Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Gatefold packaging. Le Tres Jazz Club can't really say that Japanese jazzmen benefit (not justify in fact) from a great international fame. However, trumpet player Terumasa Hino is an exception, undoubtedly because since the '70s he has collaborated with numerous American musicians: Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock -- on Into the Heaven, which was released in 1970, Terumasa Hino is surrounded by the same musicians as on Hi- Nology (LTJC 016LP), released a year earlier: his brother Motohik…

**Original 1982 vinyl edition of the album. Few copies available**  Four Pieces (recorder in November 1981) documents a long lost studio collaboration between pianist Giorgio Gaslini and Anthony Braxton. Alto and Soprano Saxophone and Piano, beautifully together in a set of free improvisations – really letting us hear the imagination that drives the duo. Two real masters of free music - the two exchanging lines that race beyond personality on an extended version of Braxton’s “Composition 191” an…

Repressed for the first time on LP by Le Très Jazz Club, this fantastic album comes with an insert documenting the story of The Elysian Spring and the recording of this true masterpiece. « Glass flowers », recorded in 1969, and only pressed by 500 copies at the time, is an unclassifiable album, overtaking the jazz outlines. Can words really describe music? It may be hard when music is as fantastic as on this LP. « Glass flowers » is an unclassifiable album, overtaking the jazz outlines, recorded…

Super Tip ** original copies, last ones ** 'Trumpeter Baikida Carroll was once again in the company of alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill for a January 1982 recording with pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff for Soul Note called Shadows & Reflections. The material here sounded like it could have been a late Blue Note recording; in fact, there were times when the horns brought back flashbacks of the Jackie McLean-Charles Tolliver front line of the '60s. And for…

"There is only one Cyrille solo on this album - the last solo on the last tune - but he is there at every moment of this date.  His timekeeping, his fills, his extraordinary cymbal work, his sense of space, are present in every nook and cranny of this date"

Zyggurat is Pete Grimshaw's experimental jazz project, in this iteration featuring him on synths and Nathan England-Jones on percussion. Formed in Birmingham, Zyggurat has over 8 years of cosmic electronic wrangling under it's belt. Releases and live shows have featured a charmingly eclectic range of collaborators ranging from tap dancers to sax/flute players, taking in the accordion along the way, with the lyrical drumming of England-Jones the constant and steady accompaniment. Recorded over tw…

Opaque Pink Vinyl An immersive percussion-led meditation from Los Angeles-based composer and producer Carlos Niño, Bubble Bath for Giants is at once an ode to oceanic vastness and a celebration of the quietly powerful - what Niño describes as the same energy expressed in different vessels. Recorded in Topanga, California and across the homes of the artists involved, the album unfolds through an extraordinary density of acoustic material: bells, bowls, ceramics, chimes, cymbals, bass drum, sakar…

A testament to the interaction between the experimental avant-garde and the countercultural underground, the album was originally released on Elektra, recorded by Jac Holzman (the label's founder, responsible for signing The Doors, Love, and The Stooges) and produced by DNA, a group that included Pink Floyd's first manager, Peter Jenner (the title of Pink Floyd's 'Flaming' is a tribute to AMM's 'Later During a Flaming Riviera Sunset'). Formed in 1965 by three players from the emerging British ja…

Those looking for a comprehensive overview of Sun Ra’s celestial magic could do far worse than acquire a copy of ‘Artyard in a Box’, a collection of nine classic long players from the Sun Ra archive set across seven CDs. ‘Disco 3000’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘On Jupiter’, ‘Beyond the Purple Star Zone’, ‘Oblique Parallax’, ‘Horizon’, ‘Nidhamu’, ‘Dark Myth Equation Visitation’ and ‘The Antique Blacks’ all appear, spanning the more soulful and spiritual manifestations of his work such as on ‘The Antique…

Quite literally one of the most original and influential guitarists on the planet, Derek Bailey has completely revolutionized the language of guitar music in the twentieth century. His work has been championed by almost every cutting edge guitarist: Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Buckethead, Jerry Garcia, but his influence reaches far far beyond the insular world of guitar freaks, to classical composers such as Brian Ferneyhough and Karlheinz Stockhausen, creative musicians Anthony Braxt…

*  Specialist Japanese Edition Vinyl LP with Obi strip Mono * Never-issued work from Don Cherry – and a really key piece of the puzzle in the career of this legendary trumpeter! The recordings were done for Swedish Radio, with great fidelity – more than just live tracks captured in a club, and instead some really thoughtful material that marks an early pairing of Cherry's talents with the Swedish scene that he would soon call home! Don plays cornet, and the music is maybe a bit inside compared t…

Between 1969 and 1971, Francois Tusques and Sunny Murray were often accomplices in rebellious music. After other recordings, their collaboration culminated in an album that became mythical, Intercommunal Music, the site of a joust within the orchestra. The ephemeral and demanding label Shandar had invited François Tusques to lead a recording session on his own suggestion. Sunny Murray, one of his guests, arrived at the studio at the eleventh hour with a group of musicians ready to stage a ʹcoup …

On John Zorn’s Bagatelles Vol. 5, John Zorn hands eight spiky miniatures to the Kris Davis Quartet, who turn his angular “weirdo tunes” into a fierce, lyrical piano‑guitar quartet set where structure, swing and free combustion constantly collide.

One of the most important musical partnerships in English Free Improvisation was the duo of Tony Oxley and Derek Bailey. Their long standing friendship began as early as 1963 with the group Joseph Holbrooke (including composer/bassist Gavin Bryars) and lasted over forty years. These recordings were created in the studio in 1975 and catch them at their peak. Also included is Oxley’s touching tribute to Bailey, a dynamic new piece for electronics and percussion recorded live at the recent Bailey t…

* Edition of 300 copies. High thickness cardboard with opaque laminated cover. Comes with a printed insert. * John Tchicai (1936 – 2012) was one of the most important free improvising saxophonists of the 20th Century: an artist of rare vision and aptitude whose lines soared and stood out even in the most hallowed company, and whose body of work as a leader / composer is among the most singular and distinct within the entire canon of that music. But Tchicai’s importance doesn’t end there. Born in…

Last copies, sold out at source * Edition of 300 copies. High thickness cardboard with opaque laminated cover. Comes with a printed insert. * Founded in 1969 by the pianist Ole Mathiessen, the bassist Henrik Hove, the saxophonist Jesper Nehammer, and drummer Jon Finsen, Tordenskjolds Soldater was one of the great - albeit short-lived - projects in Copenhagen’s thriving scene of free improvisation and jazz of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Across the proceeding decade or so, Denmark had provided…

2026 stock Louis Moholo-Moholo returned to South Africa to a rapturous reception in 1993 with his band Viva-La-Black. They embarked upon a series of concerts and workshops, performing in Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg. This album affords a glimpse into the exhilarating experience, one which Claude Deppa describes as "musically speaking, it was the tour of a lifetime."

CD version. "Every now and then I meet a bull who announces itself with its horns ('Le Corna'). But it doesn't scare me, it moves and dances, it runs away. Archery ('Tiro') is its favourite ('Rito') hobby, and my bull likes tea. It always eats round roti ('Chapati') together with its bull ('tori') friends who all have bristling hair like hedgehogs and succulent plants. My bull keeps different things in the vegetable gardens ('Orti') and in the wineskins ('Otri'). Then there is the tail ('la coda…

Antonio Borghini and Banquet of Consequences continue on their path of jazz, freedom, and rigor, in which writing, improvisation, tradition, and chaos coexist in a vital and surprising mixture. Well-organized music that uses disorder to its enrichment and is a harbinger of melodic flourishes and references many different kinds of music.

2026 stock Condor, Autumn Wind is a live album released in 1998 by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in collaboration with his wife, poet Harumi Makino Smith. Recorded in Durham, it showcases Smith's avant-garde improvisation style through mostly solo trumpet performances enriched by mbira, percussion, wood flute, siren, and vocals.​ The album blends Smith's episodic trumpet solos—boldly shaped phrases that evolve piece by piece—with Harumi Makino Smith's evocative poetry recited in Engli…

Two 1970s’ CTI albums and 1980’s ‘Skagly’ make up this triumvirate from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Amongst those sidesmen featured on these albums are Billy Cobham, George Duke, George Benson, Hubert Law and Jeff Baxter. ‘Keep Your Soul Together’ and ‘Polar AC” both made the US Top 200. Digitally remastered and slipcased with extensive new notes.

Diriaou (“Thursday” in Breton) captures the singular collaboration between Kristen Noguès-pioneering Celtic harpist and explorer of Breton tradition-and legendary British saxophonist John Surman, renowned for his atmospheric jazz on ECM. Recorded live in 1998 at the Dre Ar Wenojenn festival, this album presents the duo weaving together original compositions and traditional melodies into a tapestry of free folk, modal improvisation, and ambient soundscapes. Noguès, deeply rooted in Breton music y…

Alvin Singleton’s (b. 1940) approach to music-making has all along been involved in an interplay with listeners and their psychology. While this does not mean he has been centered on simply pleasing his audiences, his work seems to constantly draw his audience into confronting challenges of listening, and they tend to end up pleased. Therefore, with so many of his pieces, they might be extremely complex and masterfully crafted, but seldom do you feel he presents the listener with something they …

With Notebook, Lukas Ligeti turns a band, a method and a score into the same thing: four pieces where intricate design and on‑the‑spot decision‑making fuse into chamber music that thinks aloud in real time.

From 1960 to the present day, from Georges Arvanitas to Laetitia Shériff, or from Manu Dibango to "Mama" Béa Tékielski, everyone has wanted to include François Jeanneau in their team at some point. This, his first album under his own name, was recorded for Jef Gilson’s Palm label in 1975, a few months after ‘’Watch Devil Go’’ by Thollot, with more or less the same cast: Jeanneau on saxophone, Jenny-Clark on double bass and percussion, Lubat replaces Thollot on drums and Michel Grailler is added …

Last Copies around. Bomb! ** 700 copies only. Definitive 7 vinyl records deluxe package featuring all four original albums restored and remastered, each with 4 page-portfolio and exclusive obi strip + 20-page booklet ** Souffle Continu records is thrilled to present Byard Lancaster – The Complete Palm Recordings 1973-1974, the definitive deluxe package of Philadelphia born jazz wizard Byard Lancaster including his 4 legendary albums released on Jef Gilson’s Palm Records in the 1970s, Us, Mother …

On The Call, Bellbird turn their namesake’s piercing cry into a manifesto: an explosive yet intimate quartet music where twin saxes, rhythm‑led structures and “ugly” beauty carry climate grief and solidarity into a single, ringing shout.

Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen), Linda Fredriksson and Matti Bye enter the We Jazz Records realm as Kiri Ra! with their new album nen (out 22 May 2026). Kiri Ra! is a trio that creates their sound slowly, in a process of improvisation and discovery. Filtered through the musicians' long-standing friendship and collaboration, Kiri Ra!'s music is a testament to the joy of creation and invention. Their sound together draws from each of the the artists' work before, while creating new world of sound. The…

The Outskirts came together as a working band during bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s three-year stint as a Chicagoan from 2005-2008. They played regularly at all of the working venues for improvised music in Chicago at that time, including The Hungry Brain, The Velvet Lounge, The Hideout, and Elastic. They even made a live recording in April 2009 that they were eager to release. But unfortunately, the multi-track audio files were lost in a hard drive mishap, leaving only a barely usable rough m…

Originally released in 1981, Mr. Circle’s Thi Nam should really have been recognised decades ago as a jazz dance classic. A beautiful example of European jazz fusion at its most sophisticated and optimistic, the album is immersed in the sonics and rhythms of pan-Latin fusion and Brazilian samba, but with one foot in the upful jazz fusion exemplified by Roy Ayers or the Mighty Ryeders. Remastered from the original tapes at Abbey Road, Outernational Sounds is proud to present a true lost gem of Eu…

Wire Magazine's official King of All Skronk Mats Gustafsson is back with his partner in time Paal Nilssen-Love for a new duo record this week. I'm rather struck by the creepy skeleton on the front cover, and I'm also gleaning enjoyment from the textural bubble'n'squeak madness on the disc. There are quite a few droney periods on this one, with Gustafsson eking soft moans and primal howls and jagged rasps from his saxophone, with the drums often puttering around amorphously, but there are also mo…

Terrie Hessels, electric guitar. Paal Nilssen-Love, drums & percussion. Limited to 300 copies only. Recorded live in concert on the 4th of April 2015 at Festival PiedNu, Le Havre, France. Recorded by Emmanuel Lalande. Mixed by Arnold de Boer. Mastered and cut to vinyl by Mike Grisner at D&M Berlin. Cover art and design by Marek Wajda.

* 200 copies. Black vinyl * Paal Nilssen-Love is at his powerful best on most of this record – showing that amazing command of the kit that's made him one of the most important drummers in free jazz over the past decade or so! And Fred Lonberg-Holm does plenty himself to keep up on both cello and electronics – working with an intensity that's quite a change from some of his more contemplative performances – surprisingly searing as Paal moves along like a nonstop locomotive!

Solo Drumkit Improvisations is a richly detailed document of Sean Baxter's explorations in extended percussive technique. Utilising stochastic structures applied to the conventional drumkit, Baxter exploits the sonic potential of a range of percussive implements including, bamboo wok brushes and chopsticks, enamel camping plates, aluminium wind-chimes and wok lids, scrap metal, and even the body. Recorded by acclaimed Australian engineer, Christopher Lawson, with assistance from sound-artist Rob…

Resistance recorded live in 2013 is an expected performance of unforeseen music. That said, it boosts Vandermark's stock (not that he needs it) as a soloist. He has, of late, stepped out of his role as composer, arranger, and organizer of ensembles to perform solo and in improvising duos with Nate Wooley, Agustí Fernandez, Mats Gustafsson, and Tim Daisy. Freed from all the duties associated with large ensembles, he can focus on improvising. Here his saxophone and various clarinets weave, bounce,…

Tip! Bocian Records presents Moon by saxophonist/clarinetist Frank Gratkowski and pianist Reinhold Friedl. Recorded and mixed by Nik Hummer. Mastered by Rashad Becker.

Celebrated vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, one of the most distinctive voices in modern jazz, presents Montara, a radiant album that blends Latin rhythms, soulful grooves, and his signature melodic brilliance. Released on Blue Note Records, this project captures Hutcherson at a creative high point, bringing together an ensemble of master musicians to craft a sound both deeply rooted in jazz tradition and vibrantly global in spirit.   On Montara, Hutcherson steps into a more expansive vision than …

On Live at Hachioji Alone, Shudan Sokai document Tokyo free jazz at the moment it moves to the city’s western margins: exuberant quartet music where loft‑sharpened fire, song forms and nursery‑rhyme mischief collide in a tiny Hachioji club.

2024 Repress. ESP-Disk present a reissue of Pharoah Sanders Quintet, originally released in 1965. Recorded on September 10, 1964, prior to his well-known association with John Coltrane, this eponymous album (later renamed Pharoah's First) is the debut release of the iconic tenor saxophonist, Pharoah Sanders. (Yes, there are some spelling oddities here: the artist -- birth name Ferrell -- only later changed the spelling from the standard Pharaoh to the more personalized Pharoah). With one foot in…

2024 repress. Azimuth was the blueprint for the band's own 'samba doido'/ 'crazy samba' sound. Released in the summer of 1975, the album was a minor commercial success selling around 200,000 copies, but it's now recognised as an essential piece of Brazilian music history. Surely the rawest and funkiest of Azymuth's albums, every track exudes the brimming energy of three exceptionally creative young men from Rio, with incendiary results. Opener ‘Linha do Horizonte’ – a sublime piece of melancholi…