Jazz /
Najwa
Wadada Leo Smith´s new album Najwa features four compositions in tribute to past masters of creative music, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Billie Holiday, as well as the title composition "Najwa" in remembrance of a love l…
Celestial Weather
With Celestial Weather, Wadada Leo Smith and John Lindberg employ a spare, conversational approach. Smith whispers on the mute and issues plaintive cries with the open horn. Lindberg bows and goes pizzicato. Smith searches for and finds very un-trump…
The Great Lakes Suites
Wadada Leo Smith, a trumpet player born in Mississippi in 1941, was an early member of the Chicago-based AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) but has remained somewhat lesser known than such collaborators as Abrams, Mitchell, …
Occupy The World
Occupy the World features the legendary composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith together with Tumo, a new improvising orchestra that is assembled specifically for each project, in its first appearance. The 22-piece orchestra performs five extended co…
Da Bang!
Da Bang! was recorded in February 2011, just two months before the master violinist Billy Bang (1947-2011) succumbed to cancer. In this final session, the Billy Bang Group featured one extended composition by Bang, "Daydreams," as well as composition…
Ancestors
Despite the fact that they've shared several stages over the past 40 years, Ancestors marks the first occasion that trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo have ever recorded together. Smith, one of the true progenitors of creative…
Prayer For Peace
Prayer for Peace is the first recording by violinist Billy Bang´s regular working quintet of the past five or so years. Featured with Bang are trumpeter James Zollar, pianist Andrew Bemkey, bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Newman Taylor-Baker. Bill…
The Sky Is Ruby
Raoul Björkenheim, who is one of the most adventurous guitarists on the contemporary scene, initially progressed from B.B. King to Frank Zappa and from John McLaughlin to John Coltrane in his search of a sound of his own. With his own groups, such as…
Witch's Scream
*Includes 20 page booklet.* Each with five decades of musical knowledge and experience in free improvisation under their belts, the trio of saxophonist John Tchicai (also heard, for the first time on record, on vocals), bassist Reggie Workman and dru…
Penguin Beguine
After their duo album Heart of a Bird, Iro Haarla and Ulf Krokfors wanted to make a recording with a different overall atmosphere and have some fun doing it with a larger ensemble. To achieve this, a group of friends was brought together to form the …
Eclexistence
Delirium is a quartet made up of Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen and his three Danish compatriots, including Kasper Tranberg on cornet, Jonas Westergaard on bass and Stefan Pasborg on drums. Eclexistence, the second album of Delirium, is characteri…
Tara's Song
This is the first recording of Ahmed Abdullah´s Ebonic Tones, featuring trumpeter Abdullah, baritone saxophonist Alex Harding and violinist Billy Bang in an unusual, yet highly effective front line and bassist Alex Blake and drummer Andrei Strobert a…
Sudden Happiness
Sudden Happiness is a live recording by Triot, which includes the leading young Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen and two of Denmark´s most in-demand young jazz musicians, bassist Nikolai Munch-Hansen and drummer Stefan Pasborg, with the saxophone le…
Reflections
Reflections features three giants of improvised music in an open dialogue built on both their shared influences and their different backgrounds: Juhani Aaltonen on tenor saxophone and flute, Reggie Workman on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The alb…
Shadowglow
Shadowglow is an improvised musical interplay between guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and drummer Lukas Ligeti. The Raoul Björkenheim & Lukas Ligeti Duo includes two long-time residents of New York, who share European roots and a mutual interest in the m…
Heart Of A Bird
Heart of a Bird is an intimate collaboration between two kindred spirits, pianist/harpist Iro Haarla and bassist Ulf Krokfors. The music represents free improvisation within a compositional framework. The duo shares with the listener a beautiful, int…
Strings Revisited
Strings Revisited revives and revamps the sound of Strings, a now-classic recording of Henrik Otto Donner´s compositions by tenor saxophonist/flautist Juhani Aaltonen together with a jazz group and strings that was originally released in 1976 and has…
Mother Tongue
Mother Tongue is the first recording of the Juhani Aaltonen Trio, founded in 2001. In addition to tenor saxophonist and flautist Juhani Aaltonen, the trio includes Ulf Krokfors on bass and Tom Nekljudow on drums. For this album, the Juhani Aaltonen T…
The Chicago Symphonies
*Includes a 80 pages booklet.* The trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith from Leland, Mississippi, started his career in the late sixties as a member of the legendary jazz trio Creative Construction Company, which also included Leroy Jenkins and Anthony Braxton…
Sacred Ceremonies
*Including a 52 p. booklet.* Sacred Ceremonies represents a meeting of three true giants of contemporary creative music. On this three-CD boxed set, Wadada Leo Smith joins forces with the barrier-breaking electric bassist Bill Laswell and the late, g…