Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Killer youth jazz from Finland’s new tenor sensation Jimi Ahlroos - energetic rhythmical trio jazz recorded at studio Pelto

Misha Panfilov, the Estonian composer whose name has become synonymous with space-age exotica and cinematic soundscapes, withdraws once more into the solitude of his studio and emerges with To Blue From Grey In May – a profound meditation on sound, time, and seasonal transformation. Recorded amid the ever-changing light and shadows of Tallinn between March and May 2025, this new album stands as a testament to complete immersion in the creative process. Here, Panfilov threads himself into the ver…

An unreleased 1977 Paris concert by Don Cherry and GRM composer Jean Schwarz, with Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Naná Vasconcelos and Michel Portal: spiritual jazz and electronics, kept for over 45 years in Schwarz's archive.

A pioneer of bebop, Max Roach went on to work on many other styles of music and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history having worked with such musicians as Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and more! A seminal set, stretching out towards the directions Max would explore fully on the Candid, Impulse, and Fantasy labels in the 60s. Group members include Booker Little on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor, Ray Dr…

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* From the opening tune “The Vamp” to the final “Head Rock”, this album is a dazzling jazz rock showcase with dreadnought songs that are filled with ideas and passion. This is a masterpiece that has an overwhelming presence in the history of jazz in Japan, as an heresy left on the prestigious jazz label Takt.

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* This is the first and long-awaited vinyl reissue of this Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media jazz rock masterpiece! With vocals by Sammy and Yasushi Sawada. Backed by Masahiko Sato, Kimio Mizutani, Hiro Yanagida. Essential!

Founded in the vibrant musical haven of Brussels in 2015, Azmari have been crafting a truly unique tapestry of musical exploration. Melding intricate jazz textures with intoxicating oriental influences, mesmerizing ethio grooves, enigmatic dark funk, and the pulsating beats of dub music, Azmari defies conventional labels to weave a narrative of sonic innovation and artistic liberation. Influences range from an eclectic array of artists, including Okay Temiz, Heliocentrics, Whitefield Brothers, S…

Holiday For Soul Dance finds Sun Ra Arkestra at its most approachable, trading cosmic chaos for spirited reinvention of jazz standards recorded in Chicago, 1960. Even as familiar melodies pulse through the session, Ra and his ensemble infuse each note with irrepressible eccentricity, blurring nostalgia and space-age wit.​

Fate In A Pleasant Mood showcases Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra at a turning point, merging big band swing with celestial avant-garde impulses. Recorded in 1960 Chicago and released in 1965, this concise, mystical set captures Ra’s fascination with outer space and metaphysical abstraction through poetic miniatures and crystalline ensemble interplay.​

Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse by Eugene McDaniels is a singular statement of early-70s soul dissent, bridging the realms of jazz, funk, and political activism. With inventive musicianship and lyrics addressing injustice, colonialism, and resistance, the album remains a powerful, relevant artifact, both musically adventurous and unflinching in its message.​

From the halls of Kashmere High School to the discographies of funk aficionados worldwide, the Kashmere Stage Band’s debut album Our Thing, self-released in 1969, stands as a defining artifact of American funk. Born from a Texas student ensemble under the exacting direction of musical director Conrad O. Johnson, the band forged a sound steeped in raw, unfiltered groove and high-velocity horn work that would resonate for decades. Our Thing captures the Kashmere Stage Band at a pivotal moment: a r…

Tip! With the opening phrase of “En Tornasol,” an unseen barrier melts away to reveal an alien landscape. Early European composers felt that their work reflected in its structure the divine nature of the material world. Via tuning, form, and contrapuntal alchemy, these musicians sought to illuminate and edify the complex and perfect order of existence. The music recorded here also reflects the contours of an ordered world, but it is no place any of us has ever visited. By assembling far-flung bu…

"Gorgeous live debut LP by an extremely flexible quartet put together by Vancouver based string-monster, Gordon Grdina. Grdina plays both electric guitar and oud. His guitar work here recalls a couple of very different players -- the clean angular scramble of Boston's Joe Morris, and also the more lyrical passages played by the master of power-distortion, Sonny Sharrock. On oud (an instrument most often associated with traditional music of Northern African and Western Asia) he creates a new appr…

Ingrid Schmoliner and Alex Kranabetter are pillars of the improvised and experimental music scenes inAustria stretching back more than a decade. Although the former is known primarily as a pianist and vocalist and the latter as a trumpeter, they both possess seriously expansive sonic palettes. Schmolinger works rigorously with sound direction to generate vibrant psychoacoustic and spatialized effects, while Kranabetter routinely deploys electronics to radically transform and expand his sound wor…

Bordeaux Concert is a special document from Keith Jarrett’s last European tour. Each of Jarrett’s 2016 solo piano concerts had its own strikingly distinct character, and in Bordeaux the lyrical impulse is to the fore. In the course of this improvised suite, many quiet discoveries are made, and there is a touching freshness to the music as a whole, a feeling of intimate communication. Reviewing the July 2016 performance, the French press spoke of hints of the Köln Concert and Bremen-Lausanne in t…

Peter Evans makes his We Jazz Records debut with Extra, a new album out 25th October. The band formation includes Evans on trumpet, Petter Eldh (Koma Saxo / Post Koma) on bass and Jim Black on drums. Peter Evans, an acclaimed trumpet player, improvisor, and composer based in New York City presents a gutsy new band that gets right to work with his eight new compositions. Extra was recorded at the iconic Namouche Studio in Lisbon and it has a feeling of a session where all musicians are pushing fo…

Brooklyn-based pianist Eva Novoa delivers a masterfully executed trio album of melodic themes replete with touches of swing, grooves and exquisite electronic landscapes. Novoa’s articulated playing flows with plenty of room gifting the band full freedom of improvisation. On the track ‘Rocket Man’ you can hear the possibilities of the traditional jazz trio format as it projects into the future, combining the acoustic beauty of the piano with the electronic tapestry of modular synthesizer. The gro…

** Special Edition of 110 hand-numbered copies ** Avant-garde. Paul and Limpe Fuchs and Friedrich Gulda performed live at the famous Munich jazz club Domicile on July 1, 1974. There are three tracks on side 1 featuring and named for each of the musicians. Side 2 is titled “Ensemble”. The original record was given away for free at concerts and was limited to 80 copies. play loud! re-releases this original EP for the first time ever. 110 7” vinyl copies, hand-numbered. Digital on all known platfor…

Wolf Escher turned to Modern Jazz while studying music in Dortmund. He played in the Peter Heidemann Quintet, and performed with Ingfried Hoffmann's big band at the Kölner Jazz Festival in 1967. In 1969 he recorded his first single with the Wolf Escher Quintet for the legendary JG label. This single is a much coveted collector's item today. He subsequently toured with the Big Bands of Johannes Fehring and Dusko Goykovich. In 1972 he formed the fusion band Time In Space, which was successful in c…

With A Semblance: Of Return, South African drummer, composer, and bandleader Asher Gamedze gathers a close ensemble of longtime collaborators to explore what he calls “practices of assembly” - ways of coming together, making sound, and imagining new and old modes of freedom. Based in the independent music scenes of Cape Town and rooted in Pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness, Of Return extends the political and musical commitments that have defined Gamedze’s work since Dialectic Soul (On The C…

Big tip! *2024 much needed repress* The Trance of Seven Colors by master Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders comes in a gatefold sleeve and also include download code. Produced by Bill Laswell and - according to The Attic - "one of the most important albums of Gnawa trance music released in the '90s", The Trance of Seven Colors was originally released in 1994 on Laswell's Axiom imprint and is the magic meeting of two true musical masters. Maleem Mahmoud Ghan…

Combining as the Yatha Bhuta Jazz Combo this LP may be a surprise to followers of Onra, while Buddy Sativa will be known to some via his own 2011 jazz leaning LP "Deus Ex Machina" on Favorite Records. There they collaborated on their first jazz track - "Indica". Pleased with the results they carried on, keeping it simple and adhering to straightforward play-more-jazz stylings they have crafted this LP over sessions sandwiched between their assorted commitments over the last two years. Opening th…

Witchess is an experimental concept album by drummer and composer Francesca Remigi, which blends music, spoken words, and political concepts together to explore themes of feminism, social justice, and historical memory. Drawing on the radical voices of Angela Davis and Silvia Federici, the album confronts the intersections of gender, race, and capitalism, tracing the roots of gender violence from witch-hunt to today’s systemic economic inequalities. Through edgy compositions and spoken excerpts,…

*50 copies limited edition* After six years of sonic exploration, David Croshaw and David Cooper unveil their debut album as David / David — Blame Haro, a bold collection that blurs the line between structure and spontaneity. The release also marks the British duo’s debut on 577 Records, introducing their distinctive blend of live improvisation and electronic experimentation to the label’s forward-thinking roster. The duo’s collaboration has been forged through a shared fascination with the mutu…

*100 copies limited edition* 577 Records proudly presents Turn of Events, the debut album from the Matthieu Mazué Trio—a bold new project led by up-and-coming pianist Matthieu Mazué, based between Zurich and New York. Featuring trumpeter Diego Hedez and drummer Francisco Mela, the trio brings together three distinct and powerful improvisers in a deep exploration of sonic freedom and form. In a striking artistic decision, the trio performs without a bassist—liberating the piano from its tradition…

A joint release from US label Astral Spirits (Austin, Texas) and Thanatosis Produktion (Stockholm), It could / If I is the first album from Stockholm-based, longstanding duo Johan Jutterström (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). In addition to the duo’s own reimaginations of a few so-called jazz standards, it contains songs by artists such as Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and German 19th century composer Alexander Fesca. "On this record what tunes are played somehow matters less tha…

Jazz in Silhouette is Sun Ra’s third album, hailed as an early masterpiece blending jazz tradition with innovation. Featuring original compositions, it marks a transitional phase before his avant-garde explorations, showcasing Ra’s talents as composer, arranger, and performer leading jazz into new territory.

*Original masters licensed by Nippon Columbia for the first ever reissue. Includes OBI and insert.* 'Tapestry: Koto' is a 3-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: Koto. The beauty of the trilogy curated by composer Kiyoshi Yamaya, whose chapters are respectively dedicated to Sea, Hillside and Country, lies in the fact that they are a modern translation of tradition using newer and more avant-garde sound id…

Talk Show is a new duo collaboration featuring Steph Richards on trumpets and resonating surfaces and Qasim Naqvi on drums, almglocken bells and modular synthesizer. Having worked together on other projects for almost two decades, Miss America, to be released by We Jazz Records on 21st November, marks their first, pure duo collaboration – a space to engage with a sonic language they’ve been cultivating together for years. The album was recorded live, with Qasim crafting real-time electronics and…

Christer Bothén’s artistry transcends genre, tradition, and the tangible. A key figure in avant-garde jazz and global improvisation, he has spent decades exploring sound’s spiritual depth. From playing in Don Cherry’s groundbreaking Organic Music Society to leading expansive projects, Bothén has embraced the unknown, continuously reshaping his musical language. At 83, Bothén remains deeply engaged, crafting L'Invisible, a trio album with vibraphonist (and drummer) Kjell Nordeson and bassist Kans…

*150 copies limited edition*  The Belgian free jazz scene of the early 1970s remains criminally under-documented. While Fred Van Hove's participation in the legendary Machine Gun sessions (1968) with Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Evan Parker placed Antwerp on the international map, a wild ecosystem of temporary combos and performative madness flourished in the shadows. The WIM (Werkgroep Improviserende Musici) collective - founded in 1972 after Van Hove and saxophonist Cel Overberghe refused…

The historical importance, influence, and stature of the Schlippenbach Trio was cemented long ago. Formed in 1970 by German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach in the early days of European free jazz, the group also featured British saxophonist Evan Parker and German drummer Paul Lovens, and soon formed the core of the mighty Globe Unity Orchestra from that point on. As heard on its 1972 debut for FMP Pakistani Pomade - reissued by Cien Fuegos back in 2015 - its foundational music helped establi…

There are musicians who play jazz and there are musicians who expand its very definition. Yusef Lateef was the latter - a visionary who brought the oboe, the argol, the shanai, the bamboo flute and countless other instruments into the jazz vocabulary decades before "world music" became a marketing category. Golden Flower: Live in Sweden presents two never-before-released concert recordings that capture this master at the height of his powers, finally emerging from the Sveriges Radio tape vaults …

"Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo (1936-82) issued only three live recordings during his lifetime. Significantly, the first of these, The Sorcerer (1967), remains the most popular album in the guitarist’s all-too abbreviated discography. But there were also More Sorcery (1968) and Gabor Szabo Live with Charles Lloyd (1974), offering Szabo totally in his element and at his bewitching best. Several more of Szabo’s concert recordings have surfaced in the intervening years, including this one, superb…

Now here we go with a project that can easily be labeled a mammoth. Who remembers Eden Ahbez actually, except for a couple of born too late retro hippies? Well, here we go with the story: It is 1960, Rock’n’Roll has just lost a couple of its protagonists during this and the previous year, the time of the great balladeers has just begun, but soon will run out due to the new and exciting beat invasion. In the US mainstream the tiki culture has reached a certain peak and is about to collapse, but s…

Experience a captivating dialogue between clarinet and piano in Music for Clarinet and Piano, a compelling new release by renowned clarinetist François Houle and visionary pianist Georg Graewe. This album showcases a sophisticated interplay of contemporary composition and improvisational mastery, carving a unique space in modern chamber music. François Houle brings a lyrical sensitivity and technical precision to the clarinet, weaving intricate melodic lines with emotional depth. Georg Graewe’s …

2005 release ** Cardboard sleeve. All 4 tracks are electro-acoustic improvisations that delight the ear through their unorthodox tones and unexpected turns. Noisy and mystifying sounds develop into subtle compositions while playful rhythms and dynamic drones invite the listener on a 45 minute journey into the extreme.

1996 release ** Gatefold caedboard sleeve with insert (no OBI). The title is a play on the non-existent word "gospelized." This is Ware's most overt attempt at acknowledging the influence of Albert Ayler, not only on his playing style, but also on his method of hearing and formation. Accompanied by drummer Susie Ibarra, pianist Matthew Shipp, and bassist William Parker, Ware digs deep into the church and the level of spiritual reality to be found there and creates his own sonic vision of how tha…

Behind the name Pouf Pouf Pantoufle lie six musicians from Nancy, graduates of the Lillebonne music school: Vincent Petit on double bass, Gabriel Lambert on bass, Guillaume Schwab on keyboards, Tom Colombain on trombone, Gaspard Petitnicolas on flute, and Solal Piquand on drums. In 2022, they founded the APC (Appellation Pantouflarde Contrôlée) association and started organizing concerts at the legendary MJC Lillebonne, often alongside BMM and RPT. Thanks to their eclectic and avant-garde line-u…

Temporary offer A long-lost live recording featuring one of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy's 1961 sets at New York's Village Gate has been unearthed for release this summer. Evenings at the Village Gate was recorded in the summer before Coltrane's legendary slate of November 1961 dates at the Village Vanguard, with a similar quintet lineup: the short-lived tandem of Coltrane and Dolphy alongside drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Reggie Workman. While the trailblazing Village Va…