Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

1991 release ** "Along with its sister recording, Pangaea, Agharta was recorded live in February of 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. Amazingly enough, given that these are arguably Miles Davis' two greatest electric live records, they were recorded the same day. Agharta was performed in the afternoon and Pangaea in the evening. Of the two, Agharta is superior. The band with Davis -- saxophonist Sonny Fortune, guitarists Pete Cosey (lead) and Reggie Lucas (rhythm), bassist Michael Hender…

2004 release ** All music recorded at "Garaget", Solna, Sweden. Andreas Axelsson - percussion, drum machines, CD player; Herman Muntzing - flexichord, sampler; Martin Kuchen - soprano and baritone saxophone, found objects.

1994 release ** Audience, All Dax Band, Han Bennink, Steve Beresford, Lindsay Cooper, Tom Cora, Dietmar Diesner, ensemble Eva Kant, Fred Frith, Gianni Gebbia, Lars Hollmer, Catherine Jauniaux, Peter Kowald, Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Hans Reichel, Riciclo delle Quinte, Wolter Wierbos.

*First ever reissue.*  Composer and saxophonist Gil Ok-yun was a central figure in Korea’s golden age of gayo (1960s to 1980s), and has given us countless gems through his collaborations with greats such as Hye Eun-yi and others. Gil never did let go of his jazz roots, and would occasionally release gayo records in the jazz-tinged kayokoku style with the help of musical colleagues during his time in Japan such as Keitaro Miho and Shungo Sawada. It was through his meeting with Korean classical mu…

2025 stock ** "ViaLucisTrio is a improvised training with members related to the collective Rare Musics , agency dedicated to promote primarily the free improvisation in Madrid (Spain). The four members of ViaLucisTrio they met in the meetings of improvisers (Tuesday Wednesday), musical call organized by Rare Music; precisely to encourage participating musicians and facilitate the creation of projects such as the group ViaLucisTrio. As well as those demanding musicians in its task and aesthetic …

1998 release ** NOHC is a French quartet featuring Daunik Lazro (alto and baritone saxophones), Denis Colin (bass clarinet), Michael Nick (violin) and Didier Petit (cello and voice).

1998 release ** "Composition No.30, which represents Simon H. Fell's third 'Compilation' for large ensemble, is, in my view, an important monument in the history of late 20th Century music. In this single piece one finds not only Ives, Webern, Cage, Ligeti, Partch, and Boulez, but also Ellington, Mingus, Sousa, Sun Ra, and even a little urban blues. It's as if all of Braxton's varied and copious output were microscoped into one audacious work for large ensemble. Fell seems to me to have created …

By 1966, the first wave of free jazz had established the foundation upon which this radically generated music could be understood and personalized, shared as a communal activity and still invested with significant singular characteristics. Noah Howard and his bandmates represented a second generation, as creative attitudes were expanding.

2025 stock ** "What Phil Minton creates with nothing but his voice those "simply unbelievable and uncanny sounds for which nothing comparable exists, far and wide" (Bert Noglik) seems to lie beyond what it is possible. He is the indisputable vocal giant of the jazz avant-garde. He meets a collective of kindred spirits with the ICI Ensemble. Comprising some of the most enthusiastically experimental instrumentalists and sonic artists of the German improvisation scene, this ensemble has been creati…

2025 stock ** "It’s been almost 10 years since Louis Minus XVI reigned over the free jazz of the Flandres. Fortunately for us, his reign is not ready to stop with this new album “De Anima “. This Art Ensemble of Lille is hyperactive. In addition to three albums and a split with the Berber artist Lahcen Akil, we find members of the quartet in equally ambitious projects, such as Unik Ubik, M.Thibault, Hook, L’Atelier d’Education Musicale du Centre Social Raymond Poulidor, but also in the company o…

2009 release ** Paul Dunmall's playing goes from strength to strength. 'Asynchronous' was recorded live at The Europa Jazz Festival, Le Mans in May 2008, and sees Paul in the unmistakable company of longstanding sidemen Paul Rogers and Paul Lytton and the titanic Fred Van Hove on piano.“Dunmall's big, rounded sound and spiralling runs bursting out of a low-key overture, and then engaging in a long, dignified dance with Rogers's dark bowed chords. Dunmall sometimes builds solos in patterns of bri…

*40th anniversary reissue. Gatefold LP + booklet with Obi-strip.* "There is no jazz in Korea" Music critic Choi Kyung-sik's liner note for the 1974 record by Shin Joong-hyun and the Yup Juns starts off with this stark statement. Though it may have been a rhetorical device to emphasize the birth of an album embodying Korean rock, the statement itself holds nevertheless when one considers that Korean jazz has never enjoyed a place of its own - not in the 8th Army scene nor the civilian general sce…

*40th anniversary reissue. Gatefold LP + booklet with Obi-strip.* "There is no jazz in Korea" Music critic Choi Kyung-sik's liner note for the 1974 record by Shin Joong-hyun and the Yup Juns starts off with this stark statement. Though it may have been a rhetorical device to emphasize the birth of an album embodying Korean rock, the statement itself holds nevertheless when one considers that Korean jazz has never enjoyed a place of its own - not in the 8th Army scene nor the civilian general sce…

*LP miniature with Obi.* True to the title 'Show Album No. 1', the tracks comprise a repertoire one would expect of a show stage. However, these tracks are much more than a mere ‘record of activity’ done in between their many show performances. The quality of the recording and consistency of production are top-notch throughout the album, while the details and the dynamics in the music itself rival that of the best Korean bands. Producer Yu-Chil-wang recalls of the album, “..it wasn’t a hack job …

Indonesia and jazz? Not so far-fetched! Improvisation is a part of traditional gamelan, and modal playing goes back 1000 years; jazz began seriously delving into modes with Miles Davis in the 1950’s. Clarinet icon Tony Scott proselytized jazz during his six-year sojourn in Asia, and in so doing brought Asian music masters, including players on this album, into the jazz world. Down Beat called pianist Bubi Chen “The Art Tatum of Asia”, and saxophonist Marjono, whose influences include John Coltra…

1994 release **

Join the Kyle Shepherd Trio on “A Dance More Sweetly Played” as they explore, collaborate and improvise on the ‘songs we like to play’. The album’s title is a dedication to the celebrated South African artist William Kentridge, with whom Shepherd collaborated on a joint-work “Waiting for Sybil” that has toured world-wide. In addition to ten Shepherd originals, perhaps most unexpected is the inclusion of an exquisite reading of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ and a deconstructed take of Journey’s ‘Do…

**2020 small repress* This is a terrific-sounding Italian compilation of sounds by Sahib Shihab, the great saxophonist and flutist who is criminally under-recognized for his contribution not only to the language of hard bop, but for his multi-dimensional look at world music and his influence on soul-jazz and the harder swinging big bands that recorded for MPS in the 1960s and '70s. A complete iconoclast, Shihab followed the beat of his own drummer and that is clearly on display here, in recordin…

Jazz music has more than its fair share of overshadowed figures that whilst contributing much to the music have little presence in its collective conscious. One such musician is the talented multi-reedist, Sahib Shihab. Born Edmond Gregory, as he was known before he adopted the Muslim faith in 1946, Sahib Shihab’s music background shows a deep and significant evolution, influenced by Thelonious Monk, Dizzie Gillespie (his experience in Dizzie’s band marked Sahib’s switch to Baritone, the instrum…

Temporary offer. Flutist Prince Lasha and alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons were one of the great teams in the "New Thing" era. Recorded in New York in May 1963 these early studio sessions feature great contributions from trumpeter Don Cherry and tenor sax giant Clifford Jordan, plus the rhythm section of Orville Harrison and Bill Wood on bass, Charles Moffett on drums, and producer Fred Lyman on flugelhorn. This is a great snapshot of the NYC music scene in the 60's, when a bunch of young, creativ…

For this very special release in The Book of Angels series, Zorn has brought together five of the most acclaimed musicians in modern jazz to perform nine of his most distinctive and lyrical compositions. Truly a jazz supergroup, these five master musicians explore Zorn's beautiful and exotic tunes with profound melodic and harmonic knowledge and a depth of feeling that is a joy to hear. One of the most breathtaking CDs in the entire Masada series--a touch of the sublime from the beautiful new Ma…

** Second edition, 200 copies on black vinyl ** Konstrukt is the free jazz revelation of the last ten years.This incredible quartet of saxophonist Korhan Futaci, guitarist Umut Caglar, drummer Korhan Arguden and percussionist Ozun Usta is blowing a real stream of fresh air, like the Art Ensemble of Chicago did in the 70s. This live multi-channel recording by Giulio Moratti captures their whole performance at Tarcento Jazz Festival (July 18th 2014) giving a perfect taste of their Cosmic–Turkish f…

** 2022 repress ** Available on vinyl for the first time in 40 years, Outernational Sounds proudly presents a crucial document from the Los Angeles jazz underground - the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra at their most together, stretching out on home turf in 1979, with the legendary Horace Tapscott at the helm. Horace Tapscott is one of the unsung giants of jazz music. A gifted composer and arranger, a boldly original pianist, and above all a visionary bandleader, Tapscott’s recorded footprint is sm…

Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. Blue Note founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff had open ears and open minds, as they proved time and time again through the early-1960s as they documented some of the most adventurous players of the modern jazz scene like Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy, and Tony Williams. But it wasn’t until they brought Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry to Blue Note in 1965 that t…

Novoa/Kamaguchi/Cleaver Trio Delivers Electrifying Second Volume, A Bold, Experimental Fusion of Density and Dialogue

Emerging Drummer Samir Boehringer Sazzerac Unites Musicians from NY and Switzerland in First Album with 577 Records

Limited and numbered edition of 100 copies. Hand printed recycled sleeves. Different ink color than on the first pressing. No OBI, no stamp on the label as the first one.  Wild, slapping, bashing, tribal freak-outs - an acoustic tidal wave exploding into shards of dynamite from the legendary Finnish unit Paanin Kuoro.

In November 2022 world-renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko and acclaimed guitarist Derek Gripper spend just three hours recording a wordless album together. The kora and guitar in the hands of masters - a session where New Ancient Strings meets One Night On Earth. “Musically we tested each other,” says Sissoko, explaining that the most magical aspect of their initial encounter was the spontaneity of the whole thing. “We have the mastery of our instruments, the technique and a good ear. Derek is…

Composer and saxophonist Brian Brown produced some of the most refined Australian jazz recordings during the 1970s. A versatile musician whose distinct impressionist music melded modern jazz with the outer limits of free experimentation. Considered to be his greatest work was the 1975 concept album Carlton Streets, an ambitious recording that romanticised the sights, sounds and the nostalgia of this once-bohemian Melbourne neighbourhood. Differing from his eco-jazz composition Wildflowers heard …

bastille musique presents its twenty-eighth release »DLW: Extended Beats« featuring world premiere recordings by Dell-Lillinger-Westergaard, Klangforum Wien, Sonar Quartett, Tamara Stefanovich (piano), Martin Adámek (clarinets) and Johannes Brecht (electronics). Together with the guests, Dell-Lillinger-Westergaard extend their beats in terms of co-composition and form as well as instrumentation. In addition to the recordings produced at the Paul-Robeson-Studio, the set also contains a 48-page bi…

bastille musique presents its twenty-first release »Stefanovich, Dell, Lillinger, Westergaard: SDLW« featuring world premiere recordings by Tamara Stefanovich (piano), Christopher Dell (vibraphone), Christian Lillinger (drums, percussion) and Jonas Westergaard (double bass). Produced at the Teldex Studio Berlin, the album documents the collaboration between Dell-Lillinger-Westergaard and Tamara Stefanovich for the first time. In addition to the recordings, the set also contains a 48-page bilingu…

Limited edition of 50 copies. Comes with Obi. Sealed. Persian folk music versus free improvisation

Sixteen jump-up mbaqanga tracks recorded in January 1967 by South African clarinettist Gwigwi Mrwebi with Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Ronnie Beer, Laurie Allan and Coleridge Goode, in the Blue Notes circle.

Following in the footsteps of the landmark 1966 double-quartet recording by Joe Harriott and John Mayer, Indian born musician Amancio D’Silva produced some of the most adventurous and sophisticated recordings within the canon of ‘indo-jazz’, a term used to define a pioneering east meets west synthesis that reflected the shifting musical and cultural landscape of post-war Britain. An experiment which reached a pinnacle in 1972 with D’Silva’s seminal recording Dream Sequence by Cosmic Eye (The Rou…

Borrowing its title from an infamous Australian jazz composition, Pyramid Pieces is a long overdue compilation which documents a period of Australian modern jazz that flourished during the late 1960s and 70s. A brief yet vital survey which examines an isolated yet thriving vibrant scene that was largely unheard outside of its own country. Whilst many local musicians found success abroad in the UK or the USA, those that remained found limited support for jazz from the commercially-minded mainstre…

Following the critical acclaim of the 2020 compilation Pyramid Pieces, The Roundtable return with a second offering of modernist jazz from Australia. Another vital document further examining the nation's jazz scene during the late 1960s and 70s. A fertile period that witnessed the birth of an independent movement and the development of a distinct Australian jazz sound. While continuing to focus on the modal forms explored in Volume 1, this second edition shifts direction slightly, this time also…

Tip! Existing somewhere between the post-psychedelic period of Soft Machine and the electric funk of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Black And White, the 1976 album from Norway’s Vanessa is without question a formidable beast of a jazz-rock record. A potent brew of sonic experimentation and pulsating off-kilter groove. Taking their name from the genus of Nymphalidae butterfly, Vanessa was founded in 1971 by saxophonist Svend Undseth and pianist Frode Holm, the founder of the Oslo record store turn…

1991 release ** Saxophone sextex composed of Ad Peijnenburg, Dies LeDuc, Frans Vermeerssen, John Tchicai, Klaas Hekman, Mariette Rouppe Van Der Voort play music by Peijnenburg, LeDuc, Vermeerssen, Tchicai, Hekman, Rouppe Van Der Voort and Henry Cowell.

2009 release ** ""Istet Serenade" is foray into the area of music space that represents the core of Roland's sound philosophy, Isophonics. The theory of composed improvisation of stillness in the fluidity of constant change. The thingness of actualized sound in the nothingness of acoustic evaporation and recreation from the source of the indwelling presence. This occurs at a speed which defies conscious comprehension but which reveals abundant spiritual revelatory aspects. It requires a state of…

1988 release ** Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet is a saxophone quartet based in the Boston area, from 1980 to the present, specializing in improvised music and original compositions by its members. The group recorded one LP on its own label and five CDs for the Coppens label (Amsterdam), and made nine trips to Europe to perform at clubs, concerts, and festivals, one midwestern US tour, and many appearances around New England and in New York City.