Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Tip! *Much needed repress!!* The seminal 1994 double album Execution Ground, by the original Painkiller with the line-up of Bill Laswell, John Zorn and Mick Harris on vinyl for the first time. When Painkiller started in 1991, their first two albums Guts Of A Virgin (1991) and Buried Secrets (1992) (both released on extreme metal label Earache) were heavy attacks blending grindcore and free jazz that brought together the musical backgrounds of the three protagonists: drummer Mick Harris had just …

* Deluxe reissue, with obi strip + 8 page booklet, 180g vinyl *To write these few lines, we spoke to saxophonist François Jeanneau, an old friend of Jacques Thollot who also played on several of his albums, including the “Watch Devil Go” which interests us here. He told us a story which, according to him, sums up the personality of Thollot. A noted studio had reserved three days for a Thollot recording session. The first morning was devoted to sound checks and putting some order in the score sh…

Blurt was founded in Stroud, UK, in 1979 as part of the post-punk movement by poet, saxophonist und puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of psychedelic group Quintessence, on drums and Peter Creese on guitar. After three albums Creese left the band to be replaced by Herman Martin on synthesizers who, after a year of constant touring left the band, and was replaced by Steve Eagles, former member of Satan's Rats, The Photos and Bang Bang Machine. Shortly thereafter Jake …

'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann (SML, Anna Butterss, Duffy x Uhlmann, Perfume Genius), Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet & New Breed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Anna Butterss, Leon Bridges), and Sam Wilkes (Sam Gendel, Louis Cole, Chaka Khan). The three improviser/arranger/producers’ impressive individual credits encompass such a wide stylistic pendulum swing that a collection of group music from the trio could mine any number of musical territories with masterf…

"I mean this album seriously. Because of my own background, I've always wanted to write an entire album of spiritual-like pieces. The most accurate way I can describe what we were all trying to do is that this is a modern hymnal. In an earlier period, the New Orleans jazzmen would often play religious music for exactly what it was - but with their own jazz textures and techniques added. Now, as modern jazzmen, we're also approaching this tradition with respect and great pleasure." - Donald Byrd

Why some artists achieve the recognition they deserve while other equally talented ones don't depends on many things. But one thing is clear, that obscurity does not always mean lack of talent. Regardless, it is always a pleasure to discover little known but immensely gifted musicians and it is really a great pleasure to hear the reissue of The Diamond Five's Brilliant!. The Diamond Five, a Dutch quintet led by pianist Cees Slinger, was founded in 1959 and lasted until 1965. They were based at t…

The tempered tonalities of Abraham's piano mesh with the atonalities of Brown's prepared guitar and utensils. Through concentrated listening and the implementation of conventional and extended instrumental techniques the resultant tones and textures pull at and morph into each other creating a mysterious sonic world, half here, half there. With combined extensive histories in jazz, improvisation, pop and rock music Chris Abrahams and David Brown together are: 'culture of un'.

Different films around the work from musician and artist Sven-Ake Johansson. 'Ludwigs Besen', a portrait by Rudi Ewals (1994). 'Telefonbuchstück für zwei gelbe Seiten' (2010). 'Gesamtkatalog D' (2005 - 2008). 'Solostück für Konzertbecken' (2010). 'Grenaphon Exercises' (2006). 'Stereo für 8' (2006). 'Tüüt' (2010). 'Die neue Zeit ist pausenlos' (2008). 'Konzum'. With English subtitles. Film dokumentation by Teresa Iten. With 20 pages booklet, photos and a german/english text by Thomas Groetz.…

*In process of stocking* Songs and Poems is a project born from the necessity to explore, in a chamber dimension, the possibilities of the sound of the word. The quartet joins Blend 3 - the trio of Andrea Grossi with Manuel Caliumi and Michele Bonifati - to the voice of Beatrice Arrigoni and finds its personal dimension within a sound world generated by the fusion of 20th century European traditions, starting from improvised music and European jazz, passing through contemporary music until arriv…

Blend 3 is an organism made up of three different but similar personalities. The group explores the diverse sonorities of a trio that, without a predetermined set, utilizes composition and improvisation as its only resources. By means of this combination of composition and improvisation, what is already written is proposed in an original and revisited way time after time. Concurrently, improvisation as an actual practice rather than as a genre is developed with a deep compositional function. Ble…

Axes and layers, but also the axes, for striking and cutting. This work embraces the muscular energy of avant-jazz and delicate and dreamlike introspection. The musical references are to the America of Tim Berne and the Europe of Marc Ducret - the polyphony and rhythmic pulse of the urban environment. But the connections, even if not strictly musical, reach far; "Axis: Bold as Love" by Jimi Hendrix and "AlasNoAxis", Jim Black's debut album. More than one axis: axes.

*2022 stock. In process of stocking. 200 limited edition* “On a day such as this,” David Thomas once sang, “insist on more than the truth.” “Day Such as This,” from Pere Ubu’s Song of the Bailing Man, is an elaborate studio concoction in celebration of hyperbole. Jeremiah Cymerman has never signaled any great appreciation for Pere Ubu, but that song nonetheless proposes a way to describe what he does on Decay of the Angel. The album is the outcome of years of solo clarinet concerts, some in his…

*2025 stock* Debut album from the Judy Bailey Trio, recorded 1962. The theme is the night and the trio give you new and exciting arrangements of 'night' tunes like 'Night And Day', 'In The Still Of The Night' and 'Night In Tunesia'. Possibly the swingin’est jazz album ever to come from Australia.Pianist Judy Bailey was active on the Sydney studio scene in the early '60s, and was the choice rhythm section of Australian bandleaders. It was as a composer that her reputation began to grow in the fol…

*2025 stock* It's a fact that Bjarne Rostvold has won relatively little recognition to this day -in contrast to some of his Danish fellow jazz musicians. Quite unjustly, as we think. For many years Rostvold played with the Danish Radio Big Band before forming the Bjarne Rostvold Trio (Bent Axen: piano and Erik Moseholm: bass) and the Bjarne Rostvold Quartett, which included the trio's musicians plus trumpeter Allan Botschinsky. Both groups represent brilliant Danish jazz from the '60s. That's wh…

The hard-swinging Three Out were attracting large and enthusiastic crowds in Sydney and shared the bill with such names as Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Teddy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Here we find them continuing in the same exciting manner as their first album, 'Move'. The Three Out are joined by four horns on the second half of this album from 1960. The session has the flavour of the hard jazz of the American Masters of the sixties, particularly the "Big Soul Band" type from Chicago and N…

*2025 stock* Jazz in Australia at its best with incredible sessions by The Three Out from autumn 1960 – three masters with unbelievable musical control and understanding. This album was recorded at the El Rocco club six weeks after the group was formed, and the boys claim they were only just becoming accustomed to one another’s playing. In all, they cut thirty different titles in two 3-hour sessions, all of which were one take only. This in itself is incredible as the resulting takes never fall …

*  Cardboard sleeve with Japanese replica obi strip and fold out liner notes sheet * Never-issued work from Don Cherry – and a really key piece of the puzzle in the career of this legendary trumpeter! The recordings were done for Swedish Radio, with great fidelity – more than just live tracks captured in a club, and instead some really thoughtful material that marks an early pairing of Cherry's talents with the Swedish scene that he would soon call home! Don plays cornet, and the music is maybe …

Recorded live at the cave at Balve, West Germany, July 27/28, 1974 and May 31/June 1, 1975. Box Set with 11 CDs featuring the best of the New Jazz Scene from Europe and the USA in 1974/75. 32-page booklet with concert pictures, posters, flyers and newspaper clippings (in German and English). Includes complete performances and improvisations by  Peter Brötzmann, Jasper van’t Hof, John Surman (with the legendary Trio Surman-Osborne-Skidmore) Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and many more! RECORDED li…

The few recordings made by the Modern Jazz Group, based in Freiburg, Germany, are scarcely documented. The MJGF was founded around 1954 by pianist Ewald "Waldi" Heidepriem, one of the pioneers of modern jazz in Germany in the 1950s. The music of the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg was truly excellent. Even today it sounds incredibly modern and energetic. This release documents a wonderful chapter of German jazz history. European modern jazz at its finest! Vinyl-edition.

Following the recent archival release of Primitive Art Group’s studio albums “1981-1986”, we are pleased to announce the release of this 65-minute album of live PAG performances recorded between 1981 and 1983. These recordings document the beginnings of the PAG in all its raw beauty and chronicle its development into a unique improvising unit. Made from original cassettes tapes, this fills a missing part in the story of free music and in the story of underground music from New Zealand. “Live Cut…

American vibraphonist Dave Pike was one of the most popular musicians on the German jazz scene in the late 60s and early 70s. The Dave Pike Set attracted attention with their very individual sound, ranging between jazz, rock, free and folk, and they were one of the pioneers of independent European fusion music. Together with his three German sidemen - among them guitarist Volker Kriegel -Pike recorded four studio albums and performed at numerous festivals, e.g. at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 196…

National and international jazz musicians were invited to the NDR for the Jazz Workshop series. A number of ten to twenty musicians could rehearse for some days and finally present their results to the North German listeners in a live studio concert. The organizer focused on offering some space for experimenting to different musicians who otherwise would never have played together, and to free them from their daily commercial pressures within that period of time. Even though all predominant jazz…

Jim Black may be one of the most respected avant jazz drummers on the planet, but when leading his AlasNoAxis quartet, jazz often seems to be the farthest thing from his mind. Perhaps one need only consider the title of the fifth AlasNoAxis CD, 2009’s Houseplant, to realize there’s probably not a lot of jazz here; the title itself doesn’t exactly suggest swinging exuberance or, given the history of Black’s “jazz” output, even crisp and incisive grooves. After all, when contemplating the nearest …

"This CD is a documentation of a concert which was recorded on July 21st, as one of three concerts. The reproduction of the concert is one-to-one, without cuts. On July 19th I played a duo concert in my studio with Max Arsava, on July 20th I played an identical trio concert at the Freie Musikzentrum in Munich.mMy collaboration with Gunnar Geisse goes back almost a decade. In recent years, he has discovered and developed a partly unexplored cosmos with his extended electronic techniques and sound…

Hans Gertberg, since 1952 jazz editor and as such as responsible for ''Jazz at the NDR'', had invited an ensemble to Hamburg that was on a European tour and in at least one way promised to shine a little light on the preferences of the trombonist Mangelsdorff. At that time he was already shaping the West German scene considerably. ''The Jazz Sextet'' was the name of the illustrious tour ensemble which also showed up at the Hamburg studio. It followed the current developments up to sacrificing th…

Vocalion presents Hum Dono by Joe Harriott & Amancio D'Silva Quartet. The combination of a Jamaican sax player and an Indian jazz guitarist getting together with a UK jazz elite in its hay day could be the stoned out fantasy. It’s also a music and cultural melting pot making up a real lost treasure in jazz music. Fantasy meeting reality. Recorded at Lansdowne Studios, London, February & March 1969. A&R – Michael J. Dutton, Oliver Lomax. Alto Saxophone – Joe Harriott. Bass – Dave Green (tracks: 1…

*2024 stock* *180 Gram Vinyl Audiophile Remastering Recording with a sextet at the New York jazz club Sweet Basil in August 1977, McBee’s band included Chico Freeman on reeds, Dennis Moorman on piano, Joe Gardner on trumpet, Steve McCall on drums, and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion. Two complete albums of music were released by Enja Records from this engagement, the ground breaking recordings Music From the Source and Compassion. “Few groups today sound as fresh, generate as high an emotional …

*2025 stock* 'Several years ago, Anthony and I discovered our mutual (giddy) enthusiasm for the music of Richard Wagner. I feel compelled to mention this because there is a positively orchestral, if not Wagnerian, element to our recording together—a sonic Gesamtkunstwerk, if you will, representing all registers of playing. In each take, new drama unfolds, as if each were a new act in an operatic continuum. Yet the most amazing thing about the process of recording with Anthony was the vast spectr…

10 Comp (Lorraine) 2022 documents six live performances with Anthony Braxton's Lorraine Trio featuring trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, accordionist/vocalist Adam Matlock, and Anthony Braxton and four studio recordings featuring Braxton, saxophonist James Fei, and bassists Zach Rowden and Carl Testa.

*2025 stock* 7-CD set of Braxton's interpretation of the music of Lennie Tristano and associated colleagues including Billy Bauer, Connie Crothers, Warne Marsh, Sal Mosca among others. Anthony Braxton: pianoEivind Opsvik: bassMike Szekely: drumsJackson Moore: alto and baritone saxophones (left channel)André Vida: tenor, sopranino, bass, contrabass, and c-melody saxophones (right channel)

*2025 stock* Recorded September 22, 2010 at Bezanson Recital Hall, Amherst MA Produced by Taylor Ho Bynum for the Tri-Centric FoundationConcert produced by Glenn Siegel for the Solo & Duos Seriesof the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts, AmherstVideo recorded, edited and directed by Dennis SteinerAssistant camera by Nick RussoAudio recorded by Jim MatusMastered by Nick Lloyd, Firehouse 12 Studios, New Haven CTGraphic design by Ben HellerThanks to WMUA 91.1, ACTV, Amherst Media, …

Considered to be one of Australia’s most iconic modern recordings, Eastern Horizons is the result of several jazz workshop sessions recorded in the mid 1960s Sydney. A pioneering exploration of eastern influenced modern jazz that represents one of earliest prototypes of the genre, arguably predating other more widely acknowledged international eastern influenced and indo jazz recordings of the late 60s and early 70s. Following in the footsteps of early 60s Coltrane and the exotic jazz of Yusef L…

An amazing set from Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin – a live date, but a totally excellent session that stands as one of the best demonstration of his talents in the 60s! On the European scene at the time, Thelin was easily one of the most inventive players on the trombone – one of the few who could hit the soulful swing of American musicians like Curtis Fuller or JJ Johnson, but also an artist who was starting to stretch out into new realms too – just a touch of Grachan Moncur and Roswell Rudd, w…

The first official reissue of one of Turkey's most sampled records in 45 years! Turkish psychedelic masterpiece from 1980.

*Edition of 300 glass-mastered CDs in wallet with spine.* "Three leaders in the Chicago free improv scene -Keefe Jackson on tenor & sopranino saxophones, Jim Baker on piano & synthesizer and Julian Kirshner on drums - in a collective album of concentrative conversation, a group of equals that function together through close listening and interactive support in expressive playing that leaves ego out of the equation." - squidco.comKettle Hole Records is a Chicago-based independent record label, wh…

Between 1961 and 1965 Eje Thelin formed his first own group with which he toured across Europe. In 1964 he performed in Copenhagen with George Russell; from the late 60s to the mid-70s he played with Joachim Kühn and John Surman and turned to Free Jazz. This quintet is famous for the cooperation with Belgian Joel Vandrooogenbroeck, who had played with big names such as Barney Wilen and Zoot Sims. In 1968 Vandroogenbroeck formed the experimental rockband Brainticket.This 1963 session features the…

Pianist Berndt Egerbladh was a prolific writer with considerable talents, who also recorded with Lars Lystedt. The three musicians in this trio (Egerbladh, Björn Alke and Sten Ödberg) were all on the same wavelength and able to change between different musical moods. This is a remastered vinyl reissue of a 1964 recording, issued in an edition of 500 LP's.

An incredible meeting of talents – both American and European jazz musicians coming together at a festival that must have been one hell of a event – certainly more exciting than just about any jazz festival we've ever attended in our lifetime! Unlike other festival recordings, this isn't just any sort of rehash of standards, done by all-star groups – and instead showcases some of the best modern jazz talents on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid 60s – all trying to outdo each other with their…

The 'European Jazz Sounds' series, that started around 1960 with legendary albums by the Michael Naura Quintet, Tubby Hayes and Max Greger, sees a welcome revival! This first volume presents the early recordings of the renowned Joki Freund Quintet from the late 1950s. German saxophonist and arranger Joki Freund played with Jutta Hipp in the mid-'50s, before forming his own Joki Freund Quintet. During the late '50s they played various European festivals, together with visiting American musicians …

A CD-issue of excellent '62 live recordings from the highly regarded Swedish jazz trombonist