Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

On Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock turns the small jazz group into an ocean vessel, steering a dream team of Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), George Coleman (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums) through a suite of sea‑evoking pieces. Modal harmonies, open forms, and long, swelling melodies create a sense of expanse; Carter and Williams suggest tides and undertows, while Hubbard and Coleman trace arcs that feel both exploratory and inevitable. Hancock’s piano balances delicacy with fo…

“An ambitious, brand new album has reached the Japanese jazz scene. It is ‘Bakimba – Memories of Africa.’” This is how Akira Ishikawa Count Buffalo Jazz And Rock Band’s album was advertised by the Japanese press in 1970. The Japanese jazz artists were bravely approaching the rock scene, and their choice became an inspiration to jazz-rock groups like Takeshi Inomata & Sound Limited, Jiro Inagaki and Soul Media, and more. The blending between jazz and rock was born in the United States, thanks to …

After 6 albums re-imagining the work of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, أحمد [Ahmed] turn to the material of Malik’s bandmate Thelonious Monk in the group's ongoing search for future music.

Tzadik introduces its new Spectrum series with a very special and exciting new group featuring three of the most creative wind players in new music. Friends and colleagues since the ’70s, these three musicians share a vision of improvisation and composition that is unique, virtuosic and cooperative. Performing compositions and collective improvisations, they sculpt sound and silence with masterly assurance. Surprising yet completely inevitable, this is an essential document of improvisational mu…

Tilaye Gebre was a central figure in Ethiopian music during the mid- to late 1970s, a period now hard to document but rich with talent. His saxophone and arrangements are likely featured on many recordings from Addis Ababa of that era. Despite Ethiopia’s limited formal musical institutions, Tilaye trained at the Haile Selassie First Theatre music school, where he began studying saxophone instead of guitar under mentor Ato Aymre Gemeda. This instrument became his lifelong expressive voice. Tilaye…

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 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.

Rerelease of the fourth album of the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra recorded with the Guinean saxophonist Jo Maka. The title says it all: Vol.4 – Jo Maka. The Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra was created in 1971 by an “old hand” of French free jazz, François Tusques. Free Jazz, was also the name of the recording made by the pianist and other like-minded Frenchmen (Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin and Charles Saudrais) in 1965. But, six years later Tus…

On Grzybnia, Błoto return from a three‑year silence with their most concept‑driven set yet: a darkly glowing, mycelium‑inspired tangle of jazz, house and techno pulses, where four players improvise like a single underground network branching in all directions.

Available for the first time since its original release in 1980, this is compelling, funky, exploratory jazz from Melbourne, Australia. The album opens with the floating Song For Bobby, a downtempo gem with the heartbeat aura of Herbie Hancock’s Butterfly; Orchestral Excerpts (From The Symphony Of Life), In The Basement and City Of Stone are high-grade fusion jams with one eye on Weather Report and Return to Forever, the other on the organic Australian sound of Alan Lee and John Sangster. The al…

We Jazz Magazine, Issue 19 / Summer 2026 "Milestones" for Miles Davis. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Miles Davis by Alex Coles, Phil Freeman, Tony Higgins, Ashley Kahn, Tadayuki Naitoh & Anton Spice, Spiritual Jazz by Pierre Crépon & Francis Gooding, Kadi Vija by Wif Stenger, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten by Tom Toremans, Jonah Parzen-Johnson by Giulio Pecci, Emma Rawicz by Rob Garratt, Courtney…

*2025 stock* Elemental Music proudly announces the release of "Woody Shaw – Tokyo '81," a remarkable newly discovered live recording from one of jazz’s most visionary trumpet players. Captured on December 7, 1981, in Tokyo, this previously unreleased performance reveals Shaw at the height of his creative powers, supported by his all-star quintet: Steve Turre (trombone, percussion), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Stafford James (bass), and Tony Reedus (drums). Boasting Shaw's signature melodic inventive…

A rare gem from the vibrant European jazz scene finally resurfaces with the release of Grenoble ’88, a captivating live recording that unites two masters of post-bop expression: French saxophonist Barney Wilen and Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu. Captured in 1988 in Grenoble, France, this performance showcases the remarkable interplay between two artists whose lyrical sensibilities and sophisticated phrasing made them cornerstones of modern jazz on the continent.   Known for his poetic tenor sound…

From 1971-1979 Wadada Leo Smith released four albums on his own, privately pressed label Kabell. Under the supervision of the composer, this material has now been collected, remastered and coupled with over two hours of unreleased bonus tracks, including the second set of the influential Reflectativity concert and the legendary Mapenzi solo concert from 1976. Complete with a twenty-eight page booklet featuring session photos and tributes from musical associates such as George Lewis, Alvin Single…

2025 stock  A breathtakingly beautiful document of new compositions from a founding member of Chicago's AACM and one of the world's most important contemporary creative musician/composers. Featuring his ensemble Nda-Kulture and the California E.A.R. Unit, Tao-Njia blends jazz, blues, poetry and the cultural traditions of Africa, Asia, Europe, Indonesia and America into lyrical and profoundly moving music. Wadada Leo Smith-trumpter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser-has been active f…

An original member of the legendary Black Artists Group (St. Louis' counterpart to the AACM), and founder of the World Sax Quartet, Julius Hemphill was one of the most important composer/performers in creative music. His work is marked by a sharp, edgy melodicism steeped in the blues, contrapuntal complexity and a striking formal logic. One Atmosphere presents the full range of his compositional talents: a long, epic work for seven woodwinds (one of his greatest compositions, here receiving its …

Haino Keiji is a mysterious psychedelic minstrel who has been performing his peculiar blend of rock, medieval music and improvisation since the early 1970’s. Incredibly prolific, he has headed dozens of bands and released hundreds of CDs on a variety of labels around the globe. His latest project is a wild duo with Ruins mastermind Yoshida Tatsuya, the undisputed master drummer of the Japanese Underground. Featuring Haino’s unique singing and screaming style as well as his best guitar playing to…

On Alea Iacta Est, John Zorn hurls the piano concerto into a maelstrom: Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, Ches Smith and Sae Hashimoto navigate four years of volatile writing where ferocious counterpoint, free‑jazz impact and sudden lyric calm collide with game‑like inevitability.

Luminous Axis (subtitled The Caravans of Winter and Summer) is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith recorded in 2002 and released on Tzadik Records' Composer Series. This adventurous recording marks one of Smith's most exciting forays into electronic music, featuring an extended suite for four laptops and trumpet, two duets with Ikue Mori, and a composition featuring percussionist William Winant. A relentless musical innovator since his early days in the Chicago AACM (Association…

Reflectativity, first released on Leo Smith's own label in the early 1970s is one of the most important extended compositions blending improvisation and composition, and one of Leo Smith's masterpieces. This exciting new version features the brilliant pianist/composer Anthony Davis (who performed on the original recording) and longtime friend and colleague Malachi Favors—the legendary monster bass player from the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Coupled with several new compositions, this CD brings toge…

Two creative music legends who share a remarkable spiritual connection in their first duo outing. Originally proposed to ECM in 1979 and rejected, this rare musical treasure is a project that has been brewing for thirty years. Featuring six new compositions by one of the most consistently brilliant composer/performers out of the legendary AACM, and telepathic interplay by two virtuoso instrumentalists who have been pushing the musical envelope since the 1960s, Red Trumpet is one of the highlight…

The premier ensemble of Radical Jewish Culture, Masada is one of Zorn’s most popular, personal, long-lasting, and powerful projects. Here you find the mother lode—the long-awaited Tzadik release of the original quartet’s first studio recordings. Released in Japan by DIW from 1994–1997 and previously available only as hard-to-find Japanese imports, all ten CDs are presented here in their original configurations accompanied by an 84-page booklet filled with photos, scores, and over twenty essays o…

In September 1968, Marion Brown, who moved to Europe two years earlier, recorded the soundtrack of the movie by Marcel Camus entitled 'Le Temps Fou' in the legendary Parisian studio Davout. The movie starring Nino Ferrer was released in 1970 under the title 'Un Été Sauvage'. Soon fallen into oblivion, 'Le Temps Fou' was printed in very few copies by the French arm of Polydor and is almost impossible to find in its original pressing. Finally, more than fifty years later, Le Tres Jazz Club has bro…

Alto saxophonist Marion Brown was an initially underrated hero of the jazz avant-garde. It was only after he moved from Atlanta to New York and joined John Coltrane that audiences and critics took notice. Dedicated to discovering the far-reaching possibilities of improvisational expression, Brown possessed a truly lyrical voice. In the early seventies, he played with Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, Bennie Maupin, Jeanne Lee, and Chick Corea, among others. On this recording he was accompanied by…

Biggest Tip!  180 gram Vinyl Edition. Gatefold Cover. Recorded in New York City and Los Angeles, California, and was released in 1973 by Impulse! Records. Wisdom Through Music, with its smaller line-up - Sanders is joined by flutist James Branch, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and percussionists Badal Roy, James Mtume, and Lawrence Killian. - consists of five tracks. Most notable is "High Life," on which Sanders emulates the West African style of music with roil…

Limited Edition 180 Gram Gatefold LP Reissue. Released on the Verve label in 1965, Bumpin' was Wes Montgomery's first album to reach the charts, climbing to #116 on the Billboard 200 chart. In his All Music review, Shawn M. Haney gave the LP four-and-a-half stars (out of five) and praised it by stating that, "Not only is Wes' brilliant command of the six-string present here, so is the vivid color tones of notes and blue notes played between. Backed up by a hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizing or…

Limited Edition 180 Gram Gatefold LP Reissue. From the early 1960s to the late '80s, A&M was one of the most eclectic and powerful independent record labels in the world. The roster of artists who recorded there includes The Carpenters, Captain Beefheart, The Police, Joe Cocker, Suzanne Vega, Procol Harum and Janet Jackson, among others. Founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962, soon the label garnered interest and success, and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989. Thr…

First Complete, Authorized Release of alto sax giant’s 1972 Olympia performance transferred from the original tape reels recorded by the ORTF and housed in the INA (the Institut national de l'audiovisuel). Released by Elemental Music in cooperation with the Cannonball Adderley Estate and INA France. Includes an extensive booklet with rare photos; essays by acclaimed jazz author and historian Bob Blumenthal and producer Zev Feldman, plus testimonies by Tia Fuller, Lou Donaldson & Vincent Herring,…

On Let the Sky Open Under Your Feet, Skyjack fuse South African groove, European improv and chamber‑level detail into a live‑wired suite of cosmic jazz, where deep‑rooted rhythms and free flights feel like earth and atmosphere trading places.

CD edition. A title like a manifesto, and music with the conviction to carry it. For a few nights at the close of 1972, the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen held a trio that would barely survive the season. Abdullah Ibrahim - then still recording as Dollar Brand - sat at the piano; Don Cherry stood with his trumpet; Carlos Ward raised his alto. From the performance of November 14 came The Third World-Underground, a record that surfaced only in Japan, on Trio Records' Nadja imprint in 1974, and t…

Louis Matute unveils Dolce Vita, a bold and vibrant album. Recorded at the legendary La Frette Studio, this record blends Honduran heritage with Brazilian influences, merging jazz, groove, Caribbean rock and vintage textures into a poetic and deeply committed work. Having gained recognition at prestigious festivals, Matute collaborates here with remarkable artists such as Joyce Moreno, Dora Morelenbaum, Gabi Hartmann and Rico TK. In March 2025, Louis set up camp at La Frette, a rock-tinged, vint…

The Take Vibe E.P. is the breakout 7" release from musician Laurence Mason, born from an unexpected lockdown experiment that quickly captured global attention. Fusing the iconic keyboard-driven melody of Golden Brown with the laid-back sophistication of classic jazz, Mason created a version that resonated instantly—amassing over a million views online and sparking overwhelming demand for a physical release. Released by Jazz Room Records, the EP pairs its headline track with a smooth, late-night …

First and only 2009 CD reissue on Schoolmap of 1977 LP by honourable trio of improvisers playing all kind of instruments and sound producing devices.

The first-ever reissue on Studio Mule of the debut album by Japanese jazz legend and bassist Yoshio Ikeda. Having performed with such illustrious figures as Sadao Watanabe, Masabumi Kikuchi, and Terumasa Hino, Ikeda’s first album as a leader features pianist and vocalist Ichiko Hashimoto—also known for her involvement with YMO—Berlin-based jazz pianist Aki Takase, and leading Japanese drummer Motohiko Hino. Avant-garde yet imbued with a distinctly Japanese sense of melancholy, this is a work tha…

„Not So Late / Because it Happens“ on CD and „Because it Happens“ on LP is the material recorded live on August 5th 2025 in London at legendary Cafe OTO. Three masters of improvisation: Mikołaj Trzaska on saxophone, John Edwards on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums. They don't use the term "improvisation," preferring instead to speak of "live composition" and the audience, who are an essential component of the concert ritual. The community created by the performers and the audience's attenti…

**CD Version* “Peace is not the word to play” rapped Large Professor on Main Source’s 1991 debut album. His plea to stop abusing the word “peace” simply for rhetoric flair sounds just as valid in today’s genocidal world as it did in the streets of New York over 30 years ago. For Oiro Pena to name this album Béke, meaning peace in Hungarian – or white people in French Caribbean creole – it seems like they finally have something to say. With this group/concept/project called Oiro Pena, circling as…

Solar Wind, the singular album from OM led by guitarist Seiji Hano, is widely regarded as a milestone in Japanese ethnic jazz. Recently reissued, this masterwork summons a refined blend of acoustic purity, melancholic resonance, and wabi-sabi beauty, drawing subtle influence from ECM contemporaries like Oregon and Codona while breathing unmistakable Japanese spirit. With each track, from the mesmerizing “Windmill” to the final notes, Solar Wind achieves a seamless, moving elegance - a flawless e…

Sven-Ake Johansson has referred to the book of compositions used for his Stumps project as the magnum opus of his small group writing. The top-notch quintet he assembled for the project includes some of his most trusted collaborators in trumpeter Axel Dörner and double bassist Joel Grip, complemented by the involvement of two younger but equally compelling French improvisers, pianist Simon Sieger and alto saxophonist Pierre Borel. A set of recordings made at the Berlin club Au Topsi Pohl were re…

Despite a 40-year age gap and the vast distance between Japan and Greece, pianist Masahiko Sato and guitarist Giotis Damianidis reveal themselves as kindred spirits on Thousand Leaves. Capturing their very first meeting—recorded live on February 2, 2024, at Jazz Spot Candy in Chiba, Japan—this album is a testament to the power of improvised music to dissolve boundaries of geography and generation. The rapport between Sato and Damianidis is so immediate and intuitive that one might imagine a much…

2025 stock Mats Gustafsson plays slide, tenor, baritone, bass saxophones. Christof Kurzmann uses special ppooll software and voice, live processing. Recorded, mixed & mastered at Garnison 7, Vienna by Martin Siewert. Artwork by Jimmy Draht. Liner notes by Ken Vandermark. Limited vinyl edition of 300 with screen-printed covers. Ken Vandermark, from the liner notes: "On the surface, its fundamental components seem to come from the 20th century: the saxophone (invented in 1846, but not coming to th…