Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

2025 stock ** "The innovative, boundary-smashing work of Nicole Mitchell, whom Chicago Reader music critic Peter Margasak has hailed as the “greatest living flutist in jazz”, has contributed new life to Afrofuturism in the 21st Century. A voracious reader of science fiction since her youth (Afrofuturist author Octavia E. Butler in particular has exerted a heavy influence on her music), the musician, composer and educator has released a string of albums that fold themes centered around technology…

1991 release ** "Jon Rose, Peter Hollinger, Johannes Bauer & Dietmar Diesner live in Victoriaville in 1990."

1993 release ** "The trio setting of tuba and non-traditional percussion and Eskelin's compositions leave an uncluttered canvas free of many of the standard traps of head-solo-head without disolving into the total formlessness of much "avant garde" jazz. The musicians (Ellery Eskelin  - tenor, Joe Daley - tuba, and Arto Tuncboyaciyan - percussion) respond to the setting with some beautifully executed improvisations. At the center of the trio, Eskelin's thick tenor sound - a seemingly impossible …

1991 release ** "The singer's vocal style is characterized by an enormous vocal range and a particularly accentuated use of the voice as an instrument (cf. Scat or Bop vocals). The constant change of intonations and phrasing as well as different timbres, the mixture of cantilènes and squeaking or cooing noises with overtone singing creates a confusingly diverse sound world of strong tension, which always comes into its own not only in solo performances, but also in ensemble playing, without domi…

*2025 stock* The only album released by Barbara Moore under the name of the four-piece chorus group Voices In Latin on UK Morgan/US Pulsar in 1968. The album features a light Latin sound and scat & chorus.

1998 release ** "This is a change of pace for West Coast musician Steuart Leibig, who is joined here by saxophonist Vinny Golia and drummer Billy Mintz for a mix of Leibig compositions and thoroughly improvised numbers. Leibig leaves his violin at home, instead focusing on contrabass guitars, while Golia muscles his way on baritone and soprano saxophones. The composed pieces are loose constructs; a different course from the leader's earlier penchant for densely layered colors. If the disc has a …

1995 release ** "This engaging little slab reflects a 1995 recording date between Evan Parker's saxophones, Antonello Salis' piano and accordion, and Mauro Orselli's drums and cymbals. Featuring nine variously timed improvisations, this works simply because of the sheer delight and will of the performers. Here, texture means nothing, tonality means nothing, listening means nothing. The reason for being, the raison d'être, if you will, is simply action and reaction and more action. This is consci…

1990 release **

1988 release ** "This is what you get when you put three nutcases like Tony Bevan, Greg Kingston, and Matt Lewis in a room together with their instruments and a case full of toys to play with and turn the tape machine on. Actually, it was recorded live in 1988, so there was the concert's respectability to hold them back somewhat, but not much. This is free improvisation completely realized, articulated, and cacophonously executed in front of a live audience by a group of musical troublemakers wh…

For the last couple of years Jazz In Britain’s output has largely consisted of CDs around the 75 minute mark, either single, 2 or even 3 disc releases. However, we have quite a lot of items in our archives which come up well short of the magic 75 minutes but, in our opinion, are well worthy of release.  With this in mind, we have decided to launch a ‘budget’ series of releases which will come in gatefold digisleeves with simple artwork and no booklet. CDs and downloads will both be at the same p…

1990 release ** "Swedish drummer Bengt Berger made one masterpiece, "Bitter Funeral Beer", an astonishing world jazz album beyond category, that is as hypnotizing as it is guaranteed to move you to tears as well. On Beches Brew, he combines it all, great compositions, with great influences from Indian traditional music, alternated with more or less interesting Scandinavian folk, silly beer brawl songs and boppish pieces. The band consists of Thomas Gustafsson on soprano and tenor saxophones, Jon…

2025 stock ** "The quirky acoustic trio of German improvisers Udo Schindler on clarinet, saxophone, cornet, and Euphonium, Johannes Ollinger on acoustic guitar and toys, and Dine Doneff on double bass, waterphone, and toys, the odd instrumentation adding surprising textures and disorienting angles to really fine dialog, technically, melodically, and eccentrically. Two preformances are captured, one at Pollat Pavillon in Munich, Germany in 2015, the other from Schindler's own Salon fur Klang+Kuns…

2025 stock **

2025 stock ** "Live recordings from Pöllat-Pavillion in Munich, Germany in 2015 from this seriously fun spontaneous collective improvising trio of Udo Schindler on reeds, cornet, euphonium, and monophonic analogue synthesizer, Philipp Kolb on trumpet, tuba and live electronics, and Sebastiano Tramontana on trombone, voice and whistling; expect the unexpected! "

1989 release (RARE) ** "Recorded in 1983 in Nessa's Acme studio in Chicago, Procession of the Great Ancestry is among Wadada Leo Smith's most obscure, but ultimately most satisfying, recordings. Featuring Kahil El'Zabar, Louis Myers, Joe Fonda, John Powell, Mchaka Uba, and Bobby Naughton, this was the first album to showcase Smith's expansive vision, which included all forms of black music -- from the myriad languages of jazz to gutbucket blues, reggae, and various African folk musics as well as…

1996 release ** "The recording debut of Affinity finds the quartet (Joe Rosenberg on soprano, tenor saxophonist Rob Sudduth, bassist Michael Silverman and drummer Bobby Lurie) exploring nine Rosenberg originals and Eric Dolphy's "Hat & Beard." The music is essentially free bop, with strong solos from the two saxophonists, alert interplay from Silverman and Lurie, and an attractive group sound. This music rewards repeated listenings and acts as a strong beginning to this important if underrated b…

Huge Tip! Original released in 1971 by the Black Artist Group group's own label “Universal Justice Records” this album has for years been an impossible to find/listen to album, and this is its first reissue ever. Ofamfa by The Children Of The Sun, a band led by poet/musicien Ajule/aka Bruce Rutlin is a heady mix of poetry/jazz/political songs/ and a document of a comunity avent. The BAG group being about all the arts theater and dance. The original liner notes by Ajule are great Insight in to th…

2003 release ** "A lesser-known set from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – a CD originally packaged with an Italian magazine, now presented here on its own! The performance is from 1997 – and the group features Lester Bowie on trumpet, Roscoe Mitchell on reeds, Malachi Favors on bass and percussion, and Don Moye on assorted percussion – all in a style that shows all the relaxed, confident modes of the group in their mature years. The ensemble's almost more compelling here than on some of their bette…

1993 release (RARE) ** "Three stunning tunes featuring some of the best improvisers in the world today, all of them written -- yes, written -- by trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf. Interestingly, with a band this diverse and dimensionally articulate, the composer has come up with a program addressing each of the band's particular strengths. The title track, clocking in at over 21 minutes, is a study in the spatial relationship of tonalities. Even so, with its slow unwinding passages -- and interesti…

Long before he carved his dual legend as both popular jazz-funkster and the ultimate peripatetic guest soloist, beloved by fusion and straight-ahead fans alike, tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey had been one of the UK’s brightest and best modern jazzmen. During the 1960s his regular quartet explored very nearly every aspect of the jazz genre, from down home blues to the fringes of the avant-garde, as is displayed in these previously unreleased radio recordings from 1967. Over two fascinating sets…

"The second installment in Atavistic's Out Trios series features three highly regarded Chicago-based artists: guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise / Isotope), electronics savant Kevin Drumm (drag city solo / vandermark territory band) and Chicago free jazz titan Michael Zerang (solistice w/hamid drake). Check." (Boomkat)

1993 release ** "Before getting to the music of this Anthony Braxton recording, the listener is confronted with a highly calculated methodology. The album bears the stark title Four Compositions (Quartet) 1983, and each song (itself merely a cataloged number) is accompanied by its own highly cryptic diagram. This sets up a struggle, whereby musical/emotional ends must be achieved through Braxton's analytical compositional means. For this 1983 session, Braxton selected materials from his collecti…

2025 stock ** "Released not recently for the underground 'Jumbo' Dorgon y su grupo will make us discover and feel no longer a solitary and difficult Dorgon or immersed in impromptu and meticulous 'two-up' experiences. Accompanied and supported for the occasion by Curtis Hasselber (guitar and trombone), Ted Reichman (accordion), his partner Laura Cromwell (drums) and Matt Moran (vibes), this phantasmagoric figure of 'metropolitan minstrel' will confirm his multifaceted soul and desire to push him…

1996 release (RARE) ** "This encounter between Japanese mystic guitar/hurdy gurdy/percussion and voice demon Keiji Haino (leader of the power rock trio Fushitsusha) is a free for all of textured noise and plucked and bowed notes -- screaming, yelling, hollering, and percussion-like sounds that have nothing whatsoever to do with rhythm. In fact, to be perfectly honest, it is quite difficult to find a language in which to review a music that has no linguistic precepts at all. When Haino is screami…

2002 release ** "It is difficult to think of this as anything but pure joy, although in some ways it is less intense than other releases led by the remarkable violist Mat Maneri and it is stamped with a cerebral quality from the start. There is a surprisingly charming density, too, that comes through on most tracks, though as with most of his work, there are few if any melodic references but instead a focus on color and sound. Maneri carefully paces himself and the quintet so that every note cou…

"We recorded this CD in May 2023 on the magical Greek island of Hydra in the Old Carpet Factory Studio. The title Kouartéto emanates from the cover image by the artist William Pownall who in the true spirit of Hydra has for many years been an important focus for visitors seeking original artistic creations. And so, in this spirit. The music on this CD reflects a multifaceted response to a multicultural and open understanding of how artists can work together. Every project involving these four cr…

1992 release ** "Descriptive work comparable to film music or the story of Babar... First collective composition of the Compagnie d'Eustache by Jean-François Bovard, Pierre Cochard, Philippe Genevay, Jacques Henry, Philippe Krüttli, Jean Rochat."

2025 stock ** Recorded in Milan (Italy) and originally released in 1975, Sea of Faces stands as one of Archie Shepp's strongest recordings of the Seventies. A highly varied program, covering Shepp's entire spectrum and performed by an all-star line-up featuring Archie Shepp - tenor & soprano sax, piano, vocals, Charles Greenlee - trombone, tambourine, vocals, Dave Burrell - piano, Cameron Brown - bass, Beaver Harris - drums, tambourine, vocals, Rafi Taha - vocals, Bunny Foy - vocals, maracas, pe…

2001 release ** "Another dip into the melting pot of early 70s black music - a time where latin, jazz, soul and funk mixed together and would eventually beget disco."

*2025 stock* "This latest release on Maya Recordings documents a new duo collaboration of Barry Guy together with the exceptional Norwegian saxophonist Torben Snekkestad. At convergent boundaries, tectonic plates collide with each other, sometimes slowly, other times giving way suddenly with huge energy being expended. The various plates that encompass this planet either get subducted by being bent and pulled under the crust, or they collide and fold the rock at the boundary creating mountains. …

2025 stock Fish That Sparkling Bubble is a collaborative studio album by Borbetomagus and Voice Crack, released in 1988 by Agaric Records.

At the tail end of 1996, saxophonist Mars Williams and drummer Hamid Drake took the tall corner stage at Chicago's Empty Bottle for two sets of duets. The rock club had just started a weekly Jazz & Improvised Music Series, curated by Ken Vandemark and John Corbett, which would run for nearly a decade. This rare pairing brought together two pivotal figures in the city's creative music scene, both of whom had extensive experience in diverse areas of music, from the free jazz focus of this intimate…

There was a school of philosophy in ancient China whose core theory stems from a debate entitled “A White Horse Is Not a Horse.” In a book by Gongsun Long (公孫龍 320-250BC, about 200 years after Confucius) in the Warring States Period, two persons argue if a white horse is a horse: the protagonist argues it is not, because ‘white’ is the color of a (particular) horse while a ‘horse’ is a shape and a generic term. It’s a linguistic/logical paradox, or sophistry. Ridiculed by his contemporary philos…

Doug Hammond is a veteran American composer, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, singer-songwriter, essayist, and educator who is not nearly as well known in the U.S. as his music warrants. That may be largely because he’s been based in Linz, Austria since 1989 as a professor at Bruckner University, making only periodic visits back to his native Detroit. Reut Regev is a boundary-crossing composer-trombonist born in Israel, living and active in New York City and its metroplex since 1998, noted fo…

2025 stock Eftsoons (august 1981) was a collaboration by Hal Russell with tenor saxophonist Mars Williams.

1992 release (VERY RARE - no obi) ** "The first album from Masahiko Togashi & J.J. Spirits who were the only Japanese group performing in the '92 ''Live Under The Sky'' concert. Contains 6 tracks, includig ''Action'', ''Bonfire'', ''Palladium'' and more."

2025 stock ** "The beauty of this music lies precisely in the capability of transmitting echoes of the pianistic music research happened in the last 50 years, filtered by Nicola Guazzaloca's personal and unmistakeable gaze.Prepared piano, improvisation, but also lyricism and the delicacy of the touch are the ingredients of his musical landscape. The ability of reinventing and being at ease with the "piano solo", aim and test for every pianist appears to us as one of the most precious elements of…

1993 release ** “Lisa Sokolov displays incredible vocal range, versatility and creativity on her wild interpretations. This album is like a ticket to an avant-garde vocal extravaganza. It will make you sit up and listen until curtain-fall.”

1990 release **

1988 release ** "Featuring Julian Priester and Gary Peacock." Julian Priester - tromboneJay Clayton - voiceJerry Granelli - percussionGary Peacock - bass