★We Jazz
Jonathan Bäckström Quartet
Jonathan Bäckström Quartet is an acoustic improvising quartet based in Helsinki with members from Finland and Sweden. Bassist/composer Jonathan Bäckström leads the quartet and they are set on a mission to navigate and discover the music that is being created in the moment. The quartet's expression consists of minimalistic landscapes and explosive, multi-layered free improvisation and is the result of each musician bringing their individual voices to create a strong, collective statement. The gro…
Furniture Of the Mind Rearranging
Chicago's Black Diamond debuts on We Jazz Records with their new album Furniture Of the Mind Rearranging on 5th July. Co-led by Artie Black and Hunter Diamond (composers, saxophones, and other woodwinds), Black Diamond appears in both quartet and duo formations. The first three album sides present the quartet, complete with long standing band members Matt Ulery (double bass) and Neil Hemphill (drums), under the heading Furniture Of the Mind. The remaining two tracks on side D fall under the titl…
New Monuments
** Black Vinyl, inside out sleeve, 12"x12" insert with artwork, liner notes & lyrics, black polylined inner sleeve. ** Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones join We Jazz Records for their third LP New Monuments. Amirtha Kidambi has long affirmed that the role of sound in the act of protest is pivotal. In the summer of 2020, the Brooklyn-based vocalist and composer was immersed in mass demonstrations across New York City in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, organizing bands to counter the violent pr…
Tell Us
Curacao + Red Marbled LP. The Swedish quartet Goran Kajfeš Tropiques share their new music We Jazz Records on May 3rd. Tell Us, an album consisting of three long pieces composed by the group, is "slow music" to the bone, a deep body of work utilising the language of jazz as its core mode of communication but echoing way beyond. The quartet is expanded with strings, adding wings to the music and helping it lift off the ground in a personal, highly engaging manner. The Tropiques quartet consists o…
Septendecim
Saccata Quartet are Nels Cline, Chris Corsano, Darin Gray and Glenn Kotche. On June 28, the band share their first album together, Septendecim, on We Jazz Records, with their live debut to follow on June 30th at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts. Painting a dense sonic texture on a broad canvas, the albums four deep cuts envelop the listener much like the trillions of cicadas predicted to appear across the US en masse around the time of the album launch as two broods of …
Summer 2024 "Worldwide" (Magazine)
The twelfth issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Worldwide" for Gilles Peterson. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Includes Gilles Peterson by Anton Spice, Ingrid Laubrock by Stewart Smith, Hannibal Lokumbe by Bret Sjerven, Universal Folks Sounds by Magnus Nygren, Spoken Word / Free Jazz by Alex Coles, Dutch Jazz Archive by Danny Veekens, Takuya Kuroda by Rob Garratt, Jan Roder and Michael Griener of …
Spring 2024 "Oni Puladi" (Magazine)
The eleventh issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Oni Puladi" for Carla Bley. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Carla Bley by Stewart Smith, Gondwana Records by Debra Richards, [Ahmed] by Seymour Wright, Amirtha Kidambi by Ayana Contreras, Ruth Goller by Daryl Worthington, Abdul Wadud by Pierre Crépon / David Neil Lee, François Jeanneau by Bret Sjerven, Mette Henriette by Debra Richards, Nduduzo Makha…
Family
Norwegian drummer/composer Gard Nilssen debuts on We Jazz Records with his major new album “Family” with the 17-piece Supersonic Orchestra. A veritable who’s who of Scandinavian jazz (and beyond), the Supersonic Orchestra is one of the most exciting large groups in the current international jazz circuit. Captured at Mondriaan Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands, “Family” presents the ensemble in top form across the 8 tracks, all of which are original compositions by Gard Nilssen and André Rol…
fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred)
Tip! A radiant manifesto of artistic freedom, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) brings together a composition in four movements written and performed by Jones on alto saxophone, long-time collaborator Gerald Cleaver on drums, and four Vancouver-based string musicians: violinists Jesse Zubot and Josh Zubot, cellist Peggy Lee and bassist James Meger; with original artwork by Stan Douglas and liner notes by poet Harmony Holiday. Commissioned by Western Front, an artist-run center for multi…
Post Koma
Berlin-based Swedish bassist and producer Petter Eldh returns with a new Koma Saxo album Post Koma, out on We Jazz Records, 10 November. The title Post Koma aptly describes the vibe of this one: The Koma Saxo sound continues its evolution, morphing into a holistic vision of jazz now and soon, where live instrumentation and repurposed sampling lose their boundaries. Over the course of its three iterations (self-titled debut in 2019, LIVE in 2020, Koma West in 2022) Koma Saxo has sounded at times …
Winter 2023 "Dominoes" (Magazine)
The tenth issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Dominoes" for Donald Byrd. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Donald Byrd by Andy Beta, Lonnie Liston Smith by Anton Spice, Charles Gayle by Seymour Wright, Anoushka Shankar & Arooj Aftab in conversation by Debra Richards, Billy Harper by Bret Sjerven, Anni Kiviniemi by Wif Stenger, Kenneth Jimenez by Andrey Henkin, Sun Ra by Francis Gooding, Muffins by Ma…
Issue 9: Oisters
The ninth issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Oisters" for Petter Eldh. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Petter Eldh by Peter Margasak, Oren Ambarchi by Daryl Worthington, Sven Wunder by Markus Karlqvist, Robyn Steward by Dave Waller, Jason Moran by Rui Miguel Abreu, Darius Jones by Stewart Smith, Carlos Garnett by Andy Thomas, Discaholic column by Mats Gustafsson, Black Fire by Danny Veekens, revie…
Summer 2023 "Shadow Shapes" (Magazine)
The eighth issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Shadow Shapes" for Dorothy Ashby. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented IN ENGLISH. Dorothy Ashby by David Mittleman, Don Cherry by Magnus Nygren, Peter Evans by Andrey Henkin, The Return Of the Queer Jazz Scene by Tina Edwards, Jimetta Rose & the Voices Of Creation by Samuel Lamontagne, Asher Gamedze by Teju Adeleye, Jazz Taphonomy by Seymour Wright, Discaholic column …
Tesserae
Drummer Tilo Weber joins forces with bassist Petter Eldh (Koma Saxo) and Elias Stemeseder, who plays harpsichord and keys here on Weber's We Jazz debut, "Tesserae". The three musicians plus guests present a unique jazz trio sound for all times, without boundaries. Weber, based in Berlin, came to the attention of We Jazz Records with his his highly inspired drum work on Otis Sandsjö's Y-OTIS, and has since then also been awarded with the prestigious Deutscher Jazz Preis for the arrangement of the…
Universal Beings (Magazine)
The seventh issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Universal Beings" for Makaya McCraven. 128 pages 174 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Stories include Makaya McCraven by Ayana Contreras, Sonny Rollins by Ashley Kahn, Peter Evans by Andrey Henkin, Amina Claudine Myers by Seymour Wright, Adolphe Sax by Harry Eddy, Ronald Snijders by Mike Bindraban, introducing our new columnist Mats Gustafsson, Puristamo Helsinki pre…
Baiao Da Luna
A lost MPB gem from rural Finland! We Jazz presents the first ever reissue of this rare 1990 local release by Brazilian duo Rosanna & Zelia. 7" EP with inside out 3mm spine sleeve. RIYL: Gilberto Gil, Joyce, Musica Popular Brasileira, bossa nova, bossa jazz Liner notes by Mikko Mattlar: "Rosanna & Zélia were a Brazilian duo of singers and musicians Rosanna Guimarães Tavares and Zélia Nogueira da Fonseca. They moved from Minas Gerais, Brazil to Europe in 1988, released five albums in Germany betw…
One-Eyed Daruma
Swiss artist Lukas Traxel releases his powerful debut album One-Eyed Daruma on We Jazz Records, March 10. The trio features Traxel on double bass, Otis Sandsjö on sax and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums. Compact, deep, and organic to the bone, Traxel & co's sound echoes the innovations of rhythmically driven avantgarde jazz while keeping things moving at all times. There's both drive and freedom to this sound.
One-Eyed Daruma features eight new compositions by Traxel, who crafted the outline for the…
Tigers Are Better Looking
Composer Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen presents his Nonet formation on We Jazz Records. Their debut album Tigers Are Better Looking is released 3 Feb and the ensemble features internationally renowned Finnish clarinetist Antti Sarpila, plus a strong cast of Helsinki-based musicians from several of the top Finnish groups.
Based on the writings of British-Caribbean author Jean Rhys (1890–1979), the 6-track album is a melancholy, intimate chamber jazz creation. Laurell's music swings, yet he doesn't st…
Circus/Citadel
Finnish bassist Antti Lötjönen returns in February 2023 with his second Quintet East album on We Jazz Records. With Verneri Pohjola on trumpet, Mikko Innanen and Jussi Kannaste on saxes, and Joonas Riippa on drums, Quintet East is a hard-hitting ensemble of Helsinki scene A-listers. The new release sees the quintet work with Lötjönen's inspired new music with remarkable spirit, spreading out on a quest for new sounds and ideas, and returning to base with a fresh batch of acoustic creative music,…
Revelation
The sixth issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Revelation" for Black Jazz Records. 128 pages 174 x 250 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Stories include Black Jazz Records by Daniel Spicer, As-Shams by Andy Thomas, Nyege Nyege Festival by Markus Karlqvist, Alina Bzhezhinska by Tina Edwards, Carl Stone by Peter Margasak, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley by Rob Garratt, Travelogue by Kari Ikonen, Pharoah / Jazz Composers Orchestra by Se…