Jazz /
NYC 1978
Evan Parker made his first trip to North America as a performer in the fall of 1978 touring solo in the US and Canada. His landmark solo record Monoceros had been recorded in April. This is a recording of his first solo performance in New York City. While it may lack the sonic fidelity of Monoceros, its raw passion makes a statement to the New York audiences lucky to have been at Environ that October evening.
Tetterettet
Temporary Super Offer! Originally recorded and released in 1977, the Instant Composers Pool's Tetterettet is the first classic of the band's larger incarnations. Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee…
The Topography of the Lungs / Collective Calls / From Saxophone & Trombone (3LP Bundle)
** The three recent Otoroku reissue LPs in a special discounted bundle ** Otoroku, the in-house label for the London venue, Cafe Oto, returns with three new stunners from the legendary Incus catalog - the seminal imprint jointly founded by Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Tony Oxley - the first ever vinyl reissues of Evan Parker / George Lewis’s stunning “From Saxophone & Trombone” (1980), and Evan Parker / Paul Lytton’s mind-bending “Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones)” (1972), as well a…
Outspan No 1 + 2
Tip! The two recent Outspan 1 & 2 in a (slightly discounted) bundle. Joining their longstanding dedication to the back catalog of the legendary German imprint, FMP, Cien Fuegos returns with the first ever reissues of two towering artefacts of European free jazz / improvisation from the 1970s, the quartet of Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Fred Van Hove’s Outspan No 1, and the trio of Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Fred Van Hove’s Outspan No 2. Both recorded live in 1974…
The Topography of the Lungs
2023 Much-needed Repress. Finally reissued, one of the key recordings in the development of free improvisation and originally the first release on Incus, the label founded by Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley to document the music. Outstanding deluxe vinyl edition of one of the most iconic free improv LP ever made, a landmark album in the British avant garde.Liner notes by Evan Parker (for the 2014 re-issue):‘The Topography of the Lungs’ was the first recording I made as a "leader" - in t…
Outspan No 2
Tip! Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album offers up four more sonic delights from the core trio of Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink. Rarely has free jazz/Euro improv/circus music/[your identifier here] sounded so unfettered and delightful -- adventurous without seeming self-serious, silly yet not without gravity. A must for any fan of these three maestros.
Outspan No 1
Tip! It's hard to imagine how this record -- and it's mate, Outspan No 2 -- managed to remain more or less out of circulation from the CD era onward. Outspan No 1 is nothing less than an ideal distillation of the broad approach to sound creation utilized by the three-ring circus that is Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink, here with the added bonus of Mangelsdorff. Two short numbers, two long, too perfect.
Brace Up!
2023 repress. Brace Up! is the first ever studio release from the duo of Chris Corsano (drums) and Bill Orcutt (guitar). Recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus by Christophe Albertijn on March 19th and 20th, 2018. Stage dive photograph by Jason Penner. "Over the past six years or so, drummer Chris Corsano has proven to be one of Bill Orcutt's most reliably flexible collusionists. Regardless of whether Bill is cluster-busting electric guitar strings, weaseling around with cracked electronics,…
Supergolden
** Ltd. 100 copies ** "Supergolden" is the name of Petter Asbjørnsen’s debut album featuring Kjetil Møster on saxophone and bass clarinet, and Øyvind Skarbø on drums. Møster and Skarbø are prominent figures in the Norwegian jazz community, known from ensembles such as Zanussi 5, 1982, Skarbø Skulekorps, Møster! and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Stints living in Bergen, Copenhagen, Berlin and New York informed Asbjørnsen’s work as a composer and performer in projects with Molecules and Erlend Sko…
The Art of Crashing
*200 copies limited edition* “Costa and Ernsting are assertive and confident players who don’t hesitate to claim their positions, but most of all, they are keeping up with each other, using their dialogue to explore and expand. And that is what it is about, a quest for ideas and a way for them to co-exist, make sense, keep the story moving forward on all levels. And as far as the greater story is concerned: this album is another fine addition to an endlessly fascinating mosaic of sounds.” - Guy …
Pangatuna
*2022 stock.* The band consists of Italians living in Belgium - Daniele Martini and Giovanni di Domenico, as well as two Portuguese residing in Netherlands - Gonçalo Almeida & João Lobo. Tetterapadequ is a free-jazz quartet firmly rooted in the traditions of European improvised music. It is no accident, that their first album released in 2008 was pressed by Clean Feed label. On "Pangatuna" we can hear the band enlarged to an octet, which enriched their music with brand new, almost orchestral dim…
Uusi Aika
Uusi Aika is a fresh new ensemble from Finland. Their self-titled debut album will be released by We Jazz Records. The band's music could be described as introspective and meditative, but that's only a part of the story. The instrumentation is acoustic and their sound organic to the bone, but the music's slowly unfolding character brings to mind some deep abstract electronic music or experimental dub explorations at times. That is, there's power just under the surface, just beautifully out of fo…
Am Frankfurter Tor
*In process of stocking* Anna and Jan first met in 2004 when they started playing together in different combinations as the Kaluza Quartet (with trombonist Christof Thewes and drummer Kay Lübke), trios with pianst Niko Meinhold or with drummer Michael Griener and various others. In 2020 they played their first duo concert on a boat in Berlin (Hosek Contemporary) and decided to continue with their work as duo. The same year they went to Christian Betz’ studio in Friedrichshain to record their mus…
The Embalmer
Matthew Bourne is a renowned pianist with a reputation as a fearlessly unpredictable improviser. Emil Karlsen is an independently minded drummer who plays with power and delicacy. The Embalmer documents one of Karlsen and Bourne’s first meetings. Recorded in a single session in 2020, The Embalmer sees a wide-ranging musical discourse between the two musicians unfold in its most lean form across the six improvised tracks.
Conduits
*In process of stocking* Freely improvised music for baritone saxophone and double bass. Cath Roberts and Olie Brice found an escape from the musical isolation of lockdown with the amazing discovery that it was possible to play (and record) online in almost real time - these are the results.
Carpathes
"Percussionist Paul Lovens turns in some exemplary work on Carpathes, joined by Michel Pilz (bcl) and Peter Kowald (b). Actually it is mostly Pilz' date as he appears throughout the record either in solo, trio or duo with Kowald. But it is Lovens who most impresses me here as he hammers, rings, jingles the percussion, managing to both give rhythmic freedom and abstraction while implying a more traditional rhythm and he sustains himself very well. Actually the rhythm is constantly outstanding in …
Pink Pong
*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 500 copies.* German pianist Georg Gräwe, one of the most impeccable and imaginative improvisers in contemporary free music, made his debut recording, New Movements, in 1976, under the auspices of Free Music Production, the legendary Berlin-based organization run by Jost Gebers. At FMP’s Jazz Now festival, in April of that year, Gräwe presented his working band, a classic hard-bop configuration with trumpet, saxophone and rhythm section. Indeed, some ve…
New Movements
*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 500 copies.* German pianist Georg Gräwe, one of the most impeccable and imaginative improvisers in contemporary free music, made his debut recording, New Movements, in 1976, under the auspices of Free Music Production, the legendary Berlin-based organization run by Jost Gebers. At FMP’s Jazz Now festival, in April of that year, Gräwe presented his working band, a classic hard-bop configuration with trumpet, saxophone and rhythm section. Indeed, some ve…
On Italian Roads (Live at Teatro Cristallo, Milan, 1979)
British Progressive Jazz releases a 5 track avant garde jazz album by Elton Dean Quartet. It contains previously unreleased live recordings from 25th February 1979, Teatro Cristallo, Milan, Italy. This is the first official release for what many fans consider to be the 'ultimate' lineup of Elton's Quartet. Booklet includes dozens of previously unseen images of the quartet by Sergio Balletti and Carlo Verri with extensive liner notes by Riccardo Bergerone and Roberto Ottoviano.
Translucence
"As such, the music succeeds in maintaining a balance between cohesion and surprise, occasionally coming close to the jazz tradition, but always on its own terms. It gives the album a refreshingly unconventional approach, a counterpoint of ideas that consistently marches to the beat of a different drummer. " - Guy Peters