Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

The first half of the decade has seen cornet virtuoso and composer Rob Mazurek through significant achievements and personal losses, often linked inextricably through his creative processes. In and around the passing of his mentor and colleague, the trumpeter Bill Dixon in 2010 and his mother in 2013, Mazurek has found inspirations that are unique even for an innovator of his caliber. Mazurek and Dixon worked closely in achieving a deeper understanding of the pure tone of the trumpet (or cornet,…

A new release on Hideaki Shimada (Agencement) label. It is new title after 13 years! Double CD of subtle-Tokyo Group improvisations by Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar), Junji Hirose (tenor sax), Hideo Ikegami (contrabass), Ko Ishikawa (sho), Kazushige Kinoshita (violin), Toshihiro Koike (trombone), Madoka Kouno (tape recorders), Maresuke (contraviola), Kenichi Matsumoto (tenor sax), Hideaki Shimada (violin)Manabu Suzuki (electronics), and Daysuke Takaoka (tuba).Recorded two concerts with septet of differ…

Recorded at Tonic, Norfolk St., New York, 17 & 19 April 2001Alto Saxophone – John Zorn (tracks: 6)Cello [Violoncello] – Mark WastellDouble Bass – Simon H. FellHarp – Rhodri Davies

This marvellous release from Mark Wastell’s Confront label documents a meeting of these three heavy hitters convened at Dalston’s Cafe Oto, last March. This was the first time all three had played together, although, as John Eyles remarks in his liner notes, they had all worked with each other, before, in outfits such as Powelchsel (Butcher and Beins), The Sealed Knot (Beins and Wastell) and Chris Burn’s Ensemble (Wastell and Butcher). This familiarity, combined with rigour and expertise o…

The trio of Chris Corsano (drums), Okkyung Lee (cello) and Bill Nace (guitar) performing live at John Zorn's NYC improv club The Stone in 2014, three free improvising titans of the modern age in a very limited LP

Found in the archives of FMP! The very first - never released - recordings of the Schlippenbach Trio! Alexander von Schlippenbach, piano, Evan Parker, tenor and soprano saxophone, Paul Lovens, drums. Recorded by an unknown engineer april 2nd 1972 during the Workshop Freie Musik at the Acadamy of the Arts, Berlin. All music by Parker, Von Schlippenbach, Lovens. Mastering by Olaf Rupp & Martin Siewert. Produced by Jost Gebers.

Never-heard studio music from the legendary Sun Ra – material recorded right around the same time as the unique Strange Strings session – and which really stands as a "part 2" to that amazing record! The sound is very loose and open, but quite spiritual too – and the record is definitely one of the most unique Sun Ra sessions ever heard. Within Sun Ra’s vast-as-outer-space discography, the album that orbits the furthest away from the known jazz universe is Strange Strings. Calling it a “st…

If anybody deserves to be called a living legend in Norwegian free jazz it must surely be saxophone, flute and clarinet player Frode Gjerstad. Born in 1948 in Stavanger, he has since the early 80s been central on more than fifty records and played with a number of free jazz players such as Evan Parker, Johnny Dyani, John Stevens, Derek Bailey, Barry Guy, Bobby Bradford, Paul Rutherford, Hamid Drake, William Parker, Peter Brötzmann, John Edwards, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Han Bennink and several…

"Det Flygande Barnet" is a theatre piece that has its premiere performance on 7th February at Orionteatern in Stockholm, Sweden. The piece will run through March and Fire! will be performing live as an important part of the piece. This 7" is being released as a souvenir in a limited edition of 700. Guests on this 7" is Mariam Wallentin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Fire! Orchestra) and David Sandström from legendary hardcore punk group Refused. There might be a couple more singles from this th…

Schlippenbach Trio's magic chemistry is founded on years of working together, both on intuitive listening and interaction – the ability to respond in an instant – andon the match between their characters, each adding to the whole as well as challenging each other – a stroke of fortune. Alexander von Schlippenbach likes to talk about the 'impetus of music making'. Impetus means drive, initiative, force, momentum, temperament. Three 'travelling fellows' on a Winterreise. The motto is: never …

The brilliant sax player John Butcher continues to expand the boundaries of free improvisation. This is his latest solo release. An inexhaustible outpouring of ideas blends with phantasmagoric, wondrous technique to create a richly colored, dynamic world of sound. Not only is this John Butcher's greatest masterpiece, but as a solo saxophone album it is a valuable document that can even be said to rank alongside Evan Parker's 'Monoceros''. The 3 pieces were performed at Shimanouchi Church …

A superb collection of modern jazz, recorded in 1973 and available for the first time. The pressing is limited to only 35 copies on a one-sided picture disc with a paste-on back (photos & notes).

Previously only available on CD, these amazing jazz compositions with a '60s vibe were recorded at NYC's Air Studio in 1981. The musicians are Charles Tyler (alto & baritone sax), Wilber Morris (bass) and drummer Denis "Jazz" Charles. The pressing is limited to only 70 copies with a paste-on cover (front and back with notes).

Available for the first time, this LP offers two beautiful side-long compositions, recorded live at th Jazztage in Leverkusen, Germany 1986. The musicians are Billy Bang (violin), Roy Campbell Jr. (trumpet), Oscar Sanders (guitar), William Parker (bass) and Zen Matsuura (drums). Limited editions of only 70 copies with paste-on cover (front and back with notes).

Matsuli Music continues its reissue program of rare indigenous afro-jazz sounds from South Africa with the release of Sowetan group Batsumi's self-titled debut from 1974. The reissue has been lovingly re-mastered from the original tapes and features material compiled on the recent Next Stop Soweto series from Strut. The album arrived amidst a period of intense political, intellectual and artistic ferment stimulated in large part by the teachings of Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement…

Recorded mostly in the early'60s with Ra, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, James Jacson, Nimrod Hunt and Thea Barbara, Space Probe explores stripped back forms and colour combinations that are far from jazz Ð or that attempt, very successfully, to take jazz into wholly new territories. Especially notable is the extraordinary Conversation Of J.P. for piano and percussion which, along with the opening track - an 18-minute Moog solo, probably recorded in 1970, just after Ra had newly acquired the…

Live recordings from Sun Ra Solar-Myth and Intergalactic Arkestras performing live at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival from 1972-74, well-recorded and great performances in this first issue of these great concerts.  "Recorded live at the Ann Arbor Blues And Jazz Festival 1972-73-74. The classic big band with a full complement of singers, Tracks 1 -10 (1972) feature the great "Space is the Place Suite". After the first few minutes the sound is surprisingly good with great drums throughout; cry…

A Saturn release from the 1960's featuring a wide-range of pieces from studio recordings, rehearsals, and live concerts that are all heart-felt and made in the traditional Sun Ra style, starting with eight delirious minutes of kora and piano frame -- almost certainly the Strange Strings instruments, whatever they were. And then Ra's signature clavinet of the period and an unidentifiable double-reed instrument, probably played by Marshall Allen. Enter the xylophone. I sense you're getting the …

In 1996, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Joe McPhee's first solo release, McPhee recorded this remarkable album of solo reeds, pocket cornet, and electronics, using overdubbing to create gripping music including an homage to Miles Davis and unique versions of standards. "For me, 1996 was an important transitional year in which I decided to pursue what I called Project Dream Keeper. The goal, to begin realizing projects which had been shelved for years. One such project was to produce a s…

"Reissue as part of the 40th anniversary of Hat Hut Records. What we have here is a one-nighter by the Steve Lacy Quartet at Paris' Sunset Club...The four members of the quartet get a chance to stretch out and you can feel the club energy clearly in the recording - it's a good night at the Sunset...in this era of homogenization - of jazz players who are filled with technique but have gotten their sound from textbooks - there is not enough attention that can be focused on an uncompromising jazz i…

"The enthusiasm of the Paris audience, the strong following the Aylershad in France does not come as a total surprise, For, as the musician and his brother explained in the Down Beat story: if you really understoodthe message of Sidney Bechet, you should have no difficulty to this newkind of free spiritual."-Peter Niklas Wilson "The two concerts presented on this disc represent two of the finest dates of Albert Ayler's European tour of 1966. The band -- with brother, Don, on trumpet, violinist M…

Dale Cooper Quartet and The Dictaphones are back with their third album called "Quatorze Pièces de Menace". This new full-length of the cult French Dark Jazz collective is the follow up of the highly acclaimed 2011 output "Métamanoir" - the second release for the German experimental music label Denovali. Halfway from their debut "Parole de Navarre"'s ambient and drone driven soundscapes and the more orchestrated "Métamanoir", this new collection of tracks is following their quest for dreamy but …

"Is there a better all-around bassist with a bow than Barry Guy? That query may scream sycophantic hyperbole, but in taking stock of the British improviser's discography it's an interrogative that can't help but manifest repeatedly. On Guy's end the distinction of best isn't even a peripheral consideration or goal. He's placed his instrument in near-countless contexts, bringing to it a perfect sense of pitch and dynamics. Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett is right in line with that sterling…

One of two different sets, along with "Two City Blues 1", recorded on one intense night at Tokyo's Shinjuku Pit Inn. A trio of three towering figures, German free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann, Japanese avant-garde wizard Keiji Haino, and wildly versatile American composer and musician Jim O'Rourke, recorded by Yasuo Fujimura on November 23, 2010. Brötzmann: alto and tenor saxophones, tarogato, and clarinet; Haino: guitar, voice, shamisen; O'Rourke: guitar.

For their 3rd album together, the trio of saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble are caught live at the 2013 Ljubljana Jazz Festival for three blistering works of free improvisation. This is the second album by the Peter Brotzmann trio with John Edwards and Steve Noble, following “The Worse the Better” (they’re also together in a third one, “Mental Shake”, but with the addition of Jason Adasiewicz and his vibraphone). And just like that first opus, recorded …

housed in a thick, embossed gatefold sleeve. Subtitle: Esoteric, Modal and Deep Jazz from Around the World, 1961-79. Until it was swept aside by the pop explosion of the 1960s, jazz was the most popular modern sound on earth. From the New World and the Caribbean to Africa, across the Soviet Bloc and the British Empire to the Far East, jazz music was embraced, adopted, played and enjoyed. Having examined spiritual jazz as it was expressed in the U.S., and followed its messengers and influen…

Outstanding!! A confirmation of their ascension to the highest level of improvising ensembles, Konstrukt recently shared the stage with such names as Evan Parker, Marshall Allen, Joe McPhee and Peter Brotzmann showing their great ability to adjust their instantly composed music to the presence of a guest. And we can only say that this latest collaboration with the legendary American double bassist William Parker is another evidence of their prowess. The live recording of their show at NazÄ…

Paal Nilssen-Love has been one of the world's most prolific and active musicians that came out of Norway for the last 20 years. With thousands of gigs and hundreds of recordings the drummer is known for bands like The Thing, OffOnOff, Ballister, Hairy Bones, Chicago Tentet, and Original Silence, as well as collaborations with musicians like Arto Lindsay, Otomo Yoshihide, Akira Sakata, Ken Vandermark, Jim O'Rourke, Peter Brötzmann, Thurston Moore, Michiyo Yagi and many others. In 2013 Nils…

Boxset with the six Perigeo original RCA albums ("Azimut", "Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere", "Genealogia", "La valle dei templi", "Non è poi così lontano", "Live at Montreux"), the double album "Live in Italy 1976", released on Contempo label and one DVD with three live shows and an interview, Comes with a 52 colour pages book which features a new and detailed history of the band throughout their discography, written by Marco Giorgi with really rare photos.

Cross-pollinating the wants lists of art/jazz/print and architecture enthusiasts this seldom sighted 45 single is regarded as the rarest “lost” recording by American jazz trumpeter and global communal music missionary Don Cherry as he collaborates with French piano improv genius François Tusques. A missing link in the pre-formative years of improvised jazz this mythical private pressing unites two of the key exponents of both American and French free jazz – two entirely independent musical art f…

Limited to only 35 hand-numbered copies on black vinyl with a paste-on cover. Great previously unissued recordings from Mr. Roy Brooks and his Artistic Truth, live at the Detroit Jazz Fest!. Available here for the first time.

The high impact duo of Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) has been working together at an accelerated rate since 2001, and they have put out seven albums of high octane improvised music together since then. Released now- their eighth document and the first to include guests. "Extended Duos" is a six CD, 1 DVD tour de force featuring Mick Beck (reeds), Tamaya Honda (drums), Jim O'Rourke (guitar), Akira Sakata (reeds), Masahiko Satoh (piano), and Michiyo Yagi (koto)- as wel…

A collection of solo pieces from forward-thinking French soprano saxophonist Michel Doneda, using extended techniques and utilizing every inch of the horn, creating unconventional and captivating sonic expressions from the instrument. M. Doneda, soprano saxophone, born in 1954, comes from the French South-West. He is a self-taught musician.In 1980 he founded in Toulouse a reed trio: HIC ET NUNC, a group that toured quite a lot in France, playing mostly improvised music. At the same time he fo…

Guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques. Though they’ve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, …

"In 1972, Sun Ra inked a high-profile deal with ABC / Impulse, bringing his recorded work to the widest audience he’d had to date. A slew of Saturn back catalog titles and two newly-recorded albums (Astro Black, Pathways To Unknown Worlds) were issued before ABC cancelled the contract, dumped the records into the cut-out bins, and left the unreleased albums to languish. Now, over four decades later, Roaratorio is proud to offer one of the lost Impulse recordings for the first time. Sign…

"One of Cecil Taylor's earliest recordings, Looking Ahead! (1959) does just that while still keeping several toes in the tradition. It's an amazing document of a talent fairly straining at the reins, a meteor about to burst onto the jazz scene and render it forever changed. Looking Ahead! is a vital recording from the nascence of one of the towering geniuses of modern music and belongs in any jazz fan's collection." --AllMusic

Jazz Advance is the debut album by pianist Cecil Taylor recorded for the Transition label on September 14, 1956. The album features performances by Taylor with Buell Neidlinger, Dennis Charles and Steve Lacy. "Though many did not understand his approach at the time, the passing years temper scathing criticism, and you can easily appreciate what he is accomplishing... With Jazz Advance, the revolution commenced, Taylor was setting the pace, and the improvised music world has never been the sam…

Jazz Advance is the debut album by pianist Cecil Taylor recorded for the Transition label on September 14, 1956. The album features performances by Taylor with Buell Neidlinger, Dennis Charles and Steve Lacy. "Though many did not understand his approach at the time, the passing years temper scathing criticism, and you can easily appreciate what he is accomplishing... With Jazz Advance, the revolution commenced, Taylor was setting the pace, and the improvised music world has never been the sam…

12-string alchemy from the wilderness of Western MA, Pasquarosa's compositions trans¬x with hypnotic ¬finger picked melodies of a true occult nature. Known for his work under the Crystalline Roses moniker, his acoustic playing resounds with mysticism and unknown pleasures.

Ethnic Expressions by Roy Brooks & the Artistic Truth is one of two recordings drum master Roy Brooks cut for the tiny Afrocentric New York imprint Im-Hotep. Released in 1973, it has been one of the most sought-after "Holy Grail" recordings on the collector's market, with copies selling at auction for over $1,200. The reason is not merely its rarity, but the stellar quality of its music and the focus of its vision reinventing the unity of African-American self-determination through music. Record…