Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

*2023 stock* "This album, the first under the band's name in six and a half years, is a jazz alternative album with a multilingual and hardcore taste that differs greatly from previous albums.  The recording for this album started in June 2020, during a period when many of our activities were being cancelled due to Covid-19. It had been a while since I last met or played with the members of this band, with whom prior to the pandemic I would regularly get together for gigs at various venues or tr…

Recorded at NHK-604-Studio on Nov & Dec 1991 Musicians: Akira Sakata,Tamai Toyooka,Asuka Kaneko, Kyoko Kuroda,Hiroshi Yoshino,Yu Fujii  Kiyohiko Semba,Atuy,Fusae Doi, Mishio Ogawa,Shigeri Kitsu,Norihiko Yamanuki.

Trumpeter Itaru Oki's third album from 1975 reissued, a flamed out free jazz masterpiece. Itaru Oki (trumpet), Yoshiaki Fujikawa (alto sax), Keiki Midorikawa (cello, bass, piano), Gozo Yoshimasu (poetry reading on 5). We are very glad to inform that a long time out of printed OffBeat label LP is reprinted on CD. Itaru Oki visited Paris, France in the 70s and when he came back to Japan temporarily in 75, he organized a elite free jazz troop and recorded in studio. 'Phantom Note' is his 3rd album,…

A live album featuring the unit Ten-Shi, consisting of Takayuki Kato and Masataka Fujikake, with two improvising giants, Junji Hirose and Yoshihide Otomo. From the beginning of the album, which begins with a guitar duo, the two groups respond to each other and express themselves in diverse ways one after another, developing a sound that is full of originality throughout.

2023 Stock. The second live recording of the duo by Keiji Haino and Masataka Fujikake released just five years after the previous work "Tomorrow, the alphabet will disappear." While retaining the steel-like strength of the previous album, this is a rock album that pursues his core expression only with guitar, vocals and drums . Keiji Haino – guitar, vocals Masataka Fujikake – drums. If HARD is raised to the power of several tens, will the grains of light pour down? Recorded at Stormy Monday Yoko…

“A large tree thousands of years old, like Akira Sakata, seems to sway a variety of creatures as if they were being drawn to it. Is it a festival with Ming as a Shinto priest? Takeharu Hayakawa, who has a strong thud, changes his behavior like a ninja, and Masataka Fujikake wraps everything up and makes a deep rumbling of the earth. As for me, I'm on the same level as the piano and electronic sounds. Let's just say that it organically connects the past and the present. A rare improvised world th…

Otomo Yoshihide's Guitar Solo "LEFT" was released last summer but "RIGHT" is completely different from "LEFT". the 123 short fragments of Otomo's guitar sounds are run by computer programming at random so no one know how the sound played. This CD is one infinity."-Doubtmusic "What is most remarkable about the single, 62-minute track on Otomo Yoshihide's Guitar Solos 2015 RIGHT is how consistent, top to bottom, it sounds. Or, viewed through a different lens, how much coherence (real or imagined)…

**2006 release, long out of print, very few copies available** One of the rarest albums ever from the mighty Masahiko Satoh, a composer and arranger,as well as a key figure in the avantgarde music from Japan. Originally issued on Japan Columbia in 1970, the two sides of very free piano show a sensitivity that's really amazing – still moments of freedom that reflect Satoh's connection to the avant garde of the time, interwoven with his own sense of cosmic creation, in ways that are similar to his…

**2006 release, long out of print, very few copies available** Trumpeter Itaru Oki Trio's landmark debut album from 1970 reissued, a flamed out free jazz masterpiece. Itaru Oki (trumpet), Yoshiaki Fujikawa (alto sax), Keiki Midorikawa (cello, bass, piano) for sure one of the earliest free jazz players and albums from Japan. And this album is possibly his finest effort, eclectic and saturated with ethnic elements, quirky, free form.Japanese trumpet player Itaru Oki represents one of the very firs…

A much-needed and expanded reissue of this 1970s Offbeat label LP of cellist Keiki Midorikawa in duo with Masahiko Togashi, Masayuki Takayanagi and Masahiko Sato. Keiki Midorikawa (cello, bass), Masahiko Togashi (percussion, drums), Masayuki Takayanagi (guitar) et Masahiko Sato (piano). Recorded on January 16, 1976 at Nichi-futsu kaikan, Tokyo. The original LP of this work has duo with Takayanagi on A side and duo with Sato on B side. But in the concert, Midorikawa played duo with Togashi about …

This 2013 debut album by South Korean bassist and composer Kim Sung-Bae is a remarkable masterpiece. Anchored by a two-horn quintet, the music blends Eastern and Middle Eastern modes with spiritual jazz, weaving a soundscape that is deeply emotional, beautiful, and profoundly moving. The overarching narrative carries an epic, cinematic scale that commands repeat listens. From the sublimely beautiful, oriental-tinged piano trio masterpiece ‘Eastern Restaurant’ to the spellbinding Middle Eastern m…

BBE Music’s celebrated J Jazz compilation series reaches its fifth and final volume in early 2026, culminating in a track list that maintains the exceptionally high standard first set with volume one back in 2018. This final volume features a selection of tracks that is as diverse as it is deep, reflecting the rich and varied Japanese jazz scene that spanned from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, a golden era of innovation and creativity. J Jazz volume 5 sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Pede…

While most holidaymakers in Greece lounge by the pool, soak up the sun on sandy beaches, or pick up a few souvenirs, British jazz pianist Greg Foat took a different path last year. Inspired by the island of Samos, he returned not with trinkets, but with Impressions of Samos – a captivating album blending synthesizer, grand piano, and traditional Greek folk instruments with immersive field recordings. Teaming up with Sokratis Votskos and The Giorgos Pappas Trio on Blue Crystal Records, Foat craft…

On Concert A Prades Le Lez, Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra turns Tusques’ radical internationalism into exuberant sound: a border‑smashing live suite where New Orleans, Brittany and North Africa collide in dance‑charged, militant joy.

On Hidden Fire, Sun Ra turns the late‑’80s Arkestra into a digital seance, using Yamaha DX7 shards, strings and haunted vocals to swap cosmic swing for dissonant ritual, opening one last, ominously glowing portal in his Saturnian saga.

On Volume 3, Secular Music Group expand to a five‑piece and turn a single 4‑track tape machine into a labyrinth: live, no‑rehearsal performances that swell from lean modal vamps into ten‑part sound worlds where library funk, holy minimalism and jazz coexist.

Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts fro…

Thollem performs original themes and improvisations on four pianos in unique tuning systems devised by Clem Fortuna. Clem joins Thollem in performance on Ten Tone Equal Temperament with spontaneous tuning alterations.

Some reunions can result in the participants meeting at a juncture where they were previously, then continuing forward with the same spirit as before. This is precisely what happened when Alex Harding contacted me and said, 'let's hit.' It was the first time since 1995 and the fireworks were still sparking. Soon afterwards, he asked me to recommend a bassist in forming a trio. I immediately told him about Rocco Popielarski. The three of us performed a couple of gigs and hammed and my home a few …

Detroit saxophonist Skeeter Shelton and Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake didn’t know each other before Skeeter was subbed into a duo gig at Trinosophes (Detroit) after Hamid’s partner fell ill. Shortly before the performance, it was discovered that Skeeter’s father, Ajaramu Shelton, was Hamid’s drum teacher and mentor at Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. There was an instant bond. The set that night was fire. This should be no surprise, as keeter, through his fath…

"For the years Columbus was lucky enough to call him ours, drummer Ryan Jewell was our leading proponent of Emily Dickinson’s maxim “tell the truth but tell it slant.” He placed an idiosyncratic, indelible, and always swinging stamp on any context he assailed, from the insidiously catchy quirk of Terribly Empty Pockets to the righteous brainy scuzz-punk of Pink Reason to spacy evocative noise with collaborators like Mike Shiflet and C. Spencer Yeh to shepherding Psychedelic Horsehit through thei…

Complete sessions / expanded edition. One of the most important jazz albums of the 1970s – finally in its definitive edition. Julius Hemphill's Dogon A.D. is the missing link between the avant-garde and the blues, between the cotton fields and outer space. Recorded on a freezing February day in 1972 at Oliver Sain's Archway Studios in St. Louis – no heat, malfunctioning equipment, some musicians didn't even show up – and yet what emerged was nothing short of a masterpiece. An "almost accidental …

Soul, jazz-rock, candombe and funk blend in the cocktail of La Banda's first and sole album. Often regarded as Argentina's first supergroup, the ensemble built a reputation on their explosive live performances during a time of political repression. Short-lived but unforgettable, the six-piece brought together top-tier jazz musicians—five Argentinians alongside Uruguayan icon Rubén Rada—to deliver a deep, hard-hitting sound that resonates far beyond its era. Rada arrived in Buenos Aires bruised —…

Wrens creates music that is modern and without immediate comparison. This is revolutionary art, both musically and lyrically. Had Miles Davis lived to be 100, continuing on his path of repeatedly changing the direction of jazz, it would be easy to imagine that by 2026 it could have sounded like Wrens, not only because of the heavily affected and brilliant trumpet playing, but because it feels so contradictory to the institutions that breed much of this music today. When asked about the meaning b…

"A fine musical trio is always more than the sum of its individual parts, and over two decades the grouping of pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen has developed a distinctive character that hasn’t simply yielded a number of fine recordings, but has helped to set Luxembourgish jazz on the international map. Now, working with an orchestra conducted by Vince Mendoza --who also penned some of the arrangements --and with guest saxophonist Joshua Redman, they have deliver…

In June of 2013, a new label for improvised music was born. After years of working with other labels in the “business,” saxophonist and label founder Dave Rempis saw the writing on the wall that many of those outlets for underground music would soon go belly up. With shifting modes of consumption and distribution due to the wave of digital options drowning out traditional music media, it became clear that artists working outside of the mainstream would have to take over their own production and …

The third volume of duos between indefatigable tenorsaxophonist Ivo Perelman and adventurous trumpeter NateWooley is their most intimate encounter to date. Beginningwith mournful, almost undersea drones, it moves through avariety of subtly shifting moods, combining old-school jazzromanticism with the kind of nearly telepathic interaction thatonly a long-term creative relationship can inspire. Anyonewho’s enjoyed the first two volumes of this brilliant series willfind this latest dispatch to be a…

Kosuke Mine’s electric album, with a strong rock and funk flavor, is set for reissue as part of "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. This classic album shines with the outstanding combination of Mine’s saxophone with a wah-wah pedal and Mikio Masuda’s psychedelic keyboards. Label Introduction: East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and Nippon Phonogram, as it was then known. Over a period of about five years, the label pr…

A classic album recorded in 1976, featuring a superb lineup including Sam Jones, Kazumi Watanabe, and Fumio Karashima, with expansive cello solos. Highlights include an exhilarating duo number with the seasoned bassist Sam Jones, as well as Kazumi Watanabe’s hip guitar solos throughout. Label Introduction: East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and Nippon Phonogram, as it was then known. Over a period of about…

World-famous pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s second East Wind release, "Life," appears in the lineup for "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. Backed by a golden rhythm section with Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, Yamamoto delivers a supremely swinging performance. His delicate ballad playing on "If You Could See Me Now" is also essential listening. Label Introduction: East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and N…

Before Afrobeat, there was Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul. Highlife music, originally from Ghana and widely popular across West Africa, dominated the music scene in Lagos when Fela Kuti returned to the newly independent Nigeria in 1963. Fela had been studying trumpet at Trinity College of Music in London where he met drummer Tony Allen, who also joined him in new group Koola Lobitos as they sought to mix things up by introducing the sounds they had heard in the capital's jazz clubs. The music of Fe…

The debut album from a free jazz piano trio founded by up-and-coming drummer Masatsugu Hattori, featuring pianist Nana Omori and bassist Masashi Kato, the album includes seven tracks that span free jazz and ambient/electro.

Claire Rousay completes her trilogy with A Little Death, where field recordings intertwine with strings and piano like voices in a chamber ensemble. A return to her core practice after sentiment's pop forms, the album transforms tactile samples into emotional archaeology—fragile, honest, vital.

Sirenjaw documents the first meeting of three musicians who, while previously connected through various collaborations, had not performed together as a trio before this recording. The project brings together long-standing musical relationships: Lukas Koenig and Vinicius Cajado share a deep-rooted connection within the Viennese music scene; Koenig and Kit Downes have collaborated both live and on record; and Downes and Cajado have recently worked together in a range of ensemble contexts in Berlin…

Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's album Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is due June 12, 2026, on Nonesuch Records. The album features four new compositions by each musician as well as one collaboration. The album track “Soundcheck“ is available today and can be heard below; you can pre-order the album here. The duo, long admirers of each other’s musicianship, met at Halvorson’s Brooklyn apartment and began playing together periodically, going back as fa…

To mark 50-years since a 22 year old Michael Gregory Jackson recorded his groundbreaking first release, "Clarity / Circle / Triangle / Square", recorded with the mind blowing group of his contemporaries Oliver Lake, David Murray and Leo Smith. This album is like no other I know, a new world, finding a perfect balance between multiple genres. Moved-By- Sound is very excited and honored to be involved in releasing the first reissue authorized by Michael Gregory Jackson since the original release i…

Tip! "Belonging is a studio album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released on ECM later that year—the debut of Jarrett's "European Quartet", featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Because Jarrett's contract with ABC/Impulse! prevented him from performing with the quartet under his own name, the group became known as the 'Belonging' quartet." - Wikipedia

Moanin’ is the sound of Art Blakey turning a band into a congregation, with Lee Morgan’s trumpet, Benny Golson’s tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons’s piano, and Jymie Merritt’s bass all testifying over Blakey’s unmistakable cymbal crashes and press rolls. From the call‑and‑response of the title track to the burning hard‑bop vehicles that follow, the record distils church‑infused, blues‑drenched celebration into a small‑group format. Each soloist brings a distinct voice – Morgan’s bright fire, Golson…

Out to Lunch! remains one of the most strikingly original statements on Blue Note. Eric Dolphy marshals Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, Richard Davis on bass, and Tony Williams on drums into a unit that treats his knotty compositions as springboards rather than straitjackets. Themes like “Hat and Beard” arrive full of angular intervals and odd accents, while the rhythm team tilts and lurches under them, propelled by Williams’ restless cymbal work and Davis’ flexible g…

Herbie Hancock debuted on Blue Note in 1962 and quickly established himself as both a remarkable pianist and a brilliant composer with three excellent albums—Takin’ Off, My Point Of View, and Inventions & Dimensions—before making what is widely considered to be his first masterpiece: Empyrean Isles. Recorded in 1964, the album seemed to distill the full breadth of Hancock’s artistry into a sweeping 35-minute musical journey. Joining Hancock on the voyage were three of his closest collaborators: …