Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Jimmy Smith on Hammond organ in two trios, with Kenny Burrell and Philly Joe Jones, and with Eddie McFadden and Donald Bailey, recorded in New York on 26 February 1958 and released by Blue Note in 1965. Classic Vinyl 180g LP reissue.

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* One of the first, longest running and most acclaimed improvisational rock ensembles in the world presents a special collection of live recordings culled from the private archives of guitarist extraordinaire Fred Frith. Hand picked for this release, the music comes from their exciting 1999 European tour, and from their most recent onslaughts in 2008. An essential document of one of the most incendiary rock trios in music history.

Lonnie Smith on organ with Lee Morgan, Julian Priester, Bennie Maupin, Melvin Sparks and Leo Morris (Idris Muhammad), recorded for Blue Note on 3 January 1969. Classic Vinyl 180g LP reissue.

Much-needed repress. First-time vinyl release. Old-style gatefold LP with liner notes by Kahimi Karie, Otomo Yoshihide & Tonoyama Taiji. Reissue, originally released on CD in 2005. Eric Dolphy's final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-60s post-bop. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and his all-too-brief life ended less than two months after that. It marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considere…

Erich Kleinschuster’s projects and initiatives played a vital role in establishing a spiritual home for jazz in Vienna. The founding of his sextet in 1966 and, in 1968, a jazz department at the Vienna Conservatory, were catalysts for a scene that attracted international stars as well as nurturing the careers of home-grown virtuosos. Many jazz exiles, admired in Europe as they never were in the United States, settled for long periods, carving out new lives on the continent. The recordings in this…

A previously unpublished recording of the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet's performances at the first jazz festival in Prague in 1964. An important, significant stop in the jazz career of the legendary pianist and composer appears on disc more than half a century after its recording. And it continues to delight. Krzysztof Komeda was received extremely enthusiastically in Prague. His original Quintet, by the way, played at an incredibly high level, electrifying the audience gathered in Prague's Lucerna.…

Tip! It seemed trumpeter/composer Milton Ward had all he needed for a breakthrough in the world of contemporary jazz in the late 1970s. Blessed with a beautiful trumpet tone and an impressive work ethic, Ward found a home in Boston’s exploding soul and jazz scenes of the early 1970s. His star never joined the constellation of jazz luminaries, but Ward did leave one fantastic album of spiritual jazz that has become a collectors’ favorite: Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum. Frederiksberg Records is pro…

Tip! *2022 stock* 'Recorded in 1997, Wadada Leo Smith's N'da Kulture has created a music that transcends all forms by integrating many of them into an amorphous yet deeply moving whole. This sextet, which uses Eastern and Western instruments, authors into being a kind of folk music for the emerging century, one that relies deeply on poetry, improvisation, subtleties in tone, timbre, and rhythm. The six pieces here reflect Smith's ongoing concern with marrying the vanguard jazz tradition he comes…

Tip! Groovy, spiritual, and oh so, rare, this live album by drummer Roy Brooks is one of the best to ever come out of the spiritual jazz scene. With a career spanning over 50 years and collaborations with artists like Horace Silver, Stanley Turrentine, Yusef Lateef, and Charles Mingus, Roy Brooks was a foundation and leading force of the jazz scene throughout his entire storied life. As one of the most talented drummers of any generation, Brooks would lead his own group, the Artistic Truth, and …

The Munich band Embryo was founded in 1969. "Opal" was her first album. Released on the OHR label in 1970. The band led by Christian Burchard (2018) combined numerous genres into one huge crossover project. Jazz rock, folk, blues, soul, contemporary music, and world music. Even if "Opal" doesn't sound as perfect as later recordings, the album is considered to be very influential. Embryo themselves describe their style as follows: Pop music is the appropriate level of communication for Embryo, ju…

Stanley Turrentine's 1961 Blue Note album with The Three Sounds (Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins, Bill Dowdy), recorded at Van Gelder Studio on December 16, 1960: four standards and one Harris original.

Stanley Turrentine soul jazz session with Shirley Scott, Jimmy Ponder, Bob Cranshaw and Leo Morris (Idris Muhammad), recorded at Van Gelder Studio on 30 August 1968 for Blue Note. Japanese UHQCD, UCCQ-9663.

Stanley Turrentine quartet session with McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker, recorded for Blue Note on 8 July 1966 and released in 1968. Classic Vinyl 180g LP reissue.

*2022 stock. In process of stocking.* "The 3rd release by Ken Vandermark's School Days is a double CD of studio material recorded with the Oslo quintet Atomic. Both bands have the same rhythm section of Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass. The group includes Magnus Broo: trumpet, Jeb Bishop: trombone, Fredrik Liungkvist: reeds, Ken Vandermark: reeds, Hevard Wiik: piano & Kjell Nordeson: vibraphone. 9 new compositions 1 each by all the members (2 by Mr. Liungkvist)." - S…

Stanley Turrentine sextet with Blue Mitchell, Curtis Fuller, Herbie Hancock, Bob Cranshaw and Otis Finch, recorded at Van Gelder Studio on June 3, 1964 and first issued in 1980 in the LT series. Blue Note Tone Poet LP reissue.

**200 copies stamped white label** Awesome Free Jazz from Johan Berthling (Fire! Orchestra, Nacka Forum), Andreas Werliin (Fire! Orchestra, Tonbruket), Mattias Ståhl, Alexander Zethson, Eirik Hegdal, Martin Küchen, Mats Äleklint (Fire! Orchestra), Goran Kajfes (Goran Kafjes Subtropic Orchestra, Nacka Forum, Oddjob) and Magnus Broo (Gilbert Holmström New Quintet).

Stanley Turrentine session with Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Elvin Jones and Ray Barretto (congas), recorded on 4 September 1964 and first released by Blue Note in 1980 (LT-1075). Tone Poet reissue, 180g.

Big Tip! It is widely accepted that the recorded musical output of Indian-born British guitarist Amancio D'Silva came to a premature closure with the landmark 1972 albums, Cosmic Eye and the unreleased masterpiece Konkan Dance. The Roundtable are here to prove otherwise, announcing the discovery of an extraordinary lost recording. Forty years after it was recorded we proudly present Sapana, the forgotten piece of a remarkable musical legacy, the final recording from one the most singular artists…

This 1983 recording, originally issued on Sackville LP, features jazz trumpeter Joe McPhee with the Bill Smith Ensemble.      ” …a stimulating set of avant-garde music. The interplay between these masterful improvisors on group originals and Albert Ayler’s classic ‘Ghosts’ is consistently impressive and worthy of a close investigation by the more open-eared segment of the jazz audience.” — Scott Yanow, Allmusic       “Vistation breathes as if it were music that was recorded yesterday. Joe McPhee…

Alice Coltrane had an enormous legacy to overcome in her late husband- her debut album, "A Monastic Trio" stuck pretty close to what John Coltrane's last bands were doing the studio, "Huntington Ashram Monastary" finds her branching out. Recorded in mid-1969, a year after her debut and two years after the death of her husband, Coltrane performs on piano and harp and is backed by bassist Ron Carter and drummer Rashied Ali.Musically, it's a bit more relaxed than before, with Coltrane's playing a b…

Includes three albums:   MJJ423CP - Eternal Now (LP, Pink)   MJJ424CB - Brown Rice (LP, Brown)   MJJ425CY - Hear And Now (LP, Yellow)

Newly discovered sessions released here for the first time: Ten recordings by one of the greatest saxophonists of his generation, American jazz master Lucky "Eli" Thompson with the Michael Naura Trio, Quintet and guests in Hamburg 1959 and 1960. Small and larger group improvisations with the melodic sound of Lucky on tenor and soprano sax, featuring Heinz von Moisy, Hajo Lange, Jimmy Gourley, Wolfgang Schlüter and Hans Koller. From hard bop to soft ballads, all light, fluffy, intimately personal…

Grill by Gbubemi Amas is as smooth as the red cardigan artfully slung around his shoulders on the cover. Whether he is running through the scales on a cover version of ‘Fire and Rain’, or trying on his calypso highlife moves on ‘Ereyon’, you know Amas is a man with a smooth line for every occasion. He is also a man with impeccable enunciation. Listen to ‘Slow Down’. It features one of the most cultured sound checks you will ever hear in your life – “Willy, keep the bass a little bit tighter”. Th…

Aurora present a reissue of Manu Dibango's Africadelic, originally released in 1972. The strange and majestic musical beast that is Africadelic was Dibango's follow-up to Soul Makossa (1972), but it was initially released on Louis Delacour's library music label, Mondiaphone, before Soul Makossa became an international phenomenon. As a Mondiaphone release, it was aimed at television and film producers seeking atmospheric background music, so the original titles are simply "Theme No 1," "Theme No …

This project was inspired by « La pensée sauvage » de Claude Levi-Strauss. « On the 29th of September, a concert took place at the Manufacture Atlantique in Bordeaux with a piece I designed for the ensemble « UN » with Benjamin Bondonneau’s artistic collaboration. Earlier, 24 solos that were induced as an independant series of events in various places in Bordeaux at different times of the day, chosen by the musicians and programmed from June to August 2017. Successive events gave birth to in sit…

Recorded in October 1997.

"Never Let Me Go" is the follow up to Tammy McCann's Katalyst debut "Classic." Produced by the legendary Henry Johnson, who has worked with Nancy Wilson and Joe Williams, among others, this is a vocal masterpiece that explores new approaches to standards while remaining traditionally creative with new material and songs that were not really considered jazz until now. With a selection of powerhouse musicians in Chicago (Ari Brown, Harrison Bankhead, Ernie Adams, Mike Logan, and Henry Johnson hims…

Alika Rising is a precious, 1989 recording from what may not necessarily be the “best” version of Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio, if such a thing could be said to exist. This is, after all, art. Yet, this may be the most iconic, or at least formative version. Kahil, with Ari Brown and the late, great Malachi Favors. Over 50 minutes, for three extended improvisations in which the artists with deep understandings of each other reached for that moment. That transcendent moment in which all three find…

Super Tip! * First official and the absolute definitive version of the album. Originally recorded in 1986, featuring Nate Morgan and Horace Tapscott. Finally on LP as originally intended: straight from the 1/2” Master Tapes (All Analog Cut). With Unseen Photos from the recording session Tip-On Sleeve. Insert with Liner Notes by Mark Weber *

Two great improvisers, pianist Elisabeth Harnik from Austria and trombone master Steve Swell play together! It's their first CD release! Check out how deep and colourful can be improvised music world!

Do you remember the excellent album Tone Hunting released a few years on Clean Feed? Of course, you do! Now we have the second incarnation of that excellent band but with a change on the seat of drums. Kuba Suchar is here replaced by a great drum's painter and probably one of the most musical percussion master Vasco Trilla. So on saxophone, we have Berlin-based Anna Kaluza, on acoustic bass guitar Rafał Mazur, and Artur Majewski on trumpet.

* 2021 restock * CD reissue of Alarm by the Peter Brötzmann Group, originally released on FMP in 1983. Harry Miller: bass; Louis Moholo: drums; Alexander von Schlippenbach: piano; Peter Brötzmann: saxophone; Frank Wright: saxophone; Willem Breuker: saxophone; Toshinori Kondo: trumpet; Alan Tomlinson: trombone; Hannes Bauer: trombone. Recorded during the 164th NDR Jazzworkshop, November 12, 1981, at the Funkhaus Hamburg. Produced by Peter Brötzmann and Jost Gebers. Cover design by Peter Brötzmann…

This is a reissue of a now out-of-print album from live trio date by the legendary LA-based pianist, composer and multi-bandleader, Horace Tapscott. Pianist Horace Tapscott is always at his best when he is leading a trio. Born in 1934 in Houston, Texas, Horace came from a musical family centered around his mother, Mary Malone Tapscott, who worked professionally as a singer and pianist. When Horace was nine, the family moved to Los Angeles. As a teenager in the late 1940's, Horace was surrounded …

** Edition of 250 ** Remastered from a new source tape by Joe Lambert in 2021 and re-posted as one long session. Master tapes were recently unearthed of New York saxophonist Alan Braufman and pianist Cooper-Moore performing live as a duo on Columbia University's radio station, WKCR on May 22, 1972. The session occurred two years before Braufman, Cooper-Moore and a full band recorded Braufman's legendary debut album on India Navigation, "Valley of Search."

Edition of 250 * Following up on the legendary Club7 album from 1971 by this same group, here is a Webster Lewis Quintet's live recording made in August that same year at Kongsberg jazz festival in Norway. This Quintet from Boston plays a strong sense of seventies American groove-laden jazz but with a raw soulful rhythm and blues approach that is completely unique! Captured on tape in Norway at the time the band was there with George Russel, a few months after the legendary Club7 recordings. Her…

** First LP reissue of rare 1974 Canadian Free Jazz album ** Beyond the striking photography of the cover artwork, a cursory glance at this LP may appear misleading. One could be forgiven in thinking that what they had discovered was of a more obvious British provenance, but on closer inspection the truth is revealed… London in fact refers to London, Canada, an artistic hotbed that famously spawned the highly influential insurgent noise ensemble, ‘The Nihilist Spam Band’. Less celebrated yet equ…

**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 500 copies worldwide. Liner notes by Duncan Heining** Two sessions previously assumed either lost or unrecorded, by Henry Lowther’s and Lyn Dobson’s mid-sixties groups. Considered one of the missing links in the development of British free-form jazz.  The Group Sounds Four session includes Jack Bruce, who contributes an original composition never otherwise recorded. Also features Ron Rubin, Ken McCarthy and Jon…

**Edition of 500** Born in Mississippi in 1937 and beginning to play the saxophone at 14, Billie Harris relocated to Los Angeles in 1965 after a 4 year stint in the Air Force, becoming one of the great, unsung forces of underground jazz in the city for many years (he later relocated to the Mojave Desert, where, at last record, he still plays in a church band). A Venice Beach street musician and longtime member of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - you can hear him playing on Live at I.U.C.C. and…

Solo bass albums constitute a rare and demanding genre. The instrument's resonance, its sustain limitations, the absence of harmonic support - all conspire against extended solo statements. Yet Horace Tapscott's longtime bassist approaches the challenge with a structural intelligence that transforms apparent constraints into compositional architecture. Roberto Miranda's arco work on "Evolution On The Life Of Moses" demonstrates a command of overtones and microtonal shadings that recalls the medi…

The Tommy Tedesco case is singular in California jazz history. A session guitarist among the most sought-after in Hollywood - thousands of recordings, film scores, pop records - chooses for his most personal statement the company of Bobby Bradford on trumpet and Roberto Miguel Miranda on bass, with Onaje Sherman Ferguson on drums and Sartuse on percussion. Not exactly the context of those Sinatra dates. The result is a structurally sophisticated free jazz document. "The Doubleness of Three" supe…