Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Grey-area exact LP repro edition, originally released on Fahey's Takoma label in 1967. Charlie Nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, organic farmer, beekeeper and philosopher/clown Charles Martin Simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out the metal from American cars). The Psychedelic Saxophone Of Charlie Nothing made a minor splash in the European free jazz melting pot upon its initial release, but the album's non-dingulating psych sax improvisation, acc…

Limited to 500 copies, groundbreaking reissue for one of the best Sun Ra album... In the winter months of 1977-1978, philosopher, pianist and bandleader Sun Ra was in Italy. The Italian tour resulted in releases on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, all of which have long been out of print and all but impossible to find. This re-release capture a side of Sun Ra's work - small ensemble, close form, original composition, rather minimal - that is otherwise under-represented. Depending heavily on Ra's elect…

THE WIRE'S BEST OF 2010! Jailbreak s the duo of pedal steel-vocalist Heather Leigh and drummer Chris Corsano. The name foregrounds the kind of outlaw violence with which the two reformulate rock-roll instants by bringing free jazz fire power to amp-humping sex beats. Their musical alliance goes all the way back to the legendary Brattleboro Free Folk Fest, the birthplace of the 'New Weird America', where Corsano and his long-term saxophone partner Paul Flaherty joined Leigh and Christina C…

A pretty darn incredible record from Sun Ra -- with a soulful, spiritual approach that's missing from most of his other albums of the time! The album features Ra playing a good deal of organ (dubbed "intergalactic organ" in this case!) -- grooving soulfully on some short tracks that almost hit a soul jazz mode, and which recall the late 60s experiments of organist Freddie Roach.

Alto completes a discrete trilogy within JOE MCPHEE’s catalog of unaccompanied waxings (Tenor, 1977, and Soprano, 2007). Recorded live at a Lower East Side bar in 2009, McPhee's explorations on alto saxophone and clarinet are alternately fiery and contemplative, imbued with the masterful intelligence that's marked his work for over forty years. This is a limited edition of 525 copies on 180-gram vinyl, with a JUDITH LINDBLOOM silkscreen print on rice paper and liner notes by HANK SHTEAMER. Digit…

LP version. Includes voucher for free MP3 download of the whole album. This is the second full-length release by Norway's Bushman's Revenge (Even Helte Hermansen, Gard Nilssen, Rune Nergaard). You Lost Me At Hello shows a distinct development from their debut Cowboy Music (Jazzaway, 2007). Founded by Hermansen and Nilssen in 2003 in their hometown of Skien, a couple of hours from Oslo, the trio aim to combine the jazz/improv background of the rhythm section with the rock/metal background of lead…

gorgeous LP of this obscure live recording, an ethereal vortex of electric moon-sounding mandolin and slow bass (luca massolin), spacy keyboards (david vanzan), primitive astral soprano sax and voice (virginia genta). atmospheres for the end of the earthly. handmade collage cover art. limited edition of 280 numbered copies.

Marvellous Boy Calypso From West Africa HONEST JON'S RECORDS **** endlessly satisfying' (Boston Phoenix); 'Blending cheeky calypso with rocking highlife — and by turns breezy, wistful and downright uproarious' (Daily Telegraph); 'gems at every turn... weaving highlife, swing, military brass bands, Afro-Cuban jazz, into a hell of a compilation... Honest Jon's have added to the highest order of this simple music of heartbreaking celebration' (Brainwashed). The inter-war dance bands of British West…

Awesome new recordings from percussionist Chris Corsano using a single drum set augmented by various re-purposed metal objects, modified reed instruments and bowed strings stretched across drums."This all-acoustic solo outing--no electronics or overdubs--more or less further develops what Chris Corsano started on his 2006 recording, The Young Cricketer: one drum set augmented by various re-purposed metal objects, modified reed instruments and bowed strings stretched across drums. 43 minutes/19 t…

Music(s) is the intimist portrait of Japanese composer Otomo Yoshihide.Music(s) is the intimist portrait of Japanese composer Otomo Yoshihide.In 1990, he founded the mythic group 'Ground Zero' produced by John Zorn, and is one of the major players on the current Japanese scene. An adept of free jazz and noisy music, he travels around the globe with his various jazz ensembles as well as solo on guitar or with his astonishing turntables. This double DVD presents a talented artist through th…

restocked, very last around...3rd in a series of 3 solo one-sided LP (previous two on qbico)... this time Mats G on baritone sax render an homage to his own country leading sax player: Mr. Lars Gullin. (label press)

180 gram exact 1972 repro reissue. Featuring John Gilmore (tenor sax) and June Tyson (vocal). Tracks: "Universe In Blue Part I," "Universe In Blue Part II," "Blackman," "In A Blue Mood" and "Another Shade Of Blue." The Universe in Blue is a fantastic set. The title cut is just a slow blues soloing showcase with Sun Ra's "intergalactic space organ," trumpet (not sure who), John Gilmore's tenor sax, and back to Ra. June Tyson takes center stage for &"Blackman", giving a particularly impassione…

PAN presents a 2CD set from experimental composer/artist/multi-instrumentalist Eli Keszler. The first disc features two ensemble versions of Cold Pin (PAN 021LP), previously released in a 2011 LP of the same title on PAN, plus a 26-minute, previously-unreleased live ensemble recording (mixed sextet and piano quintet; these are captured in contrasting acoustical spaces). The personnel for all three tracks is Eli Keszler (drums, percussion, crotales, guitar); Ashley Paul (alto saxophone, bass…

Brud is a three volume compilation of recordings from 1995 to 2011 by Andre Vida, morphing seamlessly between a sense of total irreverence and the sublime. His spontaneous compositions and notated works are the angled mirrored counterparts of a transient saxophone driven performance language, drawing on elements of 1970s performance art, new music, improvisation cult, folk and pop hybrids, channeling them into asymmetrical tunes of feral beauty. BRUD traces the development of Vida's wayw…

Legendary recordings by Johansson and friends, precursor of today´s minimalistic impro. Includes 30 minutes solo by sax player Frippe Nordström. CD I recorded at Club Litfass, Berlin, 1968; CD 2, track 1 recorded at SR, Stockholm, 1970; CD 2, tracks 2-4 recorded at Club 7, Oslo, 1972.Sven-Åke Johansson, drums, voice; Norbert Eisbrenner, guitar, alto saxophone, voice; Bengt Nordstöm, tenor saxophone (CD2 track 1); Werner Götz bass (CD 1, CD2 track 1); Peter Dyck, cello (CD2 tracks 2-4).

"After the successful and exciting adventure with The Pyramids (3 fantastic albums issued in the 70's), Idris (who founded the aforementioned group) in 1979 formed Cultural Odyssey (which is still running), fresh from touring Africa and observing the interdisciplinary nature of African artistic culture. the music presented on this rocket is from the very 1st performance by this exciting new group, which took place in San Francisco (1980). strange enough it's also the very 1st LP under Idris Acka…

This is the second reissue from the Mali Kunkan label on Kindred Spirits. One of the rarest (that we know about) Malian records, Le Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou gets its first-ever reissue, with remastered audio and restored artwork. For fans of Kanaga de Mopti and the Super Djata Band. Kindred Spirits are proud to present to you this true West African gem. In 1977, the Malian government funded a series of LPs through its Mali Kunkan label. This series highlighted some of the great Malian orc…

Latest (and final) volume of the long dormant J.I. Collection - PSF's groundbreaking collection of rare Japanese free jazz recordings from the early 1970s! Kaoru Abe was easily the brightest shooting star of the late sixties and early seventies Japanese free jazz scene, a wilful iconoclast who specialized in solo improvisations on alto sax and bass clarinet that seemed to slice and dice the air, glittering with a dangerously honed edge. Abe would burn himself out by the late seventies (he…

This is another beautiful live document from the late starcrossed free saxophonist Kaoru Abe's peak period, three solo alto improvisations from '72 that work echoes of weird popular song and folk ghosts into some torrential throat action. Abe was always at his most exploratory when he was all alone in space and this is a thrilling document of a man liberated from any interactive concerns and free to follow the gush of his own muse. Highly recommended.

'Greg malcolm (guitars) and Eugene chadbourne (guitar). Sleeve design - Tomek Mirt. Basing on photo by Bruce Russell. Recorded by Dave Cooper. 33 RPM, black vinyl, 140g. Recorded on January 28, 2009 at Polytech Jazz School, Christchurch, New Zealand.' label info

Nate Wooley, trumpet. Christian Weber, bass. Paul Lytton, percussion. Recorded November 30, 2009 at Radio Studio Zürich, Switzerland by Martin Pearson "Five group compositions recorded in 2009 at Switzerland's Radio Studio Zurich by trumpeter Nate Wooley, bassist Christian Weber, and percussionist Paul Lytton, amazing cross-Atlantic improvisation. " Squidco

A lovely split, with Evan Parker improvising with live electronics by Walter Prati on the first side, and percussionist/composer Lukas Ligeti (son of composer György Ligeti) with João Orecchia (guitar, electronics) on the other side. 

Per Henrik Wallin, piano. Sven-Ake Johansson, drums, voice, trumpet, accordion. Plus Joe Williamson, doublebass on one CD. Unique release of a 4-CD box including rare recordings of swedish pioneers of free jazz and improvised music, as well as a 28-page booklet with extensive writings and photos, letters and drawings by the artists taking you on a historical, yet contemporary, ride through over thirty years of musical continuos development. This box honors and puts in to attention the gr…

Tres Cabeças Loucuras is the third album by Sao Paulo Underground. It's a very catchy, jazz + electronics album filled with sunny melodies, beats, noise, sounds and songs. The group formed around Rob Mazurek (cornet and electronics), a key player in the Chicago post rock/modern jazz scene, who has played with everyone from his own Exploding Star Orchestra and Chicago Underground projects to performing and/or recording with Tortoise, Jim O'Rourke, Pharoah Sanders, and many more and whose work ref…

A study of free-form improvisation, rhythm and language using vocalizations, cello and analog electronics. These recordings in two movements can be taken as, on the one hand, pieces for two voices and improvisation chamber orchestra (which is what the musicians felt throughout the recording session) and, on the other hand, pure free improvisation. Both voices in interaction, perpetually urging the other on, producing more than their simple addition, producing a third voice -- like a semi-au…

Triple LP version. Housed in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve with download card for the entire album. Jazzman Records presents the fourth volume in their Spiritual Jazz compilation series. It's well-known that throughout the 20th century, fed up with poor working conditions and racism in their home country, many American jazz musicians chose to leave the U.S. in order to live and work in Europe. What's less well-known is how their music developed and evolved during their time on the conti…

amazing 3xLP set: "Memorable and probably unrepeatable two qbico u-nites rec. in Detroit & Buffalo in 2006. worths mentioning: Perry Robinson jamming with Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisors, Muruga Free Funk Band in full glory with the lovely Belita Woods and members of P-Funk, like Louie "Babblin" Kabbabie from Lebanon or Treylewd, Perry too (audience got carried away and i saw people dancing on top of other people shoulders ?!) ! Odu Afrobeat Orchestra led by Fela's alumni Adeboye Adegben…

Gatefold double LP version. Esoteric, modal and deep jazz from the European underground, 1963-1972. At the end of the '50s, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue heralded the revelatory arrival of modal jazz. As the vibrations of these giant steps resonated across the world, European jazz musicians reassessed their bearings and began to steer a new course. Across the continent, they sent roots down into the rich soil of the European folk and Christian liturgical traditions, extended their music along a…

Deluxe gatefold double LP version with color inserts and on 180 gram vinyl. As the '60s progressed, cultural and political revolutions occurred both in the U.S. and in Europe. Jazz was both a victim and a savior, with radical developments in the music occurring on both continents. In the U.S., artists took control of their own musical destiny as small labels broke away from the mainstream, expressing new and creative visions of freedom and peace against a backdrop of civil unrest, repress…

Decades before his time, political and musical revolutionary, Sun Ra, developed a new plane of cultural existence where black people were all-powerful beings from outer space, sending their intergalactic message through jazz music. Recorded live in 1975 at Cleveland's legendary jazz club, the Smiling Dog Saloon, when Sun Ra and his Arkestra descended on the city for a week-long residency. You can imagine how the uninitiated's jaw must have dropped when Ra and his 15 musicians marched out onto th…

Norway's Smalltown Supersound label is just one of those imprints that you have to keep an eye on, because if not you're sure to miss out on some nugget of psyched avant-metal or North European disco that you'll be kicking yourself over neglecting in 10 years time. 'Smalltown Supersound On Fire' is a very handy and rather essential compendium of forthcoming releases on the label, including tracks from Arp, Meanderthals, Diskjokke and Tussle alongside remixes from the likes of Prins Thomas and Bj…

"Recorded in April of 2008, Weight/Counterweight, the new release by Bill Dixon marks his return to small group playing, his first trio since the Dixon/Taylor/Oxley Victoriaville recording. The group, assembled by Hall at Dixon's suggestion, marks a new direction in Dixon's instrumentation with no untreated trumpet whatsoever and a barrage on pitched and unpitched concert percussion creating landmark skeletal architecture which Dixon pushes out from into unmediated solos of gravity and we…

In some ways, Commitment was typical of many bands of their time. Between 1978 and 1984, they enjoyed a modest success by the subterranean standards of the Lower East Side. They struggled for gigs during the waning years of the New York loft scene, enjoyed higher profile gigs at several Kool Jazz Festivals, made one short European tour, and recorded one LP. But their music is more significant than this story might indicate. Hwang was among the first improvisers to emerge out of the Asia…

Brooklyn-based guitarist Ninni Morgia (Quivers, The Right Moves), in this occasion with multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, one of the most active and talented musicians of New York’s free jazz community, who has played, among others, with: Sun Ra, Sunny Murray, Test, Matthew Shipp, Other Dimensions In Music, Plastic Ono Band… and drummer/percussionist Jeff Arnal, create a beautiful mix of psychedelic free jazz and Indian raga with a wide range of instruments like thumb piano, kalimba, bells, g…

RESTOCKED! At the tail end of 2008, the folks at NoBusiness Records got in touch with us to propose the release of the last recorded work by the David S. Ware Quartet in an exclusive vinyl edition. Terms were met, authorization was given, and the gorgeous result is now available. The very last U.S. performance by the DSWQ (June 18, 2006 at the Vision Festival) was documented and released by AUM Fidelity on the CD Renunciation. David then brought the group overseas for one final European tour in …

Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke and Mats Gustafsson last convened for the monumentally noisy Diskaholics Anonymous LP, Weapons of Ass Destruction. Now the trio have returned to Smalltown Superjazz for yet more sonic carnage, this time joined by ace drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, guitarist Terrie Ex and bassist Massimo Pupillo. There's a tremendous breadth to the kind of ground covered by these musicians. At no point do you feel as if the ensemble is running out of ideas or stagnating on one particular …

Originally schooled in the foundations of hard bop, cornetist Rob Mazurek, quickly surpassed the form's conventional limitations; his multihued electro-acoustic work over the past two decades has subsequently drawn inspiration from numerous genres besides jazz. Mazurek's unfettered creativity and stalwart leadership skills have thereby cemented his reputation as a key figure in the Chicago scene—primarily as organizer of the venerable Chicago Underground Collective and several other innovative e…

With any sizeable Brötzmann group, the temptation is always there to compare it to his classic Machine Gun unit. This new tentet doesn’t match up to the unbridled ferocity of that earlier grouping, but then what has? Perhaps the greatest sea change since the heavy-drinking glory days of 1968 is that ecstatic playing is now as much an idiom as an instinctive response. For all its supposed iconoclastic freedom, this idiom now has its own traditions, its own heroes, and its own stock cliches. Youth…

Originally produced and issued by charles 'bobo' shaw himself, red, black & green, by the band "solidarity unit, inc." documents what happened at "the bag room" in st. louis, mo, the day jimi hendrix died.   shaw & the ten piece group produce a raw, teeming clattering sound, captured in a gloriously blunt low-res recording as stark as the b&w cover art.  lake & bowie were by this time already powerful soloists, & both declaim fervently and damn near relentlessly over shaw's swaggering themes. de…

Sun Ra was an extremely prolific artist and while hundreds of recordings exist of Sun Ra, there are only a handful where he can be heard playing solo. This amazing and rare solo performance recorded live in 1977 at the world-famous La Fenice opera house in Venice, and featuring Sun Ra playing a mix of standards as well as his own material on piano, is a rewarding journey into the repertoire of one of the most controversial and unorthodox musicians in the history of jazz.