Jazz /
Knitting Factory (Piano/Quartet) 1994, Vol.1
Anthony Braxton plays piano. Two discs, 10 jazz standards, over 75 minutes each disc. (Incidentally this is the first piece by Lennie Tristano on Disc 1). Marty Ehrlich on reeds, Joe Fonda on bass, Pheeroan AkLaff on drums.
Composition N.96
Recorded in 1981 by a 37-piece orchestra & dedicated to the master composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, this album is a key work in Braxton's music's evolution both on the structural & spiritual levels; features extensive notes by Graham Lock.
3ree
2007 release ** "Tanake is unexpected music, hearth lungs sweat (even brain but kept in a hidden place), is music mentally physic, is music physically mental, is twilight at dawn, bitter honey, fresh decomposition, joy in crying. tanake is music generated by her 3ree sweethearts... In the early days [by the way: in the first album "tsu.zu.ku" (2000) tanake meant to reach structure by means of improvisation, but time left the songwriter soul all alone, and tanake's been surrounded by the never en…
Duo (Wesleyan) 1994
A double CD documenting a complete concert at Wesleyan University in front of an appreciative audience. A 100-minute dialoge between a master percussionist And an amazing saxophonist who plays hos whole arsenal of saxophones And clarinet. Sit And watch how ideas are being born developed And brought to a close just to be started all over again.
2 Compositions (Jarvenpaa) 1988
How will Anthony Braxton be regarded 50 years from now, after the polemicists of today are dead and/or no longer interested, when something like an objective and knowledgeable evaluation of his work becomes possible? For all his undeniable brilliance as a composer, Braxton's seeming indifference toward the craft of composition will undermine his reputation to a significant degree. Which might not be fair, actually. Perhaps Braxton's problem is that he suffers from a condition virtually unprecede…
9 Standards (Quartet) 1993
Anthony Braxton opens this one with a blues on alto. And does he play the blues. Not the neat, buttoned-down, arrogantly self-possessed kind of blues that epitomized jazz in the '90s, but the dirty, lowdown, heavily expressionistic blues that hearkens back to the music's beginning -- a blues that communicates something more than just an attitude. It's not slick, it's not pretty, but it's eminently real. This double-disc set, recorded live at Wesleyan University with the quite capable straightahe…
11 Compositions (Duo) 1995
Here is another example of the remarkable versatility of Anthony Braxton. For this series of nearly eighty minutes of carefully arranged duets, Braxton performs on flute; contra-alto, contrabass, Bb, and soprano clarinets; and sopranino, alto, and F saxophones. Brett Larner joins him on traditional 13-string koto and 17-string bass koto. The combinations of sounds are utterly fascinating; the duo allures with deceptive simplicity. While some of the compositions lean toward familiar abstraction, …
10 Compositions (Duet) 1995
This is Anthony Braxton doing what he does best — playing and improvising on his own idiosyncratic small-group compositions, this time in duet with bassist Joe Fonda. The two also have a go at a pair of standards, which come off as well as one might expect — you either love or hate the way Braxton interprets traditional material — but they are heard to best advantage on the several originals written by each. Fonda's tunes are very much in a similar vein as Braxton's — unstable or nonexistent ton…
Light Upon Light
*2022 stock.* Trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, improviser and theoretician, Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most important composers of our time. An original member of Chicago's AACM, his exciting pieces blending composition and mprovisation have been performed by many of the world's most important ensembles and soloists. Featuring an exotic composition for chamber ensemble and gamelan quartet, a beautiful solo piece for viola, a bass concerto written for virtuoso Bert Turetzky and two electroni…
Masada First Live 1993
*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* As a unit, Masada was well-documented in live settings. Despite the ten studio recordings, there have been numerous double live concert outings from the quartet -- John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron -- from all over the world, but until now, there has been scant opportunity to hear how Masada's sound (which came across as completely mature on their first studio date) was born and developed. This set, the band's first ever live meeting at the old…
Boomerang
A masterwork! Cadmo where a jazz-prog trio that had their debut on the legendary Vedette label (Metamorfosi) in 1977. While their members [Antonello Salis (keyboards) Riccardo Lay (bass) Mario Paliano (drums)] are nowadays considered among the best jazz musicians in Italy, in the seventies they still enjoyed mixing up several musical influences, so please expect a musical range that starts with Soft Machine-alike freeform crescendos, wild jazz rock in the best Italian tradition and tribal/ethnic…
the Tony Oxley quartet
Tony Oxley, percussion; Matt Wand, drum machines & tape switchboard; Pat Thomas, electronics & keyboard; Derek Bailey, electric guitar. Quartet 1 (16.00), Duo MP (05.03), Duo TD (13.06), Quartet 2 (04.49), Duo TM (08.41), Duo TP (04.49), Trio PMD (10.14), Quartet 3 (05.40). Recording by WDR Cologne, 8 April 1992. Cover painting (reproduced above) The singer by Tony Oxley, photographed by Max Lautenschlager.
Bridge Out!
Don't call it a comeback. Bridge Out!, the first release in almost a decade by the duo of saxophonist Paul Flaherty and percussionist Randall Colbourne, is better thought of as a renewal, a reawakening of a collaboration which has lain dormant for too long. Joining forces in the late 1980s, these two New Englanders released over a dozen uncompromising and outlaw styled albums of avant garde jazz on their own and other labels that have since vanished into legend. Since then, Flaherty has expanded…
Coelacanth
1991 collaboration between Shaking Ray Levis and Borbetomagus in an exquisite mix of over-amplified and otherwise bewilderingly fierce free improv - three pieces of reed-drone/squawk, percussion & electronics.
Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra
The book explains who Sun Ra was and what he was doing. This is no mean feat. Sun Ra was a man of many interests and beliefs, of whom many misconceptions exist. Even most of his fans will probably learn much and gain tremendous perspective on him from this book. The book's story is one of a man with artistic genius within him, who probably could have been a millionaire and musical "star" - who chose to do other things instead. Here is the unusual story of what he did and why he did it. There is …
Concert for the Comet Kohoutek
Recorded on December 22, 1973 in New York City at the famous Town Hall, this eclectic ESPDisk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigates its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers. Compared to the original pressing, this re-issue is digitally remastered by Joe Phillips and includes brie…
Nothing Is...
Recorded during the 1966 tour of New York State colleges by celebrated classical engineer David Jones, this version of Nothing Is... contains over 20 minutes of newly-discovered material from the same date as the original album. Live set recorded during what many consider to be Sun Ra's most interesting period.
The Night of the Purple Moon
The second deluxe Ra reissue in the new o-card format from the UMS, released in conjunction with El Saturn Records is here: Sun Ra rocks out on his ultra-rare 'Roksichord' record, a small group outing from 1970 with an alternate take PLUS three mind-bending, never issued Wurlitzer solos from '64. Long-awaited & available on CD for the first time!" "The Night of the Purple Moon is Sun Ra's great 'Roksichord record.' It's also one of his most delightful, upbeat, and accessible outings -- full of b…
Abstractions of the Industrial North
Soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist, recorded in 1966! Reissued for the first time. The complete album Abstractions Of The Industrial North is on this recording, and we have added a selection of recordings from other rare Kirchin, Jack Nathan and John Coleman productions, including 'The Wild One', 'Don't Lose Your Cool', 'Town Beat' and finally 'Mind On The Run'. These are all ten inch De Wolfe releases, are exceptionally rare and includes some incredible session musicians, including Jimmy P…
Trio & Triangle
John Stevens (percussion, cornet, voice), Nigel Coombes (violin), Roger Smith (guitar). The 1981 London concert features two of John Stevens didactic pieces performed by nine or ten Musicians, plus a Trio improvisation. Another (previously unissued) Trio set can also be heard - the excitement of the music overcomes the imperfections of the recording on this half hour from 1978. Reissue of SFA LP 092 with extra Trio material.
"Sometime in 1976 the SME became a trio made up of John Stevens, Nigel …