Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

A special 26 only copies box,- front cover with Idris in Zebra atttire - SAS #43 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on; high quality photo paper) + color postcard - SAS #44 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on; high quality photo paper) + color postcard and insert - SAS #45 with different front cover theen regular ed (paste-on) + insert with notes

Vi Är Alla Guds Slavar is the latest missive from the long-running duo pairing of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, etc) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, Dream/Aktion Unit, etc).Thurston had first come across Mats' playing on a duo disc with Barry Guy and had assumed he was one of those older beardy European improv guys - Remember this was before the internet and everyone knew everything. Their first actual meeting goes back to the early 90s at Bl…

Paisatges was recorded on the 4th of August 2008 at the Ciutadella public park of Barcelona, Spain. It is the result of a sonic experimentation, where free improvisation and the natural acoustic environment interact. Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga on zither and Felipe Araya Muñoz on.bombo legüero and percussion, form a dialogue where improvisation is not defined by the natural sounds; it is rather a coexistence of the natural with the artificial world, the one that takes place in situ, making Pais…

“HMS Concert” is a bootleg-release of the legendary Britain-based improvised music ensemble. London Improvisers Orchestra has been an active music community for over 15 years and it has been a platform for local and visiting musicians to experience and to share their enthusiasm over communicating through organized improvisation. This release’s three tracks were recorded during the band’s annual meeting at the “H.M.S President”, a boat-venue on the river Thames, in November the 4th 2011. A group …

The Pyramids' psychedelic Afro-jazz masterpiece finally lands thanks to Disko B. Originally cut in 1975 before they disbanded, 'Birth/Speed/Merging' marks a highpoint of the group's production values and was their last recording together. Since then the LP's achieved cult status for its celebratory fusion of carnivalesque groove with Sun-Ra-like cosmic vibes and progressive values; a worldly and entirely enchanting sound blessed with a real tangible sorta magic. The one to check is 'Black Man An…

The holy grail of Spiritual Jazz movement, available as double LP in a tiny edition on 20 copies only (no jokes! It's numbered as well), cosmic echoes and free jazz at the best. "Credited only to "Your Exotic Prince" on the dust jacket, this record is my all-time favorite Smith Street find, and I'm pleased to share it here in its entirety. As outrageous as the cover is, the music is even more so. It comprises six tunes, each one essentially a nonstop caterwauling of horns, accordion, banjo (…

Jon Rose, violins. Clayton Thomas, double bass. Mike Majkowski, double bass.Australian string trio Strike combine pure energy, dynamic sensibilities and a bombastic approach to percussive attack Ð diving head first into the chamber. A rare combination of thrash energy, sophisticated listening and unbridled enthusiasm. Led by the pioneering experimentalist Jon Rose, the trio takes fulladvantage of the myriad possibilities of the string, the bow and the box.Jon Rose is Australia's most consiste…

The Lammergyer. A spaceship created by a race thousands of generations dead. With a stardrive so shitfire lethal that just to enter an inhabited system was to trigger a fatal ecological cataclysm. Lammergyer. To say it was to hear the slamming of sarcophagus lids in hell. The anti-genesis. The world killer.  –Kicking the Monolithic Habit, Heavy Metal, Vol. 19-1Burning Tree consists of Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums and Dag Stiberg on sax. The duo have created a harsh free jazz record inspired…

"Deep & sophisticated spiritual jazz, following Mr. Gale's Ghetto Music tradition... including the marvellous African Sunshine, a 17 minute piece which goes on and on, and on and on... and you'll never get tired of the on; right ON ! Inner Peace music." EP/Sagittarius A-Star. Eddie Gale - flugelhorn & muted trumpet, James Garrison - tenor sax, Emily Haozous - alto sax, Leonard Thompson - piano, Yvette Zee - violin, Colette Zee - violin, Richard Duke - double bass, Allen Santos - double ba…

Beautiful material from this legendary Bay Area soul jazz combo! The Sons & Daughters of Lite have an incredibly spiritual sound – one that sounds sort of like the best groups on the Strata East label, with touches of Roy Ayers or James Mason-esque soulfulness, but with a little less polish. Many of the cuts have sweet female vocals in the lead – with backing that includes vibe, electric piano, tenor, alto, and percussion by Babatunde. The record's a great one if you dig spiritual jazz funk – al…

Lol Coxhill and Michel Doneda started playing soprano saxophone duets together in 2008. This improvised concert, recorded at Les Instantes Chavires near Paris in 2011, turned out to be their last musical meeting. Two musicians who manage to be themselves, stay out of each other's way, and yet make music together. Two fine improvisers at the top of their respective abilities.

Third volume of Eddie Prévost's Meetings with Remarkable Saxophonists: Prévost on drums with Jason Yarde on alto and soprano saxophones and Oli Hayhurst on double bass, recorded live at the Network Theatre, Waterloo, London, on 7 August 2011.

Gatefold LP compiled from tour recordings documenting the guitar-drum duo of Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano. Twelve tracks recorded August & September of 2012 in Brooklyn, Easthampton, Philadelphia & Baltimore. Edition of 500.""The photo you see above stretches across the inner spread of Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano’s The Raw and the Cooked LP. Each man’s mid-shred image occupies a whole half of the gatefold stage, their eyes connecting across the jacket’s spine, which lines up with the mic stan…

Kriegspiel is the latest sonic excursion by this Parisian free Improvisation duo that feature prominent scene veterans Jean-Marc Foussat (VCS3) and Sylvain Guerineau (tenor sax). The former was responsible for what some consider as one of the greatest French Improvisation LP; the totally twisted 'Abattage' (1983)  while the latter has been very active since the early 1970's and has collaborated in the past with the likes of Sunny Murray, Henri Grimes, Joe McPhee or Francois Tusques. Limited to 2…

Michael Thieke (clarinet) and Olivier Toulemonde (acoustic objects) : 'Inframince'. Lucio Capece (bass clarinet & preparations) & Jamie Drouin (analogue synthesizer & radio) : 'Immensity'.The Inframince / Immensity split CD is the first in a series of discs exploring the work of musicians based in Berlin, a city which has been one of the most vibrant centres for improvised and contemporary music since the 1960's. The alternative music scene there is now huge, and musicians from all aroun…

Atolón : Ruth Barberán, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Ferran Fages. Chip shop music : Erik Carlsson, Martin Küchen, David Lacey, Paul Vogel. Recorded by Simon Reynell, February 2012. Mixed and mastered by Ferran Fages. A collaboration between two established and highly-regarded improvising ensembles, Atolon from Barcelona and the Irish-Swedish group Chip Shop Music. The disc consists of the whole of a wonderful concert performance from February 2012 in which the two groups attempted to play tog…

"Boneshaker are Mars Williams (reeds, toy instruments), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums & percussion) and Kent Kessler (bass), three prolific powerhouse musicians, carrying among them a Grammy nomination and decades of experience with the top ensembles in the world.Norwegian phenomenon Paal Nilssen-Love has established himself over the last decade as one of the most important voices in improvised music from his generation. A powerful drummer of unbounded energy, he shows an ongoing ability to br…

World Premiere!! Available for the 1st time, this legendary live set by the near-mythical Roy Brooks' Sensational Aboriginal Choir. which used to be one of the highlight of the Montreux/Detroit Jazz Festival. unique & special ?! kind of.After the Improvisational Sphere & the Artistic Truth Roy Brooks recast his Artistic Truth band with a formidable, all-Detroit lineup and quickly established it as one of the region’s top groups. He teamed with established local jazz godfathers such as Kenny Co…

180g LP in fine paper silkscreen printed cover. Recorded in London, December 2011 and in Milwaukee, October 2011. A solo album by saxophone virtuoso John Butcher featuring some of his most exceptional extended techniques which he has been developing during his career as a soloist as well as a member of some significant collaborative projects. Playing tenor & soprano saxophones, Butcher has developed a very unique style in free improvised music and composition, mostly by engaging with a se…

CD edition. Great work from this heavy heavy trio – a group that features the talents of probably the three greatest living avant saxophonists in the world – Peter Brotzmann on tenor, alto, clarinet, and tarogato, Ken Vandermark on tenor and clarinet, and Mats Gustafsson on baritone sax! The trio have worked together countless times over the past two decades – and together have an affinity that not only results in some of the most amazingly adventurous improvisation you'll ever hear from …

180 gram vinyl reissue of German free improvisation pianist and composer Alexander von Schlippenbach's The Living Music, originally released on his own Quasar label in 1969. Recorded by Conny Plank, it features Peter Brötzmann (tenor & baritone saxophone), Manfred Schoof (cornet, flugelhorn), Michael Pilz (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Buschi Niebergall (double bass, bass trombone) and Han Bennink (drums, percussion). The Living Music remains one of the paramoun…

**Tri-fold digicase with 20-page booklet of liner-notes and photos** Kris Needs repositions the roots of Sonny Blount aka Sun Ra on three discs (60 tracks) spanning his earliest 1933 recordings of big band jazz and be-bop, thru the birth of Sun Ra and the "future shock" of his later visions. "CD1 (Pre-flight) features Sun Ra’s earliest recordings from the 1940s, playing piano for Wynonie Harris and Lil Green, jamming with Stuff Smith, and coaching or arranging for artists such as Andrew T…

If jazz, as the eminent critic Whitney Balliet once wrote, is the “sound of surprise,” Cuts, an intensely cathartic, fiercely turbulent collaboration between Japanese noise purveyor Masami Akita (aka Merzbow), Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustasfsson, is the “sound of shock and awe.” A sonic assault of epic proportions, it blends the bombast of Merzbow’s grinding white noise barrages with Pandi’s thunderous pulse on the kit and Gust…

Edition of 300 (coproduced with phase records & mafia). 'it was in dhalgren that i had read about a father getting fired, and who trying not to depress his family about it, wakes up every day, shaves, dresses himself up, has breakfast and leaves for his work. where does he spent his almost 8 to 10 hours? a mystery. perhaps crying on a park's bench or drinking or whatever. however, there are times when reality creates even more dystopian images than those in sam delaney's aforementioned o…

Long Story Short, the festival organized as the 25th edition of the Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria (November 2011) designed a festival around Peter Brotzmann's musical practice -- not a retrospective, but a representation of the contemporary musical spheres that Brötzmann and his comrades are investigating today. Eighteen performances in this box document Brötzmann's close ties to the Chicago scene, his inclination to work with Japanese artists, his cultivation of old and new friendsh…

Koboku Senju, meaning something like a Selection of Dead Trees', is the quintet of Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Martin Taxt, Eivind Lønning, and Espen Reinertsen. Akiyama and Nakamura, on guitar and no input mixing board respectively, have long been two of the leading improvisers from the Tokyo scene, and Lønning, Reinertsen and Taxt, on trumpet, saxophone and tuba respectively, are three young and active improvisers from Norway with an increasing reputation for their adventurous yet matu…

Stripped-down' probably isn't the right term for a release like this, but Brotzmann's reeds and Uuskyla's drums are the only two constituents of this double disc set, setting themselves up for comparison with fellow free improv pillars Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilsen-Love on their Dual Pleasure recordings. These lengthy improvisations (four pieces stretch across over an hour and a half of recordings) are a feat of endurance - not only for the improvisers themselves, but for even the most i…

Despite the compositions’ respective demands, Nicole Mitchell and Black Earth Ensemble fully and vividly represented Roscoe Mitchell’s varied means of creating chemistry between written and improvised materials. At every turn in the program, they played with a palpable sense of familiarity and ease with the composer’s vernacular and methods. They sounded like they’ve been playing this music every night for a long time. Bill Shoemaker, excerpt from the liner notes

Unboxed editiion. 4 x CD: for some time now, alan silva has commented that the market value of his records should more closely resemble the price of a lithograph or an artist's print than the price an ordinary record. we remind him that his albums are not produced in special gallery editions, but "mass produced" for a niche market. silva has responded with THE TREASURE BOX. eremite agreed to support the effort, giving away four of its catalog numbers, & what little sanity & peace of mind t…

A major solo statement, Al-Khwarizmi Variations traverses the history and the physicality of the piano.Working both inside and outside the instrument's body, at times playing with recognisable musical material, at others going deep into sonic abstraction, Pat Thomas presents a compelling vision of what the piano can do in the 21st century.Extremes entwine in his playing: solidity and flow; seriousness and laughter; uproar and imperturbability.

J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding on trombones with Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Tommy Williams, Roy Haynes and Art Taylor, recorded in October and November 1960 and issued in 1961 as Impulse! A-1. Acoustic Sounds 180g LP reissue.

While living in Cupertino California just after recording the grammy Nominated album blues from the Rainforest, with Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, I was also doing a lot of new age world trance music, for my own label Musart Co. now Musart media, with an array of very interesting spiritual and artistic musicians , many of which are on this group of recordings. People Like God father of sread & phycodilic guitar, James Gurley from Janis Joplin and Big brother and the Holding Co. , perry robindo…

Unreleased, rare and only available recording of this beautiful trio (recorded at Vanguard Studios, NYC on 25th January, 1968). Perry at his best, his clarinet never sounded so warm & hip(Perry was stationed in Panama during his military service back in the early 60's)... My most important army experience was playing with the UNI Trio, the three of us (original members Bill Folwell and Tom Price) getting to know each other and exploring the high free music. It was like paradise; at night we woul…

Here, on this record, the screamer and the whisperer sail away toward the worst, expelling from their bodies shredded songs whereon our senses shatter. Such a poetic extremity is not drawn from the cultural landscape, but from the breath of the living world. Raw poetry or a poetic racket made of copper whispers and screams of terror, erotic glossolalia and ramshackle choirs. They stand like two narrators, burnt in the hullabaloo of an infinitely melancholic melody, dislocating in great devouring…

CD edition: Outstanding work from bassist/percussionist Juma Sultan – a wealth of wonderful tracks from the loft jazz years of the 70s! Sultan's a player who doesn't always get his due on record – especially during this formative generation. Most of the tunes are quite spiritual, and feature a shifting lineup that really keeps things fresh – players who include Sultan on bass, percussion, and flute – plus Ali Abuwi on drums, flute, and oboe; Kasa Allah and Earl Cross on piano, Art Benne…

Norbert Eisbrenner, electric guitar. Conrad Schnitzler, analog synth. Sven-Ake Johansson, percussion. Incredible recording from 1970!

Anthony Laguerre, drums, Véronique Mougin, keyboards, Youssef Essawabi, trombone, Antoine Arlot, saxs, Emilie Weber, violin. This 10' comes as a follow-up release to the previous CD ('Murmures' vdo 1234). Limited to 300.

Represencing is the 2nd installment of the Joshua Abrams sound world introduced on his 2010 Eremite album Natural Information. Recorded at home in Chicago summer of 2011, Abrams again organizes small group statements around the resonant grooves of the North African ceremonial instrument the guimbri with a unique and broadly assimilative compositional voice. Sources from traditional musics to minimalism, jazz to krautrock, animate Represencing but Abrams is always grounded in the solidity o…

Scraps And Shadows is the second album by the dream pairing of Joe McPhee and Chris Corsano. A follow-up to Under A Double Moon, which featured McPhee’s alto saxophone, Scraps And Shadows finds him largely on tenor. Recorded live in Milwaukee in 2011, the album consists of seven dedicatory pieces, from the delicate balladry of “For Adrienne P” to the appropriately combustible “For Han Bennink.” Corsano’s stupendously detailed drumming and McPhee’s free-soul love cries weave a master latti…

Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love are back with another amazing album. This time a studio recording, recorded in Chicago's Strobe Recording in January 2011. The album contains 10 new compositions of their characteristic soulfully groovy free jazz. Vandermark & Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking. Raw music with brut…