Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

First release on Second Layer Records. Real-time improvisations to be played at maximum volume. Recorded at Eastcote Studios, London May 2008. Mastered by Tommi Keranen. Evan Parker : tenor, soprano saxophone. John Wiese : electronics, tape, MSP. Fir…

One of the finest Sun Ra recordings from his final years, this effort is particularly recommended due to the many Ra keyboard solos and John Gilmore features, the latter of which include a tenor showcase on "Opus In Springtime." Trumpeters Michael Ra…

At 28 minutes in length, the title track boogies from fat funk break to fat funk break as though James Brown possessed the structural ambition of Duke Ellington. Recorded when Fela's 34-piece band was at its apex, this indispensable Fela disc has it …

In Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that all the things we consider to be problems and all that we consider to be good in life begin with what we are taught, whether it's by our mo…

original, 1 copy available

Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti specialized in the percolating jam, peppered with idiosyncratic horn stabs and political chants, underpinned with sinuous, interweaving guitar and bass lines, and propelled by Tony Allen's Afrobeat percussion, bl…

His mixture of raw energy and sophistication is as remarkable today as it was when he first put it all on wax.

"Monkey Banana/Excuse O" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series. (By the way, the cover art posted on this page is that of "Upside Down" not "Monkey Banana.") It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this ser…

"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Beggin…

Recorded in 1975. Includes liner notes by Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam, Michael A. Veal & Rikki Stein. Newcomers to the music of Fela Kuti are faced with some difficult choices since the late-1990s/early-2000s reissues of his string of classic '70s al…

"Everything Scatter/Noise for Vendor Mouth" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. It should be noted that unlike some of the other titles in this series, the tracks that make up the "Everything Scatter" LP -- the titl…

Richard Bamford, drums, percussion. Stuart Brown, drums, percussion. John Burgess, bass clarinet. George Burt, acoustic guitar. Matthew Cairns, trumpet. Aileen Campbell, voice. Neil Davidson, electric guitar. Nick Fells, shakuhachi. Krzysztof Hladows…

Notwithstanding a fruitful career, the great, late bass player Malachi Favors was quite a discreet musician even though no one has forgotten his role as the central mainstay of the Art Ensemble of Chicago until his death in January 2004. Apart from t…

Sharp-edged work from Right Hemisphere -- nothing too cerebral, and instead some great improvisations from a quartet that includes Matthew Shipp on piano, Rob Brown on alto sax, Joe Morris on bass, and Whit Dickey on drums! Shipp's brooding piano rea…

Roscoe Mitchell is of course one of the figureheads of free jazz, a long time member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and nowadays productive in smaller settings, duets and trios. On this double CD he is accompanied by Harrison Bankhead (bass, cello) …

The music improvised by Drake, Abrams, Alexander, Morris, Parker and Parker is getting close. The music improvised by the second incarnation of Bindu is also a trance music: so is its rhythm of growth, the crossroad. The music can only grow, propagat…

The most exciting of the label's inaugural issues is a new title from Art Ensemble of Chicago founder Roscoe Mitchell. In itself that is always a notable event, but this new group (with Mitchell's longtime rhythm section Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabal …

Rob Brown has a sound of his own, one that you instantly identify, and it’s a wonder why his unique way of playing alto saxophone still hasn’t found the recognition it deserves. With “Radiant Pools”, not only does he confirm what a great musician he …

Guitarist Scott Fields points out in the liner notes to his latest record We Were The Philks: “It is my habit to set myself some rules for each project I compose. Otherwise the world is just too big for me. For my contributions to The Phliks book I m…

Flutists' albums, in jazz, do not clutter up record stores. Michel Edelin is one of the (very) few jazz musicians, French on top of that, to have chosen the flute, in all its forms, as his exclusive instrument. For ages, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Eric Dop…

Un Piano is the meeting of a pianist with a piano. It gives to Matthew Shipp the opportunity not only to synthesize 20 years of music exploration, but also to go far beyond.

Awesome release, beautifully packaged: 1 CD + two DVDs with two documentaries by the anthropologist Laurence Petit-Jouvet tracing the 2000 US tour by German bassist Peter Kowald. The film finds Kowald performing with many of free improvisation's most…

"Collected Works" is the first compilation of music belonging to the solo works of Valerio Cosi.  It gathers the best recordings from the years between 2005 and 2008.   Many of these recordings were originally released in limited (sometimes ultra lim…

Recorded live at Pezner, Villeurbanne (France), December 4, 1998. Mastered by Trutone, NYC. Jim Sauter & Don Dietrich : saxophones, Donald Miller : electric guitar.

The work of Jean-Luc Guionnet deals at times with organs, church organs, pipe organs. Only one piece here with organ sounds. All three are granted a text to explain what they are about, but they aren't too easy to understand. Likewise I don't know wh…

Their first duo album “Dual Pleasure” was hailed as a masterpiece, and among others nominated for Norway`s Alarm Award. The sequel, Dual Pleasure 2 was recorded in the studio over two days in Oslo, while CD 2 was recorded live 2 days after the studio…

One of the great archaeological finds of recent years: Three lost tracks from the Nipples sessions. Dateline: Germany, 1969. The legendary lineup: Peter Brötzmann and Evan Parker (saxophones), Derek Bailey (guitar), Fred Van Hove (piano), Buschi Nieb…

180-gram vinyl limited edition LP. This LP was recorded live Dec. 2 1989 at the Elbo Room in Chicago. Numbered limited edition of 1000 copies. Guitar/sax duets.

Brewery Tap is the duo of free jazz saxophonist Evan Parker & Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten. The recordings on this disc was recorded live at Oslo Jazzfestival the 13th of August 2007 at the Belleville venue.

Tenor saxophonist (and occasional trumpeter) Joe McPhee has been a firebrand presence on the American and European avant-garde jazz scenes since the 1970's, while Paal Nilssen-Love is a free jazz drummer from Norway, about half McPhee's age. Yet each…

New CD issue of this classic album, with bonus track and improved sound (previously issued by Mantra). Upon it's original release, 1984, with it's unusual combination of lengthy abstract sound-journeys and short, weirdly devolved James Brown-inspired…

A re-reissue of this classic recording of Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble. This record has only been previously available in limited quantities and is back in print now due to the collaborative efforts of Kelan Zulu productions and K…

EXCLUSIVE! Recorded live at Sting Jazzklubb in Norway during the Maijazz Festival in 2006. The godfather of European free-jazz, Peter Brotzmann, is joined by respected Scandinavian percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love to form a musical partnership of rare…

The release of a new album by the Revolutionary Ensemble should come as a shock to many. From their start in the 70's they were a mysterious band. They were one of the first string bands to record free jazz. Graceful yet cutting, the album sounds mat…

"It's not a church anymore, it's an ex-church, it's used now for cultural purpose, not for praying and religious madness anymore", those are the exact words some random anxious pedestrian yelled at Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty, trying to stop them…

The maestros of improv noise (with a big N) with their ferocious album for Agaric from 1988. Some call it jazz, some call it improv, some call it noise. Two saxes (Jim Sauter & Don Dietrich) and one guitar (Donald Miller). Great intensity.

This compilation of rare material from the Sun Ra Arkestra draws from tapes recorded between 1963 and 1970, and the space-age jazz shaman conjures up a variety of styles and moods along the way. A balmy tropical vibe greets the ears with the opener (…

The real gems of this prized reissue from Leo Records's Golden Years vault imprint are two previously unreleased tracks. The first features Sun Ra and his Arkestra on an 18-minute "Watusa" from 1984, and the second features a 13-minute piece by Saleh…

Multi dimensional sound that blurs any line between the notions of Jazz, Improvisation, & New Music. Will appeal to patient & adventurous music fans of AMM, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Polwechsel, Evan Parker, & the group work of Taku Sugimoto.

Avant-jazz group consisting of guitarist Jason Bivins, soprano saxophonist Marty Belcher, baritone saxophonist Joe Donnelly, flautist Richard Patterson and drummer Matt Griffin. The UE's carefully woven detail becomes richer with each listen, and the…