Jazz & Improvisation / Modal

Nine rare tracks from the Nimbus West archive, a map of Los Angeles underground jazz the world never heard enough of. Horace Tapscott, Nate Morgan, Jesse Sharps, Dadisi Komolafe, Roberto Miranda - the names that built UGMAA and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, the movement that kept spiritual jazz alive in South Central for decades while the music industry looked elsewhere. "Desert Fairy Princess," "U.G.M.A.A Ger," "Prayer Of Happiness," "Mrafu," "Calvary" - titles evoking the Pan-African consc…

The Amsterdam String Trio emerges from Europe's most vibrant improvised music scene: Maurice Horsthuis on viola, Ernst Reijseger on cello, Ernst Glerum on double bass. No violin. An unusual configuration that delivers, as Glerum puts it, "a dark sound, a kind of obscurity, and we like that very much." Three instruments exploring music's lower registers, without the violin's brightness to lead. Recorded live at the Academy of Music of the West in Santa Barbara on December 2, 1988, Wild West captu…

Lingua Franca: the language that allows different peoples to understand one another. And what better instrument than the clarinet - voice of klezmer, Alpine folk, New Orleans jazz - to speak across borders? Daniele D'Agaro was born in 1958 in Spilimbergo, Friuli, at the foot of the eastern Alps, where Italy, Austria, and Slovenia merge at a cultural crossroads. In 1979 he debuted with Andrea Centazzo's Mittel Europa Orchestra, then Berlin, then Amsterdam from 1983 - where the Dutch improvised sc…

The title comes from Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" For a pianist who traversed Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Amsterdam chasing a musical vision few could grasp, the question is anything but rhetorical. Curtis Clark was born in Chicago in 1950, studied at the California Institute of Arts in Valencia, then moved to New York where he crossed paths with David Murray. But it was Europe where he found home - Amsterdam, where American…

Solo piano. The format that separates the genuine article from the pretenders. No rhythm section to hide behind, no horns to share the weight. Just eighty-eight keys and whatever's in your soul. Curtis Clark came to this music through Horace Tapscott - not just as influence but as mentor. Born in Chicago in 1950, raised musically in Los Angeles, Clark became a Tapscott protégé, absorbing that open-ended spiritual approach to the keyboard before striking out for New York and eventually Amsterdam.…

One album. One statement. One of the great mysteries of the Nimbus West catalog. Born Arthur Wells, the alto saxophonist and flautist who became Dadisi Komolafe studied under Horace Tapscott at the Cross Roads Art Academy, the educational arm of UGMAA. He appeared on numerous Nimbus sessions throughout the late seventies and early eighties, a reliable presence in the extended family. But Hassan's Walk, recorded in Los Angeles in October 1983, remains his sole document as leader - and what a docu…

"Yeah, I'm Nate Morgan. I'm going to play with you all." That's how a teenage Nate Morgan introduced himself to Horace Tapscott after hearing The Giant Is Awakened on the radio and tracking down the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. Not "I want to" - "I'm going to." He'd already been studying with Joe Sample and Hampton Hawes, but Arthur Blythe's wailing saxophone on that Flying Dutchman LP had gone straight to his heart. A spiritual experience, he called it. Over the next decades, Morgan became a c…

Journey Into Nigritia, released in 1983 on Tom Albach's Nimbus West, was a declaration of arrival. Morgan assembled a quartet built for spiritual exploration: firebreathing reedsman Dadisi Komolafe on alto saxophone, Jeff Littleton on bass, Fritz Wise on drums. The rhythm section would become Morgan's anchor - Littleton and Wise appear on all three of his Nimbus recordings. Six compositions. The album opens with "Mrafu," John Coltrane's influence immediately apparent - Komolafe gets right to wor…

One year after his debut Journey Into Nigritia, Nate Morgan returned to Tom Albach's Nimbus West studio with a statement so direct it left no room for ambiguity. The album's title alone - Retribution, Reparation - announced its politics. Where the first record had been a declaration of arrival, channeling Cecil Taylor's angularity and John Coltrane's spiritual seeking, this 1984 session was something else: a confident distillation of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra's communal fire into a surgin…

Joe Henderson's 1966 Blue Note septet album, recorded January 27, 1966, with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter and Joe Chambers.

Rare excellent privately produced LP on MD in 1979 featuring Marc Moulin’s-Placebo keyboards player Michel Herr.

Rare original 1971 LP on Editions Studio S.M. of beautiful avant free jazz gospel by the French experimental avant/free jazz master.

Very rare original edition on Spectator Records, with fold-out sleeve, of 1971 Danish classic, including Ole Matthiessen of Tordenskjolds Soldater and Carsten Meinert Musictrain fame. Never re-issued on either CD or LP.

In Mingus Plays Piano, Charles Mingus swaps the thunder of his double bass for distilled lyricism at the keyboard. Recorded in 1964, this rare solo album uncovers a private Mingus, weaving spontaneous meditations and bittersweet standards into a living, breathing portrait of creative solitude.​

Looking Ahead is the debut album by American jazz musician Ken McIntyre, recorded with fellow alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy in 1960 and released on the New Jazz label in January 1961. From the beginning Mr. McIntyre considered himself part of the avant-garde or ''new thing'' movement in jazz, as spearheaded by musicians like Ornette Coleman, Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, although his own music was considerably more traditionally melodic than theirs. He played a whole fleet of reed instruments, inc…

** Special Time-Limited Offer ** "Languishing off-catalogue for many years, McCoy Tyner's Extensions may be the pianist's most unjustly neglected album. Strange days, for not only is the music ineffably vibrant, but Extensions is the only recording ever to feature Tyner alongside pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane, who replaced him in saxophonist John Coltrane's group in 1966. The album has one foot in the echoes of John Coltrane's "classic quartet," of which Tyner was a member from 1960-65, and…

The Italian jazz label Black Saint was launched with Harper's 1975 album, Black Saint, making this not just a remarkable recording but a foundational document in European jazz history. Recorded July 21-22, 1975 at Barclay Studios, Paris, this album announced the arrival of one of the most powerful voices in post-Coltrane jazz. Billy Harper had already proven himself in the crucible of jazz's most demanding ensembles. He served with Art Blakey's Messengers for two years (1968-1970); played with t…

Il Giro Del Giorno In 80 Mondi by Enrico Rava is a landmark of early 1970s European jazz, blending burning trumpet invention with eclectic grooves and poetic improvisation. Recorded in 1972, this album stands out for its adventurous spirit, balancing fiery expressiveness with delicate textures.

Reissue, originally released in 1967. In a 1990 interview, producer James Bronson described his Touché label as a "floating record label", comparing it to the "floating gambling houses" that Black people in his city had operated to try and avoid attention from the law. The label itself was a private enterprise, run from home, and had scant budget for promotion nor expansion. His slogan "Record companies don't make music, musicians do" spoke volumes as to his respect for the artist. Nevertheless,…

*2023 stock* Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist, composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul. Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu de…

Lee Morgan sextet session recorded at Van Gelder Studio on February 15, 1968, with Bennie Maupin, George Benson, John Hicks, Reggie Workman and Billy Higgins; first released by Blue Note in 1980 (LT-1031).

John D. Thomas's band of the 1980s, Serious Business (heard on Serious Business (ESPDISK 5006CD)), focused on his fusion and "free funk" compositions played with an electric sound. Extremely Serious Business marked a turning point, a return to a more acoustic setting while remaining true to the pioneering spirit of "improvisation along the edges." Extremely Serious Business showcases Thomas's unique compositional skills and style while carrying on the long lineage of cutting-edge soloing "outsid…

Erich Kleinschuster’s projects and initiatives played a vital role in establishing a spiritual home for jazz in Vienna. The founding of his sextet in 1966 and, in 1968, a jazz department at the Vienna Conservatory, were catalysts for a scene that attracted international stars as well as nurturing the careers of home-grown virtuosos. Many jazz exiles, admired in Europe as they never were in the United States, settled for long periods, carving out new lives on the continent. The recordings in this…

Tip! Groovy, spiritual, and oh so, rare, this live album by drummer Roy Brooks is one of the best to ever come out of the spiritual jazz scene. With a career spanning over 50 years and collaborations with artists like Horace Silver, Stanley Turrentine, Yusef Lateef, and Charles Mingus, Roy Brooks was a foundation and leading force of the jazz scene throughout his entire storied life. As one of the most talented drummers of any generation, Brooks would lead his own group, the Artistic Truth, and …

Big Tip! It is widely accepted that the recorded musical output of Indian-born British guitarist Amancio D'Silva came to a premature closure with the landmark 1972 albums, Cosmic Eye and the unreleased masterpiece Konkan Dance. The Roundtable are here to prove otherwise, announcing the discovery of an extraordinary lost recording. Forty years after it was recorded we proudly present Sapana, the forgotten piece of a remarkable musical legacy, the final recording from one the most singular artists…

**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 500 copies worldwide. Liner notes by Duncan Heining** Two sessions previously assumed either lost or unrecorded, by Henry Lowther’s and Lyn Dobson’s mid-sixties groups. Considered one of the missing links in the development of British free-form jazz.  The Group Sounds Four session includes Jack Bruce, who contributes an original composition never otherwise recorded. Also features Ron Rubin, Ken McCarthy and Jon…

This is the sixth album by Dorothy Ashby, a Detroit born jazz harpist who passed away in her early 50s in 1986 way before her time. She left us a rich legacy of music with this 1965 release being one of her milestones. The music is pure bright and swinging with a joyful mood. Dorothy Ashby performs her lines big time with her harp and captures your soul with the melodies she picks from its strings. She is always there upfront while the brass section mostly fills the background with colour if the…

The few recordings made by the Modern Jazz Group, based in Freiburg, Germany, are scarcely documented. The MJGF was founded around 1954 by pianist Ewald "Waldi" Heidepriem, one of the pioneers of modern jazz in Germany in the 1950s. The music of the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg was truly excellent. Even today it sounds incredibly modern and energetic. This release documents a wonderful chapter of German jazz history. European modern jazz at its finest! Vinyl-edition.

**Numbered edition of 1000. Already sold-out at source** Jazzman Records presents the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet's The Complete Lansdowne Recordings, 1965-1969. After an epic licensing odyssey that's taken Jazzman almost 20 years, the label is finally able to announce the five-LP box set release of the first-ever official re-issue of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums (Shades Of Blues (1965), Dusk Fi…

McCoy Tyner's 1964 Impulse! album, joining a trio session with Jimmy Garrison and Albert Heath (4 June 1963) and a sextet with Thad Jones, Frank Strozier, John Gilmore, Butch Warren and Elvin Jones (4 February 1964). Verve By Request reissue, 2024.

McCoy Tyner quartet with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Freddie Waits, recorded on 17 May 1968 for Blue Note and first released in 1969. Tone Poet 180g LP.

Two-CD compilation of the Manfred Schoof Quintet's JAPO albums Scales, Light Lines and Horizons, with Michel Pilz, Jasper van 't Hof, Rainer Brüninghaus, Günter Lenz and Ralf-R. Hübner. Recorded 1976-1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.

Steve Kuhn's 1975 ECM album of eight original pieces, recorded in November 1974 at Generation Sound Studios, New York, with Steve Swallow on electric bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Sue Evans on percussion.

Bennie Maupin's 1974 ECM debut as a leader, eight of his compositions recorded in March 1974 at the Record Plant, New York, with Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Freddie Waits, Bill Summers and Charles Sullivan.

Album by the Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet, with Palle Danielsson (bass) and Jon Christensen (drums), playing tunes by Carla Bley, Don Cherry, Jim Pepper and others. Recorded in November 1973 at Arne Bendiksen Studio, Oslo, released by ECM in 1974.

Second ECM album by Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone, tárogató, percussion) with the Marcin Wasilewski Trio: Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass), Michal Miskiewicz (drums). Recorded November 2023 at Van Gelder Studio, New Jersey, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second album by the Julia Hülsmann Quartet (Hülsmann piano, Uli Kempendorff tenor saxophone, Marc Muellbauer double bass, Heinrich Köbberling drums): originals by all four plus a Prince song. Recorded March 2022 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Second ECM album by tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur, a five-part suite built on a self-fashioned raga, with Nitai Hershkovits (piano), Petros Klampanis (double bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums). Recorded 2021 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM album by the Athens quartet of lyra player Sokratis Sinopoulos with Yann Keerim (piano), Dimitris Tsekouras (double bass) and Dimitris Emmanouil (drums), recorded July 2018 at Sierra Studios, Athens, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Steve Kuhn, Coltrane's pianist in early 1960, plays Coltrane pieces and two standards with Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone, tárogató), David Finck (double bass) and Joey Baron (drums). Recorded December 2008, Avatar Studios, New York; ECM, 2009.