Ronin (Bärtsch, Sha, Björn Meyer, Kaspar Rast, Andi Pupato), recorded 2009-2011 in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, England and Japan, with Thomy Jordi on bass on the final track. Mixed at Studios La Buissonne.

Keith Jarrett's solo piano concert at the Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, recorded live on 9 April 2011: fifteen improvisations, including encores, on two CDs.

Two-CD anthology compiled by Jon Balke from the Magnetic North Orchestra albums Further (1993), Solarized (1998) and Kyanos (2001), with Anders Jormin, Audun Kleive, Per Jørgensen, Arve Henriksen, Morten Halle and string players including the Cikada String Quartet.

Double CD tied to Ketil Bjørnstad's Vinding novels: solo piano improvisations recorded December 2009 in Hønefoss, and a March 2009 Oslo concert of Mozart, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Ravel, Beethoven and Barber with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under Christian Eggen.

Three albums by John Abercrombie's first quartet, with Richie Beirach (piano), George Mraz (double bass) and Peter Donald (drums): Arcade (1978) and Abercrombie Quartet (1979), recorded in Oslo, and M (1980), recorded in Ludwigsburg. Produced by Manfred Eicher. 3CD.