Music from United States

Jeph Jerman (Hands To) and Joachim Nordwall (Organ of Corti) present "Topology," a stunning collaboration that brings out the best from both artists. Jerman's trademark field recordings are accentuated by Nordwall's electronics in a seamless fusion that simultaneously evokes the mechanical and the environmental. There are moments of subtle tension, but longtime fans of Jerman will note several instances of heightened intensity in his contribution that harken back to some of the more aggressive H…

Works for the Ever Present Orchestra Vol. II continues Black Truffle’s documentation of the late work of legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier, who sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 90. Like the first volume of the series, the two works recorded here were written for The Ever Present Orchestra, an ensemble founded in Zürich in 2016 to perform Lucier’s work exclusively. At the core of the music Lucier wrote for the ensemble is the electric guitar, an instrument he began to e…

Temporary super offer! This is Archie Shepp caught live at two important European festivals in 1973. At the head of some sort of one-off line up featuring Dave Burrell on piano, Donald Garret on bass along with her partner Zusaan Fasteau on percussion, flute and vocals, and last but not least Muhammad Ali (Rashid's brother) on drums, Shepp, heard on tenor and soprano saxes and piano, delivers a full program of hot renditions of mostly standards by the likes of Ellington, Monk and Davis, plus a c…

Tip! A superb and under-recognized recording, Crisis is one-third of a trilogy of extraordinary albums -- the others being Broken Shadows and Science Fiction -- by Ornette Coleman's small groups of the late '60s and early '70s. A rendition of the piece "Broken Shadows" itself, a dirge of astonishing beauty second only to his "Lonely Woman," opens the live performance and offers solos of deep and poignant probity from Coleman and tenorist Dewey Redman, whose earthy growled tones counterbalanced t…

The HDK subseries dedicated to "I Racconti di Dracula", the pulp horror paperbacks much loved in Italy in the 60s and 70s, is back.

Featuring Nate Morgan on piano, Jesse Sharps on reeds, Danny Cortez on trumpet, Rickey Kelly on vibes, Joel Ector on bass and Derek Roberts on drums. This music was recorded in Santa Barbara in July of 1987. Since the passing of the great pianist/composer/bandleader Horace Tapscott, the Nimbus West label has continued to document the underground L.A. jazz scene that Mr. Tapscott was once at the center of. A number of great musicians who once collaborated with Tapscott, like Jesse Sharps & Nate M…

A forward thinking collaboration between electronic music pioneer Jon Appleton and trumpet great Don Cherry, that explores the relationship between the humanity and the manufactured robotic future. Using the techniques associated with Musique Concrete the ensuing improvisations create a unique entry into the great trumpeter's discography. It was an in vogue attempt to render the music of tomorrow, and today sounds more like the soundtrack to a truly great sci-fi movie. Reissued in a fascimile of…

This is an unusual album in the catalogue of Ornette Coleman, and one that passes by most critics. It is however a unique insight into the ‘free jazz’ pioneer’s way of working in the early 70s. Recorded at his large loft space in downtown New York which inspired a whole scene of experimental musicians who were locked out of playing established venues. The music is a romp showing Ornette playing trumpet as well as saxophone. His quartet which featured second saxophonist Dewey Redman alongside lon…

New York-based Zoh Amba first cultivated her musical passion in the lush forests of the Appalachian mountains, playing to the woods around her home, before she studied at classical conservatories. Her music honors her roots, full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerfully-executed Free Jazz. Her sound is courageous and bold, soaring from muted hums to squeaky trebles, producing a confident sound imbued with an innate spirituality. On this project, Zoh Amba is jo…

Collaborations are unique to their combinations, producing totally original and innovative ideas with the addition of a single factor. In this case, legendary musicians and 577 mainstays join together in this unique arrangement for the first time, allowing for yet another reinvention. Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, pianist Leo Genovese, bassist William Parker (also playing Gralla and Shakuhachi on this album), and drummer and vocalist Francisco Mela, unite for another impro…

2023 restock. Subtitled: Live at the Kulturforum, Bonn, Germany, November 24, 1980. Another in the Wooden Weavil series, this time an unreleased live Robbie Basho recording from Germany in 1980. Robbie Basho was one of the great pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in the U.S., along with Leo Kottke and John Fahey in the 1960s. This program appears to have been recorded in one go. Robbie scatters his Americana numbers throughout, beginning with "Redwood Ramble," and ending with "Californ…

One of the rarest recordings in Sun Ra's enormous catalog. Recorded in 1982, featuring the groove-infested x-rated warning hit 'Nuclear War.' The remaining tracks include four originals and three standards, Ellington's 'Drop Me Off In Harlem,' 'Sometimes I'm Happy,' and 'Smile.' A cult album finally repressed on virgin audiophile vinyl. XYZ Records. Made in USA.

Some of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's most interesting recordings are his earliest ones. After spending periods of time playing with Dixieland groups and then with Cecil Taylor (which was quite a jump), Lacy made several recordings that displayed his love of Thelonious Monk's music plus his varied experiences. On this particular set, Lacy's soprano contrasts well with Charles Davis' baritone (they are backed by bassist John Ore and drummer Roy Haynes) on three of the most difficult Monk tunes…

Tip! The holy grail for Sun Ra collectors and fans, an album that forever gave them a slogan to live by! The record's different than some of the other Arkestra work from the time – in that it's a bit tighter and more spiritual, more in keeping with the style of the Blue Thumb label, for which it was recorded – and soaring along on a wave of post-Coltrane spiritual jazz enthusiasm. Side one features the ultimate recording of "Space Is The Place" – an anthemic tune that blends chanting, modal rhyt…

Tip! Love Cry (1968) is a true Albert Ayler manifesto: a sometimes disorienting combination of childish dirges, band music and folk melodies, all revised according to the New Thing perspective. Experimental album (for the time) containing some of the saxophonist's most famous tunes, such as "Ghosts." Ayler's last recording with his brother Donald, while the others are double bassist Alan Silva and drummer Milford Graves, with (surprise) contributions from harpsichordist Call Cobbs.

This Impulse! classic is one of the saxophonist’s most lasting and enduring works. With its powerful avant-garde tracks and strong political messages, the album is one of Shepp's most successful large-group projects. Rolling Stone wrote that it is "not just a masterpiece of protest: it is more a political/religious experience, an appeal to higher human consciousness to, for God's sake, help us out of this torment."

Saxophonist Marion Brown ended his '70s stint at Impulse! Records with this serene and colorful album. It features musicians such as drummer Ed Blackwell and bassist Reggie Workman, plus Stanley Cowell on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes. While Brown wrote the blissful coaster Vista, the five other compositions are well-chosen, starting with an inviting version of Cowell's "Maimoun" and an impressionistic and deeply meditative take on Stevie Wonder's "Visions".

The concert was filmed on June 4th, 1982 at Sartory Säle in Cologne (Germany) during the 82' Collision Drive tour. In 1981 Alan Vega had released his second solo LP under the title Collison Drive. It forms part of the "play loud! (live) music series". The “play loud (live) music series“ is based on three precepts: Alan Lomax´s work as an archivist and chronicler, John Peel´s BBC radio sessions, and the work of Direct Cinema pioneers, such as the Maysles Brothers, Leacock, Wildenhahn, Blank and P…

Enshrined in the Penguin Jazz Guide’s "Core Collection", this quintessential platter of Sun Ra’s late 1950s Chicago ensemble showcases the brilliant tenor sax stylings of John Gilmore, and introduces Arkestra mainstays Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, and Ronnie Boykins. Recorded and issued in 1959, it marks a coda for the bandleader’s bebop/hard-bop stage, as his interstellar traveler persona began to transform the band (and the music). Many of the early works on these recordings would remain stapl…

Tip! Employing a vast array of advanced vocal and instrumental techniques, Broken Gargoyles is arguably Diamanda Galás' most intellectually, sonically and viscerally formidable work to date. The album finds the visionary artist deftly probing the weaving, warping transformation on the nervous systems of her post-traumatic soldiers and dying diseased. The album's first part, "Mutilatus," contains the Georg Heym poems "Das Fieberspital" and "Die Dämonen der Stadt," and concerns the suffering of th…