Jazz & Improvisation / Modal

Unreleased recordings by Danish tenor saxophonist Carsten Meinert, with the Danish Radio Jazz Group on side A and his C.M. MusicTrain on side B, Coltrane-rooted fire with Ole Matthiessen and Pierre Dørge. Liner notes by Mats Gustafsson.

Three CDs pairing John Coltrane's early modal recordings, from My Favorite Things and Naima to India and Impressions, with Ravi Shankar ragas from his 1956 and 1961 Abbey Road sessions.

Go On with the George Otsuka 5 was recorded in 1972 in Japan for the Three Blind Mice label. The album features a quintet led by drummer George Otsuka, a major figure in Japanese jazz in the 1960s and 1970s. The repertoire includes original compositions as well as contemporary hard bop standards.

Moon Ray was recorded on 21 and 22 April 1977 in Japan for the Three Blind Mice label. The album features the quartet led by alto saxophonist Yoshio Otomo, accompanied by Tsuyoshi Yamamoto (piano), Tamiko Kawabata (double bass) and Arihide Kurata (drums). The programme consists of standards from the American jazz repertoire as well as an original composition by Otomo. The production is part of the TBM label's series of acoustic recordings.

The long-awaited 3rd pressing, with a revamped obi design. The birth of a new classic in contemporary Japanese spiritual jazz and modal jazz. Experience a beautiful soundscape crafted with overflowing emotion and hidden energy.

In 1961 John Coltrane joined the newly founded Impulse! label. The great saxophonist was coming off several impactful albums (Giant Steps) and a very notable — even commercial — success: that My Favorite Things which had made his soprano sax one of the “new sounds” that marked a turning year for jazz, the fateful 1959. Some people — despite obvious clues to the contrary — speculated a turn, if not toward commerciality, at least toward more palatable music: a Coltrane in some ways comparable to P…

*2024 stock* "Ultimately, Bolivia is a sensual, musically adept, and groundbreaking recording, which offered Barbieri a chance to come in from the avant-garde before heading back to the fringes with the Latin America series. A fine effort that is finally getting the notoriety it deserves." - AllMusic

Seven unreleased BBC radio performances from 1969, the last year of the Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet with Michael Garrick, Dave Green and Trevor Tomkins, saved on the drummer's own tapes and issued on CD with notes by Richard Morton Jack.

"The shock and awe that Bitches Brew produced within and without the jazz world on its release in March 1970 was largely unexpected, the result of the music’s uncompromising power and what many felt to be its perplexing, eccentric sound and structure. In retrospect, we know how Miles’ unconventional studio methodology and Teo Macero’s subsequent compositional editing of the voluminous taped material innovated the remarkable finished product. But what has only marginally been discussed is the ext…

Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late 70's / early 80's. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American Jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.  First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, "Beautiful Africa" stands as a fierce stat…

Listed as one of the four most influential Jazz albums that happened to be released in 1959 (Dave Brubeck -Time Out & Charles Mingus -Ah Um among them), so much has been said and written about Miles Davis'Kind Of Blue, it's virtually impossible to summarize all the necessary info to the length of this page. We could simply list some facts (best sold Jazz album ever worldwide). We could try to explain why it's the best Jazz album ever made, but the music itself will do that to you. As Bill Evans …

**Abstract (200 characters):** Released by Atlantic in 1962 from earlier sessions, "Coltrane Plays the Blues" showcases the quartet’s innovative blend of blues, jazz, and avant-garde, earning cult status and critical acclaim.

Back in the mid 80's, Paul Motian, one of the greatest jazz drummers of all times, assembled one of the most inventive groups of the decade. Motian invited four highly individual players such as Joe Lovano and Jim Pepper on tenor sax, Bill Frisell on electric guitar and Ed Schuller on bass, and the result was a unique sound in perfect balance between post-Ornette free-bop and a new and spacier form of interplay. First released in 1987 "Misterioso" stands as a stunning example of modern jazz!

Nathan Davis's first record as a leader, cut at the SABA studio in Villingen on 31 January 1965 with a twenty-year-old Woody Shaw on trumpet, Larry Young on piano rather than organ, Jimmy Woode on bass and Billy Brooks on drums. Tenor, soprano and flute in the Paris expatriate style of the mid-1960s.

Alan Skidmore's 1970 Deram Nova album with Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Harry Miller and Tony Oxley, fresh from their Montreux triumph: a jazz waltz, long suites and free passages, back on vinyl from the stereo masters.

The Second Quintet with Shorter, Hancock, Carter and Williams on its autumn 1967 European tour: Antwerp, Copenhagen, Paris and Karlsruhe on three CDs, restored by Michael Brändli, with an essay by Art Lange.

Villingen, 26 February 1971. Friedrich Gulda's self-portrait in the form of a course, a double LP mostly of solo piano with Klaus Weiss on drums, Fritz Pauer and a horn section including Benny Bailey and Sahib Shihab. Prelude and Fugue, Play Piano Play, a set of variations on Light My Fire, and a Goethe setting.

Berkeley Jazz Festival, 1974. Prince Lasha, the Fort Worth altoist and flautist who had made The Cry! with Sonny Simmons and Iron Man with Dolphy, with Hubert Eaves on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Roy McCurdy on drums and Kenneth Nash on percussion. Three pieces, including the sixteen-minute Mayflower.

Few musicians, and few albums, embody such a joyful sense of freedom and vitality. Racco is where the artistry of Ryojiro Furusawa reaches its peak.

Jef Gilson (born Jean-François Quiévreux, 1926) had played clarinet with Claude Luter in Boris Vian's band, switched to piano in 1947, and in 1963 formed the big band through which half of French modern jazz would pass. In 1965 he was musical director of Les Double Six. That year Woody Shaw and Nathan Davis played in his orchestra. New Call From France, released by SABA in 1966 and credited to the Jef Gilson Nonet with Jean-Louis Chautemps, is the record he made for the Black Forest label at the…

LP version. This album is a tribute to the person and spirit of John Coltrane. It was produced by musicians who not only admire Coltrane but embody similar values.While it’s always a good time to honor Coltrane’s memory, this particular moment seems to carry an increased urgency of remembering his message and mission.Since some owners of this amazing record may be unfamiliar with Coltrane’s character, it’s worthwhile to briefly state a few biographical details.First, Coltrane was a compassionate…

Villingen, 23 October 1967. Irène Schweizer's trio with Mani Neumeier and Uli Trepte, a year before Guru Guru, meets Dewan Motihar's sitar, tabla and tambura, with Manfred Schoof and Barney Wilen. Three pieces, two of them long, and the seventeen-minute Sun Love. All About Jazz calls it an unqualified success.

In the early sixties, "Mantequilla" had the chance to lead his own combo, Mantequilla y su conjunto, with which he was to record the three splendid EPs that are compiled on the present album. All these 7" have become elusive collector pieces in the record market, with sellers demanding from 200 to as much as 950 euros per copy. In 1961 "Mantequilla" was at his best moment, his gigs at the Jamboree Jazz Cava had brought him back to the first line of Barcelona's jazzmen after he had been working a…

Eastern-infused outstanding album by German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff – recording here in 1964, but sounding years ahead of his time, with an amazing a blend of jazz and Asian styles! The album's one of Mangelsdorff's best ever – a set of rhythmic tunes that seem clearly informed by the work of Ornette and Joe Harriott, but also based along eastern themes picked up by the group on a tour of the Orient – and performed by a sharp-edged quintet that includes Heinz Sauer on tenor and soprano sa…

Billy Harper is one of the great tenor saxophonists in the post-Coltrane mold. Originally from Houston, TX and with a degree from the venerable University of North Texas College of Music, Harper emerged on the New York City jazz scene in the late 1960s performing with Art Blakey, Max Roach, Lee Morgan and others. Known for his soulful and propulsive tone, Harper was already a highly regarded and prolific session man before the release of his debut album as a leader on the cult favorite Strata-Ea…

Another of Berendt's meetings, SABA 1967. George Gruntz, the Basel pianist who would later run the Berlin Jazz Festival for twenty years, with Sahib Shihab on saxophones and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, and a group of Tunisian musicians: a bendir and darbuka drum ensemble and Salah El Mahdi on ney flute. The title turns Dizzy Gillespie's tune on its head. UK Vibe, reviewing the Nicola Conte compilation that includes Djerbi, points out that the famous names are not the point: it is the lesser-known …

1967, SABA. Tony Scott, the clarinettist of Music for Zen Meditation, with Bubi Chen's Indonesian All Stars: Jack Lesmana on guitar, Marjono on saxophone, gamelan gongs under the rhythm section. Jazz standards and Indonesian songs, with Summertime and Djanger Bali. One of the first Jazz Meets records.

*2024 stock* "This release Shintaro Quintet’s private press release ‘Evolution’. It’s another well-chosen release that comes with superb packaging, high sound quality and some interesting sleeve notes which give a fascinating in-depth insight into the music and the musicians in Japan within the specified time period. Recorded in New York, the one-off recording by bassist Shintaro Nakamura and his quintet features the brilliant trumpeter Shunzo Ohno, who has played on many of the quintessential J…

On Nafs At Peace, Jaubi turn a Lahore jam into a spiritual suite: North Indian raga, hip‑hop pulse and modal jazz woven into a journey from turmoil to stillness, as if Coltrane’s quest had been reimagined on tabla, sarangi and MPC‑haunted drums.

The world knows Muriel Grossmann as a bandleader, saxophonist, and composer of highly individual and original music. Her work has become closely associated with a modern revival of spiritual jazz, reflected in albums such as Golden Rule, Universal Code, and Quiet Earth, and in performances across Europe with herlong-standing quartet. That is one side of the story. In Ibiza, where Grossmann has lived and worked for over two decades, another side of the artist reveals itself. Locals know her not o…

Gustav Horneij’s Organic Pulse Ensemble blends jazz tradition with modern groove, inspiring unity & protest, uplifting listeners in the fight for freedom and justice for all.

A double LP drawn from the Columbia recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane between 1955 and 1961, from So What to Someday My Prince Will Come, with Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb. First time on vinyl.

The 2000 Grammy-winning box of the complete Columbia recordings by Miles Davis with John Coltrane, 58 tracks from 1955 to 1961, reissued as six CDs in individually designed minijackets with a 116-page book.

The 2000 Grammy-winning box of the complete Columbia recordings by Miles Davis with John Coltrane, 58 tracks from 1955 to 1961, on vinyl for the first time outside Mosaic: nine LPs cut from the analog tapes, in a slipcase with a 60-page book.

Rudolph Johnson's 1971 debut for Black Jazz, a quartet date with John Barnes, Reggie Johnson and Raymond Pounds moving between bebop, soul jazz and Coltrane-like tenor. Real Gone reissue on black vinyl, remastered.

2 × 180g vinyl LP, Flating jacket, Obi. Deluxe edition. Informel emerged from the rupture of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and stands as the point of origin for the present-day Sinsuke Fujieda Group. With regular performance activity brought to a halt, Sinsuke Fujieda was given time to reconsider his own music at its deepest level, and to ask himself what the music was that he truly wanted to express now. His answer was to return to jazz as his foundation, and to pursue, through both compositio…

McCoy Tyner looked towards Africa on his stunning 1970 album Extensions, a far-reaching exploration of Black identity that marked the masterful pianist’s fifth recording for Blue Note Records. After leaving John Coltrane’s band Tyner had moved from Impulse to Blue Note and made his enduring post-bop classic The Real McCoy in 1967. In the following years Tyner steadily expanded his musical scope: writing for a 9-piece ensemble on Tender Moments, exploring the textures of a piano-vibes led quartet…

Eye of the Universe" is the latest offering from Finnish sax player and composer Markus Holkko. Grounded in his musical heritage, the album explores a range of influences, from straight to Latin and spiritual jazz, with subtle hints of west coast cool and psychedelia.

2026 Repress. Sublime release from Masaru Imada Trio. Imada's got a way of letting a tune really find its way organically – almost as if the songs here are little flowers opening up in his fingers on the keyboard of the piano – although never in a style that's "flowery" at all, because Imada's a master of finding just the right notes at the right moment – never embellishing things just to show off. Instead, his imagination finds all the best paths forwards, especially on his original tunes on th…

Bassist Isao Suzuki's popularity shot up to stratosphere with the release of Blow Up from the Three Blind Mice label. By the time he recorded this, fourth album for the label, he was actually the winner of the Swing Journal Readers' Poll. And this rather strangely titled album doesn't disappoint.Suzuki had a knack for surrounding himself with superb musicians and playing brilliant, groovy music that is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. This time, he picked as the all-important horn player Ken…