Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

3LP Box Set version. Black Editions Archive presents ‘Sweet Basil New York 1985’, a major previously unreleased historical work by the epochal free jazz trio of Peter Brötzmann (1941-2023), Milford Graves (1941-2021), & William Parker (1952-). “These three sets from Sweet Basil on February 6, 1985, during the club’s 'Music Is an Open Sky' series were the trio’s first encounter. The vagaries of the jazz life would bring them together only two more times. There was another set on April 15, 1988, a…

This is tenor sax giant Pharoah Sanders caught live in France in summer 1971, when the man was still in full post-Coltrane mood. At the head of a strong quintet featuring: Lonnie Liston Smith - piano, Cecil McBee - bass, Jimmy Hopps - drums, and Lawrence Killian - congas, Pharoah delivers two very intense yet serene versions of his milestone piece "The Creator Has A Master Plan" and "Let Us Go In The House Of The Lord", a traditional gospel hymn arranged by Lonnie Liston Smith. This is deep spir…

*Back in print!* By the time this album was released, Antonio Carlos Jobim was already an international superstar. Having recently won a Grammy (1965) for "The Girl From Ipanema", by 1967 all the big name stars from up north were breaking down his door to work with the new "Gershwin of Brazil." In fact, Jobim had just finished working on an album with Frank Sinatra when he went into the studio to record this album. Recorded in 1967, Wave is actually one of the lesser known masterpieces of Brazil…

Ahmad Jamal's trio with Jamil Nasser and Frank Gant live at Maison de la Radio, Paris, 25 June 1971: five long pieces never issued before, transferred from the INA tapes. Deluxe 2CD edition with photographs by Jean-Pierre Leloir.

Stockholm ensemble Ishaaq Aarkistra, led by Swedish-Indian musician Ishaaq: Indian raga, jazz, psychedelia and hip-hop rhythm, improvised live at RMV Studio and edited by Jari Haapalainen. Ultraääni, LP.

Glenn Kotche and Darin Gray as On Fillmore, drums and bass in what they call acoustic doom music: the last part of their Brazil trilogy, a dense, hallucinatory, fever-dream record. Other Power, marbled lava vinyl.

Absolute K.O. bout of free jazz poetry by a spry, 85 year old Joe McPhee, adapting his renowned improvised practice to words - juxtaposed with Mats Gustafson’s sparing brass and electric gestures. It’s an utterly timeless and transfixing salvo, another shiny notch for Smalltown Supersound’s brilliant Le Jazz Non Series.

Last of 4 records published by Sub Rosa from 1996 to 2000.

BÔKAN! by Brian, Jérémie, Anthony, David, Johnny, Thomas, Karim, Laurent, Loïc, Ludwin, Michel-Frédéric, Philippe & Guillaume (from 13 to 19 years old), La Porte Ouverte, Blicquy, Leuze-en-Hainaut.

Two Continuum Pieces is purely acoustic, full of drones and natural percussions, Tubular Drums, Drops and Springs & Cuve, Bidon et Fils - were composed and recorded during the '90's by Pierre Berthet helped by Brigida Romano.

7 fleeting compositions for piano.

Taking a slight deviation from the widely celebrated path through experimental sounds that has largely defined their efforts over the years, the venerable Sub Rosa returns with rare and essential dive into the world of ethnomusicology with ‘Ethiopian Musics 1971’, their third release dedicated to the recordings of Ragnar Johnson and the second devoted to the groundbreaking recordings he made in Ethiopia with Ralph Harrisson during the summer of 1971. Belonging to a larger body of recordings dedi…

Maurice Louca and his Elephantine Band commit a live, raw, collective sound to record. One of Egypt's most adventurous experimental figures pulls cosmic jazz, African and global musics and modal traditions into long stretches of hard-grooving, hypnotic intensity and avant-jazz abandon. Red and black vinyl mix.

*2022 repress. 400 copies limited orange vinyl + insert* On Elephantine, his new album released exclusively on Sub Rosa as vinyl LP, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides a 12-piece ensemble through a 38-minute masterwork that might best be described as panoramic. Elements of free improvisation, Sun Ra's cosmic jazz, gorgeous Arabic melody, trancelike African and Yemeni music and minimalism meet in his wholly unique compositional vision. Louca also makes vital contributions on guitar and piano, and i…

2025 stock  Chicago power-jazz trio Tiger Hatchery proudly comes out of the ESP-Disk' free jazz tradition, as saxophonist Mike Forbes's playing makes clear, but there's an added noise-rock edge, especially in Ben Billington's aggressive drumming, that keeps the sound modern. Bassist Andrew Scott Young does much more than lay down the bottom, emerging as a fully equal member of their glorious cacophony. This is one of the most powerful albums in the storied 50-year history of ESP-Disk', and that'…

Huge Tip! *Remastered and cut to double 45RPM 12” vinyl. Housed in a heavy tip-on gatefold jacket with Pantone spot colors, spot ink pigment foil on gloss film laminate finish and printed inner sleeves. Pressed to high quality vinyl at RTI.* “Without producing a single phrase, the two distorted guitars became simple “electric sound” generators, and like fish swimming freely in water, they each tear through time in their own fashion. And yet there is a remarkable sense of unity to how they fill t…

Black Editions Archive is ecstatic to announce the next chapter in the Milford Graves Archive series, the double LP Children of the Forest, previously unreleased 1976 sessions with Hugh Glover and Arthur Doyle that re-write the book on Milford Graves' ensemble music of the 1970s. Graves recorded these sessions himself in his legendary Queens basement laboratory and workshop in the months immediately leading up to the March 1976 session that produced what many consider his most iconic album, Bäbi…

2025 stock, reduced price On this new LP, recorded at studio sessions in 2010 and 2015, Duck Baker delves deeply into the thinking of one of our most challenging composers and renders guitar interpretations that are true to the original intent. That Baker's experience playing blues, gospel, ragtime, and swing serve him well on this project goes without saying. Available exclusively on high-quality vinyl and limited to this one pressing, Duck Baker Plays Monk contains solo acoustic guitar renditi…

2023 repress. LP version. 180 gram virgin vinyl, with original artwork restored. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, le…

"On a good day it is strenuous to stay current with pianist Matthew Shipp's imposing and voluminous output. On an even better day it is a fool's hardy errand to say the least. Now with the planned re-issuing of some of his great early deconstructions of musical thought and theory, starting here with 1990's daringly incongruous yet hypnotically accessible, Circular Temple, keeping up just got a whole lot harder. With William Parker on bass and Whit Dickey on drums, this four-movement suite for pi…

ESP-Disk' present a vinyl reissue of Peter Lemer Quintet's Local Colour, originally released in 1968. British pianist Peter Lemer studied with Jaki Byard, Paul Bley, and Bill Dixon. His lengthy and distinguished career has found him in a wide variety of settings. As an avant-garde jazz pianist, he recorded with Spontaneous Music Ensemble; in the jazz fusion realm, he was a member of Gilgamesh and Paraphernalia; as a progressive rock keyboardist, he played with Gong, Baker Gurvitz Army, the Mike …

On The Call, Henry Grimes refuses the “leader date as reward” narrative, stepping out as a co‑equal melodic force with Perry Robinson and Tom Price in a trio document where free jazz means deep listening, not just full‑bore blaze.

On The Will Come Is Now, Ronnie Boykins finally moves from Sun Ra’s bass chair to the centre of the frame, leading a septet through six originals where earthy groove, cosmic harmony and astonishing arco work reveal the band’s quiet architect as a full‑blown composer.

On Trio, Lowell Davidson explodes the piano tradition from the inside out, trading clustered storms, sudden lyric breaks and pregnant silence with Gary Peacock and Milford Graves in a one‑off 1965 session that still feels dangerously new.

Originally released in 1966. Featured artists: Albert Ayler (tenor sax), Ed Blackwell(trumpet), Don Cherry (trumpet, cornet), Sunny Murray (drums), Gary Peacock (bass), Roswell Rudd (trombone), John Tchicai (saxophone, alto sax). Michael Snow is a Canadian national treasure, a true Renaissance man. He assembled a stellar group to improvise a sound track for his art film, titled Walking Woman, featuring a silhouette that is rumored to have been inspired by Carla Bley. Digitally remastered. Manufa…

With confident touch, a solid sense of swing, and emotion seeping through its dynamism, Ryo Fukui lands in New York and approaches the essence of bebop alongside the rhythm section of his mentor, Barry Harris. Ryo Fukui, who passed away in 2016 after releasing only five albums, recorded this fourth work in 1999. Featuring bassist Lyle Atkinson and drummer Leroy Williams—the longtime rhythm section of Barry Harris this New York‑recorded album captures the full appeal of Fukui as a bebop pianist. …

"This is the first LP (following a cassette) released under Drew Gardner’s name and it’s a doozy. Drew is a guitarist, probably best known as a founding member of Elkhorn (although his musical partnerships with Jesse Shepard go back way further than that), and his recent work with Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders has also been noteworthy as hell. The band here is a trio with Andy Cush (Garcia Peoples) on bass, and the extremely well documented Ryan Jewell on drums. Drew’s guitar playing is jazz…

Rip, Rig & Panic (1965) and The Jaki Byard Experience (1968), the two albums Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Jaki Byard made together, on one CD: restored and mastered by Michael Brändli, with an essay by Art Lange.

The 19-piece Fire! Orchestra moves to We Jazz with a largely vocal album: thirteen tracks, from a Thee Oh Sees cover to a Ukrainian folk song sung by Sofia Jernberg, with words by Joe McPhee and Greta Thunberg.

Originally released in 1977, Renaissance was Dailey’s only album for Catalyst and remains one of the real standouts from the label’s short but brilliant run. A pianist with serious depth, Dailey had already built a heavy CV by this point, working with names including Art Blakey, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan, Charles Mingus and Woody Herman. On Renaissance, that experience comes through in full: strong compositions, fluid playing, and a band that knows exactly where to take the music. …

Anton Glebov's first solo album in years, recorded mostly alone in his Saint Petersburg studio in 2021 and 2022: spiritual jazz with Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms, trumpet, and long new age pieces at either end. Double LP.

Yuvi Havkin aka Rejoicer returns with an exceptional collaborative album, California Space Craft. On this aptly titled record, he joins forces with seasoned LA bass polymath Sam Wilkes — known for his inspired studio work with Sam Gendel and his dynamic live performances alongside Louis Cole and Knower — and drummer Tamir Barzilay, completing the LA-connected trifecta alongside a select handful of key featured guests. The idea for California Space Craft was born out of a series of inspired live …

On Light, Palle Mikkelborg condenses a lifetime of orchestral colour into a quietly radiant final opus: solo trumpet, flugelhorn and piano drift through self‑designed soundscapes, joined sparingly by harp and guitar, like hymns remembered in slow motion.

It would not be incorrect to claim that Zawinul was the first Weather Report album with regard to both its concept and sound since all protagonists are already present: Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitouš. This album confirms that Zawinul was the primary creative generator of Weather Report, the connecting link between the band and Miles Davis’s keyboard-laden experiments on "In A Silent Way"; indeed, the composition in its complex orchestral form as composed by Zawinul is newly arran…

*50th Anniversary Remaster* Outstanding!! Matsuli Music presents soul, spirituality and avant-garde jazz from South African political exile Ndikho Xaba. Its rarity has until now served to obscure both its beauty and its historical significance. Making profound links between the struggle against apartheid and the Black Power movement in the USA Ndikho Xaba and the Natives is arguably the most complete and complex South African jazz LP recorded in the USA. It stands out as a critical document in t…

Tip! **First time Officially reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes and housed in a deluxe gatefold cover. Edition of 500 copies** A body of evocative recordings included in Pupa O Crisalide with three different line-ups for this fantastic album by Enrico Rava which, thanks to Dialogo Records, finally sees the light for jazz lovers. Enrico Rava was the first Italian jazz artist to represent the country internationally, born in Trieste in 1939. A border city with a long history as part o…

Together with the saxophone player Eddie Harris, Les McCann was responsible for one of the best-sold albums in the whole history of jazz – "Swiss Movement" (Atlantic SD-1537). It was his debut album on the Atlantic label. 1968 saw the release of "Much Les" and elaborated it with new aspects of what McCann did best in his early years: his core sound was enhanced with a string section and Latin percussion. The result is convincing, appealing, and captivating throughout and is considered an underes…

“Bloque 6” (1968), by Juan Carlos Calderón, is a landmark recording in the history of modern jazz in Spain, markedly different from the albums Calderón would record just a few years later under the influence of funk, disco music, and even flamenco. Juan Carlos Calderón enjoyed a long and successful career,  composing and arranging some of the most iconic songs by Spanish artists such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Mocedades, and Ana Belén, among many others. However, his musical beginnings were closely …

The 1972 masterpiece by Chicago singer-songwriter and guitarist Terry Callier, returning here in the Music On Vinyl 180g audiophile edition. Cut at the heart of Callier's tenure on Cadet, the jazz imprint of Chess Records, What Color Is Love stands as the artistic peak of his collaboration with arranger and producer Charles Stepney, captured across three Cadet albums, Occasional Rain (1972), What Color Is Love and I Just Can't Help Myself (1974), plus a fourth project that was cut short by Stepn…

On And the birds sang…, Larry Stabbins revisits two of his deepest musical friendships, paring everything down to duets with Keith Tippett and Louis Moholo‑Moholo, where tenderness, ferocity and crooked song coexist in fiercely alive, small‑room intensity.