Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

ECM's landmark cross-over: Jan Garbarek's saxophone improvising around medieval and Renaissance chant sung by The Hilliard Ensemble, recorded in a monastery. Sublime, meditative and utterly unclassifiable.

The landmark that redefined the ECM trumpet album: Nils Petter Molvaer fuses Nordic trumpet with ambient, dub, electronics and drum'n'bass. A manifesto for future jazz; cinematic and groundbreaking.

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with e…

A landmark in avant-garde jazz, The Finnish / Swiss Tour captures the irrepressible energy and inventiveness of the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble live in Europe. Recorded in November 1990 at the Tampere Jazz Happening (Finland) and the Internationales Jazz Festival Zürich (Switzerland), this album documents the group’s first European tour and was originally released by ECM in 1991. Led by multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell (tenor & soprano saxophones, trumpet, vibraphone, drums), the NRG Ensemble feat…

The great saxophonist Joe Lovano has appeared on a number of ECM recordings over the last four decades, including much-loved albums with Paul Motian, Steve Kuhn and John Abercrombie. Trio Tapestry is his first as a leader for the label, introducing a wonderful new group and music of flowing lyricism, delicate texture, and inspired interplay. Lovano and pianist Marilyn Crispell are in accord at an advanced level inside its structures. “Marilyn has such a beautiful sound and touch and vocabulary,”…

“There’s a galaxy of piano trios in today’s jazz universe,” the BBC Music Magazine has noted, “but few shine as bright as Marcin Wasilewski’s”. On its seventh ECM album the multifaceted Polish group illuminates a characteristically wide span of music. On En attendant, collectively created pieces are juxtaposed with Wasilewski’s malleable “Glimmer of Hope”, Carla Bley’s timeless “Vashkar”, The Doors’ hypnotic “Riders On The Storm” and a selection from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. …

*250 coipes limited edition.* 'In this trying time of Covid and the serious curtail of gigs and record production opportunities, I’m glad to be in contact with Dark Companion Records and Max Marchini. Max seems to be the rare guy who puts the quality of contemporary music he produces much more to the fore than the financial considerations.. the investment in which is always tricky, and can hardly ever promise much in financial return. On to the music herein: Just before the Covid came on last ye…

Habibi Funk’s new sister label Audible Beauty Records second release: A landmark collection retelling the untold story of Malaysian jazz featuring 9 songs from the legendary composer, arranger and trumpet player Johari Salleh. Salleh played a crucial role in shaping the sound of modern Malaysian music across radio, television, film and live performance and has composed dozens of popular songs in his decades long career. His personal musical passion always was jazz, reflected in this deep selecti…

"The shock and awe that Bitches Brew produced within and without the jazz world on its release in March 1970 was largely unexpected, the result of the music’s uncompromising power and what many felt to be its perplexing, eccentric sound and structure. In retrospect, we know how Miles’ unconventional studio methodology and Teo Macero’s subsequent compositional editing of the voluminous taped material innovated the remarkable finished product. But what has only marginally been discussed is the ext…

"It was, all things considered, just an unexceptional whistle stop on a wearying circuit of dance halls and theaters – the night before they had played in Winnipeg, Manitoba and, conveyed by train the 200 miles to this evening’s North Dakota gig, would immediately afterwards find themselves en route to Duluth,  Minnesota for their next show. There was certainly no expectation that the on-site recording, made by two South Dakota fans, Jack H. Towers and Dick Burris, on a single acetate disc recor…

"In the beginning, the legend goes, it was Miles Davis’ electrifying jazz on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew – modernizing the ensemble sound as well as reconfiguring compositional flow with repetition and  variation – that begat what was to become known as fusion, exemplified by the subsequent spinoffs Weather Report (Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul), Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Headhunters (Herbie Hancock), and Return to Forever (Chick Corea), all of which emerged after 1970 and con…

Vienna FLAMMeS, or: The noise of these post-jazz improvisers resounds from paradise. According to a widespread cliché, improvisation in jazz is supposed to help promote the free play of the imagination. It was the Viennese flugelhorn player Franz Koglmann who vehemently contradicted the image of the naively self-actualizing jazz musician. As a composer of cerebral “cool” pieces, whose melancholy sprang from a razor-sharp analysis of his own means of expression, Koglmann was the most qualified pe…

The rhythm team by Rashied Ali and Reggie Johnson (with former Sun Ra member Ronnie Boykins adding texture on "Capricorn Moon") establishes a solid foundation, complemented by Alan Shorter's sharp trumpet, while Benny Maupin's close expressions in monophonic form also support it. The fact that pianist Burt Green recorded an almost unnoticed ESP album (just a month later) with Brown as a sideman illustrates how fluid and negotiable musical activities were within this nascent community. Although R…

Books have been written, recordings analyzed, colleagues questioned, and nevertheless Bix Beiderbecke remains as much an enigma today, ninety-five years after his death, as he was to friends and fellow musicians during his all-too-brief, personally and professionally erratic odyssey through the 1920s. The body of work he left behind both reveals and conceals crucial aspects of his creative reality and unfulfilled potential, while innovating a subtle, eloquent manner of expression that would sugg…

On Hot Five & Hot Seven at 100, Louis Armstrong’s seminal Chicago sides are reborn in vivid new mastering, letting his trumpet solos, daring rhythms and easy charisma speak afresh as the very moment jazz pivots into a true soloist’s art.

The album "Spirits," released by a debut label based in Copenhagen, marked the first opportunity for Ayler to record his "free music" in February 1964 in New York. The musicians selected by him included notable figures such as Cecil Taylor (with drummer Sunny Murray), members from Sonny Rollins' band (bassist Henry Grimes), and musicians from his Cleveland period (trumpeter Norman Howard, bassist Earl Henderson). This work also represents his first focus on his own compositions, which includes H…

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but this recording, made in 2006, marked a change in my musical thinking. All the elements came together – my roots, the use of blues structures and the lifelong search for expression in music. I had unlimited time to think, to return again and again to a subject, to dig deeper into the blues.Falmouth is a large town by the sea in Cornwall. This recording was made at Falmouth Arts Centre on the Steinway grand in the main gallery where my wife Kate had a show. Th…

"These powerful performances from Copen­hagen and Bordeaux, released officially here for the first time, and the Newport Festival in the U.S., provide further evidence of the music’s collective necessity – the true ensemble co­ordination which Ayler adopted, elaborated and romanticized, from his awareness of historic New Orleans precedents." - Art Lange

** Edition of 300. In process of stocking ** Recorded in Supraphon's Prague studios in Dejvice in March 1970. Jointly created by the bands Blue Effect and Stivin's Jazz Q Praha. The result of this process is forty minutes of music in which the influence of external environments, the immediate ability of each participant, and the predetermination in regard to traditions which shaped their musical development to-date, are expressed by new beauty which contains both logic as well as free, imaginati…

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson marks John Coltrane's centennial on Impulse! with a 21-piece collective (Brandee Younger, Shabaka Hutchings, Flying Lotus, Jeff Parker, Azar Lawrence), recasting Naima, Giant Steps and A Love Supreme as cosmic, spiritual music.

*2025 stock* After 14 years of filming/recording some of today’s most influential musicians, the music from Andreas Koefoed’s and Jørgen Leth’s celebrated film “Music For Black Pigeons” is now available for the first time (vinyl only). The soundtrack is based on compositions by Jakob Bro, performed by Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Craig Taborn, Paul Motian, Andrew Cyrille, Arve Henriksen, Midori Takada and many others. Venice Film Festival title “Music for Black Pigeons,” directed by Danish filmmake…

Limited edition CD & download album produced from a previously vinyl-only release, so available digitally here for the first time, with added live recordings from the same band. The album marks the first collaboration between Jazz In Britain and ReSteamed Records and is dedicated to Stan Tracey to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. Thelonius Monk died on 17 February 1982. In early April, Stan Tracey recorded a tribute album to Monk, with a group he called Spectrum. This idea was dreamt up …

The long-awaited debut album from bassist-composer Thomas Morgan is a lush, layered journey through ambient textures and open improvisation. Featuring an all-star cast—Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Immanuel Wilkins, Henry Threadgill, Dan Weiss, and Gerald Cleaver—the record is both spacious and intricate, with Morgan’s own virtual instrument woods shaping its organic feel. The inclusion of poet Gary Snyder’s voice adds another dimension to this environmental soundscape. Around …

Duo improvisation can be such a rare space to enter. Creating a common language in an open sea of infinite options, everything stands out. Especially with such fundamental natural instruments as the voice and bass. So what happens if you bring together Maria Laurette Friis, the Copenhagen-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and one of Scandinavia’s unique voices, and the exceptional double bass player Thomas Morgan in an improvised session? Well, it continues for more than three hours and deve…

Debut self-titled album from Melbourne ensemble Standing Circle, led by Larry Crestani (guitar, kraartar, vocals). Eight tracks recorded live at The Grove, Melbourne, mixed and mastered by Nick Herrera. The record moves through spiritual jazz, jazz-funk and groove, with heavy Afro influence running through the rhythm section: congas, percussion and bass locking into rich African undertones throughout. Built around a shifting cast of Melbourne musicians and compositions that never repeat themselv…

Big tip! Mr Bongo proudly presents a reissue of Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo’s masterpiece Dreams. Blending lush, Eastern European-tinged psychedelic jazz with beautiful arrangements by Gary McFarland, its unique, delicate, charming sound has entranced record collectors for years. Originally released in 1968 on Skye Records, it’s quite rightly become a sought-after LP, and here at Mr Bongo, we wanted to reissue as close a replica edition as possible. Hungarian-born, Szabo left his home countr…

Tres Hongos, Jacob Wick on trumpet, Marc Riordan on piano and Frank Rosaly on drums, recorded live in Amsterdam in 2024: a trio of sharp turns, quick contrasts and restless momentum.

Believe, four Australian improvisers, Peter Farrar, Novak Manojlovic, Clayton Thomas and Laurence Pike, who also produced: free jazz momentum and creative sound making recorded in Sydney in 2023.

Martin Küchen's trio Angles, with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Kjell Nordeson, joined by vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl of Angles 9: four Küchen compositions recorded in Stockholm in April 2024.

New compositions by Camila Nebbia for her sextet The Hanged One, with Julia Biłat on cello, Arne Braun on guitar and Andres Marino on electronics: intricate structures and open spaces with her tenor saxophone at the centre.

The saxophone and drums duo Sbatax, Bertrand Denzler and Antonin Gerbal, joined by Jean-Philippe Gross on electroacoustic device: a ferocious live set from Instants Chavirés where free jazz drive meets loops, feedback and crackling interference.

**Limited Clear Vinyl edition, 300 copies** Recorded live in Bremen - Germany, on 27th September 1966, and originally broadcasted on Nordwestradio, this fine recording captures the young genius of Paul Bley at the head of his trio featuring bassist Mark Levinson and drummer Barry Altschul. A highly interactive piano trio whose peculiar instrumental interplay became a model for generations to come. The music played by Paul Bley with this line up stands as one of the most advanced statements among…

Tip! *300 copies limited edition* Recorded in Stockholm on October 25, 1962, this session is one of Albert Ayler's earliest recordings, featuring a European backing group he assembled during his brief stay there, before returning to the States in 1963 and beginning his legendary run with ESP-Disk and Impulse. Though his genius is not yet fully formed, one can easily hear he's headed that direction, and this rare and long out of print recording is an essential piece of the history from one of Ame…

Experience a remarkable session led by the legendary pianist and composer Tadd Dameron, recorded in 1956 and featuring the young lion John Coltrane, fresh from his tenure with Miles Davis. Mating Call is a solid and often overlooked gem showcasing six powerful and beautiful Dameron compositions. Performed by an impeccably tight quartet, the album features John Simmons on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, complementing Dameron’s distinctive bass-heavy piano style. This foundation offers a rich …

Tropical is Jorge Ben's fifteenth album, a “muscular” mix of previously unreleased material and rearranged covers such as “Taj Mahal” and “País tropical”. The openness to more Pop, more Western arrangements, foreshadows his future work oriented towards the stereotypical World-Dance of the 1980s. Tropical was originally intended for the market outside Brazil, and was not distributed there until 1977. A very fine confirming his immense talent and ability to adapt to the zeitgeist by intelligently …

Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango is a groundbreaking Afro-funk and jazz-fusion record that blends hypnotic African rhythms, funky basslines, soulful horns, and dance-oriented grooves with makossa, a traditional Cameroonian style. Centered around Dibango’s warm saxophone playing and infectious percussion, the album became hugely influential in the development of disco and world music, especially through the iconic title track “Soul Makossa”, whose famous vocal chant was later echoed by artists like M…

Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late 70's / early 80's. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American Jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.  First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, "Beautiful Africa" stands as a fierce stat…

Listed as one of the four most influential Jazz albums that happened to be released in 1959 (Dave Brubeck -Time Out & Charles Mingus -Ah Um among them), so much has been said and written about Miles Davis'Kind Of Blue, it's virtually impossible to summarize all the necessary info to the length of this page. We could simply list some facts (best sold Jazz album ever worldwide). We could try to explain why it's the best Jazz album ever made, but the music itself will do that to you. As Bill Evans …

Charlie Mingus’s 1956 Jazz Composers Workshop showcases his visionary blend of hard bop, classical, gospel, and avant-garde. The album captures Mingus’s restless innovation—by turns explosive, tender, and genre-defying.

*Back in print!* First released in 1964 under the expert production of Blackwell for Island Records, this remarkable album captures the essence of Jamaican soulful jazz through the extraordinary talent of Ernest Ranglin. As a pioneering guitarist and composer, Ranglin delivers an impeccable performance that blends the rich traditions of jazz with the vibrant rhythms of Jamaica. Accompanied by a highly swinging rhythm section, featuring Malcolm Cecil on bass and Alan Ganley on drums, the album ex…