Jazz /
Silenced II - Views From The Auction Block
*2024 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Silenced is a project by Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II playing improvised/one take duos with legendary musicians. This second volume features duets with Elliott Sharp, Vernon Reid, and Bill Laswell. “Ramarley Graham is the first tune of Silenced II, and it features Elliott Sharp. It is one of those performances that, when I listen back, I think someone else is playing drums. That’s how great it sounds, to me. It sounds so good; it just has to be someo…
Silenced
*2024 stock* "Look: one take is all it took - nothing fake or by the book. "Silenced" giving voice to choice. A cookbook for the now, shaking and shook.’ -Nels Cline
"In Silenced Don McKenzie has reconnected contemporary improvisational music to one of the most crucial & controversial issues facing us today- the misuse of lethal force by those sworn to Serve & Protect all of us. I am proud to be amongst the artists participating in this remarkable project" - Vernon Reid
A Lifeboat, Part II
*2024 stock* Matthew Putman and Michael Sarian found a home in a makeshift studio, using a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, a good microphone, and in cramped apartment acoustics, to improvise throughout the pandemic. What they called their “weekly pilgrimages” gave them a sense of much-needed sanity, grounding their friendship and keeping them afloat, as Sarian describes, “much like a lifeboat.” The resultant project was an exploration of cadences, rhythms, and full of searching and synchronicity.…
A Lifeboat Part I
*2024 stock* In the first lockdown, Matthew Putman (on keyboard) and Michael Sarian (on trumpet and flugelhorn) began to meet up (with precautions) for semi-regular sessions in Sarian’s makeshift home studio. The conditions were less-than-ideal—a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, an inadequate microphone, and cramped NYC apartment acoustics—but they continued their “weekly pilgrimages, searching for [their] cadences, rhythms and melodies through the Fall.” The sessions gave them much-needed sanity,…
Godtet
7 years since its release; the iconic debut from Godtet gets a repress. The self-titled LP marked the inception of La Sape Records along with the genesis of Godtet. Stitched together more like a beat tape. 12 movements recorded live with no overdubs; "This record came about with no preconceived ideas of what we were making or what it would sound like". A crystallisation of Godtet which aided to form the sound of La Sape.
Traversing across spiritual jazz, dub and experimental gestures. It caught …
Harlesden Sessions
‘Harlesden Sessions’ is a collection of duo recordings between versatile saxophonist David Bitelli and gifted drummer Ollie Usiskin, whose imaginative improvisations take us on a journey through post-bop, jazz-funk and free jazz landscapes. The two North West London natives would meet up on occasional Thursdays to play improvised sax and drums duo sessions. As their understanding grew, they decided to start recording them and ‘Harlesden Sessions’ presents the best of these concise improvised exc…
Duos
*300 copies limited edition* The first duo recording between towering free jazz saxophonist Paul Dunmall and the highly creative saxophonist Kevin Figes, sees them perform ten improvised pieces using an assortment of instruments, including various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. With no pre-composed themes or motifs, what you hear are two master musicians in the moment of creativity. The wholly improvised conversations seem to encompass and distil the history of jazz, moving between free and c…
Happy Apples
*300 copies limited edition* 'Happy Apples’ presents a collection of improvised duo exchanges between legendary free jazz vocalist Julie Tippetts, whose spell-binding vocals intermingle perfectly with saxophonist Kevin Figes’ atmospheric playing. Both musicians supplement the recording with an array of percussive devices, including the quirky tinkling 1970s toy that lends the album its name. The epic opening track “The Third Harmony” sets the mood for the recording as Tippetts displays a dazzlin…
Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)
Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) is the powerful new work by composer & alto saxophonist Darius Jones. Both of his tremendous artistic strengths are to the fore here in a fully committed trio communion with longtime collaborator Gerald Cleaver (drums) & Chris Lightcap (bass). Five potent new Jones compositions, and a striking arrangement of “No More My Lord” (a prison song rec. by Alan Lomax at Parchman Farm). Legend of e’Boi is the 7th chapter (of 9 on completion) in Jones’ expansive Man…
Tropical
Tropical is Jorge Ben's fifteenth album, a “muscular” mix of previously unreleased material and rearranged covers such as “Taj Mahal” and “País tropical”. The openness to more Pop, more Western arrangements, foreshadows his future work oriented towards the stereotypical World-Dance of the 1980s. Tropical was originally intended for the market outside Brazil, and was not distributed there until 1977. A very fine confirming his immense talent and ability to adapt to the zeitgeist by intelligently …
World Galaxy
World Galaxy is the sixth solo album by Alice Coltrane recorded in November 1971 in New York City, and released in 1972 by Impulse! Records. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano, organ, harp, tamboura, and percussion, and is joined by saxophonist Frank Lowe, bassist Reggie Workman, drummer Ben Riley, timpanist Elayne Jones, and a string ensemble led by David Sackson. Violinist Leroy Jenkins also appears on soloist on one track, and Swami Satchidananda provides narration. World Galaxy features…
Jobim
Jobim is the eighth studio album by Antônio Carlos Jobim recorded on December 1972 at New York City. Though this is one of the more obscure Jobim albums, it did introduce what some believe is Jobim's masterpiece, the hypnotically revolving song "Aguas de Março" (heard here in Portuguese and English versions).
Carne Vale
Foster, Wick and Bennett each subvert the traditional expectations of their instruments in favor of a timbrally rich palette of unconventional sounds. The interplay on these improvisations is sympathetic; they communicate fluently in their own collective language.
Dam Against The Spring Tide
Composer/Performer Zeena Parkins announces the release of two multi-part compositions, inspired by discoveries she made combing through the Walter Benjamin archives in Berlin. “Past Turned Space” features virtuoso players William Winant/percussion and Brett Carson/keyboards navigating a set of vignettes, flickering in response to Benjamin’s intimate descriptions of childhood memories. “Dam Against the Spring Tide” is graced with an all-star band of composer/performers, including: Zeena Parkins/a…
Horizons Held Close
Horizons Held Close is the first unadorned Trance Map release featuring only Evan Parker and Matthew Wright since their 2011 debut. The sounds are strange but utterly compelling. Parker's soprano snakes its way through Wright's turntables, software, and processing/sampling.
Band Width
Living on different continents, the possibilities of linking up were few and far between but we did keep in touch and perform when the occasion presented itself. The software SonoBus solved the problem of distance and we recorded, Mark on the edge of a desert in San Diego and me in the middle of three Australian deserts at Alice Springs. A selection from these sessions you hear on this CD.The duos were recorded direct to stereo live.On the last track you will hear our most recent guest Vladimir …
Parlour Games
Recorded seven years before their only duo release, Ornery People (1998), in Parlour Games we can hear the beginnings of all that would follow in the work of Tim Berne and Michael Formanek.
In Another Land, Another Dream
Camila Nebbia and Angelica Sanchez form a remarkable duo with an immediate affinity that is truly striking. Sanchez's austere lyricism beautifully complements Nebbia's highly expressive language, resulting in duets that showcase their creative and profoundly interactive nature.
Geometry Of Phenomena
This foursome is resolute in its acceptance of communal responsibility and creation. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura sings and speaks in wordless flurries, matching and Taylor Ho Bynum’s brassy exhortations on cornet. Cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Joe Morris worry and pluck their respective strings, applying speed and torque in the loosing of spidery cascades of crinkled and crenelated tones. Pitch and timbre differentials are a big part of the interplay with instruments juxtaposed in bursts of acti…
Prose Métallique
Using 'everyday' objects to prepare the instrument in a simple way structures this "Prose Métallique", in which each piece offers a poetic approach to language and textual references. Recorded in one day, these close-miked solo pieces for alto saxophone explore the area where voice and instrument converge.