Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Tip! The final two LPs in the latest Ictus batch, “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2”,  both draw on the same period that the veteran saxophonist produced “Clangs” and “Trio Live”, both recorded in 1976 during of two weeks tha…

Latin funk at its finest. A kingpin player of Miami’s Cuban music scene, Ray Fernandez, brought together his ‘court’ for this sensational Afro-Cuban funk triumph. Largely a family affair, the album features his wife, two sons and a range of other tal…

Specially priced bundle drawn from the catalog of Nimbus West, the American label widely regarded as the greatest single depository of West Coast avant-garde jazz. With the label's future uncertain and no represses planned, this is a final opportunit…

Few copies available. The Los Angeles based pianist, band leader, and composer, Horace Tapscott, always stood apart from the pack. A true visionary who was fiercely principled and independent, across the 1960s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, leading his legen…

Specially priced bundles drawn from the catalog of Nimbus West — the American label widely regarded as the greatest single depository of West Coast avant-garde jazz. With the label's future uncertain and no represses planned, this is a final opportun…

Specially priced bundles drawn from the catalog of Nimbus West — the American label widely regarded as the greatest single depository of West Coast avant-garde jazz. With the label's future uncertain and no represses planned, this is a final opportun…

On The Heart Is A Lotus, The Michael Garrick Sextet with Norma Winstone trace a quietly radical path through British jazz: modal, spiritual and poetically inclined, with Winstone’s voice drifting inside the ensemble like vapor rather than standing in…

Les Poumons Gonflés finds Etron Fou Leloublan at their most joyously unhinged: jagged rhythms, rasping horns and yelped vocals tumbling through songs that splice punk urgency, free improvisation and absurdist theatre into something uniquely volatile.

Released in 1979, Tete Mbambisa's Did You Tell Your Mother delivers the ultimate blend of African groove with American modal grace, making it one of the all-time classic albums of South African jazz. With Mbambisa presenting original compositions at …

Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town in 2023, pianist Tete Mbambisa (84) is a legendary figure in South African jazz. Supported by the cream of the local scene, his albums from the 1970s are among the most cherished vinyl do…

On Cadillac Woman, Isao Suzuki steers his bass into sleek crossover territory, blending jazz‑funk, fusion and soulful vocals into a polished, club‑ready ride that still carries his unmistakable sense of groove and melodic finesse.

2016 release ** Cardboard sleeve. "Guitarist and improviser Riuchi Daijo holds the bi-monthly live performance series "Shield Reflection" at Ftarri, Tokyo. In this series, Daijo usually performs with the same guest musicians three times in a row. In …

*200 copies limited edition* Akira Sakata is a treasure of Japan’s free jazz/improvised music world. Rie Nakajima is a London-based sound artist with an international career in Europe and beyond. Sakata and Nakajima have performed together in Japan a…

2015 release. A reissue of arguably the rarest LP of European free jazz, Axiom, recorded in 1963 for the Swedish label Sonet. Test pressings were released to the musicians, but they were not approved and the label never printed more than the two firs…

An electrifying 1st-time meeting between guitarist Keiji Haino and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, captured live at Tokyo's Shinjuku Pit Inn, where the duo shape an unpredictable set that veers from reflective stillness to wildly passionate outbursts, thei…

The third chapter of this extraordinary trilogy by the world's most extreme musical explorers—John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris.

Edited exclusively for Dynamite Cuts, this 1972 African rhythm takes you to a time of human percussion, and energy, of another time. The entrancing, hypnotic saxophone and extraordinary vocals fill your ears like liquid gold. Sensational. The Last Po…

Following the wave of critical acclaim for his debut, the prodigious Japanese saxophonist Kosuke Mine cemented his place in the modern jazz world with the release of his 2nd Album, recorded in Tokyo in late 1970 and originally issued on the revered T…

Now! by Masaru Imada was the second album released by the fledgling Three Blind Mice label and the pianist's first leader album for the label. All four tunes are Imada's original compositions. The two slow numbers – "Nostalgia" and "The Shadow of the…

The Ethio Jazz album by Mulatu Astatatke is a jewel of the modern Ethiopian music. Essential. An incredibly groovy Ethiopian record, originally from 1969-1972. Amazing orchestral 'Ethio-groove' filled with US soul, jazz, sometimes Latin and the deepe…

“This is the time that we, who have benefited from the Last Poets should be able to say, ‘it’s the Last Poets. It’s them we should be honouring, because we did not honour them for so many years…” KRS One wasn’t just addressing the hip hop fraternity …

Limited to 450 copies. Includes two-sided postcard insert. A much needed reissue of drummer Stephen McCraven's astounding 1979 debut as a leader, originally issued on Marion Brown's Sweet Earth label. A holy grail of private press loft-jazz, bleeding…

The intrepid free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor produced some of his best work for Blue Note Records, including his explosive 1966 label debut Unit Structures featuring Eddie Gale on trumpet, Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone, Ken McIntyre on alto saxophone,…

Ahmad Jamal is a jazz giant and The Awakening is his iconic masterpiece. The landmark deep trio session - recorded in NYC and released on Impulse! in 1970 - is an essential album and perennially sought-after on vinyl, so Be With Records are delighted…

Gábor Szabó was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage with a deep love of jazz and crafting a distinctive, largely self-taught sound. This evocative 1967 set for Impulse! features nine li…

Horace Silver had been delivering hard bop classics for over a decade when he moved into more groovy territory in the late-’60s on albums including Serenade to a Soul Sisterfeaturing two different quintets performing a set of Silver originals from th…

By the time drummer Pete La Roca recorded his debut album Basra in 1965 he had already appeared on 9 Blue Note sessions as a sideman and spent time in bands led by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. But it was another tenor titan, Joe Henderson, that L…

For his third Blue Note album Inventions & Dimensions (1963), pianist Herbie Hancock began moving away from the modernist hard bop sound that defined his first two albums Takin’ Off and My Point Of View. Inspired by explorers like Eric Dolphy and Ton…

San Francisco is an album by jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and saxophonist Harold Land, released on the Blue Note label in May 1971. The album features a shift away from the usual hard bop-post-bop style pursued previously by Hutcherson and Land…

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 t…

This special 60th Anniversary reissue of groundbreaking jazz artist Sun Ra’s iconic 1962 album The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra features all-analog re-mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI. The package includes T…

Legendary producer David Axelrod’s solo album Heavy Axe is one of the finest outputs of the jazz-rock wave, which was the preeminent sound of the mid ’70s. With a little help from legendary players like Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Cannonball Adderley, an…

Johnny Griffin had been kicking around in R&B bands for years before his Blue Note debut in 1956. And what was "introduced" was a tenor saxophonist with a fresh sound, a warm, soulful style and the fastest technique in jazz. He moves from lyrical bal…

London, 1970 saw the release of one of the most distinctive and enduring albums in the history of British jazz: Flare Up, the debut LP from visionary trumpeter and flugelhorn player Harry Beckett. Now widely recognized as a classic, the record remain…

Portrait Of Sheila is the legendary 1962 debut album by Sheila Jordan, recognized as one of the only vocal jazz albums released by Blue Note in the 1960s. Backed by Barry Galbraith (guitar), Steve Swallow (bass), and Denzil Best (drums), Jordan’s ini…

One of the funkiest & most inventive organists to ever walk the earth, Dr. Lonnie Smith made his name on Blue Note beginning with his 1968 label debut Think! Produced by Francis Wolff, the album featured trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist David …

Right from the stop-start bass groove that opens The Emperor, it's immediately clear that Ethiopian Knights is more indebted to funk - not just funky jazz, but the straight-up James Brown / Sly Stone variety - than any previous Donald Byrd project. A…

On his debut album Takin’ Off—recorded and released in 1962—jazz legend Herbie Hancock arrived fully formed at the helm of an impressive quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Billy …

After trumpeter Lee Morgan set the music world on fire with the runaway success of his hit soul-jazz single “The Sidewinder” in 1964, many artists tried to duplicate his triumphant feat in search of another boogaloo sensation. Even Morgan himself coo…

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard burst upon the Blue Note scene in June 1960 with his auspicious debut album Open Sesame. Within 6 months Hubbard had already recorded a follow-up (Goin’ Up) and appeared as a sideman on sessions with Tina Brooks (True Blue),…