Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

All music by Cirera, Fernandez, Faustino and FerrandiniRecorded at the Jazz Cava de Vic by Ralph Lopinski during the Voll Damm Festival Jazz Vic the 9th of May, 2015Mixed by Ferran Conangla in BarcelonaMastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudiosArt cover “Boc enfontsan-se a la sorra sota una rosella” by Antoni CarnéPhotos by Roberto DominguezDesign by Oskaras AnosovasProduced by Danas MikailionisCo-producer - Valerij Anosov

homas Heberer is called “a European master” and “new trumpet genius”. The music in his new double LP brings a fresh approach to blending improvisation and composition, which allows for the highest amount of freedom on the musicians' side while incorporating significant structural tools on the composer's side as well. His solo recording applies a vast variety of conventional and extended techniques, among which the most distinctive component is the exclusive use of circular breathing.

The first of three volumes surveying surely the mightiest Gospel label of them all. Stomping, rollicking gospel music, intermingling with raw soul, searing blues, hard-rocking doo-wop and jazz, and storming R&B. Infused and incandescent with the hurting, surging indignation of the Civil Rights movement, here are twenty-four precious scorchers by giants like the Staple Singers and Jimmy Scott, alongside devastating sides by less celebrated names like the Harmonizing Five of Burlington, North Caro…

The second of three volumes surveying surely the mightiest Gospel label of them all. Sublime crossings of gospel with the soul, funk and jazz of the Black Power era. Twenty rapturous cuts dot dazzlingly between Muscle Shoals soul, screwed breakbeat, Mizells-style fusion, disco and proto-house. Triumphant re-workings of Sly Stone, Donny Hathaway, and Herbie Hancock's "Head Hunters" will have listeners throwing their pew cushions into the air. Drawn from hard-to-find 45s and LPs, hardly any of the…

**300 copies** "FTR is proud to present what is only the second solo album by Borbetomagus' sax giant, Don Dietrich. Crazily, Option documents the first solo performance Don ever did. It was recorded in 2019 as part of the Option series in Chicago, where Dietrich appeared at the invitation of Ken Vandermark (who also wrote the liner notes). The cover photo shows one of Don's polycarbonate sculptures, after which the album is partially named. Twisted, compressed, and strangely inviting, it is emb…

Deep archeology into a long buried and previously undocumented chapter in the history of the early '70s loft era brings forth the revelatory Father of Origin, Eremite's box set retrospective of percussionist/bassist Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society. Drawn from Sultan's mammoth private archive of recordings, this ground-breaking set includes two audiophile LPs and a CD, a 28 page 12x12' book featuring previously unpublished photographs and ephemera and a detailed historical essay by jazz sc…

The second album of Zakrocki & Olak is even better than the first one. The reason is simple: it is recorded with Agustí Fernández, whose inside piano effects enrich the general sound of the ensemble.

Two great musicians. Two musical Words. First time on CD. Full Circle – new live CD from legendary drummer Hamid Drake and one of the most important American improviser Ned Rothengerg.

"The Liquid Trio Plays Bernoulli is the new album which was released on October 23 by Fundacja Sluchaj. The album was recorded by Liquid Trio – it’s Agusti Fernandez (piano), Albert Cirera (saxophones) and Ramon Prats (drums). The musicians iquid Trio are playing together for a long time now. Through the years of their musical career they had formed, created and masterfully improved their own playing style and manner. Energetic and active collective improvisations are full of strong, powerful an…

It is very common today to see musicians from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds converging at some geographical point to improvise together. Collective improvisation is an interactive art. The responses among the improvisers are individual and subjective, but the whole result implies a kind of inter-subjectivity. Subjectivities are historical and embodied. They are configured through successive experiences within concrete contexts and are embodied in the sense that subjectivity can’t exis…

The City of Gardens is an album that is a natural consequence of the artistic initiative "Contemporary Sonus", initiated by RGG in 2015. It is an idea, within which a completely new musical story was created, composed and dedicated to performers with a specific approach to improvisation. Artistic agreement and a friendly bond between the members of the quintet was a key deciding factor of the character and emotional charge, flowing directly from the creation of sound. The Contemporary Sonus of o…

Vasco Trilla is a Catalan citizen of the world. He performs and records on every continent: in the course of almost three weeks between September and October 2016, Vasco Trilla toured in Poland, in Hungary, he appeared on several concerts in Serbia, followed by Bulgaria. In fact, in each of these concerts Vasco performed with different musicians.  If the imagination of the improvising musician – undeniable in the case of Trilla – is a derivative of musical experiences of a nearly 40-year-old mus…

"Torben Snekkestad and Barry Guy first worked together on 2015’s impressive Slip, Slide and Collide - that recording, with its labyrinthine improvisations and near-feverish eruptions, proved the duo to be fiercely attuned to one another. Now, on Louisiana Variations, another voice is drawn into the fold - that of Spanish pianist Agustí Fernández, a long-time collaborator with Barry Guy and an excellent composer/improviser in his own right. On this release, the trio lose none of the intensity pre…

The concert and Agustí Fernández’s 60th birthday, celebrated in a quite extraordinary way, was possible due the generous support of the 2015 GREC Festival de Barcelona. The personnel is completely different from the Polish recording, and so is the music. Despite the presence of the explosive Mats and super-abstract Joe, Agustí’s music carries certain "kindness", lyricism and melancholy in the freely improvised parts. Despite the truly abstract nature, there are also certain similarities (in the …

"The title for the CD and compositions were inspired by a desire that Veryan Weston & I had, which was to open up our regular duo's musical improvisational interactions and incorporate other musicians within them, and thereby expand the scope of what we do after many years of playing together. We'd already done a performance with the addition of Violinist and well known Folk Musician Peter Knight at Café Oto which was filmed by Mark French. Alison had recently asked me to play with her and Hanna…

 Nate Wooley and Torben Snekkestad recorded live at "KoncertKirken – Blågårds Plads" in Copenhagen, July 5, 2015. The result is an astonishingly focused music, which transfers listeners into a completely different world and different order of things, enclosed in sounds played with great care, as if each of them was so fragile that any inattention could destroy its structure

Fundacja Słuchaj! presents Tempranillo by Evan Parker & Agusti Fernandez. Recorded on November 24th, 1995 at Estudi 84, Barcelona (Spain). Recording and mixing engineer: David Casamitjana. All music by Evan Parker and Agustí Fernández. Piano tuning: Xavier Clascà. Original mastering: Coque Vázquez. New mastering: Ferran Conangla. Liner notes: Miquel Jurado. English version: Oriol Rogent. Photos: Sònia Balcells. Cover art: Zuza Ustjan. Recording produced by Agustí Fernández. Original CD released …

First time ever in the studio! Two great musicians! Double bass virtuoso from France, Bernard Santacruz and drum wizard Michael Zerang from the USA. Beautifully recorded in the legendary studio La Buissone in Pernes les Fontaines, where was made some most excellent recordings in such labels like for example ECM. Recorded on October 14th 2019 at Studio La Buissonne by Gérad de Haro. Mixed by Gérard de Haro. Mastering Nicolas Baillard. Liner Note: Michel Dorbon. Photo: Michel Dorbon. Cover design,…

** 2021 Stock ** Another jazz gem unearthed from the Strata archives by Amir Abdullah for his magnificent 180 Proof imprint. From garage rock roots as a founding member of the Woolies, to tours backing the Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Mary Wilson, Ron English has enjoyed a storied life in music, effortlessly moving between genres with chameleon-like malleability. English found his calling with 1970s work on Detroit’s Tribe and Strata labels that blended styles such as funk, be-…

**Double LP version, edition of 1000, and crazy expensive** "Potent mixes of spirituality, expressionist fire and electrified newness, these LPs are presented as the 7th entry in the Now-Again Reserve Edition, mastered from the original tapes. Contains download card for .Wav files of the full release -- including bonus tracks by Phill Musra Group and World's Experience Orchestra -- and a booklet with extensive liner notes by jazz historian Clifford Allen, photos, show flyers and many other unpub…

Percussionist Eddie Prévost not only co-founded the British improvising collective AMM more than 45 years ago, he is its chief annotator and its sole consistent member. With these dual roles he has both explained the aesthetic, political and ethical dimensions of an enterprise dedicated to constant self-examination and on-stage negotiation, and ensured the music’s immediacy through the agency of his exactingly tuned-in playing. But before he did any of that, he was a fine jazz drummer wit…

Jennifer Allum,violin. Ute Kanngiesser, cello. Grundik Kasyansky, theremin, electronics. Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, zither. Eddie Prévost, percussion. Daichi Yoshikawa, electronics. At Café Oto on Monday 21 May 2012.

* Hardback cover edition * Breaking through pervasive misconceptions, Jazz in the 1970s explores a pivotal decade in jazz history. Many consider the 1970s to be the fusion decade, but Bill Shoemaker pushes back against this stereotype with a bold perspective that examines both the diverse musical innovations and cultural developments that elevated jazz internationally. He traces events that redefined jazz’s role in the broadband arts movement as well as the changing social and political landscap…

**imited edition of 175 copies** Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight. This might be the only we've seen with Fisher as a leader – but the set's got a quality that will certainly have us …

The trio of guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, saxophonist Gregor Vidic, and drummer Nicolas Field introduces Akiyama to Vidic and Field’s standing duo. The result is a magnificent set of exploratory improvisation. Vidic and Field’s playing has a rich, textural quality, developed through their use of timbre and dynamics. In this way, Akiyama’s multiphonic approach to guitar, and his innovative use of effects, offset’s Vidic brilliantly. Over the course of 45 minutes, Akiyama, Vidic, and Field generate a …

** First pressing of 200 with artwork by Tiny Little Hammers ** Recorded over the course of 2019 by Don Forks at Palliative Studios. Dedicated to Steve Dalachinsky 1946-2019. Michael Foster: saxophones, Ben Bennett: drums, percussion

"Two concert recordings -- never before released, mastered from original radio master tapes-by larger groups led by the German saxophone legend Peter Brötzmann. Both recorded by the esteemed Hessischer Rundfunk organization at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival, in 1968 and 1970. Two of the most explosive, rivetting pieces of music ever to come out of the European vaults. First: an unheard alternate version of Brötzmann's groundbreaking Machine Gun, this time with a nine piece group (same as the LP, ad…

"Great Spirit again makes abundantly clear William Parker's multi-faceted talents as bassist, composer, poet, bandleader and =songwriter=. Raining On The Moon is the extraordinary group which seamlessly fuses all of these prodigious gifts: his long-standing Quartet with Hamid Drake, Rob Brown, Lewis Barnes is here exquisitely augmented by singer Leena Conquest breathing further compassion & dignity into William's lyrics, and pianist Eri Yamamoto for expert chordal support. Going back a few years…

A tremendous pair of brand new studio albums created by drummer-leader Whit Dickey together with two distinct yet interrelated Quartets. All involved here have long been deep seekers of truth through sound, and between them is a luminous web of deeply affecting work, which now spans decades. This Yin & Yang pair presents their very latest work together. Peace Planet features Matthew Shipp - piano, Rob Brown - alto sax, William Parker - bass. Box of Light features Rob Brown - alto sax, Steve Swel…

2014 expanded reissue. Mono. 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, less regard for standard pitch, and no obligation to p…

2012 release. Born in Buffalo in 1939, Charles Gayle had hit New York City by the early '70s. He almost made his mark with an album on ESP-Disk' in 1974, but the label shut down before it came out. When he next recorded in 1988, he had been homeless for a while, sheltering in an empty Brooklyn storefront. The Knitting Factory gigs and concurrent CDs from Swedish imprint Silkheart, the Knit's own house label, the Italian label Black Saint, and a particularly well-received-in-Europe album on FMP, …

** Texts in English and French ** 169 fundamental free jazzrecords recommended in 180 pages by Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and Philippe Robert, from must-have classics to indispensable curiosities. Free Jazz Manifesto is not simply a list of 169 recommended records, but a poetic vision, a parallel universe based on a personal aesthetics of perception and an in-nite love for the most creative, incendiary, spiritual music. If Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman or Anthony Braxton are well p…

*2021 stock* This album, originally released in 1977, was re-mastered and repackaged in Digifile cardboard format. It includes the original full-color booklet.  Old and New Dreams was a jazz group that existed from 1976 to 1987, and was composed of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, trumpet player Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell.  A virtual reincarnation of Ornette Coleman's first ensembles, the cooperative Old and New Dreams brought together trumpeter Don Cherry, te…

The press release is disingenuous in describing "Forlorn Green" as "lo-fi": even if Jason Lescalleet's work involves tapeloops using cheap recording gear and "trashed" speakers, his digital reworking and mastering is painstakingly perfectionist ­ and perfect. Recorded in four different locations in the Boston area (a church, a gallery, an art school and the local Twisted Village record store) and crafted in Lescalleet's studio with what can only be described as loving care, the sonic alchemy of …

One of the central aesthetics of the Erstwhile label is the counterpositioning of electronic and acoustic improvisers. Rarely has that been more starkly, and beautifully, achieved than on the opening and closing tracks of eh by guitarist Stangl and turntablist/electronicist Dieb13 (Dieter Kovacic). Stangl is one of a handful of contemporary free improv musicians who happily forays into tonal, even melodic spheres, conjuring up a reduced version of John Fahey, perhaps. On "eeeh", his delicate str…

* Edition of 100 * While working on a filmmusic job, Bjorn Eriksson started to fool around with a philharmonic orchestra plugin, and created his own crazy jazz combo. Music Iinfluenced by his heroes Django Reinhardt, Eric Dolphy, Duke Ellington, Raymond Scott, Ennio Morricone, Universe Zero and many others. This collection of compositions could be a soundtrack for a East European saga or a French strange  detective serie.  Although The Easywood KIller is a solo project, there will be a live grou…

**Edition of 285 silk-screened wooden slipcase with inserts and a 6 postcards set. Liner notes by Michel Henritzi. An'archives presents three documents, three vinyl records carved by the illuminations of Masayoshi Urabe,  six performances engraved like epitaphs in the stone that covers the Living World. These are recordings made in small suburban venues in Japan where Urabe would play in front of a  meagre audience: the Bitches Brew in Yokohama, the Groove in Okinawa and the Gari Gari in Tokyo. …

** 2021 Stock ** Following in the footsteps of the landmark 1966 double-quartet recording by Joe Harriott and John Mayer, Indian born musician Amancio D’Silva produced some of the most adventurous and sophisticated recordings within the canon of ‘indo-jazz’, a term used to define a pioneering east meets west synthesis that reflected the shifting musical and cultural landscape of post-war Britain. An experiment which reached a pinnacle in 1972 with D’Silva’s seminal recording Dream Sequence by Co…

** 2021 Stock ** Two outstanding performers, Carlos Santana and Alice Coltrane, collaborated to record their fantastic trip through time called Illuminations. Santana's interest in the Indian culture and different musical styles led him to the musician Alice Coltrane.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London  Trumpeter/ flügelhornist Charles Tolliver often straddled the line between the lyricism of hard bop and the adventurous nature of the avant-garde. Released in 1975, Impact contained a stimulating progressive edge within an energetic large band (14 horns, eight strings, and rhythm section) format.  Tolliver's arrangements are consistently bright and build momentum, while the soloists are given sufficient room to manoeuvre throug…