Jazz /
Old Adam on Turtle Island
The Amsterdam based improvisers quartet performs a song cycle composed by John Dikeman reflecting on colonisation, and the double edged sword of religion which can lead to transcendence or tyranny.
Draw Bridge
"Sophie Agnel and Michael Zerang are relentless on every surface and in the diving pit of improvisation. You've got to hear it to see it to believe it: it's a water lily drum set in the soundboard of a pond piano. At times, it seems as if a single instrument is being played by two people, with razor-sharp clarity" - Alexandre Pierrepont
The Foreign In Us
After a wonderful concert at the Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago, the ES Trio (Kwan/Zerang/Steyer), decided to record their music to document this inspiring collaboration. In their trio work they focused on sound oriented pieces, that were nurtured by the individual approaches to their instruments. The duo works of Zerang and Steyer also reflect the work of Steyer concerning instrumental ornamentation, that is inspired by the multi-ethnic, mostly near eastern sounds of the streets in Berlin.
Scree
"We hear harp, electronics, piano, cello and percussion convene in clash and collusion, setting forth a dazzling array of sound and expression. Plains of disarticulation and misdirection are cut by moments of inextricable entanglement, where we hear discrete sounds fuse, instruments bleeding into one another, at times taking on the warp and weft of a companion. The recording is of an extraordinary performance of improvisational prowess by four musicians working at the very limits of their techni…
Desatornillándonos
"This record has stark aesthetic shifts, going between bluesy and abstract territory. After the first two pieces, which “set the ends of the spectrum”, the others move between these two languages. What’s cool is that this allows you to pay close attention to textural qualities of Luciana’s playing. She gets good snap on her pull offs and picking. There is a personal quality to this record that comes out of the juxtaposition of these sounds. As someone who started with rock music and now improvis…
Dream Of Frequencies
Extempore, formerly known as Ad Libitum Quartet, is a band located in Vienna, Austria. It consists of Mark Holub on drums, Villy Paraskevopoulos on piano, Vinicius Cajado on double bass and Werner Zangerle on saxophone. The band was formed by Paraskevopoulos for a festival in Graz in 2021 as a trio, after which they became a quartet with varying bass players. Since this year Cajado is the definitve fourth member of the group, himself being an outstanding bass player that is active with many diff…
Flowers We Are
Flowers We Are consists of the versatile, Serbian-based exceptional pianist Marina Džukljev, the sound architect Matija Schellander on bass and electronics and the cello extremist noid /aka Arnold Haberl. The three musicians move with equal ease, playfulness and elegance from minimal electronic sounds to melodic fragments to orchestral fullness. The trio convinces with the wide spectrum of its musical languages. Marina Džukljev is a pianist and educator renowned for her dynamic performances in f…
Lost Rivers 2
Sainkho Namtchylak is a singer originally from Tuva, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation just north of Mongolia. She is known for her Tuvan throat singing or Khöömei. Her music encompasses avant-jazz, electronica, modern composition and Tuvan influences. Once the Soviet Union had collapsed, she moved to Vienna, making it her base, although she traveled widely, working in any number of shifting groups and recording a number of discs that revolved around free improvisation. Amongst th…
Live Lugano 1984, First Visit
"The special qualities of this music emerge from the focus on Lacy’s soprano saxophone in this unique instrumentation; the transparency and intimacy of the bass and guitar create a nuanced background set against the variety of improvisational strategies." - Art Lange"The removal of two recorded compositions and the editing here is based on notes originally written by Steve Lacy on the cassette he sent me to listen to and evaluate the music for release. I acquired the original recording in 1985 f…
Atlantic Puffin
"This, it seems to me, is the great strength of Sophie Lüssi’s music here on Atlantic Puffin. It is clearly skilled and doesn't deal in casual approximations. It is built on solid technique, a brilliant appropriation of classical violin methods in the interests of improvisation. But her music, which draws on folk as well as canonical forms, is one that emanates from and addresses the whole person. It's generous music, kindly and open, and in its gentle humour it engages a part of the spirit that…
Synergetic Matches
Elisabeth Harnik, an Austrian based pianist and composer has created a multi-faceted body of work by blurring genre boundaries through various collaborations in the field of improvised music, interdisciplinary projects and contemporary compositional works. She studied classical piano and later – with Beat Furrer – composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz. As an improviser she works within an electro-acoustic inspired sound-world, using specific preparations and extended t…
On The Way
*2025 stock* The album "On the Way" is the result of cooperation and friendship of four exceptional artists. The paths of these musicians have been intertwining for many years. Each of them is characterized by a unique sound and awareness of creating their own language, which is a bridge connecting artistic sensitivity, philosophy, mysticism and reality. Each of them blazes its own trail, often through difficult and virgin grounds. Constantly transcending themselves is the essence of their creat…
Śpiwle
*2025 stock* Ethnicity, improvisation, jazz, melody, indigenous feeling and groove plus free natural expression are defined by Piotr Damasiewicz Ethno Trio. Recorded live in the old higlander family house.
The Exu
Named after a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting and inspired by the artists multi-faceted stylistic approach - known for its raw, expressive, and dynamic qualities, blending street art with neo-expressionism to create bold, thought-provoking work. The Exu make layered, intense, creative & beautiful, thought provoking, genre fluid improvised music. The trio brazenly draw their musical influences from the worlds of free jazz, grunge, death metal, hip hop, bebop, & experimental music. Kane says ‘we are…
Danny Ward And Reality
First released in 1980 via the little-known Pick Up Records, Danish jazz-rockers Ariel's self-titled debut record sees an unlikely reissue via Jazz Room here. A worthy reintroduction of the quintet to the world at large - where before it wasn't well-known at all - it comes after the album was recently helped to by none other than Brownswood aficionado Gilles Peterson, whose encyclopaedic internal memory bank and capacity to chin-wag served the cascading recollection of the album by Jazz Room lab…
Here today gone tomorrow
"In the quartet on this album, Paul Dunmall has returned to his first love: totally free improvisation based on interaction between the four players. Many aspects of Paul Dunmall’s playing are apparent on this album. His approach is to listen very carefully to what is happening around him and to react to it. If you see him play live, you will see how he concentrates on the flow of the music, often stepping back and allowing the music to develop before choosing the right moment to enter or re-ent…
Holiday
2024 Stock. On their 3rd album Casper Van De Velde and Hendrik Lasure, the two SpongeBobs of Belgian jazz, enter Cortizona and take you on board of their newly discovered musical spectrum: Rollercoastin’ between extreme emotions Casper and Hendrik slide through 90’s Euro-optimism on synths, frantic drum rolls, lost piano sounds and sample wizardry: blending Spanish guitars, voices of singing ladies, slow mo clarinets and the patterns of a percussion robot.
‘Holiday’ is the result of a residency …
Multiple Koller
2024 stock Outstanding performance by the Austrian saxophonist Hans Koller; this is a very uncommon and memorable session from the 1960s. Koller plays tenor in a quartet that also features Fritz Pauer on piano; the track was initially recorded for a sound library session, but it is exemplary 60s contemporary jazz. In a style that appears to really challenge Koller during his solos, maximizing his remarkable tone and phrasing without descending into any kind of overdone experimentalism, most of t…
Sunstroke
CD version. A young, super-tight and intense power trio from Moscow, Brom genuinely push heavily, crossing over among improv, noise-rock and free jazz with Sunstroke. "One of the most amazing mixes of musical elements I have heard in a long freakin´ time."--Mats Gustafsson Personnel: Dmitry Lapshin - double bass; Anton Ponomarev - saxophone; Yaroslav Kurilo - drums.
Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy
2024 repress. "Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet, is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA's Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest …