Jazz & Improvisation / Avant-Garde Jazz

Piano duets by Muhal Richard Abrams and Amina Claudine Myers, recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, on May 11 and 12, 1981. Seven pieces, five by Abrams, one by Myers and one written together.

Second album by the String Trio Of New York: Billy Bang (violin), James Emery (guitar) and John Lindberg (bass), recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, on November 25 and 26, 1980. Six original pieces, two by each member.

World Saxophone Quartet (Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, David Murray) recorded and mixed at Sound Heights Studios, Brooklyn, in March 1980 for Black Saint. Eight pieces by the members, including the four-part Suite Music.

Second album of the Colson Unity Troupe: Adegoke Steve Colson (piano), Iqua Colson (vocals), Wallace LaRoy McMillan (saxophone, flute), Reggie Willis (bass) and Dushun Mosley (percussion), recorded at Barigozzi Studios, Milan, on July 22 and 23, 1980.

Live duets by Leroy Jenkins (violin) and Muhal Richard Abrams (piano), recorded at Washington Square Church, New York, on March 11, 1977. Six compositions by Jenkins.

Muhal Richard Abrams septet with Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, Leonard Jones, Jay Clayton (voice) and Youseff Yancy (theremin), recorded at Big Apple Studios, New York, in July 1979. Four Abrams compositions.

Debut of the String Trio of New York, Billy Bang (violin), James Emery (guitar, soprano guitar, mandolin) and John Lindberg (bass), recorded at Barigozzi Studios, Milan, in June 1979. Three long pieces, one by each member.

Marcello Melis's second Black Saint album, recorded at Downtown Sound, New York, in May 1978 with Enrico Rava, Lester Bowie, George Lewis, Don Pullen, Jeanne Lee, Sheila Jordan and others, plus Mamuthones' bells recorded in Mamoiada, Sardinia.

Charles Bobo Shaw's Human Arts Ensemble with Joseph Bowie (trombone), Luther Thomas (alto sax), James Emery (guitar) and John Lindberg (bass), recorded at GRS Studios, Milan, in May 1978 for Black Saint.

Marcello Melis's first Black Saint album, joining the Gruppo Rubanu vocal quartet, recorded in Orgosolo, Sardinia, in July 1974, with a New York quartet of Enrico Rava, Roswell Rudd and Famoudou Don Moye, recorded in May 1976.

The 360 Degree Music Experience, led by Beaver Harris (drums) and Dave Burrell (piano), with Hamiet Bluiett, Azar Lawrence, Cecil McBee, sitar, congas and a steel band, recorded at Generation Sound Studios, New York, on 8-9 March 1976.

Paul Bley (piano), Charlie Haden (bass) and Paul Motian (drums) recorded at Mondial Sound, Milan, on 20 July 1990: pieces by all three plus Monk and Ornette Coleman. Soul Note, 1992; remastered Golden Gems CD, 2016.

Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter and Han Bennink play three Herbie Nichols and three Thelonious Monk tunes, recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, on 25-26 June 1982. Soul Note, 1983; remastered Golden Gems CD, 2016.

George Russell Sextet with Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Stanton Davis, recorded live at Estrad, Södertälje, Sweden, in March 1970 and first issued by Soul Note in 1982. Remastered Golden Gems CD, 2016.

Steve Lacy Quintet album with Steve Potts (alto and soprano sax), Irene Aebi (voice, violin, cello), Kent Carter (bass, cello) and Oliver Johnson (drums), recorded at Barigozzi Studios, Milan, May 24 and 25, 1979. Black Saint, 1979.

Quartet album by pianist Don Pullen and saxophonist and flautist Sam Rivers with Alex Blake (bass) and Bobby Battle (drums), recorded at Generation Sound Studios, New York, October 16 and 17, 1975. Black Saint, 1976.

Six-CD box, the second of Max Roach's Soul Note albums: Pictures In A Frame (1979), In The Light (1982), Live At Vielharmonie Munich (1983), Scott Free and It's Christmas Again (1984), Easy Winners (1985), with Cecil Bridgewater and Odean Pope.

Eleven-CD box, the second of Mal Waldron's Black Saint and Soul Note recordings (1985 to 2000): duos with Steve Lacy and David Friesen, solo Update, records with singers Kim Parker, Tiziana Ghiglioni and Judi Silvano, Anthony Braxton's Six Monk's Compositions.

Six-CD box, the third of David Murray's Black Saint recordings: Interboogieology (1978), both Live At Sweet Basil big band volumes (1984), Children (1984), Southern Bells with Clarinet Summit (1987) and The Healers with Randy Weston (1987).

Four-CD box of Andrew Hill's Soul Note albums recorded in Milan: the solo Faces Of Hope and the trio Strange Serenade (June 1980), Shades with Clifford Jordan, Rufus Reid and Ben Riley and the solo Verona Rag (July 1986).

Six-CD box of Max Roach's albums for Black Saint and Soul Note recorded 1978 to 1986: Birth And Rebirth with Anthony Braxton, Historic Concerts with Cecil Taylor, M'Boom's Collage, Survivors and Bright Moments by the Double Quartet.

Four-CD box of Archie Shepp's Black Saint and Soul Note albums: A Sea Of Faces (Milan, 1975), Down Home New York (1984), Little Red Moon with Enrico Rava (1985) and the live California Meeting (Sacramento, 1985). Remastered 2015.

Seven-CD box of Ran Blake's Soul Note albums, recorded 1981 to 1999: duets with Jaki Byard, solo Ellington and Monk, Suffield Gothic with Houston Person, a quartet with Ricky Ford, the Sarah Vaughan tribute Unmarked Van and Indian Winter. Remastered 2015.

Nine-CD box of Gianluigi Trovesi recordings, 1978 to 2004: the trio albums Baghèt and Cinque Piccole Storie, the octet's From G. To G. and Les Hommes Armés, and work with Enrico Rava, Guido Manusardi, Alfredo Impullitti and Asymmetrique. Remastered 2014.

Eight-CD box of Ed Blackwell's Black Saint recordings, 1976 to 1992: Old And New Dreams, duos and trios with Dewey Redman, Transit with Karl Berger and Dave Holland, David Murray's Morning Song and The American Jazz Quintet. Remastered 2014.

Seven-CD box of Oliver Lake's Black Saint and Soul Note albums, recorded 1976 to 1997, with Michael Gregory Jackson, Baikida Carroll, Pheeroan akLaff, Geri Allen, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille and Borah Bergman. Remastered 2013.

Six-CD box of Dave Douglas's Soul Note and Black Saint recordings, 1993 to 1998: his string-group albums Parallel Worlds, Five and Convergence, Mark Dresser's Force Green, Rova's John Coltrane's Ascension and John Lindberg's Bounce. Remastered 2012.

Six-CD box of Paul Motian's complete Soul Note albums, recorded 1983 to 1992: three quintet records with Joe Lovano, Jim Pepper, Bill Frisell and Ed Schuller, the trio One Time Out, and duos with Paul Bley and Enrico Pieranunzi. Remastered 2010.

Don Pullen's Black Saint quartet album with Chico Freeman (tenor sax), Fred Hopkins (bass) and Bobby Battle (drums), recorded at GRS Studios, Milan, in April 1978. Three Pullen compositions, led by the two-part Warriors Dance: Little Don.

LP version. 2021 restock; LP version. All-star quartet Last Exit garnered its reputation with a string of unrelentingly forceful concert recordings in which it pushed the energy style of free jazz to its limits. When the group went into the studio, though, a very different sort of album emerged - very different not only from all their other output, but even from anything else ever heard from anyone at that time. Because of that, when it was released in 1988, some fans and critics didn't know wha…

Mat Walerian: alto saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet, flute; Matthew Shipp: piano; Hamid Drake: drums, percussion. Recorded November 19, 2012, at the Okuden Music concert series. From William Parker's liner notes: "Stepping into the Silence, this is literary music, epic little bouts of brilliance. That expands and stretches across what you might call instant reality, the lining or other side of the cosmic blanket where ordinary yet extraordinary people live; it swings and is balanced, it knows …

The Delegation is a project of young phenomena Gabriel Zucker that mixes jazz, classical, electronica, rock, and more into a new sound that lives up to ESP-Disk's old catchphrase "You never heard such sounds in your life!" This improvising group came together at the 2013 Banff Jazz and Creative Music Workshop and was soon commissioned by the American Composers Forum; the result is the twelve-movement work on this two-disc set, which was premiered at the Jazz Gallery in New York City in 2014 and …

Happening: A Movement In 12 Acts is a treatise with spoken and sung libretto by various artists about the current state of the U.S. and the impact the Occupy movement has had on our psyche. However, it is not about Occupy but rather the 99%. Personnel: Fay Victor, Walter Egan, Charles Walker, Suzy Bogguss, Freedy Johnston, Mary Gauthier, Cooper-Moore, Carmina Escobar, Matthew Ryan, Jennie Knaggs, Ed Pettersen, Thollem McDonas - vocals; Thollem McDonas - piano; Ed Pettersen - guitar and effects; …

Recorded December 15, 2015 in Brooklyn, New York. This is Polish multi-instrumentalist Mat Walerian's third CD, all for ESP and all with Matthew Shipp. Walerian's first album (ESPDISK 5007CD, 2015) was the last new release approved by ESP-Disk's founder Bernard Stollman. This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People takes its title from something William Parker said during the recording session; it is also Parker's first time back in the studio for ESP since his first released appearance on …

Amina Baraka speaks truth and spits fire when she reads her poetry. She is a warm and friendly person, but keeps a metal shovel by her front door in case of trespassers. She is a devoted Communist. She is vast, she contains multitudes. After decades in the shadow of her late husband, poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, Amina is about to raise her profile in the company of The Red Microphone, four musicians who are fellow fighters in the struggle for equality for all. Not that she hasn't been getti…

LP version. Limited restock. When Oscar Peterson moved from Montréal to New York in 1949, then-17-year-old Paul Bley took over Peterson's residency at the Alberta Lounge on Peterson's recommendation; in his 20s, Bley played with Charlie Parker. Bley incorporated maverick pianist Lennie Tristano's approach to improvisation and collaborated with Charles Mingus, and in 1958 in Los Angeles famously put together a band with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins. His move into …

Talibam! delights in creating music that cannot be pinned down within the safe-spaces of existing genres. With each new album, Talibam! reinvent their methodological palette in order to bolster a fresh clarity of joyous auditory surprise, something their fans have come to depend on. Talibam! focus on compositional clarity, with reverence for their diverse interest in genre. On Hard Vibe, they push the pulse of motorik rhythm through a psychedelic jazz filter. This time out, they have created a s…

Dragon and Phoenix refers to the names of the sound holes on the Chinese instrument known as the guqin, aka qin (gu is a prefix meaning "ancient"), which figures prominently on this album of improvised acoustic duos, being heard on thirteen of the sixteen tracks, with two qins on four tracks. Stephen Dydo, former president of the New York Qin Society, is the more traditional player here, whereas Alan Sondheim has a style heavily based on free improvisation. The two bonded over their instrument c…

In the first part of his career, Matthew Shipp avoided solo recordings, saying he wasn't ready - and the first solo album he made, Symbol Systems (1995), happened by accident when the other player on the session didn't show up. Since then, his style expanded and matured and he recorded prolifically, including a number of solo albums, but they have remained special events, distinct statements of purpose. Zero continues in this tradition; its philosophical basis can be gleaned from the lecture on …

Japanese musicians Megumi Yonezawa, Masa Kamaguchi, and Ken Kobayashi present Boundary. The pianist and drummer live in New York City and often collaborate; the bassist lives in Madrid but comes to New York City twice a year for a month each time. The producer heard them at Manhattan jazz bar Tomi Jazz and immediately booked a session to capture their magic before Masa Kamaguchi left town. Megumi Yonezawa, from Hokkaido, earned multiple awards while studying performance and composition at Berkle…