Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Murmer (Patrick McGinley) is an american-born sound, performance, and radio artist based in europe since 1996. Since then he has been building a collection of found sounds and found objects that have become the basis of all his work. In 2002 he founded Framework, an organisation that produces a weekly field recording-themed radio show, broad- and podcasting around the world. In 2005, he began working closely with the artist-run organisation MoKS in southeast Estonia, relocating there permanently…

Yemenite-Jazz legend Tsvia Abarbanel, celebrated on this much anticipated 12" by Fortuna Records. Including two previously unreleased tracks! Throbbing spiritual jazz touched by ancient Yemenite tradition, these 1970 recordings are amongst the rarest of the rare. Until now! Privately pressed by Tsvia in 1970, this was the first ever attempt at combining traditional Yemenite compositions with Funk and Jazz.

Referred to an as 'American Iconoclast' by the New York Times, Roscoe Mitchell is an internationally recognized saxophonist, composer, and founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Discussions Orchestra is derived from several musical improvisations found on Roscoe Mitchell's Conversations with Kikanju Baku and Craig Taborn. The songs have been transcribed and performed by a twenty piece orchestra.

Drummer Hamid Drake has been a major voice in the generation of Chicagoans following the explosion of Mitchell and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He’s most known for a long association with saxophonist Fred Anderson and here makes his recording debut as a bandleader. He called together for the session a quartet of New York and Chicago saxophonists (Daniel Carter, Ernest Dawkins, Sabir Mateen and Greg Ward) and added the great young flutist Nicole Mitchell. The track…

Double CD Edition. Jazzman Record's latest examination of esoteric, modal, and progressive jazz of the 20th century has taken them to Japan. The liberating force of jazz has been created and felt all around the world, but few nations on earth embraced the jazz message with the passion and intensity of Japan. From the dawn of the jazz age to the present day, Japanese audiences have been renowned tastemakers, enthusiasts, and champions of the music -- in the 1980s, Japan was the biggest per …

You cannot judge a book by its cover. Maybe, but music fans somehow know that expression doesn't lend itself to album covers (in this case, CD covers). Look at the Blue Note Records covers from the 1960 sixties, Miles Davis' On The Corner (Columbia, 1972), or The Clash's London Calling (Columbia, 1979), and tell me you don't have a very good idea what you'll hear on those records. Covers matter, and more importantly they reveal essential information about the music found inside. Since 2004, the …

Harold Alexander was a competent saxophonist and dynamic flutist whose early and mid-’70s albums for Flying Dutchman and Atlantic blended originals, soul/jazz and R&B effectively. Alexander recorded three albums (including a live ‘Montreux Jazz Festival’ record in 1972) and contributed to various other recordings during his career.After a very brief period of recording music, from about 1967 to 1974, Alexander disappeared from the music scene. He is alleged to have commented on the music industr…

Keith Tippett piano & prepared piano. Michel Pilz bass clarinet. Paul Rogers doublebass seven strings. Jean-Noël Cognard drums & percussion. Unprecedented encounter between two talented free-improv musicians and two equally marvellous melodists: Keith Tippett on piano, prepared piano and Michel Pilz on bass clarinet. The quartet could be described as a union between two partnerships and is completed by Paul Rogers' unique playing on his seven-stringed double bass and Jean-Noël Cognard's atypical…

"The very first idea that came to my mind was, obviously, to record an album with my own music only. Soon enough I abandoned this idea having realized that a wider context, some clash, would work better. Even more importantly, it should be emphasized that the place of this instrument is here, amongst others. Alone, but simultaneously surrounded by a full orchestra of references and contexts.Therefore, it was my intention to turn to an artist who combines the two fascinations - different varietie…

Note from Barry Guy: Zlatko Kaučič invited Maya Homburger and myself to perform a concert in Ljubljana. This meeting (2016) proved to be convivial and communicative on many levels. Other than making music we discussed our individual situations and general views including the many pressing events that continue to accumulate in the world. Zlatko himself lives close to one of the “corridors” where displaced refugees make their agonisingly slow walk to a more hopeful future.  It is to these people t…

Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Bernd Rabe Baritone Saxophone, Vibraphone – Karl Blume (tracks: 1 to 8) Bass – Eberhard Pommerencke Drums – Helmut Perschke Guitar – Heinz Kitschenberg (tracks: 14 to 21) Piano, Accordion – Klaus Wunderlich (tracks: 1 to 8) Piano, Vibraphone – Gerd Mann (tracks: 9 to 21) New Jazz Group Hannover recorded November 1954 by the BFN (1, 2) December 1954 at Studio A, BFN Cologne (3 to 8) May 19, 1955 at Kongresshalle, Frankfurt/Main (9 to 13) May 30, 1955 at Volksbildungshei…

Awesome re-edition for this legendary 1973 spacey album, killer sound quality. One of a handful of albums Sun Ra released on Impulse in the early '70s, Astro-Black provides a comprehensive picture of where the Arkestra was around the time, drawing to the end of their ultra-free period and beginning to investigate some traditional jazz forms. The opening title track explores some of Ra's spacier side, sounding a bit like a calmer alternative to his well-known "Space Is the Place" with June Tyson'…

Never one to shy away from unusual projects, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm set out into the mosquito-infested swamps of Florida's Everglades in search of a host of amphibious collaborators. In the night air, he bowed and plucked in conversation with the environment, especially the vocalizing frogs, which seemed to take him on as an exotic member of their own. Impeccably documented by the experienced soundscape artist and field recordist Gustavo Matamoros, working like a perverse herpetologist, Lonbe…

** 2012 Audiophile Remastered Edition of 500 copies with Original 3page-Multi Fold Out Cover, long out of print, few copies available ** An early session from German pianist Wolfgang Dauner – one with a sound that's every bit as great as you'd expect from the title! The "dream talk" component here is one that comes from Dauner's gentle, yet modern approach to the keys – one that's clearly learning lessons from 50s modernists like George Russell or Bill Evans, but which is stretching out here in …

At Last! Intents And Purposes, revered as Bill Dixon's singular masterpiece, has been lovingly remastered and reissued on LP by the ever lucent Superior Viaduct. Visionary, dark and mysterious, the late trumpet innovator's magnum opus is not only Dixon's defining statement as a composer, but also one of the most luminous moments in the history of avant-garde jazz."Combining orchestral timbres with free jazz intensity, Dixon leads a ten-piece ensemble including such heavyweights as Byard Lancaste…

"FPE Records is thrilled to release Intergalactic Beings, Nicole Mitchell's second avant-jazz suite based on the Xenogenesis novels of Octavia Butler, recorded live on April 30, 2010, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Black Earth Ensemble features a cast of Chicago's most respected players and improvisers. This is their eighth album, and their first to see release on vinyl."

Sensuous dreamscapes to transport the listener to the lush tropical environs of the outer reaches of the omniverse. Your choice of three colorful inter-stellar saucers or two compact saucers of "Exotic-Ra" bringing you to a lush cocktail party where space is the place. All packaged in a beautiful Chesley Bonestell adorned gatefold package with two sets of extensive notes! Sun Ra. Exotica. Incongruous? Listening to the 25 tracks herein will showcase that Sun Ra was, indeed, an Exoticat of sorts, …

More unearthed tape from a jazz icon! This second volume of Jazz Mill recordings shows Barney firmly at the top of his game. Once again, Barney Kessel and the Jazz Millers (pianist Pete Jolly, drummer Art Kile, and bassist Gene Stoffell) interpret a variety of standards from The Great American Songbook and each arrangement serves to demonstrate the group’s superb chops and collective creativity. In “Mean to Me,” a vintage standard from 1929, a high velocity rendition of Harold Arlen’s “Let’s Fal…

Live at Molde International Jazz Festival 2015. All music by James Blood Ulmer. Viking jazz band The Thing team up with one of the legendary men of jazz and blues. Guitarist and singer Ulmer combines (free) jazz, blues, funk, and rock -- always on the edge, melting it to some kind of free funk... In 1980, Ulmer recorded the genre milestone No Wave with John Zorn and Pharoah Sanders. Personnel: James Blood Ulmer - guitar; Mats Gustafsson - tenor and baritone saxophones; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten …

From deep within the Australian Outback comes Yaraandoo, the 40,000 year-old sound of antediluvian Aboriginal folklore channeled through Mellotron, hypnotic washes of Moog oscillations, Bamboo flutes and tape delay. Welcome to the unearthed, unheard of and indefinable genre of Australian Dreamtime Psych. Re-presented for the first time, The Roundtable announces a much-anticipated reissue of this mythical Australian Lo-fi concept recording composed by Jazz guitarist Rob Thomsett. Working in a …

Mule Musiq present the first vinyl reissue of Fumio Itabashi's Nature, originally released in 1979. The legendary Japanese jazz pianist's first solo record ever, Nature was recorded at Nippon Columbia's first studio in Tokyo from March 13-15 in the year of its release. It features Itabashi making feverish love with the piano and he shares the studio with the great bass players Hideaki Mochizuki and Koichi Yamazaki, drummers Kenichi Kameyama and Ryojiro Furusawa, soprano saxophonist Yoshio Oto…

**Very Last Copies - Original 1983 copies of this obscure classic, slightly warped** few copies available. Over the last decade we’ve begun to form an image of Italy’s long neglected musical avant-garde. This movement, with artifacts stretching from the mid-1960’s to today, remained landlocked for decades, almost entirely unheard beyond the country of its birth. With a small number of exceptions, despite the remarkable creative diversity reissue culture has managed to represent, the majorit…

**3 LP bundle** Pharoah Sanders is Spiritual Jazz, is Devotional Music, is the greatest living link between John Coltrane, Kamasi Washington, and the next generation of this great lineage. His Tenor Sound, his Singing Voice, his compositions, and his recordings have already stood the test of time, in his time, endured, ever-aged so finely, and have now (in my opinion) surpassed critique. Pharoah Sanders is a giant, an innovator, colorful, prayerful, and worthy of all our attention, celebration, …

Doxy present a reissue of Ahmed Abdul-Malik's The Eastern Moods Of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, originally released in 1962. One of the most compelling albums ever recorded by Ahmed Abdul-Malik, the set's got a style that's very strongly in keeping with the "eastern moods" of the title - with less of a jazz sound than some of Abdul Malik's other work, and more spare, exotic instrumentation overall. The group on the set is a trio - Ahmed on bass and oud, Bilal Abdurrahman on alto, Korean reed flute, …

Last copies, sold out at source. Replica reissue of one of the rarest free jazz LP ever made: Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe's earthshattering Kaitai Teki Kōkan. Supposedly released in a limited run of 100 copies in 1970, this incredibly rare record igot finally  its first vinyl reissue via Craftman Records. The album features a recording of the duo’s live performance at the Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall in Shinjuku on June 28th, 1970. The reissue is pressed on 180g vinyl and replicates …

2026 Repress. Guitarist Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi (1932-1991) was a towering leader in the Japanese jazz world. His first influence was Lennie Tristano, but through the 1960s and 1970s he explored and pushed the boundaries in free form jazz, leading a group called New Direction, among others. Ever a fighting spirit, in 1982, shortly after recovering from a life-threatening medical condition and surgery, Takayanagi decided to take on a challenging task for any guitarist: To record an entire solo…

Pheon is the new label started by Jonny Trunk with James Pianta from Votary / Roundtable. Both have a love of obscure library music, film music and jazz. Using those musical fields as a starting point, the label will be issuing very limited, vinyl only short runs of desirable and obscure LPs, compilations and new old discoveries. The third Pheon Records LP release is the 1969 debut by Indian jazz guitar legend Amancio D’Silva. A perfect storm of amazing, accessible British jazz and incredi…

**very last copie** Limited numbered 1/99 only with hand-made foder cover, printed labels and black inner sleeves! dj qbico mix a selection of very rare afro funk jazz soul and ethnic music from Burundi. Ethio-Jazz flourishes all over, reminding to me that amazing LP from Sudan by Saif Abu-Bakr al Iqarib

Limited numbered 1/70 only with hand-made foder cover, printed labels and black inner sleeves! dj qbico mix a selection of very rare/obscure 45 from Panama, none of these tracks had been reissued or appears on any compilations

Limited and numbered 1/75 only with folder hand-made cover, printed labels. A spectacular selection of of previously unheard music from Africa, painstakingly constructed and brought to life/compiled over a number of rare & obscure 60s and 70s African records from Dj Qbico collection, none of these tracks or LP reissued yet. Six foundational compilation  available on vinyl for the first time ever: Dj Qbico plays the afro psychedelic xholDj Qbico plays the afro funkDj Qbico plays the afro boogieDj…

**very last copies** Limited numbered 1/70 only with hand-made foder cover, printed labels and black inner sleeves! dj qbico mix a selection of very rare/obscure 45 from Us, none of these tracks had been reissued or appears on any compilations

Three young musicians team up to form this exciting trio. Personnel: Mette Rasmussen - alto saxophone; Tashi Dorji - guitar; Tyler Damon - drums.

Factory pressed double CD in printed triple panel Ekopack cardboard sleeve. Derek Bailey : guitar. Simon H. Fell : double bass. Will Gaines : tap dance. Mark Wastell : violoncello. Recorded live at The Klinker, London on Thursday 24th August 2000. Compèred by Matt Scott. Original DAT recording by Tim Fletcher.Mixed and mastered by Simon H. Fell. Produced by Mark Wastell. One of the special qualities of improvisation is the array of responses musicians and performers have to the environment …

**Edition of 110 copies only** A beautifully conceived record, housed in a silkscreend slip-in cover with a paste on picture – and one that sounds equally beautiful too – a super limited picture disc that features the mighty Mats Gustafsson working on bass sax and live electronics – while getting some heavy accompaniment from the flaming drums of Didi Kern (of Bulbul fame) The music is kind of a long, sonic text – with the drums almost always pointing forward with a pulsating vibe, which frees …

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 featur…

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…

Proton Pump is a milestone achievement in the winding career of alto saxophonist, gibberish shrieker and jazz legend Akira Sakata. It’s a lightning-fast, real-time cut-up of melody and bare-knuckle action that swings between the avant garde and hardcore be-bop. Sakata is backed by his famed rhythm crew Chikamorachi -- drummer Chris Corsano and acoustic bassist Darin Gray -- and joined by composer and pianist Masahiko Satoh. Sakata and Satoh emerged out of the late-1960s Tokyo jazz scene -- S…

Brookland Suite is inspired by Micha Acher's travels to New Orleans and Johannes Enders's admiration for the soundscapes of Gil Evans. The unique instrumentation and the rough sound make Brookland a very special suite for lovers of deep sounds. Johannes Enders is a saxophone player with his own distinguished voice, and a rich international performing experience, covering gigs with artists as diverse as Donald Byrd, Jeff Watts, Roy Hargrove, Vincent Herring, George Cables, Lester Bowie, and Ja…

It's been 6 years since Ingar Zachs critically acclaimed solo album; M.O.S. (SOFA 532). On his 5th album, Le Stanze, Ingar Zach continues to develop his unique, personal music, also this time with percussion and electronics. The four compositions show an highly original artist who constantly finds new surprising possibilities in the world of percussion. The music is recorded in a small church in Urueña in Spain and in his studio in Madrid. The result is a brilliant refined album which again c…

George Khan could be called a forgotten pioneer of the London free music scenes, except that anyone who has heard or seen or met him could surely never forget him. A superb saxophonist and flautist, as well as one of the nicest and most laid-back people - he is capable of outputting an apparently endless stream of what is generally called Fire Music. Meeting up with Terry Day in the mid-1960s, Khan became a member of the People Band, and since then has mostly combined his musical and theatr…