Jazz & Improvisation / Free Improvisation

*Limited Edition of 100 hand-numbered copies.* Improvisation is a universal non-verbal language. For many of us it is a practice, not a music genre, one that knows no boundaries. Personally I’m really interested in the locality of an improvisational recording. I find it much more intriguing to listen to someone who improvises and lives outside of the big hubs for free jazz and free improv of the western world. It might seem trivial to many of you, but the fact that the titles and bandcamp notes …

* Limited Edition of 300 copies with hand-made artwork. Hand-numbered edition. * Lithuania saxophonist - here on contrabass and prepared clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones - is a musician with many faces, ranging from the powerful free jazz of "Kablys" over the melodic and sensitive excursion with pianist Petras Geniusas, to the angular free improv with Barry Guy on "Lava". On Pacemaker he demonstrates yet another side of his art, now in the company of Christian Windfeld on prepared drum kit…

The first Freddie Hubbard album released on Creed Taylor CTI label marked a shift away from Hubbard's recording with Blue Note Records. It was the album that established Taylor's vision for the music that was to appear on his labels in the coming decade. "Red Clay" is Freddie Hubbard's seventeenth overall album.

"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 …

“Composition 429” is the first piece using a new writing method that Braxton calls “Lorraine.” The composer’s notes to the piece describe Lorraine as “a music system that governs the ‘sonic winds’ of breath.” Saxophonist and longtime collaborator James Fei contributes an essay detailing the Lorraine system, which uses a combination of traditional notation and color-coded symbols of the composer’s design to indicate “specific sound types or performance techniques,” drawing from Braxton’s long his…

**Limited to 240 hand-numbered copies** "Fantoom is a quartet that feature Dirk Serries, his wife, autodidact double bass player Martina Verhoeven (who is also a gifted photographer), drummer René Aquarius, and sax player Otto Kokke, both from the Dutch group Dead Neanderthals, with whom Serries played in their Endless Voids project on the 2014 edition of the Incubate festival in Tilburg, Netherlands.  The quartet debut album, is a free-improvisation affair that was recorded in studio in Decembe…

Extra Presence is a 90 minute, 17-track collection showcasing Los Angeles modern music scene pioneer Carlos Niño’s unique, highly developed, self-described “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” sound, and featuring an incredible cast of collaborators (including Jamael Dean, Nate Mercereau, Shabazz Palaces, Deantoni Parks, Sam Gendel, Laraaji, Jamire Williams, Iasos, and more). It's an expanded edition of a 10-track suite called 'Actual Presence' that Niño self-released exclusively via his …

This isn’t your grandfather’s free jazz. Hell, it probably isn’t free jazz at all, but you have to call it something. “Katyusha” is ballistic fire music that starts where the most berserk, intense free music begins and then sustains that, then pushes it further. Blood vessel bursting intensity, stamina, speed, and momentum is here in blinding quantities, all the while retaining lightning fast interaction. No dull roar, the densities and dynamics do vary, but there is never a dull moment or coast…

*Limited edition of 400 copies.* Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) is a collaboration between XT (the duo of Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright) and pianist Pat Thomas.  Across the two LP sides (80 minutes), and four gatefold panels (13,331 words) together they reflect on, and take inspiration from, the late pianist, composer, poet Cecil Taylor. On 12 August 2018, as part of a Cafe OTO tribute to the recently deceased Taylor, the trio perform live a 'version' of The Cecil Taylor Un…

New Platform takes a deep dive into the forgotten world of 1970s Italian jazz, and comes up with gold with two astounding, first-time vinyl reissues from the percussionist Tullio De Piscopo, 1976's Sotto e 'Ncoppa, from his Revolt Group, and 1978's Future Percussion, recorded by the Tullio De Piscopo Quintet accompanied by the legendary Argentinian percussionist Luis Agudo. Occupying radically different ends of the spectrum, the former is a genre defiant excursion at the borders of prog and fusi…

*2022 stock.* In early 2020, Rick Countryman was reunited with his mentor and friend, Sabu Toyozumi. It was the occasion for several concerts, most often with Simon Tan, some of which were recorded. The one who is the subject of this album was held at the Tago Jazz Cafe in Cubao (Quezon City-Philippines); it was published less than four months later on the legendary Japanese label ChapChap, co-sponsored by free music in the Archipelago champion and discerning music lover, Takeo Suetomi. The latt…

*2022 stock.* Sofa Music and Full Rhizome-Sonoro are proud to present the new album of Ingar Zach/Michele Rabbia – Musique pour deux corps. Born with the same passion for sound, "Musique pour deux corps" brings together the duo Ingar Zach/Michele Rabbia for their second release. The two percussionists present an album full of invention, research, and development of a new percussion-music, using an unlimited and inexhaustible material that only percussion can offer. The skins are used as surfaces…

Toc Did It Again, and uses the celebration of fifteen years of sonic ebullition to add a tenth stone to its discographic edifice, a quadruple live album majestically underlined by the fineness of the line of the drawer Jérôme Minard and by the verb of the journalist Petr Slabý. The trio lives only by the confrontation with its public. After almost two years without being able to hit the road, the musicians are finally leaving in October 2020 for Central Europe for a dozen concerts that are wild …

Furinkazan* ” Wind, forest, fire and mountain “, is a suite of pieces constituting in music a travel diary in Japan. The orchestration of this trio gives it an identity between jazz trio and percussion trio. The music, composed by Ludovic Montet, alternates between very written themes and large improvisation areas. It is meant to be evocative of this fascinating island that is Japan, where a great mystical breath and a striking modernity are mixed. The three musicians of this trio have used thei…

This almost acoustic duet is the result of instrumental introspection on both sides, over the long term, so that one day the encounter will happen. These two figures of improvised music, with contrasting backgrounds but common values, explore together the sound matter, and reveal the surprising complementarity of their playgrounds. Sakina Abdou and Raymond Boni give us to hear the spontaneity of a game cultivated with as much seriousness as casualness, in which the incarnation prevails to any fo…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Music for Violin Alone is the debut date as leader for virtuoso violinist Mark Feldman, who has performed as a sideman with countless musicians, in genres ranging from country to avant-garde jazz. Here he performs original, classically styled pieces that exude high drama. The violin arcs over small measures of time, plummets into hurt, soars back up into the air, then lands lightly spinning. Feldman bows out grit and texture with ribbed vibratos, and achieve…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Laptop wizard Ikue Mori, master keyboardist Brian Marsella and classical percussion virtuoso Sae Hashimoto are Archipelago X, a dynamic new trio born during the 2020 pandemic. Recording at their home studios and exchanging tracks back and forth for months, the music is detailed, evocative and dramatically mysterious, blending electronica, classical, ambient, film soundtrack, pop and jazz into a remarkably original aggregate. Inspiring and engaging music by t…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 300 copies.* "Boiling Point" is the sophomore release from Gordon Grdina's Nomad Trio featuring Matt Mitchell (piano) and Jim Black (drums) and also follows up on 2021's Astral Spirits Grdina / Black duo release "Martian Kitties." The self-titled 2020 debut of Grdina’s Nomad Trio (Skirl Records) was hailed by PopMatters for setting up “loose structures for wild improvising [while also including] a healthy menu of hot unison licks and fleet melodies.” S…

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Final Thaw is the debut from the new trio of John Kolodij (guitar), Jayson Gerycz (drums) & Dylan Baldi (saxophone). You will likely recognize Kolodij from his incredible Astral Editions album "First Fire • At Dawn" and you likely will recognize Baldi & Gerycz from Cloud Nothings (as well as Powers/Rolin/Gerycz, Monocot, etc)...and Iceberg doesn't really sound like any of those things, in the best way possible. "Final Thaw" features two sidelong workouts that bui…

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* A group here that features some key members from the American avant scene, but whose standout member might well be pianist Oscar Jan Hoogland – who contributed two originals to the set, and whose work on the keys seems to really direct the energy of this session that features fresh interpretations of tunes by Herbie Nichols and Thelonious Monk! The setting is quite a different one for saxophonist Keefe Jackson, but he's superb throughout – blowing tenor and sopra…

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Coming on vinyl is a noteworthy release from guitarist Tashi Dorji and percussionist Susie Ibarra. Master of Time is a live performance commissioned for the exhibition of Bardo Now, The Second Buddha: Master of Time at the Tang Teaching Museum during a residency on April 16-18, 2019. Vinyl contains the tracks "Confluence" and "The Way of the Clouds".

*100 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* Dinzu Artefacts presents When The Circle Was Closed by Slow Bell Trio. Midwest trio that taps into the slower, more meditative side of improvisational music allowing for some deep listening.

*2022 stock.* After more than three decades with the alto, heavyweight French artist and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Luc Guionnet arrives with his debut solo saxophone recording, a double-LP masterpiece, “l’épaisseur de l'air” (the thickness of air). Recorded in a barn in Brittany, the album merges texture, repetition, gesturality and architectural acoustics to create a definitive statement on the profound physical relationship between improviser and instrument. A student of Xenakis’ at the Sorbo…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Penumbra, from the Latin paene (almost) and umbra (shadow), refers to the partially luminescent fringe of an opaque object, like the streetlight outlining the sole of a shoe hurtling towards your eye. Hypnagogic, from the Greek hupnos (sleep) and agōgos (leading), refers to the drowsy state before sleep. Crazy Doberman here comprises 17 players from the greater Europe of the Midwest. Basement glyphs. Who’s on the lease? And what’s under the rug. The owner pa…

Limited edition of 500 copies.* What could possibly happen when two ultimate masters of soprano saxophone square off for their only recording of duets? Chirps is the only place to find out. Steve Lacy – the one who planted the flag for soprano saxophone in the ground of modern jazz, who established its iconic status, who devoted himself to the axe with monkish devotion, who brought shakuhachi breath and stairstep melody into its upper-register antics. Evan Parker – arguably the one who pushed th…

CD Edition. A lost bit of 70s Italian modal jazz, with spiritual overtones and global percussion from drummer extraordinaire Tullio De Piscopo – an incredible set of heavily rhythmic grooves recorded in Milan in 1978 – originally a tiny edition effort on Carosello Records, and the most impressive rediscovery yet from New Platform!  For the occasion, the Tullio De Piscopo Quintet meets Argentine percussionist Luis  Agudo, who played for years alongside Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell and later w…

*2022 stock* Numerology of Birdsong is the second album by Somersaults, following on from their 2015 eponymous debut on Two Rivers. Olie Brice and Mark Sanders have been heard as a bass/drum unit with the likes of Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Mikolaj Trzaska, Rachel Musson and Ken Vandermark. Chatting about their very favourite saxophonists and what their ideal trio combination would be, they both agreed that they’d love to do something with Toby Delius, best known as a member of the legendary Dut…

*2022 stock. In process of stocking.* This is an outstanding hour or so of improvised music that beggars belief that this was only the second performance by this particular line up. The first was on 02/02/2020, and the first palindrome, and this concert 2 days later at Cafe OTO, with the second palindrome, and hence the title of this wonderful set. What is quite amazing is how such a rapport between four musicians can be created and cemented so quickly. Each free to add, comment or step up to le…

In 1952, Thelonious Monk, joined by Bassist Gary Mapp, Drummer Art Blakey and Drummer Max Roach, drove to an early iteration of pioneering Sound Engineer Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey, and entered a small and tightly-managed room that Van Gelder had strict technical rules for. In those recording sessions, and again in 1954, despite Van Gelder's tight management and an out-of-tune piano with tinny fidelity, Monk produced some of the most glorious music of his entire recording career and …

If life is about how we react to what is thrown at us, Sana Nagano chose wisely in the summer of 2020. After nearly half a year of anguished isolation, the violinist made an album of honest, graceful free improvisations with two of her mentors. Anime Mundi, out October 28th on 577 Records, pairs her with pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger and drummer Billy Martin, veteran players at home in the unknown. And though recorded during the stressful first year of Covid, there is joy and curiosity in the…

Tip! “Soundmusication” is the third and final album by Jamaican born tenorist Fitz Gore, another rare and beautiful spiritual jazz LP from the late 1970s. “Fitz had a very deeputopian faith in the right music, which could change the world and develop a real condition of peace, because it was supposed to move people`s feelings and actions to spiritual truth. He was convinced that music owned the healing power of the world” (Ulrich Kurth). Other players include Lukoki Mampasi on electric piano, Ob…

Tip! *2022 stock* 'Recorded in 1997, Wadada Leo Smith's N'da Kulture has created a music that transcends all forms by integrating many of them into an amorphous yet deeply moving whole. This sextet, which uses Eastern and Western instruments, authors into being a kind of folk music for the emerging century, one that relies deeply on poetry, improvisation, subtleties in tone, timbre, and rhythm. The six pieces here reflect Smith's ongoing concern with marrying the vanguard jazz tradition he comes…

A rare document of the 1960s Black Arts Movement featuring Albert Ayler, Amiri Baraka, Milford Graves, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, and many more, The Cricket fostered critical and political dialogue for Black musicians and writers. Edited by poets and writers Amiri Baraka, A.B. Spellman, and Larry Neal between 1968 and 1969 and published by Baraka's New Jersey–based Jihad productions shortly after the time of the Newark Riots, this experimental music magazine ran poetry, position papers, and gossip al…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock* The Brooklyn-based noise-jazz violinist Sana Nagano often finds herself at the center of the storm. As other instruments crash and careen around her, her assuredly melodic violin works to ground and stabilize the overall sound. And nowhere is this better heard than on Smashing Humans, her new quintet album coming March 19th on 577 Records. Featuring Peter Apfelbaum on sax, Keisuke Matsuno on guitar, Ken Filiano on bass, and Joe Hertenstein on drums, it’s an L…

*In process of stocking.* Two masters of wind instruments blowing in from the Windy City. In 2003, as part of the seventh annual Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music, Joe McPhee and Evan Parker squared off for a round of intimate dialogues. The resulting recording is just the second time they had played as a duet, the previous also being in Chicago, at a studio in 1998, where the limited their instrumentarium to tenor saxophones, resulting in the Okka Disc classic Chicago Tenor Duets…

*In process of stocking* An international trio (USA/FR/IT) recorded live in Italy during their 2017 European tour.

*Includes 20 page booklet.* Each with five decades of musical knowledge and experience in free improvisation under their belts, the trio of saxophonist John Tchicai (also heard, for the first time on record, on vocals), bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille got together in New York in September 2004 to record Witch's Scream. Although they are all veterans of improvised music going back to the vital free jazz scene of New York City in the early 1960s and have often played together in …

Sudden Happiness is a live recording by Triot, which includes the leading young Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen and two of Denmark´s most in-demand young jazz musicians, bassist Nikolai Munch-Hansen and drummer Stefan Pasborg, with the saxophone legend John Tchicai as their special guest. The album was recorded during their joint tour in Denmark and Sweden in 2002. The music of Triot is an amalgamation of the introverted and melancholy Finnish character and the more extroverted Danish personal…

Reflections features three giants of improvised music in an open dialogue built on both their shared influences and their different backgrounds: Juhani Aaltonen on tenor saxophone and flute, Reggie Workman on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The album can be seen as a companion to Strings Revisited, which featured the trio together with The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra conducted by Henrik Otto Donner. On Reflections, the music is improvised within only a loose compositional framework. Composed the…

Heart of a Bird is an intimate collaboration between two kindred spirits, pianist/harpist Iro Haarla and bassist Ulf Krokfors. The music represents free improvisation within a compositional framework. The duo shares with the listener a beautiful, intense musical conversation, which reflects their own private feelings. On four tracks, the duo is joined by saxophonist Rasmus Korsström, adding another voice to the duo´s intimate sound. Heart of a Bird was composed in equal shares by Haarla and Krok…