Jazz & Improvisation / Free Improvisation

Fundacja Słuchaj! ‎presents Known / Unknown by Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley.  Recorded January 2018 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Engineered and Mixed/Mastered by Bojan Vuletic. Special Thanks to Bojan and Maciej. All Music by Paul Lytton (GEMA) and Nate Wo…

** First pressing of 200 with artwork by Jaime Zuverza ** Astral Spirit presents Sans Soleil by Chris Williams and Patrick Shiroishi. Engineered by: Jared Rodriguez. Mixed and Mastered: Weston Olencki. Special thanks: Jared Rodriguez, Weston Olencki,…

Astral Spirit presents A Horizon Made of Canvas by Jeremiah Cymerman and Charlie Looker. Recorded by Chris Schlarb at BIG EGO Studios, Long Beach CA, January 10th, 2020. Mixed by Jeremiah Cymerman. Mastered by James Plotkin. Artwork & Layout by Jaime…

Astral Spirit presents Sun Beans of Shimmering Light by Wadada Leo Smith, Douglas R. Ewart, Mike Reed. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dave Zuchowski. Photos by Michael Jackson. All compositions by Smith, Ewart, and Reed (Kiom Music, ASCAP; Nikoranz…

Astral Spirit presents The Glass Delusion by Kuzu. Recorded October 13th, 2018 at Elastic Arts in Chicago and October 14th, 2018 at The Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, WI. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dave Zuchowski. All compositions by Rempis/Dorji/Da…

Astral Spirit presents Nights on Saturn (Communication) by [Ahmed]. Recorded live at Cafe OTO, London, December 5th, 2019. Recording: Shaun Cook. Mixing: Billy Steiger. Mastering: Mikey Young. Inner-sleeve text: ' Origins Revisited' by Pat Thomas (20…

** Repress. Double LP on 140g black vinyl housed in a Tip-on Stoughton Gatefold Jacket with amazing artwork by Damon Locks **  Astral Spirits presents The Other Side of Time by Quin Kirchner. Recorded at Minbal & Future House in Chicago, IL. Engineer…

Composer, clarinetist, singer and spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended on Chicago's jazz and improvised music scene just a few years ago. In very short time, the potency, prowess, spirit and charisma of her cosmic musical proselytizing…

** 2021 Stock ** Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik seems to thrive in duo settings. Michael Zerang, a Chicago-based drummer, is with her on Dream Disobedience, a live recording made at Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2019. The conversation, unabated for 35 mi…

** 2021 Stock ** To say that pianist Marilyn Crispell, who turns 74 this month, has charted new territory would be an understatement. It would be just as accurate to say she has redrawn maps of old territory. At her hands, the keyboard leaps like a c…

** 2021 Stock ** Not Two presents Stone Jump by Michael Marcus. Denton Darien – piano, John Austria – Fender Rhodes piano, Tyler Mitchell – acoustic bass, Warren Smith – drums & percussion, Lawrence Feldman – alto flute, Michael Marcus  –  soprano sa…

** 2021 Stock ** Pianist Carlo Morena leads this lyrical and energetic piano trio with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Félix Lecaros Herrera, performing 6 Morena compositions and one piece by Emil Boyd, recording at the Firehouse 12 studio in Connectic…

** 2021 Stock ** A truly unique duo album of sax and drums from Chicago reedist Mars Williams and Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla, using their immense technical skills to pivot reflective and meditative playing around exuberant free jazz spirit, m…

** 2021 Stock ** Tenor sax savant Ivo Perelman has made an endless number of recordings just on the idea of instantaneously creating music with only one to three partners. It’s an idea he could probably mine forever because of his inspired choice for…

** 2021 Stock ** "Not to burden trombonist Steve Swell with titanic comparisons, but it is safe to say that he is a logical heir to the worldly, cutting-edge personship of Roswell Rudd. Swell studied under Rudd and also with masters Jimmy Knepper and…

** Texts in English and French ** 169 fundamental free jazzrecords recommended in 180 pages by Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and Philippe Robert, from must-have classics to indispensable curiosities. Free Jazz Manifesto is not simply…

Neither musician has to be dominant to prove that he has something to say. Instead of trying to outdo each other, they develop a compelling, very soulful world of their own. In the history of jazz they are two more rhapsodists continuing the traditio…

Temporary Super Offer! The trio of Jimmy Giuffre, pianist Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow on acoustic bass, through their previous recordings and live concerts in Europe, had reached the precipice of complete improvisational freedom. The leap came with …

If there was one sound guaranteed to shock in British jazz during 1966 it was that of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, the free-improvising collective centred around drummer John Stevens which that year helped establish London’s Little Theatre Club as…

Endless Happiness presents Kulu Sè Mama by John Coltrane. Reissue for this classic album from '67 on Orange Impulse Rec. Considered to be the last Coltrane's lifetime release it includes the all-time classic "Welcome", as defined by Coltrane himself …

Aerophonic Records presents The Covid Tapes by Dave Rempis, Tomeka Reid, Joshua Abrams, Tim Daisy and Tyler Damon. All music recorded between May and September 2020 during the COVID era. Solo tracks recorded by Dave Rempis at Unity Lutheran Church, C…

** 2021 Stock ** Aerophonic Records presents Spectral by Dave Rempis, Darren Johnston and Larry Ochs. This free-improvising trio came together in the fall of 2011, when Rempis journeyed to the West Coast to discover some things about his compatriots …

Another absolutely mind-blowing gem from Transversales Disques, Archie Shepp's "Live in Paris (1974) Lost ORTF Recordings" is some of the best jazz of the era that almost no one ever heard. Fully mastered from the original tapes and capturing one of …

Despite its modest role on the world stage, Belgium has produced a number of internationally renowned musicians and composers. There is the iconic gypsy jazz guitar maestro Django Reindhart, whose position remains unassailable, and guitarist/harmonic…

“The meeting of three improvisers. The first time. Three couples, two of whom already know each other. The meeting is open. They start, scrutinize, smell and listen to each other. In between, skins and cymbals bind the strings and the air, speaking t…

He is la giusi, I am il piera. We'll explain why we have these nicknames another time. We started rehearsing in 1996. Three years and three recordings passed before we decided to release our first CD, "19 Calefactions" Takla Rec. Since then we have n…

** Edition of 500 ** Recorded direct to lathe cut, this pair of spontaneous creations teams two Berlin-based horn players with two New Yorkers of broad-ranging vision. Since their inception in 2003, Talibam!’s ultimate goal has been to wed disparate …

Mined like gold from the vaults of the seminal French jazz imprint, JMS, comes the first ever vinyl reissue of Akagera, originally recorded and released in 1980 by an astounding trio of Daniel Humair, François Jeanneau, and Texier.

If you thought that Rafael Toral’s quartet was named after some reference to Sun Ra’s spatial jazz, here is the confirmation that there’s much more at stake than that, even if the many allusions to the Saturn envoy are also true. Space is the valoriz…

Clean Feed presents Nature Hath Painted the Body by Jonas Cambien Trio. André Roligheten  soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet | Andreas Wildhagen  drums | Jonas Cambien  piano (soprano saxophone on track 4, organ on tracks 6, 11). Belgian-born…

Paul Bley is a master of the piano trio. He showed new and different ways of exploring the complex triangular geometry of what has arguably become jazz’s signature formation. Bley’s early recording with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey promised great th…

** 2021 Stock ** Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre provides us with a rare glimpse into his live performance. Perhaps one of the most influential and under-recorded artists of the AACM, Kalaparush is joined by Ravish Momin on percussion and Jesse Dulman on…

** 2021 Stock ** For nearly two decades Griot Galaxy was at the vanguard of the Detroit Music scene. Members of the band performed and recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra, Abdullah Ibrahim and Phil Cohran. The fact that there were only two releases…

2000 release ** "Entropy Stereo Recordings presents Branches by Northwoods Improvisers. This album represents a slightly different approach for the group. While the Northwoods have collectively used a wide variety of instruments on previous recording…

** 2021 Stock ** The 8th House is a disc of solo clarinet and saxophone improvisations with a few duets with Juma Santos thrown in. Wendell Harrison and the Tribe were pioneers along with BAG in St. Louis and the AACM in Chicago. Here Wendell recalls…

** 2021 Stock ** This disc represents the first American release for Dutch saxophonist Luc Houtkamp. Here, he appears with Chicago stalwarts Kent Kessler (double bass) and Michael Zerang (drums) in a 1997 studio date. Liner notes by Ken Vandermark, a…

Purple Dark Opal is the second release by the working trio Kuzu, a band whose deep roots in disparate musical traditions delivers a sound that’s not only new, but totally organic. Saxophonist Dave Rempis is best known for his work in the improvised m…

This transatlantic trio combines musical sensibilities derived from their experiences in two world capitals of improvised music, Chicago and Amsterdam. Rempis and Rosaly, both longtime staples of the Chicago scene, have partnered for more than 15 yea…

Empty Castles is the third document of Spectral, a working horn trio split between the cities of San Francisco and Chicago that’s been active since 2012. As with their previous two releases, 2014’s self-titled debut, and 2016’s digital-only Neutral N…

** In Process of Stocking ** Dave Rempis is a mid-career artist whose deep roots in the Chicago improvised music scene have by now stretched themselves out across the world through his multiple ongoing collaborations. But he waited a long time to put…