Jazz /
'66 - '76
Hugh Masekela was one of the world’s finest and most distinctive horn players, a musical celebrity who built up a dedicated global following thanks to his unique blend of jazz, South African styles, and music from across the African continent and diaspora. The albums that Masekela recorded in this period, from 1966 to 1976, were impressively varied. He was already a fine horn player and powerful singer, and his songs ranged from exquisite to angry and experimental. It may seem extraordinary that…
Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk
Jeanne Dielman presents a reissue of Steve Lacy's Reflections, originally released on New Jazz in 1959. The legendary reeds-man Steve Lacy takes on the brilliant compositions of Thelonious Monk. Reflections is a glorious quartet session with Lacy on soprano sax, accompanied by the great Mal Waldron on piano, as worthy a pianist to take on the tunes of Monk as one could imagine, along with Buell Neidlinger on bass, and the amazing Elvin Jones on the trap kit. Though it's only Lacy's second record…
Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe - Fragments of Music,
"Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe is a powerful and often ignored recording from the Albert Ayler catalog. It is a prophetic statement dealing with guilt, confusion, sorrow, and hopes of redemption. A powerful rhythm section of Bobby Few on piano, Stafford James and James Folwell on bass, (Folwell on electric fender bass), and Muhammad Ali on drums manage to take a backseat to the prominent vocals of Ayler's business associate and girlfriend Mary Parks, listed on the record as Mary Mar…
Cheol-Kkot-Sae (Steel.Flower.Bird)
*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Cellist Okkyung Lee explores her Korean roots in an amazing long-form composition combining electronics, improvisation, composed melodies and noise with Korean traditional music, performed with the superb ensemble of John Edwards (bass), Ches Smith (drums), John Butcher (sax), Jae Hyo Chang (Korean percussion), Song Hee Kwon (Pansori singing), and Lasse Marhaug (electronics).
The piece unfolds like a ritual, making these disparate and unusual pairings seem t…
Jazz Liisa 17
In January 1973 an impromptu supergroup took over the airwaves on the Jazz Liisa series. Saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, pianist Esa Helasvuo, join bassist Teppo Hauta-Aho and drummer Edward Vesala in a special one-of-a-kind show of contemporary, revolutionary jazz.
Jazz Liisa 18
The final part of the Jazz Liisa series sees the extraordinary cult percussion artist Edward Vesala lead a 9-piece ensemble. Recorded in 1974, shortly before the recording of his legendary Nan Madol album, this is a rare chance to hear Vesala live on air during his early creative period.
Disarm
"Thurston Moore brings [his] Rock n’ Roll consciousness to a series of free-improvisations with Polish experimental drummer Adam Gołębiewski. Indeed there is no doubt that they were channeling the passion, emotional intensity and the totality of the experience in the halls of Warsaw and Gołębiewski’s hometown, Poznan, in May 2014, when these sessions were recorded. Moore and Gołębiewski met and played together for the first time in 2013, in a trio with Yoko Ono. Gołębiewski had already played wi…
Live At Islington Mill
**Limited edition of 100 copies only on Green vinyl** Comes with one insert. Backwards proudly presents a new Konstrukt vinyl release! Live at Islington Mill finds Konstrukt working with 2 amazing guest artists Graham Massey (of 808 State) and David McLean (of the Tombed Visions label). This live recording from last year finds the Turkish group and their guests filtering free jazz through a 70’s era-Miles approach. Konstrukt has been making a name for themselves for a quite a while now with an i…
Trusciant
The second and last Il Baricentro album reinforces the jazz-fusion trend that had already been dominantly relevant for the band's debut effort. Here, in "Trusciant", it is quite clear that the combo led by the Boccuzzi brothers has a strong focus on the funky jazz framework that was at the moment functioning in the limelight of American NE and NW coasts' musical scenes. The resulting sonic amalgam is adequately augmented with an exotic swing by two guest percussionists, which help Il Baricentro …
Brand
“Brand” is the new trio of Gary Smith (guitar), Silvia Kastel (voice and synth), Ninni Morgia (guitar). On this recording Gary Smith produces the playing for which he’s considered a master of avant guitar: multiple layering, complex grainy textures, dense counterpoint, influences of birdsong. Fused with the guitar of Ninni Morgia, which floats between minimal movements of primordial electronics, pre-war slide blues and Hendrix-esque feedback. Over, and blending with them, Silvia Kastel’s moaning…
Sound Gates
Guitarist Ninni Morgia, after playing with countless improvisers such as Peter Evans, Daniel Carter, William Parker and lots others, is here in a duo together with master Italian drummer and percussionist Marcello Magliocchi. Marcello Magliocchi has been active since the early 70s and has played and recorded with amazing artists like Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Peter Kowald, Mal Waldron, John Tchicai, Joelle Leandre and countless others. He also put out his work on Andrea Centazzo’s Ictus label and…
Noth
Seminal NYC ensemble Zs present their first release on Social Noise: the label dedicated to documenting a career in telepathic collaboration. Noth was recorded live at Cafe Oto in London in April 2017 and, in their usual maximalist (un)convention, features Sam Hillmer on tenor sax, Patrick Higgins on guitar and electronics, Greg Fox on drums and electronics, and Michael Beharie on electronics. Frenetic, impassioned, intentional and above-all connective improv explorations intended to cause neuro…
A History of Nothing
Great dedicated music by four strong individual players, brought together by Rodrigo Amado -- intense communication with room for outbreaking solo-parts but always held together through a vision of playing together, all the time exiting and interwoven with beautiful melodies. Personnel: Rodrigo Amado - tenor saxophone; Joe McPhee - pocket trumpet, soprano saxophone; Kent Kessler - double bass; Chris Corsano - drums.
Summun Bukmun Umyun
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, and
enthu…
Risc
With all the projects Peter Brötzmann is currently working on, Full Blast -- with the precise and dynamic Swiss rhythm section of Marino Pliakas and Michael Wertmüller -- is the most consistent and the longest-running. Their fifth album finds the band in a studio again, with time and the desire to try something new. Seven compositions in the distinctive, strong Full Blast nature get an exciting electronic treatment by Michael Wertmüller (with electronics by Gerd Rische, recorded months before hi…
International New Jazz Meeting Burg Altena 1972-1973
Box Set with 8 CDs of exciting and adventurous New Jazz recorded live at the Altena New Jazz Meetings from 1972 and 1973. More than 8 hours of music recorded live at the Altena Castle, West Germany. Two 28-page booklets with concert pictures, flyers and newspaper clippings (in German and English). Includes complete performances and improvisations by Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath, Michal Urbaniak Group, Phil Woods, Wolfgang Dauner’s Et Cetera and many more! Read more at: https://www.bear…
from the German Jazz Festival 1964
CD digipack incl.24-page booklet. Unreleased live recordings from the 9th German Jazz Festival 1964 in Frankfurt am Main! Apart from well-known bands such as the Jazzensemble des Hessischen Rundfunks and the Klaus Doldinger Quartet, the German Jazz Festival 1964 focussed on jazz from our Eastern neighbouring countries, here represented by the Zagreb Jazz Quartet from Jugoslavia. Saxophonists Karl Drevo, Emil Mangelsdorff and Joki Freund also played an important part and are featured in this com…
Live In San Francisco
A great counterpart to some of Archie Shepp's studio albums for Impulse – a live date recorded in San Francisco, with a slightly freer, sharper edge! The sound is almost free at times, but always with that strong sense of focus that Archie brought to his brilliant work of the time – and the group's a well-honed ensemble who really understand each others motivations and inspirations – Roswell Rudd on trombone, Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell on bass, and Beaver Harris on drums – all almost worki…
Tomasz Stanko & Adam Makowicz Unit
A fantastic electric session from the 70s Polish scene – a record that not only features freewheeling trumpet from Tomasz Stanko, and sweet Fender Rhodes from Adam Mackowicz, but also includes some very inventive work on drums and percussion from the great Czelaw Bartkowski! All three players are at the top of their game here – artists who have a strong knowledge of the outside territory of jazz, but also often work a bit more inside – so that their music here can be open and exploratory, but al…
Wahoo!
A fiery, raw burst of fusion jazz played by a large group with incendiary energy, Eero Koivistoinen’s commanding saxophone controlling the chaos! Don't be put off by the long name, or the overuse of vowels in the title – because this album's a killer batch of free jazz, filled with loads of choppy sax riffs, sweet Fender Rhodes licks, and plenty of heavy drums. The record's got a hard fusion groove – and all the tracks are long instrumentals served up with plenty of power, and plenty of ferocity…