Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Strut Records proudly presents the first definitive expanded reissue of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Sun Ra’s 1977 session recorded at the Bluebird in Bloomington, Indiana, presented across three Vinyl LPs or as a two-CD set. Please note the differing tracklist between the CD & LP.

Here comes an incredible Fusion Jazz-Funk discovery on vinyl for the first time. From the vaults of mastermind Günther Fischer came this unreleased outstanding Rare Groove material with breathtaking international high class Jazz from 1974. It bears no comparison with absolute international most wanted sounds from Marc Moulin's Placebo, Masaru Imada´s Green Caterpillar, the german ensemble Catch up, UK´s Nucleus or the US jazz milesstones from Catalyst. It is unbelievable that an East German band…

A pivotal masterpiece by Masahiko Togashi, Masayuki Takayanagi, Mototeru Takagi, and Motoharu Yoshizawa is set to be reissued as the eighth release in the Spin This Now! series

*2026 repress* Souffle Continu records is thrilled to present Byard Lancaster – Exactement, one of his 4 legendary albums released on Jef Gilson’s Palm Records in the 1970s. At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum c…

*250 copies limited edition* The quartet of Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Bobby Kapp returns with Synesthesia, a new recording that captures their deep connection and evolving voice in contemporary free jazz. Following the acclaimed Ineffable Joy and Heptagon, the group continues to explore spontaneous composition, open form, and strong collective interplay. This time, the music leans further into a modern jazz language, with sharper focus, clearer shapes, and a refined sense o…

On Anthem for Peace, Alan Braufman leads a razor‑sharp quartet through compact, hook‑rich tunes that braid spiritual jazz, buoyant post‑bop and modal, Eastern‑tinged themes into a forward‑moving set that feels both steeped in history and fully present tense.

LP - Strictly limited first-time/one-time-only Centering Records edition, 500 on black vinyl // Beautiful pressing & printing. Includes full-res download card with 3 additional tracks. A gorgeous soul-jazz organ quartet album that hearkens to early-mid 60s sessions of similar form; fully revitalized by William Parker's indelible compositions and the generous musical gifts of Darryl Foster, Cooper-Moore and Gerald Cleaver. A straight-up joy. This very special project was produced by William Parke…

LP limited edition / 600. Jacket printed on reverse board - a true beauty. Includes full-res download card/code of the total work. Heart Trio features three lifelong-devoted fellow travelers on the path of healing through sound. World-renowned & revered bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improvisor, community leader William Parker has performed and recorded extensively with both master pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, inveterate performer Cooper-Moore & master drummer…

Enshrined in the Penguin Jazz Guide’s "Core Collection", this quintessential platter of Sun Ra’s late 1950s Chicago ensemble showcases the brilliant tenor sax stylings of John Gilmore, and introduces Arkestra mainstays Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, and Ronnie Boykins. Recorded and issued in 1959, it marks a coda for the bandleader’s bebop/hard-bop stage, as his interstellar traveler persona began to transform the band (and the music). Many of the early works on these recordings would remain stapl…

Sun Ra's first Saturn album, recorded at RCA Studios in Chicago in 1956, with 14 alternate versions and studio takes on the second record. Mono 2LP in tip-on gatefold with cover insert, Cosmic Myth Records, 2025.

Triple-LP version. Tri-gatefold cover. "Considering the monumental depth of Sun Ra's recorded oeuvre, there are surprisingly few solo piano albums. Monorails & Satellites Volumes 1 and 2 were the first commercial LPs of the artist's solo keyboard excursions. Recorded in 1966 and released on his Saturn imprint in 1968, Volume 1 featured seven idiosyncratic originals and one standard ('Easy Street') delivered in Sunny's singular manner. Volume 2 was released the following year, and contains five c…

When Angels Speak of Love, released in 1966 on Sun Ra's Saturn label, is a rarity, with limited pressings (150 copies, by one estimate), which were sold thru the mail and at concerts and club dates. The tracks were taped in New York during two 1963 sessions at the Choreographer's Workshop, a rehearsal space/recording den with warehouse acoustics. Ra spent countless hours at the CW from 1961 to 1964 sharpening the Arkestra during exhaustive musical huddles. John Corbett calls this "one of the mos…

The essence of conviviality. You take a punch, soft as a sock at the end of a jog, but that isn’t the real point here. Even poorly brewed fuel can become a cherished experience when shared in good company, highlighting that at its core, the communal experience lies not in the quality of the beverage, but in the connections it fosters. And so, by evidence of this striking piece of truth, even the occasional misstep in the infusion process can't diminish the warmth and camaraderie that fills the m…

** Deluxe 3LP set, housed in heavy tip-on box with pigment ink foil stamping, mounted film laminated cover painting by Jeff Schlanger, three printed inner sleeves with original notes by William Parker and Alan Licht, original concert flyer re-print and a five photograph portfolio in black envelope ** A legendary concert by one of the great unrecorded bands in free jazz history is here at last. WEBO, the third installment in the Black Editions Archive series of previously unreleased recordings fr…

*100 copies limited edition* Five Nights in the Midwest is a new three-CD release from the improvising trio of bass clarinetist Jason Stein, double bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Adam Shead. Recorded during a December 2025 tour across the American Midwest, the album presents seven extended performances exactly as they occurred—without edits or cuts—allowing listeners to experience the full arc of the tour as it unfolded night by night. The December 2025 run marked the trio’s first tour since 2…

*200 copies limited edition* On Many Roads, their second full-length album, microplastique expands its playful yet rigorous commitment to instant composition, deepening an ethos that treats sound itself as both material and meeting ground. Recorded live across the ensemble’s 15-concert June 2025 U.S. tour, the album functions less as a polished artifact than as a document of encounter—capturing how place, audience, and momentary circumstance all shape what this quartet becomes onstage. Seven tra…

*2005 release. 2026 stock* Kahimi Karie and Mariko Hamada guest as two vocalists on this orchestral work, which marks a dramatic advance from ONJQ. Its many scenes—sometimes hushed, sometimes intense—integrate (and disperse) every sonic possibility—jazz, ambient, rock, voice, noise, etc.—bringing new discoveries to every listener’s ear. Delicate sounds that can be heard if you listen closely. Even accidental onstage noises are intentionally included (you can hear them if you listen carefully), p…

*2006 release, 2026 stock* This is a work that proves the worth of the trio that kept the group alive for 16 years, and at the same time captures a miraculous performance that’s hard to believe was entirely improvised — they went into the studio with no plan and made everything on the spot. Of course there were no overdubs or edits. It might convey the nuance better to call it composition while playing rather than pure improvisation. A series of acoustic treatments by ZAK fully preserves the stu…

*2026 stock* Very special quartet of Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Keisuke Ohta, Shinobu Kawai, Akira Sotoyama. This is real free music from Japan.

*2026 stock* The first duo work by Koichi Makigami and Masataka Fujikake. It contains 9 songs recorded live, all improvised. An improvised sound scroll made up of titles full of mysterious sounds with fantastical and unique ideas. The title song, "Meteor Driver", begins with a reading of a poem from Koichi Makigami's poetry collection "Suprematism" (2019).

This book, a comprehensive, annotated, discography, discusses the great British trumpeter Ian Carr’s recorded works and includes up to the minute additions to the Carr canon. It is the most complete discographical text on the works of Ian Carr. The discography is divided into 2 parts with archival releases being covered in the second part. Three appendices detail Carr’s appearances in the Melody Maker jazz polls, biographies either by or about him, and finally details of Ian’s miscellaneous medi…

Jazz In Britain is proud to be publishing Chris Searle’s new book, ‘Talking The Groove: Jazz words from the Morning Star’. The book is a collection of reviews and interviews with over 150 jazz artists that have appeared in the paper in recent years.And, like our last three books, there’ll be companion audio (two CDs) of rare, previously unreleased, music relevant to the book… some from our archives and some specially donated by musicians featured in the book. When we shared the tracklisting with…

**First time Officially reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes and housed in a deluxe gatefold cover. Edition of 500 copies** The Milan based imprint, Dialogo, returns with the first ever vinyl reissue of Spirale’s lone, 1974 self-titled LP. Resting at a fascinating juncture between progressive and free jazz, it was years ahead of its time when it first appeared, rendering it to the shadows for decades, before its ultimate ascent to becoming one of the great holy grails of Italian Jazz …

A mystery begins. A journey. A vision emerges. Free, intuitive music, played spontaneously in the present moment, without any prior arrangements. I invited musicians, some of whom I’ve known and trusted for a long time, such as Fabrizio Ottaciucci, with whom I’ve enjoyed collaborating on and off since 1987. I met Fabio Mina in Bogliasco in 2007, and since then our paths have crossed more and more frequently. He has made a marvellous musical development. Then there’s Francesco, whom Fabio knew, a…

** Limited to 300 double vinyl copies, two inlays with photos and liner notes. Originally released in 1974 on Preiser Records** »It’s Up to You« is a free sound art and performance project by sound artist and singer Limpe Fuchs, sculptor and sound artist Paul Fuchs, and pianist and recorder player Friedrich Gulda, who formed the trio Anima at the time of the recordings in 1974. As musical guests they were able to enlist the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, the bassist Barre Phillips, the oud play…

On his new album, Micha Acher opens his „Songbook“ under the alias Henry and the Ghost – with compositions for bands such as Tied & Tickled Trio and Ms. John Soda from previous years.

Fuchs is a band that never was. It vanished as quickly as it appeared in the picture, much like the animal that can be seen on this album and after whom it was named. In 2005, Kante singer and guitarist Peter Thiessen travelled to Weilheim to visit Markus and Micha Acher in their studio, where they were joined, among others, by Notwist-affiliated musicians like Cico Beck, Robert Klinger, Carl Oesterhelt and Stefan Schreiber. Spirits were high, but schedules were full: after a week of improvised …

Japanese jazz enthusiasts rejoice: the Hiroshi Fukumura Quintet’s landmark 1973 album Morning Flight, originally released on the iconic Three Blind Mice label, is being reissued for a new generation of listeners. This trombone-led masterpiece captures the raw energy and improvisational spirit of early 1970s Japanese jazz, blending free-form exploration with lyrical standards.

For the better part of the 50s and 60s, Masayuki Takayanagi was among Japan's best-respected jazz guitarists. But it wasn't until his experiments with tabletop guitar led him down the seductive path of sonic experimentation that he became the stuff of legend.  “Ginparis” (literally translated as Silver Paris) was known as the chanson cafe in Tokyo, Ginza, and the performances often centred around chansons but eventually became the session venue for young jazz musicians. They left their mark on a…

Belonging to an incredible, audiophile reissue initiative dedicated to the seminal Jazz Actuel series - one of the greatest depositories of 1960s free jazz - at long last we're gifted one of the greatest of them all: the first ever fully authorized reissue of Jacques Coursil's towering 1971 LP, Black Suite, fully remastered from the original 1969 analog master tapes. Featuring an all-star line-up of Anthony Braxton, Arthur Jones, Burton Greene, Beb Guérin, and Claude Delcloo, it has long remaine…

Tip! First vinyl re-issue of Evan Parker’s duo with George Lewis. Transferred from the original masters, we discovered that the original Incus LP was cut at the wrong speed - and so, we present the first vinyl issue of the correct masters, or ‘mastas’ as Adam Skeaping, legendary engineer who is also responsible for Six of One and Compatibles, fondly calls them.  Skeaping, always working with the latest in recording technology for the time, has a knack for gaining access to remarkable spaces. Goo…

Drummer, visual artist and one of the original European free jazz players, Sven-Åke Johansson was never willing to settle for a single route of exploration. As a musician and composer he appeared on key recordings for the legendary FMP, delivered marine weather reports for Edition Telemark, crooned love songs for Ultra Eczema and was at the heart of the recent free music revival in Berlin via Umlaut alongside Joel Grip and Axel Dörner. “My work is not actually jazz, but rather the exploration of…

CD version. Japanese bluesman Kan Mikami is nothing less than an unalloyed force of nature; a skin-shredding blast of frozen wind from the poor, rural north of Japan that he calls home. In the late 1960s, like thousands of other Japanese young people Mikami made his way to Tokyo in search of a life different from that of his parents. Since then he has forcefully carved out a space for himself in the culture as a modernist poet, a raging folk singer, an author, an actor, an engaging TV personalit…

Huge tip! It is a huge honour to announce the publication of Peter Brotzmann’s final concerts on Otoroku. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe OTO back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and …

Double CD documenting the magic meeting of one of the all-time great rhythm sections in jazz: percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, with London’s brilliant Black Top (Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas) and Elaine Mitchener. Across two sets the quintet are infectiously energetic and inspired, striding from synchronised heavy groove to star bright solos, whilst incorporating dub effects, guimbri and sumptuous blues piano playing.  Formed by Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas but always real…

Delivering a career-defining statement from the Italian electroacoustic composer and saxophone player, Laura Agnusdei, Maple Death returns with “Flowers are Blooming in Antarctica” - a startling, multifaceted journey through imagistic sonorous worlds resting at the juncture of spiritual jazz, fourth-world minimalism, tropical electronics, tribal futurism, and rigorous electroacoustic experimentalism - rooted in thrilling ecological ideas, that marks the launch of Opale, a new suite of releases c…

German saxophonist Luise Volkmann and Brazilian guitarist / vocalist Kiko Dinucci return with intimate, devotional new album Canto de Olho.

*2026 stock* This is the Big Band version by Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band (OSBB) of the 48-minute suite "Sora to Mirai to," written entirely for this performance. "Sora to Mirai to" was originally composed at the request of conductor Yutaka Sado and premiered by the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra on January 17, 2025, the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Although it is an orchestral work, it includes elements of improvisation; soon after its premiere, Otomo imme…

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O‘Rourke created the installation Lifetime of a Flower for the Dortmund exhibition Flowers in 20th and 21st Century Art. In it they set parameters, but allowed the process itself to literally grow uncontrollably: they planted seeds in the garden of their Japanese house and filmed as the plants grew for the duration of the exhibition. Visitors were able to watch the stream in real time, while listening to a composition that reflected the org…

Two days after his 100th birthday, Marshall Allen started recording New Dawn, his debut solo album. A member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1958, Allen assumed leadership of the band in 1995. Throughout his nearly seventy-year career, Allen has never released a solo album under his own name, and yet, instead of capping such a legendary output, New Dawn seems to herald a new beginning. A love letter to spacetime, it channels a century of musical intelligence into seven tracks, showing Allen at his mo…