Jazz /
Magma
Esmeralda Sella is a young pianist from Ravenna, Italy. “Magma” is her debut album, and also a turning point. It’s the culmination of a journey that was «essential for understanding myself and the world around me» as she describes it. Sella recorded “Magma” with two key collaborators: Federico Giolito (double bass) and Giovanni Nardiello (drums), following years of mutual trust, shared musical experiences and extensive practice. «Our sound is the result of opinions, ideas, and doubts exchanged o…
A Near Permanent State Of Wonder
RogueArt proudly presents A Near Permanent State of Wonder, the first duo recording by pianist Alexander Hawkins and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. Two of the most distinctive and restlessly inventive voices in contemporary creative music meet in an intimate, exploratory session that balances lyricism and abstraction, rigor and generosity, fragility and fire.
The album documents a rare level of rapport between the musicians. Hawkins, celebrated for his agile navigation between tradition, avant‑gar…
El Derecho De Vivir En Paz
The Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Quintet (ONJQ), one of the most daring and influential ensembles in contemporary avant-garde jazz, proudly announces the release of El Derecho de Vivir en Paz. This new album embodies the group’s uncompromising vision: a deeply expressive sound that weaves together free improvisation, radical jazz traditions, and a politically charged sense of urgency.
The title, El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (“The Right to Live in Peace”), resonates with a historical and universal me…
5 X Monk 5 X Lacy
*2025 stock* Silkheart Records is proud to present 5 x Monk, 5 x Lacy, a striking document from one of the most visionary voices in modern jazz, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. This album is both a heartfelt homage to Thelonious Monk, one of Lacy’s lifelong inspirations, and an intimate showcase of his own groundbreaking compositional language.
Widely celebrated for bringing the soprano saxophone into contemporary jazz with a fierce individuality, Lacy distinguished himself not only as one of …
Edges
For whom you play, for yourselves, for the departed who live within you, for all the dilettantes who listen to you, for the young and the old, for the joyful and the sad, the melancholic of all stripes, for the innumerable, unnamed crowd that flits about on the earthly ball, these are the words of Baudelaire before he evoked the itinerant musicians, “one of the two played one of his compositions, and the other improvised beside him a variation, an accompaniment, an underscore”. I really like thi…
We Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Almost four generations of musicians; four very strong musical personalities, four very rich musical careers and, above all, four musicians who know how much the confrontation of different ideas pushes music forward; and it is exactly what we had hoped from this band, that they find a common language richer than the sum of the individual languages of each of them, a coherent musical material that respect each personality without reducing the great diversity of their individual approaches. If the…
Great Bliss Volume 1
*2025 stock* First released in 1991, Great Bliss Vol. 1 captures saxophonist David S. Ware at a pivotal moment, crystallizing his towering sound and visionary approach to ensemble improvisation. Joined by pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and drummer Marc Edwards, Ware leads a quartet that would go on to redefine the trajectory of free jazz in the 1990s and beyond.
This album presents the quartet in full command of their collective language, balancing unfettered exploration with d…
Joy (Within)!
Silkheart Records is proud to announce the release of Joy (Within)!, a historic duo recording by drummer William Hooker and violinist Billy Bang. Two uncompromising innovators of the New York avant‑garde scene come together in a meeting of fire, vision, and raw spirit, captured at a moment of rare clarity and intensity.
Forged in the legacy of free jazz but always reaching beyond it, Hooker and Bang find common ground in an unrelenting search for emotional truth. Hooker’s propulsive drumming d…
Naked Colours
*2025 stock* Silkheart Records proudly presents Naked Colours, a landmark release from the Hal Russell – Joel Futterman Quartet, bringing together four uncompromising voices in avant-garde jazz for a session that is as fearless as it is deeply human.
This recording captures the late Hal Russell, one of the most distinctive multi-instrumentalists in American free jazz, alongside visionary pianist and composer Joel Futterman, with Jay Oliver on bass and Robert Adkins on drums. Together, they pus…
Lifeline
Silkheart Records is proud to announce the release of Lifeline, the latest recording from visionary drummer, composer, and bandleader William Hooker, performed with his dynamic quartet. Lifeline captures the fierce urgency and expansive imagination that has defined Hooker’s work for decades, pushing the boundaries of jazz, free improvisation, and contemporary art music.
Throughout Lifeline, Hooker and his quartet dive deeply into music as a living, breathing force. Every piece reflects a profo…
Raining Fire
Silkheart Records proudly presents Raining Fire, a searing new statement from the legendary Charles Gayle Quartet, capturing the uncompromising spirit and transcendent intensity that define Gayle’s artistry. Known worldwide as one of the most powerful voices in free jazz, Gayle channels both ferocity and grace in music that pushes the limits of expression while remaining deeply human at its core.
On Raining Fire, Gayle leads his quartet with raw immediacy, sculpting sound into waves of relentl…
Sustain
"In the quarter century since the members of AALY Trio were last in the studio together there have been countless performances and albums made by the core members of the band. The remarkable parallels that existed between the improvised music scenes in Stockholm and Chicago from 1995 to 2000 extended well beyond the collaboration with AALY and me. Those circumstances are no longer the same due to the shifting sands of the international scene: artists, venues, record labels, writers, radio DJs, a…
Oppet Tre
Sweden's late '60s creative explosion saw Roland Keijser's quartet forge unprecedented music, bridging American free jazz, minimal composition, and Swedish folk heritage. These lost Öppet Tre recordings capture a pivotal moment when Swedish musicians created sounds never heard before
Reflectativity
Reflectativity, first released on Leo Smith's own label in the early 1970s is one of the most important extended compositions blending improvisation and composition, and one of Leo Smith's masterpieces. This exciting new version features the brilliant pianist/composer Anthony Davis (who performed on the original recording) and longtime friend and colleague Malachi Favors—the legendary monster bass player from the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Coupled with several new compositions, this CD brings toge…
Shamanism
This is free improvised music with two saxophones and two drum sets. The theme of the music is about identity that is linked to the region and culture, especially a specific folksy and indigenous characteristic in the Korean peninsula from long ago. The whole album describes a ceremony and its atmosphere and each track follows each step that is named by an ideogram.
Hyperboreal Trio
Hyperboreal Trio’s debut album unites the distinct voices of Signe Emmeluth, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Axel Filip—three seasoned improvisers bridging the musical extremes of the north and south through raw, yet meticulously crafted pieces.
Réimsí Géara
Listening closely to the duo of Elliott Sharp and Scott Fields one can hear a compact history of modern composition and improvisation. Although the duo has a sound all its own, under the surface you can sense traces of “New Music,” minimalism, free jazz, and blues.
A Willing Passenger
Saxophonist Paul Flaherty is New England's purveyor of the ecstatic jazz pulse. Through the years, Flaherty remained unshakable in the pursuit of soul healing and demon dashing through freedom music. Six pieces of alto and tenor saxophone steeped in the theme of loss and channeled through blasting improvisations that showcase his fabulous wailing and inferno of sound to stark bluesy melodies.
"January 20, 2005 was a cold night in Washington D.C. A dozen bands would perform at the Black Cat venue…
Natuitive Speakers
This album was recorded in Brno, Czech Republic when these five masterful musicians were invited to perform together at a festival. Quentin Rollet started playing the alto saxophone at the age of 11 and the sopranino saxophone at 37. After a few years spent unlearning the teaching of the conservatory, he devoted himself to free improvisation. This led him to find himself on record or on stage with groups as varied as Nurse With Wound, Prohibition or The Red Krayola. Sylvia Bruckner is an interna…