Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Akira Sakata with Takashi Seo on contrabass and Jun Inui on drums, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on April 10, 2025. Sister Records.

Akira Sakata and drummer Jun Inui in duo, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on April 7, 2024. The first of their Gallery series on Sister Records.

A charity CD by Akira Sakata for the medical care of children in Chernobyl and Iraq, with Kyoko Kuroda, Vagabond Suzuki and Manabu Sakata, recorded in Tokyo in December 2007.

Akira Sakata on saxophones and clarinet with Febian Reza Pane, Hiroshi Yoshino and Tomohiro Yahiro, closing with a bonus Air On The G String. Ganbaranai, 2006.

Untitled (2) reunites guitarist Sandy Ewen, double bassist Damon Smith and percussionist Weasel Walter, recorded at Bird Cloud in November 2025. Tri-fold digipak with art by Ewen and liner notes by Henry Kaiser.

Alan Skidmore's 1970 Deram Nova album with Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Harry Miller and Tony Oxley, fresh from their Montreux triumph: a jazz waltz, long suites and free passages, back on vinyl from the stereo masters.

Joe Harriott's 1964 quintet with Shake Keane, Pat Smythe, Coleridge Goode and Bobby Orr turns songs from the Broadway musical High Spirits into lyrical, swinging jazz, now on vinyl in stereo for the first time.

The Second Quintet with Shorter, Hancock, Carter and Williams on its autumn 1967 European tour: Antwerp, Copenhagen, Paris and Karlsruhe on three CDs, restored by Michael Brändli, with an essay by Art Lange.

Berlin, Teldec Studio, 7 November 1971, the same day Terumasa Hino was cutting Vibrations for Enja across town. Joachim-Ernst Berendt, who had brought Masahiko Satoh's trio to the Berliner Jazztage, put them in a studio with the Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller: Satoh on piano, Yasuo Arakawa on bass, Masahiko Ozu on drums, Zoller on guitar. MPS released it in 1972. Six pieces. Meet, nine minutes, opens; Sazo is short; the traditional Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair is the ballad; Clos…

1967. Joachim Kühn had left the GDR the year before and settled in Hamburg; Rolf Kühn, his elder brother, had come back from six years in New York (Benny Goodman, the Tommy Dorsey band) to run the NDR television orchestra. They had already played Newport together. Transfiguration, on SABA, is the Rolf + Joachim Kühn Quintet with Karl Berger as guest on vibraphone, made in the months before Joachim moved to Paris for good. It sits between two records the brothers made the same year: Re-Union in B…

Berlin, 30 August 1961, two Südwestfunk sessions: Eric Dolphy at 33, on his second European trip, with Benny Bailey, Pepsi Auer, George Joyner and Buster Smith. Hot House, Hi-Fly, God Bless the Child on bass clarinet, and Dolphy's own G.W. and 245. Unheard until Enja issued it in 1978. Christgau gave it an A.

Villingen, 26 February 1971. Friedrich Gulda's self-portrait in the form of a course, a double LP mostly of solo piano with Klaus Weiss on drums, Fritz Pauer and a horn section including Benny Bailey and Sahib Shihab. Prelude and Fugue, Play Piano Play, a set of variations on Light My Fire, and a Goethe setting.

One of the first Enja records, the fourth in the catalogue according to AllMusic, recorded live at the Domicile club in Munich in June 1971. Mal Waldron in trio with Jimmy Woode, the former Ellington bassist, and the Swiss drummer Pierre Favre. The same trio made Mal Waldron Plays the Blues for the label the same year. Four Waldron originals (Sieg Haile, La gloire du noir, The Call, Rock My Soul) and Woode's brief M.C.. AllMusic's note describes a master of repetition and brooding chords in exce…

Vanguard Studios, New York, 15 November 1981. Mal Waldron with Clifford Jordan on tenor, Cecil McBee on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums, two weeks after the same quartet had played a Columbia University concert. Produced by Horst Weber for Enja, released in 1982. Three pieces. Jordan's Charlie Parker's Last Supper; Waldron's Hymn from the Inferno, twelve minutes; and the title track, eighteen minutes, which takes the whole second side. Ron Wynn at AllMusic gives it three stars and two words: d…

Munich, Vielharmonie, 11 June 1981. Akira Sakata, two years out of the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, with his own trio, Hiroshi Yoshino on bass and Nobuo Fujii on drums, recorded digitally for Enja. Alto sax, alto clarinet and voice; four long pieces, including a version of Brigitte Fontaine's Comme à la radio.

Nuremberg, East-West Jazz Festival, 6 July 1984. Takeo Moriyama, the drummer of the first Yosuke Yamashita Trio, with his own quartet: Toshihiko Inoue on tenor and soprano, Shuichi Enomoto on flute and saxophones, Hideaki Mochizuki on bass. Recorded live and issued by Enja the same year. Moriyama had left Yamashita in 1975 and spent the following decade building a group sound of his own. The Vap record East Plants (1983) was the studio version of this band; Green River is the same lineup, less o…

Berkeley Jazz Festival, 1974. Prince Lasha, the Fort Worth altoist and flautist who had made The Cry! with Sonny Simmons and Iron Man with Dolphy, with Hubert Eaves on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Roy McCurdy on drums and Kenneth Nash on percussion. Three pieces, including the sixteen-minute Mayflower.

Bobby Jones played tenor in the last Mingus bands of 1970-72, toured Europe and Japan with them, and then, with emphysema closing in, moved to Germany, where he died in 1980. Hill Country Suite is one of two records under his name, made at Trixi Studio in Munich on 30 August 1974 for Enja, in trio with George Mraz on bass and Freddie Waits on drums. Six pieces, all his, and the titles say where he came from: Bringin' in the Sheep, Old Jack Daniels, Halleluja! Y'uns All Come to the Weddin' Dance,…

Ornette Coleman's loft at 131 Prince Street, Valentine's Day 1970. Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, and whoever was in the room singing the title chant. The only Coleman album on Flying Dutchman: six pieces, Ornette on alto, trumpet and violin, taped as a party rather than a concert.

Frank Lowe on tenor saxophone and Billy Bang on violin, with Ed Schuller and Abbey Rader, recorded in Brooklyn and dedicated to the memory of Denis Charles. No More Records, 2001.

Mountain Call by bassist Miroslav Vitous with Michel Portal, Jack DeJohnette, Esperanza Spalding, Bob Mintzer, Gary Campbell and Gerald Cleaver, recorded in Prague between 2003 and 2010. ECM, 2026.

*2026 repress* Cosmic Ear is a new group bringing together Christer Bothén, Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Kansan Zetterberg and Juan Romero. Their debut album Traces is released by We Jazz Records on 23rd of May, 2025. Including 6 deep cuts, Traces is an album that sees Cosmic Ear tracking down the "traces" of the legendary Don Cherry's legacy while paving their own way in contemporary creative music expression. Christer Bothén, a collaborator with Don Cherry during his Swedish period in the 19…

Fifteen years in, Joshua Abrams and his Natural Information Society have stopped trying to impress anyone and started building something genuinely necessary. Perseverance Flow strips away the expanded lineups of recent efforts, returning to the core quartet—Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, and Abrams on guimbri—for one continuous 37-minute meditation that feels less like composed music than a natural phenomenon you've stumbled upon. This isn…

Few musicians, and few albums, embody such a joyful sense of freedom and vitality. Racco is where the artistry of Ryojiro Furusawa reaches its peak.

More than sixty years after its original recording, a masterpiece that has captivated audiences around the world is reborn on an analog mono pressing with truly powerful sound.

We Jazz Magazine, Issue 18 / Spring 2026 "Space Time" for Shabaka. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Shabaka by Tina Edwards, Booker Stardrum by Clifford Allen, Aurora Nealand by Bennett Kirschner, Jazz Now Jazz by Rui Miguel Abreu, The Space Book by Patrick Preziosi, XT by XT (Paul Abbott & Seymour Wright), Naïssam Jalal by Florent Servia, Craig Taborn by Bret Sjerven, the term "Free Jazz" b…

We Jazz Magazine, Issue 14 / Spring 2025 "Cosmos" for Sun Ra. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Includes a collection of Sun Ra pieces by Francis Gooding, Mats Gustafsson, Rui Miguel Abreu, Stewart Smith and Joshua Lane, rare Sun Ra Arkestra photos by Guy Stevens, Larry Stabbins by Dave Waller, Angélique Kidjo by Rob Garratt, Heli Hartikainen by Wif Stenger, Alan Wilkinson by Daniel Spicer, B…

*2024 stock* One of the major statements in the history of Jazz and African American liberation movements. Originally released in 1960 on Candid Records, Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite consists of five original compositions and performances staging and celebrating different moments and aspects of the African American history and culture. Here is a wonderful cast of musicians reunited around Max Roach – drums and Abbey Lincoln – vocals. Throughout the album you can find great contributions from th…

Hamburg, 1969. A drummer recently arrived from Westphalia, known around the Jazzhouse on Brandstwiete as a capable timekeeper who could swing in 4/4 and play rock beats, which is why Klaus Doldinger had hired him for Passport. His name was Udo Lindenberg. Free Jazz Goes Underground, released by MPS in 1970 under the name Free Orbit, is the first studio album of the band he led, and he sings on it, in English, alongside a second vocalist. MPS's own note on the reissue admits you need careful list…

Donaueschingen, October 1979. Karl Berger brought the orchestra of his Creative Music Studio from Woodstock to the German contemporary music festival, and Südwestfunk and MPS recorded it. The roster reads like the CMS guest book: Don Cherry on trumpet and bamboo flute, Lee Konitz on alto, Oliver Lake on alto, soprano and flute, George Lewis on trombone, Leroy Jenkins on violin, Trilok Gurtu on tabla and congas, Peter Apfelbaum on drums and baritone, Ingrid Sertso singing, Berger on vibes and pia…

Gunter Hampel's first record, 1965, on SABA: a quintet with Manfred Schoof on trumpet, Alexander von Schlippenbach on piano and Buschi Niebergall on bass, a year before Globe Unity. Down Beat gave it five stars. Hampel on vibes and flute, Dolphy and Ayler in the room, nobody screaming.

Jef Gilson (born Jean-François Quiévreux, 1926) had played clarinet with Claude Luter in Boris Vian's band, switched to piano in 1947, and in 1963 formed the big band through which half of French modern jazz would pass. In 1965 he was musical director of Les Double Six. That year Woody Shaw and Nathan Davis played in his orchestra. New Call From France, released by SABA in 1966 and credited to the Jef Gilson Nonet with Jean-Louis Chautemps, is the record he made for the Black Forest label at the…

Heidelberg Jazztage, 6 June 1975. The Yosuke Yamashita Trio with Akira Sakata and Takeo Moriyama in its second European season, recorded by Carlos Albrecht for MPS. Piano and drums duets, a Moriyama drum solo, and the fourteen-minute Hachi. Forty minutes of the loudest trio of the decade.

Guitarist Marc Ducret reworks Tim Berne's compositions, recorded mostly at home in 2021 with horns, flute, cello and a wide range of guitars, basses, daxophone and percussion, favouring colour and texture over soloing.

Chicago producer and composer Will Miller’s Resavoir has established a strong following at the intersection of jazz, electronic music, and beat-driven production, with more than 9,000 vinyl records sold and 82M+ streams across the project’s first three albums. Resavoir’s 2019 self-titled debut received an 8.2 from Pitchfork alongside broad international critical acclaim, with ongoing support from Gilles Peterson, Lefto, Anthony Valadez, Somewhere Soul, Andrew Jervis and Lovie, plus airplay on BB…

In 2022 drummer Tollef Østvang enlisted veteran English improvisers Trevor Watts and John Edwards, to form a new trio, as a commission from the Motvind festival. From the get-go, the three unleashed a remarkably unified onslaught of blissful intensity. Luckily the band felt just as excited as the audience, and since their initial offering in the middle of the Norwegian woods, the group has since embarked on several European tours; further sharpening their razor-sharp interplay. Their debut relea…

On March 19th, 1999, legendary soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy played with his working trio at The Velvet Lounge at 2128 ½ S. Indiana Avenue in Chicago. Owned and operated by tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, The Velvet Lounge was the central hub for adventurous jazz music in Chicago from 1993 until Fred passed in 2010.  Music critic and journalist Peter Margasak previewed the concert in the alternative weekly Chicago Reader, and someone blew up a xeroxed copy of it that Lacy inscribed across the …

LP version. This album is a tribute to the person and spirit of John Coltrane. It was produced by musicians who not only admire Coltrane but embody similar values.While it’s always a good time to honor Coltrane’s memory, this particular moment seems to carry an increased urgency of remembering his message and mission.Since some owners of this amazing record may be unfamiliar with Coltrane’s character, it’s worthwhile to briefly state a few biographical details.First, Coltrane was a compassionate…

The 2018 debut by Chicago saxophonist Isaiah Collier with The Chosen Few, recorded when he was 20: 66 minutes of spiritual jazz after Coltrane, between gospel, free improvisation and heavy rhythm. First time on vinyl, limited first pressing.

Wolfgang Dauner's 1967 SABA septet: Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Gerd Dudek on tenor and clarinet, Eberhard Weber on cello, Jürgen Karg on bass, and two drummers, Mani Neumeier and Fred Braceful. Mingus-like themes that dissolve into free playing, Neumeier on tabla for the Spanish disguise. Out of print for forty years.