Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

One of the Most Distinctive Voices in Jazz Finally Gets His Due. When you get your copy of Mosaic’s new five-CD collector’s set, “The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions,” you’ll be holding a master key to unlocking 1960s jazz.

Composer, trumpeter, and educator Frank London has been a central figure of the Downtown Scene since the mid 1980s. A founding member of the Klezmatics, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and Hasidic New Wave, he has worked with everyone from LaMonte Young, Itzhak Perlman, John Cale, and Allen Ginsberg to Gal Costa, Lester Bowie, and Iggy Pop. This exciting project is a startling new take on the deep tradition of music for brass and percussion and is informed by Latin, New Orleans, Soundtrack, Ragti…

This third CD from the dynamic piano trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith is a delightful surprise--and one of Zorn's greatest achievements. Exploring a wide variety of tempi, moods, and feelings the compositions dive deeply into the parameters of melody, harmony, hythm, and texture, stretching the ballade format to its limits and beyond. The trio, three essential members of Zorn's inner circle, performs with passion, imagination, virtuosity, and a telepathic improvisational inte…

Julian Lage and Gyan Riley have a magical rapport, a deep mutual respect, and have recorded some of Zorn’s most melodious and intimate compositions. In addition to the many books of music written for their trio with Bill Frisell, they have also worked together as a duo on The Bagatelles (2015), Midsummer Moons (2017), Book Beri’ah (2019), and Quatrain (2023). For this fifth duo CD Zorn turns again to William Shakespeare for inspiration and has composed a varied collection of ballads, dances, lul…

Zorn's first appearance at the world renowned Venice Biennale was a spectacular one. Invited to perform The Hermetic Organ at the famed 17th century Palazzo Pisano, he was surprised to find two small antique organs opposite one another on the small stage of its intimate concert hall. His performance that day was one of the very best Offices of The Hermetic Organ—a wild, acoustic affair that takes full advantage of the rich reeds, flutes, and horns of these two outstanding instruments. Zorn ran b…

Zorn's lush and seductive compositions for the magical trio of Frisell-Lage-Riley are some of his most beautiful 21st century creations, and this seventh CD in their ever-expanding series is their best yet. A dramatic and colorful tribute to the expressive Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, Lamentations contains four extended pieces that unfold like exotic flowers—gorgeous music with a dark philosophical edge. These master musicians—three of the greatest guitarists in the world—work together with a profou…

Tip! The second album from the high-caliber improvising trio Fictional Souvenirs captures a visceral meeting between three of improvised music’s most idiosyncratic, elusive figures. On Volatile Object Pat Thomas (piano and electronics), John Butcher (saxophones), and Ståle Liavik Solberg (durms) were recorded live at London’s Café Oto in January of 2023.

After many supporting appearances on IARC across the years (including Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings in 2018, Daniel Villareal's Panamá 77 in 2022 and Lados B in 2023, Bex Burch's There is only love and fear also in 2023, and earlier this Summer as a core member of SML on Small Medium Large) we could not be more ecstatic to announce our first lead artist release with Anna Butterss!!!The Adelaide, Australia-born bassist and composer "has built their career around unshakable rhythm, blinding c…

First-ever reissue of this cult and extremely rare record by one of the leading musicians and composers of Italian jazz and cinematic music. This album was recorded in 1972 in Piero Umiliani’s Sound Work Shop studio with a similar line up to the one of legendary ‘To-Day’s Sound’ album.

"Ken Field’s triumphal music enables listeners to see with their mind’s eye what the dancers are performing on stage, helping us to contain loss, survive sorrow, live through grief, and ultimately transform us via this journey." - Mark Corroto, AllAboutJazz.com

Recorded at Munich’s Muffathalle twenty years ago, in September 2004, this previously-unreleased concert recording of the Tomasz Stanko Quartet is a fascinating document, capturing a developmental chapter in the music between the song forms of the Suspended Night repertoire and the improvised areas that the Polish musicians would explore on Lontano.  The Munich show was a highlight in a year in which the Stanko Quartet played a record number of gigs, with extensive tours of the US and Europe.  T…

Peter Brötzmann collaborated with many artists in his career, regularly adding new compatriots into the fold, and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love became one of his staunchest allies after the percussionist joined the Chicago Tentet in 2004. They worked in various contexts, including this inexhaustible, hard-hitting duo. Most of the albums they’ve issued have captured live performances, but in 2015 they made this stunning studio recording. As Nilssen-Love says in the liner notes, “Peter had a…

The Last Temple is a live recording of this extraordinary trio at the Alchemia in Krakow. Since the concert was quite long, we divided it into 3 formats: 1) The Last Temple vol. 1 - vinyl 9" EP 2) The Last Temple vol. 2 CD 3) (this one) The Last Temple vol. 3 vinyl 12" LP (180g black vinyl) The Trzaska, Haker Flaten, Nilsen Love trio played a concert tour in Poland in March 2024. A combination of one of the most famous sections of the world's intuitive jazz (e.g. The Thing) and one of the most f…

Much has happened to Tomeka Reid, who was already one of jazz's definitive figures in the 21st century, in the 4½ years since her last album by this all-star quintet. Most notably, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022, one of the most prestigious awards in the creative arts field in the USA. The same year, she also won the DownBeat Critics Poll for miscellaneous instrument (despite many deserving talents emerging on the instrument, the jazz polls don't have cello as a category for reco…

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of one of Japan's most coveted albums of the 70s, "Mangekyou" by singer-songwriter Yoshiko Sai. Produced in 1975 by Master musician Yuji Ohno, the album features Yoshiko Sai's superbly crafted songs and crystal clear voice over Ohno's lush, funky sound and breezy arrangements. A strong buzz has been growing around the album over the years and original copies now change hands for large sums of money. This is the first time "Mangekyou" is available…

It's been a little over ten years since Hailu Mergia reemerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing his flavor of Ethiopian jazz all over the worl…

Temporary Super Offer! * Limited LP reissue, and the first time the album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release* of Dudu Pukwana, Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg's Yi Yole, originally released in 1979. Recorded at the ICP Jubileum, a festival in Uithoorn, Holland, in 1978, Yi Yole brings together the core of the Instant Composers Pool -- pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink -- with legendary South African alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana. Longtime member of the Blue Note…

“Between 1974-77 Elaine Brown led the Black Panther Party, the 1st and only woman to do so. Seize The Time is a curiously elegiac and somber affair. Five of the tracks also features arrangements written by pianist/composer Horace Tapscott and performed by the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra” A milestone of the Black music movement, originally released on Vault in 1969. The debut album of Elaine Brown was arranged by piano player and composer Horace Tapscott, conducting the Californian Pan-Afrikan P…

LP version.If cellist/composer Janel Leppin’s wonderful and widely celebrated 2022 solo debut album Ensemble Volcanic Ash was a creative eruption, her follow up To March Is to Love is a glowing magma flow that greatly expands her singular band’s sonic terrain. The project thrums with immediacy as Leppin and her all-star sextet honor their musical ancestors and reflect on disquieting times.  Bandcamp Daily declared “There’s no end to the melodic intensity of Ensemble Volcanic Ash. Even at its lus…

* Deluxe vinyl reissue mastered from the original analogue master tapes pressed on heavy-weight 180 gram vinyl at The Vinyl Factory in the UK. Faithfully reconstructed and restored artwork on a heavy-weight matte card and wrapped in the signature Arc Records bellyband. Includes a full-colour 4-page insert with brand new sleeve-notes featuring words from Charles Tolliver & Gary Bartz * Arc Records are overjoyed to reissue pioneering jazz drummer Max Roach’s legendary 1968 album Members Don’t Git …

Killer youth jazz from Finland’s new tenor sensation Jimi Ahlroos - energetic rhythmical trio jazz recorded at studio Pelto

Before Don Cherry appeared in Ornette Coleman's quartet, the band's trumpeter was Bobby Bradford. Responsibility for his family dissuaded him from his career as a nomadic musician. It's a well-known story, but it's hard not to wonder "what would have happened if Bradford had stayed in New York and continued to create with Coleman?" This thought is even more intriguing when we learn that the marriage, which dominated the development of the young musician, broke up in 1970.I like to think that if …

We have a special relationship with Ivo Perelman, so when his latest trio with Cuban-born and hugely respected pianist Aruan Ortiz and Spanish-born but French-based friend of our label Ramon Lopez finally came about, we felt that their first studio meeting had to be in our catalog. Their first album, Ephemeral Shapes, was recorded in Catalonia's Rosazul studio under the delectable ear of Ferran Conangla himself. We are all the more pleased that the band has entered the roster of the famous Akamu…

One of the most brilliant contemporary improvisers playing the recorder, Dominik Strycharski is not the first time he has appeared on recordings in our catalog. An album featuring him came out nearly a decade ago, Myriad Duo, recorded with bass guitar virtuoso Rafal Mazur, sometime later a solo recital Flauto Dolphy, dedicated to the music of the great Eric Dolphy. And then October Suite, a disc documenting the anniversary concert of the RGG formation, during which Dominik was a special guest al…

Udo Schindler is truly a man of many talents. He was a rock musician, an educated architect, a pretty well-educated instrumentalist, and a virtuoso playing clarinets, saxophones and flutes. His extensive activity in the field of art includes composition, improvisation and live performance, and in each of these areas Udo Schindler has gained a reputation as a deep-thinking explorer and expert. This resulted in collaborations with musicians such as Hubert Bergmann, Gerry Hemingway, Eddie Prévost, …

Dave Burrell - piano Bob Stewart - tuba Recorded live at the Kölner Stadtgarten, Cologne, Germany on June 13, 1994. Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios Design by Oskaras Anosovas Produced by Danas Mikailionis and Ed Hazell Co-producer - Valerij Anosov

Sweden's advanced free jazz piano trio Correction (Sebastian Bergstrom on piano, Joacim Hyberg on bass, and Emil Astrand-Melin on drums) are met by fellow Swede, baritone saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, for a stunning album ranging from abstract to hard blowing improv."In Gaito Gazdanov's marvelous novel "The Spectre of Alexander Wolf" there is a crucial scene in which the narrator contemplates his future lover Jelena Nikolajewna and wonders about her disharmonic physiognomy which he considers as a…

Paul Rutherford's been making amazing sounds on trombone for decades – and he still sounds incredible here on this late 90s performance in Japan – a set that has the trombonist working with percussionist Sabu Toyozumi – but at a level that really seems to let Paul take the lead on most numbers! The set begins in a slightly tentative way – with Rutherford maybe going for some more familiar modes of expression, but quickly opening up as Toyozumi fills in the spaces between the notes – always in wa…

300 copies. Mototeru Takagi (tenor saxophone) Kim Dae Hwan (percussion) Choi Sun Bae (trumpet). NoBusiness Records in cooperation with Japanese Chap-Chap Records has started a series of releases of unreleased concerts that took place in Japan in the 90s. Concerts were organised by big fans of free jazz and improvised music Takeo Suetomi and Sadamu Hisada. The idea of the series of the concerts was to arrange and record cooperative projects of American-European musicians with Asian musicians, as …

A previously unreleased concert recording from 1986 of a group of leading out jazz artists (Billy Bang, Fred Hopkins, Andrew Cyrille, &c.). Part of the magic of jazz in New York City is groups of musicians coming together for brief engagements and then moving off into other groups and configurations, leaving fond memories but little recorded evidence of their existence. The Group was a very talented amalgam of musicians, veterans of the free jazz and loft scenes: Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet and fl…

Bomb! 500 copies. After twenty one recordings there may not be too much more to say about the superlative English threesome of saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Paul Lytton. Some 30 years on since their debut Tracks (Incus, 1983), they converse in a language entirely of their own making, which relies on a staggering density of ideas, chops to burn and a preternatural responsiveness. Live At Maya Recordings Festival, captured at Winterthur, Switzerland in 2011 forms another t…

*2023 stock* "There have been many tributes to the great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane since his passing, and the years have done nothing to dull the power of his music. This is a heartfelt nod to Coltrane from a collective group consisting of Dominic Duval on bass, Jimmy Halperin on tenor saxophone and Brian Willson on drums. The group plays music from each phase of Coltrane's influential career, and they make their own personal statements from these well known compositions. Opening with "Gia…

Featuring Martin Kuchen on alto sax, Johan Berthling on bass and Steve Noble on drums. I haven't heard this yet but I must admit that Martin Kuchen is one the best, most creative, diverse and inspired saxists we've heard from Scandinavia in the past decade. Check out any discs from his bands: Angles, Exploding Customer, Trespass Trio or All Included and you will hear some of the best playing around! Bassist Johan Berhling is also a member of Angles, Fire! Orchestra and projects with Ken Va…

Albert Beger - tenor saxophone, percussionZiv Taubenfeld - bass clarinet, percussionShay Hazan - guimbri, double bassHamid Drake - drums Tracks 1 and 4 recorded on the 10th of July, 2023 at Levontin 7, Tel AvivTracks 2 and 3 recorded on the 8th of July, 2023 at Kitcha Studios by Uri "Momo" BarakMixed by Mike Marciano at Systems Two Recording, New YorkMastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudiosPhotos by Aviad Fuchs

"I was already familiar with Pascal Niggenkemper's work as a result of the release, Klippe by Thomas Heberer, early this summer and a superb trio with Robin Verheyen and Tyshawn Sorey, PN Trio. So this was always going to be an exciting adventure to see what his new trio would put forth. And the new album, Upcoming Hurricane, pretty much says it all. This is a heavy storm of sound that comes on quietly but resonates brightly over 60+ minutes. Clean, open and improvised, Niggenkemper is a brillia…

300 copies. Devoting most of his time to performing with various international groups, Liudas Mockunas is hailed as an ambassador of Lithuanian jazz. He is a multi-reeds player and composer, whose name stands for masterly performance and intriguing compositions. His 'natural' idiom is an explosive mixture of free jazz, lyricism and expressionism combined with highly unconventional performance techniques. His in-depth exploration of the properties of sound and possibilities of harmonic series lea…

This limited edition LP documents a collectively birthed exploration spread across the two sides by the visiting German pair of reedman Thomas Borgmann and long time associate drummer Willi Kellers, who team up with NYC bassist Max Johnson. The concert took place as part of the New York Tenor Saxophone Festival at Ibeam in 2015 organized by Cisco Bradley of Jazz Right Now fame, hence the title. The trio constitutes a favored format for Borgmann. He's helmed two killer outfits in the past, firstl…

2024 stock. The energetic somersault greeting us on the debut of Danish born Trondheim based saxophone player and band leader Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie is a heads up for this fresh breath of air that Dafnie represents. The quintet colour out Dahl’s strong, melodic compositions with playfulness and convincing weight. What we hear is harmonic yet avant-garde, with references to both old school free jazz and modern contemporary reed-leaded bands. But be not in doubt - Dafnie is something of its own.The …

All songs written and performed by Erlend Smalås and Trond Wiger. Recorded and mixed in GODSterminalen by Trond Wiger for Alt for Høyt for Langt for Kort Forlag 2023. Mastering by Karl Klaseie, Øra Mastering. Chorus lyrics På gli by Stig Aarskog

*200 copies limited edition. 2024 stock* This release is an orchestral expansion of the vocabulary of The Hatch. The duo work of Desprez and Rasmussen extrapolating into two local scenes in Texas. A co-release with Astral Spirits from Austin, Texas.Pressing off only 200 copies! Beautiful gatefold double LP with artwork by Jaime Zuverza!