Jazz & Improvisation / Free Improvisation

On Early Combinations, Art Ensemble history is still in wet cement: Roscoe Mitchell’s proto‑Ensemble and Joseph Jarman’s quartet collide in two long 1967 tapes where themes for cancelled gigs and failed auditions already sound like future classics.

On Saga of the Outlaws, Charles Tyler turns his Albert Ayler-honed fire into a single, 36‑minute “polyphonic sonic tale,” driving a rough-riding Rivbea band through chants, stampedes and long, wind-scarred horizons of sound.

"Now-Again Records presents limited edition deluxe reissues of the lauded black fire catalog in 2020. First up in the series, this previously unreleased live session recorded at the legendary Brooklyn venue The East in 1973. Magical, mystical, Afrocentric, progressive -- words that could be used to describe any number of musical compositions by Sun Ra or his cosmic brothers and sisters, from John to Alice Coltrane, early '70s projects on record labels like Detroit's Tribe or Houston's Lightin' o…

**30 copies square lathe cut 7" records, in 3 color silk-screened pack with insert** Avant guitarists Bill Nace and Sandy Ewen join forces on this extremely limited release, offering two very dense improvised tracks which, as per title, were recorded live.

Black Saint present a reissue of John Carter Octet's Dauwhe, originally released in 1982. Dawhe is the first chapter in John Carter's Roots and Folklore saga. A five-part epic journey through the African American heritage conceived by the great clarinetist-composer and performed by a stellar line-up featuring Carter himself, Bobby Bradford (cornet), James Newton (flute), Charles Owens (soprano sax, oboe, clarinet), Red Callender (tuba), Roberto Miranda (bass), William Jeffrey (drums), and Luis P…

In the summer of 1978, an ambitious twelve-day experimental jazz project was undertaken at the ancient amphitheatre, Tasso della Quercia, on the slopes of Rome’s Gianicolo hill. The idea was to assemble the leading players from Italy’s avante-garde jazz scene, revolving around members of Grande Elenco Musicisti (or GEM), such as saxophonists Tommaso Vittorini, Eugenio Colombo and Maurizio Giammarco, trumpeter Alberto Corvini and trombonist/composer Danilo Terenzi, together with visiting American…

2023 repress. LP version. 180 gram virgin vinyl, with original artwork restored. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, le…

**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** "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…

Corbett Vs. Dempsey present a reissue of Willem Breuker and Han Bennink's New Acoustic Swing Duo, originally released in 1967. Late in 1967, saxophonist Willem Breuker and drummer Han Bennink recorded the first LP for the new artist-run free improvised music label, ICP Records. New Acoustic Swing Duo was an instant classic, and remains one of the most enduring documents of Dutch improvised music ever recorded. With Breuker's omnidirectional reed work, which ranges from plaintive to excoriating, …

Despite having worked together in innumerable settings, including the longstanding Survival Unit III, with drummer Michael Zerang, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee have never released a CD of duets. In an extra intimate studio setting in upstate New York, where both players reside, No Time Left for Sadness demonstrates their incredible musical understanding. Recalling some of McPhee's landmark records with Marseilles musicians in terms of telepathy and trust, it's a…

One day in the studio, something ridiculously great happened. It was deep Chicago winter, cold as shit. Four musicians assembled for a round-robin set of improvisations -- duets, trios, a few quartets. Approached casually, the late morning bloomed into Largest Afternoon, 15 crackling encounters between guitarist Arto Lindsay, saxophonists Joe McPhee, and Ken Vandermark, and drummer Phil Sudderberg. No expectations -- open minds and creative intent. Lindsay, a brilliant singer and songwriter and …

An übertrio drawn from distinct parts of the creative music spectrum, The Underflow was recorded during a sizzling two-night stand in May 2019. In a series of duets and trios, guitarist David Grubbs, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, and trumpeter Rob Mazurek met headlong for the first time, converging not only their acoustic and electric instruments, but at times submerging themselves in a tangle of electronics, then emerging into shamanic bell-shaking chant or chest-rattling howl. Ranging from extr…

In 2018, Mats Gustafsson provided raw saxophonic material for the elusive Wendy Gondeln, who sometimes applied a scalpel, sometimes a pneumatic drill, to rework, remix, reimagine all the Swede's squeaks, pops, blats, and tones. In some places, Gondeln adds violent violin to thicken the roux, making Ornette's fiddling seem like Yehudi Menuhin. Uncommon bedfellows: disjunct techno and improvised music. But the Shitholes make it work brilliantly, even inviting minimal techno pioneer and co-founder …

Pour Alto Seul is Johan Arrias’ first solo work. It came about as a result of a work period early 2018 and does not claim to provide a comprehensive picture of the artist, but is an exploration of more specific ideas. In eight tracks with strong musical identities Arrias explores the saxophone as a sole voice and sound source and, to some extent, his own identity.The recordings create an atmosphere of being alone among ruins; a desolate environment, a harsh but promising and exiting place full o…

* Brand new extended and remastered version of the original LP from 1981. Gatefold with new photography and liner notes * Slickest Afro-jazz-funk swerve from legendary South African cornet player and anti-apartheid figure Hugh Masakela, recorded at the Maseru Holiday Inn before a small audience during days surrounding his defiant 1981 performance in Lesotho while banned from performing just over the border in SA proper. Newly remastered and recut from the original single LP over a 2LP pressing."…

For the 1983 edition of Company Week held at London's I.C.A. in May of that year, guitarist Derek Bailey once more invited a typically eclectic collection of guests. Cellist Ernst Reijseger is a mainstay of Dutch new jazz (ICP Orchestra, Clusone Trio...), American wind virtuoso J.D.Parran a veteran of the Black Artists' Group and Anthony Davis and Anthony Braxton ensembles, while saxophonists Evan Parker and Peter Brötzmann, as titans of European free improvisation, need no introduction. French …

"The David S. Ware Archive Series was launched in November 2015, and AUM Fidelity has marked the anniversary of his birth -- November 7, 1949 -- with a vital new edition therein every year since. David S. Ware was a master saxophonist of the highest order, and an unparalleled sonic alchemist of the modern jazz era. As his distinctly potent sound and vision was an integral inspiration toward the creation / devotion of AUM Fidelity, that mission continues strong with the DSW-ARC series.Théâtre Gar…

**500 copies** "This first vinyl offering by a sporadically 20-something years unit, still extant, originally assembled under the name Cinema Soloriens by filmmaker / musician James Harrar in 1993, to play accompaniment to his films. The line-up usually includes legendary Sun Ra alto master (and current Arkestra leader) Marshall Allen with Harrar (who is also known for his work with Arthur Doyle and Daevid Allen), plus whoever else is tapped. For this date, recorded in Nashville back in 2016, th…

Recorded in Milan (Italy) and originally released in 1975, Sea of Faces stands as one of Archie Shepp's strongest recordings of the Seventies. A highly varied program, covering Shepp's entire spectrum and performed by an all-star line-up featuring Archie Shepp - tenor & soprano sax, piano, vocals, Charles Greenlee - trombone, tambourine, vocals, Dave Burrell - piano, Cameron Brown - bass, Beaver Harris - drums, tambourine, vocals, Rafi Taha - vocals, Bunny Foy - vocals, maracas, percussion. The …

Polish label Not Two presents a massive 7CD set of unreleased recordings by Ken Vandermark in various combinations, featuring duo, trios and quartets with John Butcher, Joe McPhee and Mette Rasmussen on reeds and brass, Nate Wooley on trumpet, John Tilbury on piano, Ikue Mori on laptop, Kent Kessler on contrabass and Hamid Drake, Eddie Prevost and Steve Noble on drums and percussion.Disk One:Ken Vandermark / Nate Wooley duo1. Deeply Discounted 16:072. Sequences of Snow 19:17Steve Noble solo3. Pa…

Polish label Not Two presents a new release by a classic trio comprised of Uwe Oberg, Joe Fonda and Lucía Martínez, recorded live at the Just Music Festival, Wiesboden, Germany on February 23, 2019.Featured tracks include:1. Their Cheeks Glowed 10:312. Lighter Than Before 09:403. Almost Two 05:214. The Sharp Side of It 15:345. Relight Years 05:266. Triple Relish 03:57Lineup:Uwe Oberg – pianoJoe Fonda – bassLucía Martínez – drums

Polish label Not Two presents a new release by Alexander von Schlippenbach and Dag Magnus Narvesen recorded live at Spor 5 in Stavanger, Norwey on 3rd March 2018.Featured tracks include:1. Relay Extempore – Trackside Duologues I / Kinga2. Reveries in Monochrome – Trackside Duologues II / Strings and Barrels3. Morphing Monk – Variations over Light Blue, Work, Trinkle Trinkle and Skippy / Sic Transit4. Brass Tacks – Vantage Ad Lib / All The Things You Are / Trackside Duologues III / Something Swee…

**2019 stock** "This December 1976 recording features two of the most prominent AACM musicians, Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton. Mitchell’s compositions run the gamut, beginning with the darkly gorgeous opener that features Braxton’s contrabass clarinet nestling evocatively beneath the composer’s earthy flute… Mitchell’s other pieces investigate the sparer, more abstract realm, as the duo’s wide variety of reeds populate the sonic environment with scattered moans, squeaks and pops. Overall, …

[Ahmed], the quartet of Pat Thomas, Antonin Gerbal, Joel Grip and Seymour Wright – make music of heavy rhythm, repetition and syncopation set deep into an understanding of jazz and the obscure depths of its history. Across the 2 LPs which make up Super Majnoon [East Meets West] the group work and rework the music of the late musician Ahmed Abdul-Malik to create a stamping, swinging, relentlessly propulsive record where profundity and physicality root right back to ecstatic feeling.Abdul-Malik wa…

**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** The debut release from the long-running Chicago based collaboration of Quin Kirchner, Daniel Van Duerm and Matthew Lux aka KVL. Also featuring super special guest Jaimie Branch on Peaceable. KVL sits nicely in the same headspace as recent modern improv that eschews a more traditional "jazz" label. Think Matthew Lux's Contra/Fact, Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die, Shabaka Hutching's Sons of Kemet or The Comet Is Coming, Ben Lamar Gaye, Rob Mazurek and others. Of course, many folks will p…

The trio of guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, saxophonist Gregor Vidic, and drummer Nicolas Field introduces Akiyama to Vidic and Field’s standing duo. The result is a magnificent set of exploratory improvisation. Vidic and Field’s playing has a rich, textural quality, developed through their use of timbre and dynamics. In this way, Akiyama’s multiphonic approach to guitar, and his innovative use of effects, offset’s Vidic brilliantly. Over the course of 45 minutes, Akiyama, Vidic, and Field generate a …

**300 copies** Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight. This might be the only we've seen with Fisher as a leader – but the set's got a quality that will certainly have us looking out for mo…

**300 copies** Recording in Toronto, the core trio of drummer Nick Fraser, saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis are joined on four tracks by tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Lina Allemano, in an album of composed and collective improvisation, merging Toronto, NY and European influences in an accomplished album of diverse approaches and orchestrations. Fraser has a great sense of cyclical energy here – a way of playing freely, but elliptically – so that there's this sense…

**CD version** First release from the first time trio of legends Susan Alcorn, Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark. Invitation to a Dream is not only the first recorded statement, it is also a document of the very first meeting of the trio. Back in 2016 we asked Alcorn and McPhee to play a duo set at our favorite festival Cropped Out in Louisville, KY, and after getting our minds blown we knew we had to get the duo into a studio to record an album. After a few failed attempts due to schedules and bad …

**300 copies** "Tonus is a group that always contains Dirk Serries and his wife Martina Verhoeven, but otherwise seems to be an open membership group. Today, on Segment Tones, it is a trio. Serries plays accordion and soprano melodica (the latter I would believe for the first time), Verhoven is on concertina and cello and Colin Webster on clarinet and alto saxophone. Whatever the line-up of Tonus might be, I do believe they play slow and quiet music; music that is not in any way, shape or form, …

**300 copies** "Dirk Serries (acoustic guitars), Kris Vanderstraeten (percussion) and Martina Verhoeven (piano) – these are three featured figures of international avant-garde jazz scene. Musicians are playing and collaborating with dozens of other famous jazz masters. Their music is played with expression, drive, creativity and energy. All three musicians have their own style of improvising, sparkling virtuosity and the will to create new, exciting and modern sound. All their music is usually b…

**300 copies** "The modus operandi of more than a few of the recent New Wave of Jazz releases is sparse free improvisation using extended techniques. These albums, often disjointed with abrupt transitions and long minimalistic passages, exhibit a surprisingly consistent approach despite their aleatoric nature – a commitment to the unpredictable. Enter acoustic guitarist Daniel Thompson and saxophonist Colin Webster, both experienced improvisers who team up on the three tracks of Boskage. This pa…

**300 copies** "Close | Quarters is a seven-track slice of often compacted and angular improv for viola and prepared chamber. The two players here are Benedict Taylor and Anton Mobin. Taylor is a British improviser / avant musician who has been active in the scene since the early 2000s releasing a good body of work, as well as becoming a respected name, and Frenchman Mobin has once again been active since the early 2000’s making a name for himself as both an improviser and sound artists.The albu…

**300 copies** "Overall, especially on the over 35-minute Set 1, which perversely in placed last on the CD, the improvisations’ mooring is supplied by the brief, repetative but distinctive patterning of Belgian pianist Martina Verhoeven. Much like John Tilbury’s program with AMM, these continuous motifs are the reassuring signposts for the puffs, scratches, strums and plops contributed by Britons, flutist / alto saxophonist Colin Webster, violist Benedict Taylor and Graham Dunning using a snare …

**300 copies** "One aim of improvised music is to create unprecedented sounds. And by specializing in the textures that can be extracted from the spinet, the piano’s 18th Century ancestor, keyboardist Christoph Schiller, who now divides his time between Basel and Weil am Rhein is firmly involved in this trope. On this hushed, microtonal CD, Schiller applies his tweaking of the traditional keyboard to responsive sounds from an instrument as venerable as his, Anouck Genthon’s violin on Zeitweise L…

**300 copies** "Spreading their intuitive playing over nine, randomly sequenced improvisation titled with numbers, Benedict Taylor and Dirk Serries many variations on fiddle string twists and slurred guitar fingering produce tunes that are manually constructed, deconstructed and put back together again. Tracks often posit and resolve singular experiments. For instance, the hard dry swagger of IV opens up into a tremolo and spiccato bowed narrative. Swift, repetative slithers from Taylor enliven …

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "The Serries-Verhoeven acoustic, chamber duo – Serries on the acoustic guitar and Verhoeven on the piano – is actually the last one to be recorded in the Tonus series but the duo distills the very essence of the series serves as a fitting introduction to this series. Cagean Morphology was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Sunny Side Studio at Anderlecht, Belgium on March 10th 2018. The minimalist layout of the Tonus series, was designed by Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Mach…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Minimal art is often presented as an act of simplification, a field in which nothing much happens and lesser (or even lazy) artists can have a field day. However, it is both in the visual arts and in music, perhaps one of the most misunderstood movements. Minimal artists not only sought out a certain core essence, but leading artists and theorists, such as Donald Judd, also offered a reaction against the extravagant focus on the subjective by the abstract expressionis…