Jazz /
Obdo
Frédéric Blondy (piano) with Thomas Lehn (analogue synthetiser) recorded in France, 2003-2006. An interaction of electronic and acoustic sounds from two of Europe's top improvisers. The creation and detailled exploration of a spectral and timbral landscape quite unlike any other.
New Music From Russia; The \'80s\'
An outstanding box, documenting the early 80's impro/experimental scene fro Russia - almost 10 hours of music, housed in a lavishly packaged box, with a 32 pages full color booklet, considered by the label itself as the most important release of the entire Leo Records catalogue "In a way the document is not only a summing up of a decade of new music in the USSR. It is also a summing up of Leo Records' activity during these ten years. The advances of Soviet new music were tremendous in spite of t…
La Via Lattea (dal contrabbasso al cielo)
A record for double-bass (adding here and there a cello and some recorded voices). Felice Del Gaudio (www.felicedelgaudio.it) mixes multiple tracks with his instrument and creates atmospheres keeping alwais a convinced attachment to his land (Basilicata, his native soil) and the popular roots, even if he uses a very free and creative language, peculiar to jazz, and also, as a learned composer, doesn't disdain atmospheres typical for chamber music. In short, a record following the path traced by …
Generative Themes
very rare, long out of print studio recording from 1982. This marks the recording debut of John Tilbury (piano) in the group, plus the now reunited core of Prévost and Keith Rowe (guitar, electronics). Absolutely stunning improvisational "noise" from a very serious standpoint ensemble. One copy only available, new and unplayed
The Inexhaustible Document
rare original LP, recorded live in London on 1/10/87. Prévost, Rowe, Tilbury, and Rohan de Saram (cello). The organic control of sound on this disc is spectacular; pretty much a must for serious listeners worldwide. One copy only available, new and unplayed
Barkingside
Alex Ward (clarinet), Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (double bass), Paul May (percussion). An improvising quartet comprising four excellent young improvising musicians based in London and Oxford, none of whom have ever been to the outer London suburb of Barkingside. Two complete performances from concerts at Cambridge University and the 2007 Freedom Of The City festival in London.
Everything That Disappears
Tom Djll (trumpet, pocket cornet & preparations), Matt Ingalls (Bb clarinet, bass clarinet), Frédèric Blondy (piano), John Shiurba (electric guitar), George Cremaschi (double bass & electronics), Lê Quan Ninh (surrounded bass drum), John Bischoff (electronics), Tim Perkis (electronics), Gino Robair (energized surfaces & voltage made audible). Tom Djll put this electro-acoustic improvising nonet together when Frédèric Blondy and Lê Quan Ninh were visiting the San Francisco area, resulting in some…
Interference
Separately they are three of the best improvising musicians Melbourne has to offer. Together they're a force to be reckoned with. Bob Baker Fish, Cyclic Defrost, Australia. pateras-Baxter-Brown is, absolutely, one of the best radical improvisation ensembles currently in circulation and I would not hesitate in citing them to the flank of historical formations of the Braxton, Jenkins, Smith & McCall quartet, the Bailey, Guy & Rutherford trio or the New Group Consonanza. Awesome!!!!!!
Live At The I.C.A. / Retrospective
The English free jazz improvisation scene of the late 60s and early 70s was an incestuous breeding ground. Robert Fripp was producing albums by Keith Tippet, Brian Eno was using Derek Bailey and Evan Parker on albums of odd Russian electronic music on Island, and labels like EMI and RCA were actually taking a stab at selling this music to a large market. Amidst all this was Ray Russell, a popular session guitarist, also playing in John Barry's group, also reputed to be the first guitarist in Eng…
new horizons
Chicago pianist Sun Ra emerged as a leader on the jazz scene early in 1956, when he assembled a group of neo-boppers that contributed to the original and exciting jazz sound offered by his new Sun Ra Arkestra, a medium-sized group that swung like a giant locomotive, an effect primarily due to an interesting use of two basses playing simultaneously.They featured the power of big band ensemble along with the excitement of combo blowing by fine soloists, among them the driving tenor John Gilmore, …
In concert
This outstanding DVD includes a memorable live performance by the most influential avant-garde jazz band of the 70s and 80s, the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The primary innovators in the fusion of traditional African and African American music with European performance art, the AEC are legendary for their inimitable stage shows.Dressed up in African costumes, odd masks and colorful face paint, the group transports its audience through time and space on eight brilliantly improvised tunes. With a wea…
Go Home
One of the rarest Art Ensemble albums ever -- an obscure recording issued only briefly by the equally obscure Calloway Records in France. The set's got a spare, moody feel to it -- and seems to use a bit more stringed instruments than on some of the group's other recordings -- especially on the longer track "Dance ", which matches the usual basswork of Malachi Favors with some additional violin or cello stylings, possibly performed by the rest of the group -- although the cover's not much on not…
Nord
Kaoru Abe's duo with legendary free bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, nord, stands as a critical summit between two of the major forces in japanese jazz at the time. recorded in december 1975 and released in 1981 by Kojima, it reveals a different side to Abe.the two had apparently been playing together since the late '60s - Yoshizawa had, for various reasons, and it's probably due to yoshizawa's undeniable heavyweight status that this dialogue is conducted largely on his terms, with abe toning down hi…
Overhang Party
Stellar duo head on collision bet ween Kaoru Abe and free hitter/ skin mangler Toyozumi. The interaction between the t wo of them creates fire works of improvisational exquisiteness, free rambling seat sniffing combustion that on some occasions instigated Abe to divert his attention from his beloved sax to wards marimba and piano hammerings joined with harmonica blo w-outs. Ferocious, ghastly and kerosene charged head slamming action bet ween t wo of Japan's first wave free jazz terrorists.. Tak…
Mort a Credit
Mort à Credit shows Kaoru Abe in a fascinating period of transition, moving forth to something complexly and identifiably new, yet intransigently rooted in what had come before. It consists of two alto improvs from a show on October 18, 1975, and five more (three on alto, two on sopranino) from another performance a couple of days earlier. Released by Kojima on 2LP in 1976, it can be said to mark a significant change in Abe's style. Abe is here a little soften from his usual urgency - this can p…
Conflagration
A well-regarded and influential group with saxophonist John Surman and two expatriate American musicians, bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin.
Domino Concept For Orchestra
Eichenberger directs the musicians to change what they are doing, but not what to. The result is an hour-long performance with many changes, and surprises. Marianne Schuppe & Dorothea Schürch (voices), Carlos Baumann (trumpet), Paul Hubweber (trombone), Carl Ludwig Hübsch (tuba), Markus Eichenberger (clarinets), Dirk Marwedel (extended saxophones), Helmut Bieler-Wendt (violin), Charlotte Hug (viola), Peter K Frey & Daniel Studer (double basses), Frank Rühl (electric guitar) & Ivano Torre (percus…
Trio In Concert
Amazing music by one of the French piano legend Georges Arvanitas, in the company of George's fantastic rhythm duo of Charles Saudrais on drums and Jacky Samson on bass
Portraits
Portraits is a sprawling, ambitious work composed by bassist Barry Guy that brings together musicians from across the British jazz/improv spectrum, from free music luminaries Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, and Phil Wachsmann to somewhat more jazz-based players such as Paul Dunmall and Trevor Watts. The album contains seven main "portraits," each distinct from the next, which are tailored to spotlight the various soloists as well as the different smaller working units contained within the larger 1…
Plie
The problem that besets British jazz - from Ray Noble and Ronnie Scott to Barbara Thompson and Andy Sheppard - is light-music, 'Radio 2' gentility; in Germany it is what Michael Kator (describing the results of the Nazi ban on "hot Jewish music") called "the bane of German jazz, the dreaded 'um-papa' sound". Here, four free music veterans from East Berlin (Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, alto; Ulrich Gumpert, piano; Connie Bauer, trombone; Günter Sommer, percussion) have decided to ease up, let some 'da…