Jazz /
West and East Baying
West and East Baying by Oakland Reductionist Orchestra investigates the porous boundaries between acoustic improvisation and electronic sound, favoring the subtle friction and microdynamics of “lowercase” performance practice. Across two extended pieces—one live, one studio-crafted—this Bay Area supergroup reveals the intricate textures, restrained intensity and deep listening that define the West Coast reductionist scene.
Free Jazz and Improvisation on LP and CD, 1965-2024 (Book)
More copies due in November. 428 pages. This is exactly what we need. Big time. Johannes Rød returns with the massively expanded edition of his essential guide - a monument of discographic research spanning six decades of creative music documentation. 381 pages plus 47 unnumbered pages of label artwork. 185 labels mapped with obsessive detail and passionate advocacy. From the explosive emergence of free jazz in the mid-1960s through ESP-Disk, BYG Actuel, and Actuel, through the European improvis…
Ajomasé
Ajomasé marks the influential debut of Gasper Lawal, legendary Nigerian percussionist, now presented in a vibrant reissue by Strut Records. Originally released in 1980, the album bridges Yoruba traditions and Western funk, propelled by layered drumming and energetic ensemble playing. Each track is infused with rhythmic invention and charismatic flair.
Everything Is Possible
Everything Is Possible, the third album from Peace Flag Ensemble, pushes the boundaries of jazz improvisation and ambient experimentation. Led by Jon Neher’s lyrical piano and complemented by subtle electronic flourishes from Michael Scott Dawson, the group’s ensemble dialogue traverses gentle melodic passages and unexpected textural turns, resulting in a collection that is both introspective and quietly assertive.
Orbital
Orbital is the debut album from Orbital Ensemble, a Toronto-based jazz fusion group melding psychedelic grooves, Brazilian MPB influences, and intricate improvisation. The resulting LP weaves together melodic openness, vintage moods, and crisp ensemble playing, offering an immersive sonic experience that feels both exploratory and deeply rooted.
Mother Africa
Mother Africa by Byard Lancaster radiates with spiritual energy and improvisational daring, weaving together free jazz, blues, and soulful overtones. The album’s exploratory language and deep sense of groove reflect Lancaster’s boundary-pushing ethos, resulting in a vivid listening experience that braids together African themes, fluid ensemble interplay, and Lancaster’s distinctive melodic sensibility.
Us
Us by Byard Lancaster is a vibrant suite of improvisations driven by searching melodic motifs and propulsive rhythms. In a compact yet dynamic trio format, Lancaster’s alto saxophone and flute navigate territory mapped equally by jazz tradition and the pursuit of abstraction, making the album a crucial benchmark for fans of adventurous 1970s jazz.
Sciamachy
At last, the trade edition of Schiamachy has appeared, following the test-press/tour version by more than a couple of months. The album's title is a term used to describe mock battles between warriors. It's a fair description of the music on this record, although it's safe to say the battle was a friendly one. Michael Zerang is a very well-known percussionist, composer and improviser from Chicago, with an amazing jazz-based discography. He previously appeared on the Illinois Glossalia LP (FTR 28…
The Bliss of Bliss
With The Bliss of Bliss, Pat Thomas distills four decades of radical pianism into a transcendent live improvisation. Recorded in Geneva in 2024, the album transforms the solo piano into a realm of shifting densities and ecstatic form, where each note seems to create and erase the space it inhabits.
A Mountain Sees a Mountain
A Mountain Sees a Mountain, the new duo recording by Hamid Drake and Pat Thomas, captures two master improvisers engaged in an intimate yet expansive dialogue. Released in October 2025 via Old Heaven Books, the album bridges African rhythmic philosophy and European avant-piano traditions, achieving a deep equilibrium between motion, meditation, and melodic abstraction.
Rinse Cycle
150 copies only. French saxophonist Sakina Abdou and Philadelphia guitarist Bill Nace present Rinse Cycle, a striking first encounter between two of improvised music's most uncompromising voices. Released October 15, 2025 on Open Mouth Records, this LP captures the duo's incendiary exchange recorded during a U.S. tour that included performances at Philadelphia's legendary Solar Myth. Abdou, whose searing solo work Goodbye Ground (Relative Pitch, 2022) established her as a formidable presence in …
By All Means
By All Means is the new album from Aaron Parks due for release on November 7, 2025 via Blue Note Records, expanding the acclaimed Parks-Street-Hart jazz trio into a luminous acoustic quartet with the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Solomon. This set of seven original compositions explores Parks’ signature mix of modern jazz innovation and tradition, highlighted by tender dedications to his wife and son and the sly, swinging lead track “Parks Lope”.
World Without Form Volume 1
World Without Form was originally released in 2012 on CD format only, the album is now being made available on vinyl for the first time, in two separate volumes because of the length of the recording. Each of the two volumes also contain a previously unreleased track from the sessions. Volume 1 has ‘Ithnaan’ which is an earlier version of the track released as ‘Man From Varanasi’ on Nat’s ‘Cosmic Language’ album.
Sama'a - Audition
Known for their exhilarating live-to-record albums such as last year's critically acclaimed Wood Blues and Giant Beauty, سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) is the first of two releases that will surface after [Ahmed]’s first studio recording sessions at North London’s The Fish Factory in early 2025. Since 2014, [Ahmed] أحمد have excavated and re-imagined the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, in an ever ongoing search for future music. Over a decade on, the group were given the opportunity to set up in the studi…
The Freedom Suite, Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 2
Brooklyn pianist Eva Novoa joins saxophonist Daniel Carter and drummer Francisco Mela for the second volume of The Freedom Suite, a set of twelve pieces blending piano, Rhodes, harpsichord, gongs, and vocals with Carter's multi-reed brilliance and Mela's Cuban-inflected drumming, creating an urgent, intimate, and fluidly improvised dialogue of words, sound, and fearless imagination.
Ignita Aura
2006 release ** Oversize cardboard sleeve.
Reach Out To Touch
2016 release ** Cardboard sleeve. "Guitarist and improviser Riuchi Daijo holds the bi-monthly live performance series "Shield Reflection" at Ftarri, Tokyo. In this series, Daijo usually performs with the same guest musicians three times in a row. In the three concerts from October 2015 to February 2016, his guests were Keitetsu Murai (electro-acoustics) and Tetsuro Fujimaki (drums). This CD consists of two pieces performed on December 20, 2015, and February 21, 2016. Daijo plays electric guitar …
Paw Music
2010 release ** Cardboard sleeve.
Pal Toth aka én: electronic devices, objects, contact mics, voiceQuentin Rollet aka Q.: alto sax, mic, feedback, voiceZsolt Söres aka Ahad: viola, analogue synth, objects, contact mics, feedback, voice+Jozef Cseres aka HEyeRMEarS: additional voice on "Paw Lesson" and "The Real Paw"
Openings and Samādhis
"Samādhi,- a Sanskrit word meaning “concentration,” can refer to both the activity of Buddhist meditation and the absorbed state of mind of a meditating person.
Wherever I’ve known the improvisatory gesture to manifest – whether in experimental music, live art, writing, radical research workshops or the subtle space of meditation – I’ve found a similar set of energetic qualities budding. Openness, presence, surprise, delight and even sometimes the ‘dropping off of mind and body’ (as 13th century…
Kabell Years: 1971-1979
From 1971-1979 Wadada Leo Smith released four albums on his own, privately pressed label Kabell. Under the supervision of the composer, this material has now been collected, remastered and coupled with over two hours of unreleased bonus tracks, including the second set of the influential Reflectativity concert and the legendary Mapenzi solo concert from 1976. Complete with a twenty-eight page booklet featuring session photos and tributes from musical associates such as George Lewis, Alvin Single…