Jazz & Improvisation / Electronically Augmented Jazz

2020 stock. 2014 release. One of the most celebrated folks in improvised music, Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson made three ultra-limited edition vinyl LPs, each featuring a different dedication to a favorite musician from the past. Released in batches of 99, these records found Gustafsson playing compositions by Duke Ellington, Albert (and his brother Donald) Ayler, and the important post-bop baritone player Lars Gullin. Long out-of-print, these priceless slabs of free music have quickly bec…

**to be released on 29.05.2020** "WRWTFWW Records is proud to announce the official reissue of Motohiko Hamase’s extremely rare live album Anecdote (recorded in 1987). The album is sourced from original masters and available on vinyl (double LP) for the first time ever as well as on CD. It comes with liner notes from the artist. This marks the sixth release from the Esplanade Series which focuses on the works of Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase and Satsuki Shibano.Anecdote was recorded live June 12…

“Sometimes it’s dumb fun to think up impossible supergroups. Maybe they help you imagine a sound you’ve never considered, a combination of histories and vectors that contradicts those that might be steered by normal forces, such as geography or genre or circle of colleagues. A parlor game designed to transcend time and place.Here’s one: John Carter, Bernard Parmegiani, Mike Ratledge and Tony Williams. Think of the possibilities, Ratledge offers fudgy bass keyboards, circa 1970, Soft Machine’s Th…

Rodrigo Amado was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1964 and took up the saxophone at the age of 17 while convalescing from an accident. Later he studied at the Hot Club Music School and was soon playing with numerous rock, pop and experimental projects. At the shifting boundary between free jazz and improvised music, Amado's position is clear: he plays jazz. He is so clearly a jazz musician that he doesn't require any pre-determined elements of rhythm, harmony, chorus lengths or melody to play jazz.…

The long awaited second release from the Peter Evans Quintet. Four new compositions commissioned by the Jerome Foundation's Emerging Artist Grant and recorded at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York. The album is named after a novel by Frank Herbert concerning a mission into space to create an artificial consciousness, a mission designed to use planned failure as a springboard to new levels of creativity. Destination: Void is an epic, cinematic synthesis of eccentr…

The eponymous debut recording from the quartet Rocket Science, recorded live at the Vortex in London. Rocket Science brings together four virtuosic instrumentalists: Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxophones), Craig Taborn (piano), Sam Pluta (live electronics) and Peter Evans (trumpet and piccolo trumpet). Together they perform an hour of highly detailed, dynamic and surprisingly beautiful improvised electro-acoustic chamber music. Each member of the group is widely recognized as having pushed t…

Tip! **50 numbered copies** "Kyle Quass is a composer, trumpet player and sound artist based in Bloomington, Indiana. He holds a MM in Jazz Studies from Indiana University. He has studied, played, and/or collaborated with, among many others, David Baker, Joe Henderson, Greg Osby, Mulgrew Miller, Tyshawn Sorey, Thollem, Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Ralph Alessi and Cory Smythe. He has performed on numerous and varied recordings from David Baker to Amy Stephens to Murder By Death. He has also released …

"The either/OAR series of and/OAR continues to take unexpected twists and turns while slowly but surely unveiling the intended perimeter of it's conceptual focus - this time a magic realism trip via the world of atmospheric avant-jazz. Distare Sonanti is the second album by the highly synergistic Di Domenico / Henriksen / Yamamoto trio whose first CD titled Clinamen was released in 2010 by the Off label based in Belgium. Now, in 2012 and/OAR is very pleased and honored to present this second mas…

**CD version** Improvisation, truth, joy, jazz and doubt. These are but a few of the elements that frequently emerge in the universe of Filosofer, and on their debut Landet Er Gitt Oss. Using the Norwegian version of a term used for people who spend most of their time pondering over life's big mysteries, one is lead to believe that their music is rooted in complex concepts and theoretic academia. So it is not. Filosofer focuses more on guts and feel rather than analyzing and thinking. Their basi…

**500 copies** "This gem of a recording has been a collector's dream prize for decades. Recorded and released in the mid-1970s on flugelhorn / trumpeter Franz Koglmann's Pipe Recordings, each copy of Opium For Franz was issued with an original hand painted cover. Back in the day, we wouldn't speak of a limited issue release, even though this one probably came out in an edition of 200. Certainly it was a labor of love, with no such thing as our modern digital capture of sound and pro tools. We're…

**500 copies** Steve Lacy had plenty of fantastic moments on the European scene of the 70s – but this unique album may well stand as one of his best! The set's very different than any of Steve's recordings with his own group – partly because the core energy here comes from trumpeter Franz Koglmann – who sets things up in a really unusual way, by often embracing rhythm – but also setting it free in all these other erratic patterns too – which proves to be a perfect foil for Steve's soprano sax, a…

**500 copies** A collection of duo recordings featuring Ken Vandermark in collaboration with internationally renowned, and critically acclaimed, musicians: Kris Davis, Hamid Drake, Paul Lytton, Ikue Mori, and William Parker. The material is documented on 5 CDs and was recorded during performances at Vandermark’s second Stone residency in New York City during January of 2018, and at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago.The improvised music included is remarkably expansive, in terms of instrumenta…

**175 copies** Dark and demanding improvisation, each side of this album is an extended foray into dark and dangerous explorations from the Los Angeles trio of Peter Kolovos on guitar, Patrick Shiroishi on saxophone, and Noel Meek on electronics and tapes. Shiroishi's sweeping tones matching the electronics and effected guitar in a glorious nightmare of darkly imaginative sound.

**500 copies** A few years ago I had this crazy idea... Why not ask Obnox aka Lamont "Bim" Thomas to make a free jazz record? After seeing him on tour playing drums with Cleveland out-rock legends X_X, I just had to try and make it happen. Bim, who is no stranger to making out-there genre defying records, surprised me a bit by happily agreeing. It seems a bit of a cliche to try and get rock people to make jazz records, or jazz folks to make rock records, but what the hell? Of all people, Obnox s…

**500 copies** Audiographic Records proudly announces the release of Soigne Ta Droite, Ken Vandermark’s first large ensemble recording in more than four years. The band is called Entr’acte and is a veritable “who’s who” of the most interesting and important musicians currently working in the field of experimental music: Dieb13, Elisabeth Harnik, Steve Heather, Terrie Hessels, Didi Kern, Mette Rasmussen, Jasper Stadhouders, Joe Williamson, and Nate Wooley.The material was recorded in March of 201…

This is for sure no fake news! F4 Fake is the exciting new album by Made To Break, the gripping quartet of Ken Vandermark, mixing jazz, funky patterns, and electronics in groovy improvisations -- interrupted by abstract insertions. Recorded by Daniel Schatz, November 29 2017 at Primitive Studios, Vienna. Mastering by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. Mixing by Alex Inglizian and Ken Vandermark. Artwork by Federico Peñalva. Personnel: Ken Vandermark - reeds; Christof Kurzmann …

The Timeless Nowhere features 42 tracks never previously available on vinyl (most previously unavailable on any format at all) and now distributed across 4 individual albums, each with stunning artwork by Kim Hiorthøy and assembled in a sturdy Box.In a world where being loud seems to be the only ticket for attention, Arve Henriksen has somewhat quietly and without much ado established himself as an important, major player on the European jazz scene. In his 20 years with Rune Grammofon counting 1…

Upperground Orchestra is the hybrid Jazz band of Rabih Beaini and his fellow musicians Tommaso Cappellato (drums), Piero Bittolo Bon (woodwinds / electronics) and Alvise Seggi (Bass / Oud). The band returns with a new LP, years after The Eupen Tapes.Euganea is a 5 tracks LP recorded during the Musica Veneta residency, promoted by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) in the great context of Villa dei Vescovi. Working around Veneto music, the band developed pieces that merge deep roots of original fusion…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** Soon after the catchy synth-bass line that opens Electroradiance, listeners will start to suspect they’re in for something different. The synth-bass line has a herky-jerky contour that does fit a basic pattern of power-rock bands over the decades, but the bass clarinet melody that follows? Not so much. And halfway through, when the bass line becomes a vamp, and the improvisation enters a realm of altissimo squawks and thrillingly convoluted deep runs – well, we’re not …

**2019 stock, reduced price** Still riding high from Listen Here, Eddie Harris really started experimenting here with a dazzlingly eclectic LP that must have left his new fans wondering just who the real Eddie Harris was. There is good old Latinized funk in the opening cuts, Free at Last and 1974 Blues, but what was one to make of the next one, Smoke Signals, with its interplanetary Echoplexed electric sax and ethereal wordless female voices? Then it's on to a long-limbed Coltrane tribute on pia…

Empty Editions presents Palina’tufa, the newest work from saxophonist Seymour Wright and percussionist Paul Abbott’s long-running duo XT. Wright and Abbot’s respective practices have been marked by a simultaneous engagement (with) and desire to challenge the limitations (of) the British tradition of improvised music - represented by groups such as AMM and John Stevens’ Spontaneous Music Ensemble. This album charts a new trajectory for Wright and Abbott, as they draw on recent live collaborations…

The inspiration for Album l and Album II began with a performance by Japanese musician Eiko Ishibashi at Cologne's Week-End Fest in 2019. For this appearance, the renowned experimental musician and composer of the Oscar-winning film Drive My Car was joined on drums by Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and Joe Talia; both integral members of the top-level improvisational/experimental scene in Tokyo. While in town for the festival, Ishibashi met up with the members of the Cologne-Berlin based group Von Spar who …

The source material is drawn from moments of pure improvisation, recorded live in performance, shaped as much by the room and audience as by the musicians themselves.

*2023 stock* Everyone’s Children is the stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist, composer Surya Botofasina, out on Spiritmuse Records. The record combines deep jazz excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a hypnotic, meditative and devotionally expressive suite that soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul. Botofasina’s upbringing at the Sai Anantam Ashram in the Southern Californian hills involved daily bhajans (traditional Hindu de…

Timeless atmospheres, hypnotic sonorities, minimal arrangements. And a composer gifted with a never ending passion for music, experimenter in his genetic code, innovator by vocation, at ease with various instruments in order to forge avant-garde themes. Piero Umiliani was already forward in building completely new sounds in the late Seventies. “Tra Scienza E Fantascienza” finds his alter ego Moggi experimenting with alternative grooves, electronic music, jazz tunes and soundtrack motifs. One of …

Just when you thought it would be safe... Ground Zero are back with a CD of extraordinary covers, some are massive, others strange, all add something to their originals and were selected because of their importance to founder Otomo Yoshihide's personal musical biography - all explained in his excellent accompanying notes. Just the version of Shed a Little Tear is worth the whole CD.

It was recorded in Bruxelles 2011, has been mixed and mastered by Sabine Ercklentz. A trio recording of forceful fragility, new sounds mixing, acoustic instruments meeting electronics. Random sounds taken care of. Creating 7 different pieces, each one of them representing its own personality. It is very dense and lo-fi. Christine Abdelnour has been one of the front figures in the last years with her new sounds on saxophone. Andrea Neumann is one of the original creators of the Berlin Scene no fu…

very rare, long out of print studio recording from 1982. This marks the recording debut of John Tilbury (piano) in the group, plus the now reunited core of Prévost and Keith Rowe (guitar, electronics). Absolutely stunning improvisational "noise" from a very serious standpoint ensemble. One copy only available, new and unplayed

Animato is a 1990 ECM album by guitarist John Abercrombie with composer Vince Mendoza (synthesizers) and drummer Jon Christensen, mostly of Mendoza's compositions, recorded in October 1989 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Private City is a 1988 ECM solo album by John Surman, who plays bass clarinet, recorders, soprano and baritone saxophones and synthesizer in multi-tracked pieces, two of them written for a Sadler's Wells ballet. Recorded December 1987 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo.

David Torn's 1987 quartet album with Mark Isham (trumpet, flugelhorn, synthesizer), Tony Levin (Chapman Stick, synthesizer bass) and Bill Bruford (Simmons drums, percussion). Recorded March 1986 at Audio International, London, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 1322.

Duo album by John Surman (soprano and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet, synthesizer) and Jack DeJohnette (drums, congas, electric piano), recorded in January 1981 at Talent Studio, Oslo, and first released by ECM in 1981.

Barre Phillips (double bass) with John Surman (saxophones, bass clarinet, synthesizer), Stu Martin (drums, synthesizer) and Dieter Feichtner (synthesizer), plus John Abercrombie (guitar) on the last track. Recorded March 1976 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.

Arild Andersen's first solo album: double bass with loops created live through effect pedals. Recorded in concert on 18 June 2020 at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, with one piece recorded at home; mixed at Rainbow Studio in 2024.

Debut duo album by Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Harmen Fraanje (piano): ten pieces, mostly co-written, between improvisation and written themes. Recorded January 2023 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 2794, 2024.

Eberhard Weber alone on five-string electric bass with live delay loops, in concert at the Théâtre des Halles, Avignon, in August 1994. Released by ECM in 2021, mixed at La Buissonne by Gérard de Haro.

Debut album of Avishai Cohen's Israeli quintet Big Vicious: Cohen (trumpet, effects, synthesizer), Uzi Ramirez and Yonatan Albalak (guitars, bass), Aviv Cohen and Ziv Ravitz (drums, live sampling). Recorded August 2019 at Studios La Buissonne, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Quartet album by French bassist Michel Benita (double bass, laptop) with Matthieu Michel (flugelhorn), Jozef Dumoulin (Fender Rhodes, electronics) and Philippe Garcia (drums, electronics), recorded March 2019 at Studios La Buissonne, produced by Steve Lake.

Debut album of the trio Sun of Goldfinger: David Torn (electric guitar, live looping, electronics), Tim Berne (alto saxophone) and Ches Smith (drums, electronics, tanbou), with Craig Taborn and strings on one track, recorded 2015 and 2018 in New York studios.

First recording by the trio of Michele Rabbia (drums, electronics), Gianluca Petrella (trombone, sounds) and Eivind Aarset (guitar, electronics), mostly improvised, recorded January 2018 at ArteSuono Studio, Udine, produced by Manfred Eicher.