Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Legendary 1966 collaboration with Claus Ogerman and 48-piece orchestra represents peak of jazz sophistication

One of spiritual jazz's most treasured artifacts receives the audiophile treatment it deserves. Prince Billy Marge Wright's legendary "You Got That Right", originally self-released in 1980 on the saxophonist/flautist's own label, now returns as a limited edition 180g heavyweight pressing, with authentic Japanese obi strip. This sole leader album from the Chicago underground scene veteran has achieved mythical status among collectors and connoisseurs alike. Featuring contributions from Eldee Youn…

Jazz drumming legend Chico Hamilton fundamentally reimagined his sound in 1961, assembling a groundbreaking quintet that would define a new chapter in modern jazz. WaxTime now presents "Drumfusion", the inaugural album from this revolutionary lineup, in a limited edition 180g audiophile pressing with rare bonus material. Hamilton's revamped group featured future stars Charles Lloyd on tenor saxophone, Gábor Szabó on guitar, Garnett Brown (later replaced by George Bohanon) on trombone, and Albert…

Creative Sources Recordings proudly presents The Dew That Flies, an evocative new work from German multi-instrumentalist Udo Schindler and Catalan pianist Jordina Milla. This album captures the essence of improvisation, offering listeners a journey through sound that is intimate, fearless, and subtly poetic. The title conjures images of fleeting beauty and transformation—like dew glimmering in the air, the music shifts between density and silence, inviting exploration of resonance and texture. S…

Thereupon is the long-anticipated return of the all-star collaborative trio Fieldwork, which has been described by NPR as a “power trio for the new century.” This long-standing collective comprises three internationally revered innovators of contemporary music: alto saxophonist-composer Steve Lehman, pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, and drummer-composer Tyshawn Sorey. In the seventeen years since their last recording, Door (Pi), all three musicians have climbed to the pinnacle of the creative music …

Listen Ship is the latest masterpiece in the ever-expanding sound world of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Threadgill, whom The New York Review of Books recently described as “one of American music’s great Romantics and a lifelong seeker of the sublime.” The new work is a suite for six acoustic guitars – including individual stylists such as Bill Frisell, Miles Okazaki and Brandon Ross – and two pianos that utilize Threadgill’s unique intervallic syntax to illuminate his idiosyncratic visi…

Unclassified Affections is the entrancing new release from drummer and composer Dan Weiss that features the convergence of some of the most intriguing musicians on the scene: Peter Evans on trumpet, Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, and Miles Okazaki on guitar. The new compositions, which were written by Weiss specifically for these musicians, range from deep, meditative moments to intense, high-energy peaks, while every track unveils a new layer of exploration.   Brennan’s sonorous mallet work co…

* First ever reissues of this iconic demonic slice of Saturnian splendor, one of the most coveted releases in the Ra canon! Features the emblematic “Nuclear War” anthem, earmarked to be played like an air raid siren when we as a society decide to pack up and call it a planet. A cut further popularized by Yo La Tengo. Stunning new cover art blending favorite elements from the handmade original Saturn pressings. * While the most renown track in this omniversal opus is the atomic expletive-filled r…

Kim Oki is a South Korean saxophonist, and former breakdancer. He debuted in 2013 with his studio album Cherubim's Wrath (천사의 분노), and has since released numerous projects and albums. He collaborated with various artists including Park Jiha, Lowdown 30, Hippy Was Gipsy, Say Sue Me, and Bek Hyunjin. He won the Musician of the Year at the 2020 Korean Music Awards. He was also active under the stage names of Kim Oki Oriental Youth (김오키 동양청년), Kim Oki Fucking Madness (김오키뻐킹매드니스), and Kim Oki Saturn …

"Recorded live at a UCLA concert hall in April 1978 and released on Warner Bros, Coltrane plays piano and organ accompanied by Roy Haynes on drums and Reggie Workman on bass. The trio conjures both a universe and a universal consciousness; Coltrane has no qualms with the commingling of exhilaration and asceticism it demands of listeners. In fact, she demands that you come closer, to its tone and to your natural self. What this feels like in one aspect is Black music's Bonnie and Clyde fantasy re…

A forward thinking collaboration between electronic music pioneer Jon Appleton and trumpet great Don Cherry, that explores the relationship between the humanity and the manufactured robotic future. Using the techniques associated with Musique Concrete the ensuing improvisations create a unique entry into the great trumpeter's discography. It was an in vogue attempt to render the music of tomorrow, and today sounds more like the soundtrack to a truly great sci-fi movie. Reissued in a fascimile of…

Re-mastered edition of the 1971 album performed by the legendary enterprise consisting of John McLaughlin on guitars, John Surman on reeds, Karl Berger on vibes, Stu Martin on drums, and Dave Holland on bass. Recorded at the end of May 1970 at the Apostolic Studios in New York, “Fortune Smiles” is a jazz fusion LP that sees all five musicians experimenting equally with their outstanding music qualities. Released here as a picture disc and featuring the original Dawn Records folded insert, the al…

**300 copies** "Arrington de Dionyso first made his name with the crazed Olympia-based art rock unit, Old Time Relijun. And I guess they still technically exist, but he has lately been more involved with Indonesian musical investigations, and lots of overtly free jazz horn aktion. Shouting Over Deep Water Blues was recorded by Henrik Lofgren in July 2012, in a small boat floating off the coast of Sweden. It features five improvisations on the Bromiophone with occasional liquid accompaniment prov…

"The music of this trio, with its emphasis on phrasing, space and dialog, evokes for me the sensation of watching vapor rise and dissolve. That’s why I named the group and the album Atmos, after the Greek word for vapor. The trio has been active since 2023, especially before Brittany Karlson moved from Boston to NY, but there have been other contexts in which the three of us collaborated in different formations. There are six improvised pieces here, five originals of mine (three written specific…

"Ultimately, the best free improvisation performances—and the best films—are those that refuse to be bound by rigid formulas yet still adhere to a fundamental sense of logic and cohesion. They remind us that while structure is important, the real magic happens in the space between the rules." - Mark Corroto

The Alabama born saxophonist/clarinetist Marzette Watts had a short lived career as a member of the sixties avant-garde, but achieved legendary status for the company he kept in his Cooper Square loft where the likes of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, and Pharoah Sanders often congregated. This debut date is best known for the presence of players, who like Watts, were to become renowned for the rareness of their recorded output, including Sonny Sharrock, Byard Lancaster,…

First release of this 1966 recording from the ESP-Disk vaults; featuring: Don Cherry (trumpet); Gato Barbieri (tenor saxophone); Bo Stief (bass); Karl Berger (vibraphone); Aldo Romano (drums). Live performance from the legendary Café Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark, recorded in 1966. Digitally remastered. Also included: the ESP DVD-audio sampler, featuring selections of almost every ESP artist. Over 12 hours of music! Digitally remastered. "Don Cherry, more than any other artist in the jazz of…

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…

Live At Café Montmartre Volume Three features more great music from the Don Cherry Quintet. Recorded in March 1966, Don Cherry joins forces with Gato Barbieri, Karl Berger, Bo Stief and Aldo Romano for two exciting, extended performances of "Complete Communion" and "Remembrance". A recording that will surely be known as classic, Volume Three is essential music for all fans of improvised music.

"In 1966, the late Steve Lacy visited the new ESP-DISK office at 156 Fifth Avenue with a master tape of his concert in Buenos Aires with his quartet... He offered to sell the master for what I thought was an exorbitant price. I bought it. ... In 1992, the master tape was brought to engineer Ken Robertson at the Sony Studio, who observed that it had been recorded out of phase, and he corrected the phasing." - Bernard Stollman "Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's impressive career was filled with man…

The noted west coast composer makes his ESP debut accompanied by his then wife, Barbara Donald, on trumpet, Teddy Smith on bass, John Hicks on piano and Marvin Pattillo on percussion. Recorded August 1966, Staying on the Watch is an important infusion of straight-ahead and avant jazz. Barbara Donald is a superb trumpeter who has made a stern contribution to the legacy of women performers and has been widely written about. Also, pianist John Hicks, who makes his New York debut on the record, went…

2008 release ** Oversize card sleeve.

Saxophonist, flautist, and composer Chip Wickham releases The Eternal Now, his most progressive recording to date and a heartfelt meditation on artistic practice and creative freedom. Co-produced with longtime collaborator Matthew Halsall, the album represents an expansive journey that pushes Wickham's sound into exciting new territories while maintaining the soulful grooves and heartfelt melodies that have defined his acclaimed catalog. Chip Wickham casts a formidable shadow across the UK jazz …

British South African composer & producer Galina Juritz presents 'One Weird Trick', her debut solo album on London's home for interdisciplinary oddballs, Kit Records.

Black Vinyl. Coming four years after the previous trio album Ding Dong. You're Dead, it´s the longest period ever between Hedvig albums. That, however, is no indication she´s been idle, quite the contrary, actually. There´s been five commissioned works, two of which have resulted in albums in her own name. 2023 saw the debut release from power-impro-trio Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns with Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Ole Mofjell (drums). The same year she was Artist In Residence at the Moldejazz …

"The history and culture of improvised music have been shaped by manifold concepts of freedom, but one in particular explains Amado’s aesthetic. It is his reference to Sam Rivers’ declaration: “Freedom does not mean unconditional renunciation of melody and rhythm, but the freedom to choose what I want to play.” It was this freedom to that led Rivers to punctuate his epic trio sets with grooves and essays on perennials like “Wheatleigh Hall.” Rivers also eschewed the labeling of his music as impr…

Esmeralda Sella is a young pianist from Ravenna, Italy. “Magma” is her debut album, and also a turning point. It’s the culmination of a journey that was «essential for understanding myself and the world around me» as she describes it. Sella recorded “Magma” with two key collaborators: Federico Giolito (double bass) and Giovanni Nardiello (drums), following years of mutual trust, shared musical experiences and extensive practice. «Our sound is the result of opinions, ideas, and doubts exchanged o…

RogueArt proudly presents A Near Permanent State of Wonder, the first duo recording by pianist Alexander Hawkins and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. Two of the most distinctive and restlessly inventive voices in contemporary creative music meet in an intimate, exploratory session that balances lyricism and abstraction, rigor and generosity, fragility and fire.   The album documents a rare level of rapport between the musicians. Hawkins, celebrated for his agile navigation between tradition, avant‑gar…

"From his earliest days as a composer, George Russell has worked from the assumption that if jazz was to grow as an art form it would have to look within itself for the materials of growth. Developing the theoretical ability to abet that process has occupied Russell from his works for the Dizzy Gillespie big band of the late 1940s to his most recent electronic music. The Outer View is one of his most brilliant small-band recordings, applying Russell’s system of tonal organization not only to his…

First time officially reissue, sourced from the original master tapes in a new edition, the Milan based imprint Dialogo, returns with this compilation published in Italy by RCA Victor in 1962 - a precious historical document of some important international jazz and pop artists who came to Italy and left their marks, influencing the generations of those golden years. It contains Chet Baker with Ennio Morricone's Orchestra, with "Il Mio Domani" (My Tomorrow) and "So Che Ti Perderò" (I Know That I'…

The Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Quintet (ONJQ), one of the most daring and influential ensembles in contemporary avant-garde jazz, proudly announces the release of El Derecho de Vivir en Paz. This new album embodies the group’s uncompromising vision: a deeply expressive sound that weaves together free improvisation, radical jazz traditions, and a politically charged sense of urgency.   The title, El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (“The Right to Live in Peace”), resonates with a historical and universal me…

Otoliths is the second album by the transatlantic quartet Earscratcher, which brings together Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik with three of her US-based cohorts – Dave Rempis on saxophones, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, and Tim Daisy on drums. Recorded live on tour in the US in December of 2024 - no small feat in an era when the longstanding xenophobic and insular tendencies of the country dominate more than ever - this sophomore outing finds a band whose roots have spread deep and wide. While t…

Silkheart Records proudly presents Naked Colours, a landmark release from the Hal Russell – Joel Futterman Quartet, bringing together four uncompromising voices in avant-garde jazz for a session that is as fearless as it is deeply human.   This recording captures the late Hal Russell, one of the most distinctive multi-instrumentalists in American free jazz, alongside visionary pianist and composer Joel Futterman, with Jay Oliver on bass and Robert Adkins on drums. Together, they push improvisati…

Silkheart Records is proud to announce the release of Lifeline, the latest recording from visionary drummer, composer, and bandleader William Hooker, performed with his dynamic quartet. Lifeline captures the fierce urgency and expansive imagination that has defined Hooker’s work for decades, pushing the boundaries of jazz, free improvisation, and contemporary art music.   Throughout Lifeline, Hooker and his quartet dive deeply into music as a living, breathing force. Every piece reflects a profo…

Silkheart Records proudly presents Raining Fire, a searing new statement from the legendary Charles Gayle Quartet, capturing the uncompromising spirit and transcendent intensity that define Gayle’s artistry. Known worldwide as one of the most powerful voices in free jazz, Gayle channels both ferocity and grace in music that pushes the limits of expression while remaining deeply human at its core.   On Raining Fire, Gayle leads his quartet with raw immediacy, sculpting sound into waves of relentl…

Silkheart Records proudly announces the release of Spirits Before, a powerful and deeply moving new recording from the legendary Charles Gayle Trio. Known for his fearless approach to improvisation and uncompromising spiritual intensity, Charles Gayle stands as one of the most vital voices in avant-garde jazz.   On Spirits Before, Gayle continues his lifelong exploration of music as a vehicle for truth, faith, and liberation. Joined by a dynamic rhythm section that both supports and challenges h…

Silkheart Records proudly presents the reissue of One Fell Swoop, a landmark recording by the legendary Steve Lacy Quartet. Originally released in the mid-1980s, this album captures the essence of Lacy’s uncompromising vision: rigorous, adventurous, and relentlessly lyrical.   On One Fell Swoop, Lacy is joined by an extraordinary ensemble of creative partners. Each brings a distinct voice to the music, forging a collective sound that is daring yet deeply connected. The quartet’s interplay embodi…

Silkheart Records proudly announces the reissue of The Gleam, a landmark recording by the visionary soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and his celebrated Sextet. Originally recorded during one of the ensemble’s most inspired periods, this album stands as a radiant example of Lacy’s uncompromising artistry and his lifelong pursuit of a sound both intimate and expansive.   The Steve Lacy Sextet—featuring longtime collaborators Steve Potts (alto & soprano saxophone), Irene Aebi (voice, violin, and cell…

First released in 1991, Great Bliss Vol. 1 captures saxophonist David S. Ware at a pivotal moment, crystallizing his towering sound and visionary approach to ensemble improvisation. Joined by pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and drummer Marc Edwards, Ware leads a quartet that would go on to redefine the trajectory of free jazz in the 1990s and beyond.   This album presents the quartet in full command of their collective language, balancing unfettered exploration with deep structura…

Silkheart Records is proud to announce the release of Joy (Within)!, a historic duo recording by drummer William Hooker and violinist Billy Bang. Two uncompromising innovators of the New York avant‑garde scene come together in a meeting of fire, vision, and raw spirit, captured at a moment of rare clarity and intensity.   Forged in the legacy of free jazz but always reaching beyond it, Hooker and Bang find common ground in an unrelenting search for emotional truth. Hooker’s propulsive drumming d…