Jazz /
Turiya Sings
“Divine music is a curative virtue; it is a gift from God that brings healing and comfort to the soul. This music can uplift one’s spirit up to a higher dimension of being that is filled with peace and joy. Divine music is the sound of true life, wisdom, and bliss. This music transcends geographical boundaries, language barriers, age factors; and whether educated or uneducated, it reaches deep into the heart and soul, sacred and holy, like an Infinite sound of glory entering the Lord’s sanctuary…
Eje Thelin At The German Jazz Festival
An amazing set from Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin – a live date, but a totally excellent session that stands as one of the best demonstration of his talents in the 60s! On the European scene at the time, Thelin was easily one of the most inventive players on the trombone – one of the few who could hit the soulful swing of American musicians like Curtis Fuller or JJ Johnson, but also an artist who was starting to stretch out into new realms too – just a touch of Grachan Moncur and Roswell Rudd, w…
The Journey
South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand) featuring Hamiet Bluiett (baritone sax) and Don Cherry (trumpet). Exact repro, originally released in 1977.
Black Lightning
Exact repro of pianist Abdullah Ibrahim's 1976 album as Dollar Brand, featuring tenor saxophonist Basil Manenberg. Includes a cover of Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk."
Haste
"An improvising trio absent the traditional markers of a rhythm section (bass and/or drums), the musicians on HASTE explore longer forms with a balance of gestural, painterly swoops and pointillist detail. The trio works through three collective pieces totalling just shy of an hour. Weston is an incredibly resourceful keyboardist, but his penchant for poise and deep listening ensure that his glisses and clusters remain on axis. It’s important to note that both Weston and Laubrock are accomplishe…
In The Moment
2016 restock. One venue, 28 shows and 48 hours of live, improvised music. These are the ingredients for Chicago-based drummer Makaya McCraven's album In the Moment. However, McCraven, as the producer he also is, has not just thrown some random sounds together. Instead, he has carefully culled, cut and remixed the music into a coherent whole and 19 complex and catchy compositions emerge from his hands. The meeting between completely fresh improvisations from some of Chicago's finest musicians and…
The Fantastic Jazz Harp Of Dorothy Ashby
This is the sixth album by Dorothy Ashby, a Detroit born jazz harpist who passed away in her early 50s in 1986 way before her time. She left us a rich legacy of music with this 1965 release being one of her milestones. The music is pure bright and swinging with a joyful mood. Dorothy Ashby performs her lines big time with her harp and captures your soul with the melodies she picks from its strings. She is always there upfront while the brass section mostly fills the background with colour if the…
Evidence
Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy continued his early exploration of Thelonious Monk’s compositions on this 1961’s Evidence Lacy worked extensively with Monk, absorbing the pianist’s intricate music and adding his individualist soprano saxophone mark to it. On this date, he employs the equally impressive Don Cherry on trumpet, who was playing with the Ornette Coleman quartet at the time, drummer Billy Higgins, who played with both Coleman and Monk, and bassist Carl Brown. Cherry proved capable of p…
So Far
Between 1961 and 1965 Eje Thelin formed his first own group with which he toured across Europe. In 1964 he performed in Copenhagen with George Russell; from the late 60s to the mid-70s he played with Joachim Kühn and John Surman and turned to Free Jazz. This quintet is famous for the cooperation with Belgian Joel Vandrooogenbroeck, who had played with big names such as Barney Wilen and Zoot Sims. In 1968 Vandroogenbroeck formed the experimental rockband Brainticket. This 1963 session featur…
Burj Al Imam
140-gram LP in gatefold sleeve with a special drawing by Mazen Kerbaj. Mastered for vinyl by Harris Newman. Edition of 500. Entirely recorded at Tunefork Studios on the outskirts of Beirut, Burj al Imam's five tracks include three largely improvised numbers, a loose reworking of Sun City Girls track "The Imam," and a cover of traditional Americana song "Gently Johnny" (a highlight of Alan Bishop's live Alvarius B. shows). True to their habits, the Lebanese trio of trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj, guitari…
Separately & Together
"Given the number of musicians involved listeners will be surprised at the coherence and delicacy of much of the music here. As is so often, the pieces mainly consist of 'conductions' wherein one musician directs the orchestra, giving an overall form and structure to each piece - at least, that is the intention. So, Philipp Wachsmann's On the point of influence closes with a long restrained duo for cello and bass, while Ashley Wales' Study for Oppy Wood is an atmospheric tone poem.
In addition t…
Miller's Tale
Miller's Tale is the high point of the collaboration of the distinctive musicians Sylvie Courvoisier, Mark Feldmann, Evan Parker and Ikue Mori. In September 2015, they recorded the fully improvised pieces for this album. The album's track sequencing of first four whole group pieces followed by five duo pieces offer multifaced aural impressions and a rich listening experience. Henning Bolte writes in the liner notes: "Our ears usually first adhere to the known, the familiar. But they 'squint' to …
Blue Shroud
After his great compositions for the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the Barry Guy New Orchestra, Barry Guy has written a large scale work for a new international ensemble. Guy's work The Blue Shroud is an hommage to the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso. It is for the people of the Spanish town, who were victims of the Nazi German air force bombardment during the Spanish Civil War. Guy also wants us to remember the occasion in 2003, when the Guernica-tapestry at the UN Security Council was…
Song Sentimentale
Outside of the 2CD release ‘Never Too Late But Always Too Early’ (Eremite, 2003) there has been scant documentation of one of the most dynamic pairings in all free jazz. Featuring unique material on each format Song Sentimentale rectifies this anomaly with a full blown audio account of the breathtaking communicative heights obtained by these three legends of the living. Over 3 nights in January 2015 the trio seduced a winter worn crowd with the kind of organic interplay only these three can conj…
Avocado
As listeners to the experimental, improvised, Jazz, Ethiopian and style-free music communities in Sydney will testify, Peter Farrar has been doing astonishing solos the last few years. He’s been honing techniques that use various extensions on his alto sax, (mainly plastic bags and bottles as mutes). Instead of an instrumental line, he produces startling layers of distorted tones and overtones with pervasive, insistent, generative rhythms. This is pioneering research — he has re-imagined the ins…
Ariha Brass Quartet
Axel Dörner trumpet. Franz Hautzinger trumpet. Mazen Kerbaj trumpet. Carl Ludwig Hübsch tuba. Recorded (on the 20th and 21st of november 2013). Artwork & design by Mazen Kerbaj.
Ssi-6
As a sax player, Junji Hirose has been a prominent figure on the free jazz/improvised music scene since the late 1970s. But he has another side: he collects odds and ends and everyday objects and puts them together to create instruments which he uses in noise performance. Hirose calls these noise instruments SSI (self-made sound instruments). He released the CD SSI-4 (hitorri-997) in 2013, and SSI-5 (hitorri-993) in 2015. This is Hirose's new release, SSI-6. In contrast to the roaring sounds of …
Nohome
Double LP version. After the internationally and heavily praised Caspar Brötzmann Massaker in the early '90s, not much was heard from the German "Modern Primitive" guitar player Caspar Brötzmann, aside from some collaborations for theater. Now he is back with a new band -- extreme, heavy, intense. In summer 2012 he was invited by the A L'arme Festival for a special gig with Swiss musicians Michael Wertmüller(drums) and Marino Pliakas (ebass) (those two form the group Full Blast with Caspar's fat…
Fragments
A superb collaboration between Sonny Sharrock and Peter Brotzman. Recorded live at the 'Elbo Room', Chicago, IL on 12/2/89. Limited edition of 1000 numbered copies, pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
Crumbling Brain
The core of Brotzmann reeds & Marino Pliakas on bass & Michael Wertmuller are joined by Peter Evans on trumpet, Mars Williams on reeds and Keiji Haino on guitar & voice. Recorded live at Jazzfest Berlin on November 2nd, 2008.