Jazz /
Africa
Studio 44, Monster, Holland, 11 March 1987. One day. Pharoah Sanders with John Hicks on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums, a band he kept for years. Produced by Wim Wigt for Timeless.
The record is built around Coltrane. Loewy at AllMusic writes that most listeners will prefer the originals to Sanders's imitations, but calls Africa a joyous and worthy tribute. AllMusic's survey of the Timeless years is warmer: it hears the title track's highlife melody undercut by Hicks's p…
Live At The Donaueschingen Music Festival
Donaueschingen, October 1979. Karl Berger brought the orchestra of his Creative Music Studio from Woodstock to the German contemporary music festival, and Südwestfunk and MPS recorded it. The roster reads like the CMS guest book: Don Cherry on trumpet and bamboo flute, Lee Konitz on alto, Oliver Lake on alto, soprano and flute, George Lewis on trombone, Leroy Jenkins on violin, Trilok Gurtu on tabla and congas, Peter Apfelbaum on drums and baritone, Ingrid Sertso singing, Berger on vibes and pia…
The Oimels
Two years after Free Action, a different record. The Oimels, MPS 1969, is the Wolfgang Dauner Quintet playing pop: Dauner on piano, organ and voice, Eberhard Weber on bass, cello and voice, Siegfried Schwab on guitar and sitar, Pierre Cavalli on guitar, and Roland Wittich on drums and voice, who also did the cover art with Dauner.
The programme mixes Dauner originals with a Gershwin tune, a traditional, and a Lennon-McCartney song. A RateYourMusic listener puts it plainly: a different kind of ja…
Astrocyrk
*100 copies limited edition* Astrocyrk (Astrocircus) is the next chapter in a story that began in 2123, when Captain Harrison Focus, after an emergency landing, finds himself on the mysterious planet Carmin. Following the events described in the previous album, the main character – Triceradiplodocus – leaves the planet's surface, following Ropuch’s instructions. However, the light on the horizon turns out to be the beginning of a new nightmare, and the dinosaur is trapped in the Astrocyrk. Under…
The Best Of Miles Davis & John Coltrane (1955-1961)
A double LP drawn from the Columbia recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane between 1955 and 1961, from So What to Someday My Prince Will Come, with Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb. First time on vinyl.
The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961
The 2000 Grammy-winning box of the complete Columbia recordings by Miles Davis with John Coltrane, 58 tracks from 1955 to 1961, reissued as six CDs in individually designed minijackets with a 116-page book.
The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961
The 2000 Grammy-winning box of the complete Columbia recordings by Miles Davis with John Coltrane, 58 tracks from 1955 to 1961, on vinyl for the first time outside Mosaic: nine LPs cut from the analog tapes, in a slipcase with a 60-page book.
Rites
Jan Garbarek's 1998 double album with Rainer Bruninghaus, Eberhard Weber, Marilyn Mazur and Bugge Wesseltoft, on vinyl for the first time in ECM's Luminessence series: tip-on gatefold jacket with booklet.
Illusion Suite
Stanley Cowell's only ECM album, recorded in 1972 with Stanley Clarke on bass and Jimmy Hopps on drums. Reissued in the Luminessence series, tip-on gatefold jacket with new liner notes by Ethan Iverson.
Unclosing
Illegal Crowns, the quartet of Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson, Benoît Delbecq and Tomas Fujiwara, recorded at Firehouse 12 in June 2022, with three compositions each by Fujiwara, Halvorson and Delbecq.
Letters to George
George is John Hollenbeck's quartet with Anna Webber, Aurora Nealand and Chiquita Magic: voices, saxophones, flute, keyboards and drums, recorded in Montreal in January 2022. 180g black vinyl, limited to 400 copies.
Sweet Tooth
Debut album by Abenaki bassist, singer and composer Mali Obomsawin, built on songs and stories of her family, with Savannah Harris, Miriam Elhajli, Allison Burik, Noah Campbell and Taylor Ho Bynum. First pressing on black vinyl.
Wild Tapestry
A composition by saxophonist Travis Laplante for a nine-piece ensemble, dedicated to the muse of Miles Davis and recorded live at the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Putney, Vermont, in July 2021.
Aire De Agua
Debut album by alto saxophonist David Leon with Sonya Belaya on piano, Florian Herzog on bass and Stephen Boegehold on drums, recorded in Brooklyn in February 2020, with liner notes by Kris Davis.
Blue Vertical
The final recording by bassist Mario Pavone, made in March 2021 two months before his death, with his Dialect Trio of Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey and Dave Ballou on trumpet and arrangements.
Asp Nimbus
Cellist Christopher Hoffman's quartet with Bryan Carrott on vibraphone, Rashaan Carter on bass and Craig Weinrib on drums, plus David Virelles on one track. Translucent red vinyl, limited to 200 copies.
Air Ceremony
Guitarist Dustin Carlson's septet with Nathaniel Morgan, Eric Trudel, Danny Gouker, Matt Mitchell on Prophet 6, Adam Hopkins and Kate Gentile, recorded in 2017 and mixed and mastered by David Torn.
Crickets
Fifth anniversary LP of Adam Hopkins' 2018 debut Crickets, the first Out Of Your Head release, on 180g black vinyl with redesigned TJ Huff artwork and the extra track Grounded, recorded remotely by the sextet in winter 2020-2021.
The Realist
Janel Leppin - The Realist (OOYH 048), featuring the incredible new trio of Janel with Devra Hoff (Sharon Van Etten, Nels Cline, Xiu Xiu) on bass, and Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo, Marc Ribot, jaimie Branch) on drums, which Phil Overeem called "the freshest sounds from one of the most fascinating artists in creative improvisation."
Passerine
Passerine began in the fall of 2024 when my older son left home for college and friends began to ask if I were experiencing empty nest syndrome, or half-empty nest syndrome, as was the case. Each time, my reply was a simple, “nah, I’m good…everybody’s good.” And that was true. My wife, the boys, and I were all doing relatively well after many difficult, often harrowing years of helping our first-born navigate deep and dangerous mental health struggles — struggles so severe that we’d already had …