Jazz & Improvisation / Free Improvisation

Simon Nabatov has undertaken one of the most unusual projects in contemporary music, an intense scrutiny and setting to music of modernist Russian literature, much of it taken from the years of Stalinist censorship, repression and imprisonment. For 25 years, beginning with Josef Brodsky’s Nature Morte, he has set text in partially improvised settings, including excerpts from Isaac Babel’s grim Red Cavalry and poems by Daniil Kharms and the Gileya group. Along with that largely poetic enterprise,…

The performance and recording are one continuous set. Track markers have been added for convenience:. 
Liner notes:

 "This project began as Centrifugal Trio, with Bishop, Borghini, and Griener, recorded in the studio zentri-fuge in Berlin in September 2019 and released on the Astral Spirits label.

 For my visit to Berlin in 2022, I wanted to expand the group, and invited the wonderful Mia Dyberg on alto, who I had played with earlier at Sowieso in Berlin, and whose recording Ticket!  (Clean Fe…

“The Dialogues” recalls the early jazz journeys of its creators, blending decades of musical growth into intimate conversations between violin and double bass. Drawing from jazz, classical, and contemporary influences, the album captures pure, wordless musical dialogue.

What an opportuunity ! On the suggestion of Maciej Karlowski, percussionist Ramón López invited me to play in Lublin Jazz Festival. From a list of great musicians who might join us to form a trio the name of Trevor Watts was one that immediately excited me for quite a few reasons: Firstly, he along with John Stevens , Paul Rutherford , Evan Parker and Derek Bailey allowed me as a novice to enter into the rarified world of The Spontaneous Music Ensemble. I was a total greenhorn in free improvisat…

Fundacja Słuchaj proudly announces the release of This Anger is a Liar, a searing new album from the powerhouse trio of Portuguese saxophonist José Lencastre, bassist João Hasselberg, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. Captured in a single, electrifying studio session, this collection of fully improvised music confronts fury, deception, and catharsis head-on, transforming personal turmoil into collective triumph. Lencastre's tenor sax cuts through like a blade—fierce, lyrical, and unyielding—whi…

**300 copies** "Colin Webster and Dirk Serries are skilled improvisers you can’t pin down on a single outlet. They remain restless seekers, never content with merely repeating themselves, not even within the same project. Compare Gargoyles to Light Industry. They are totally different." - Guy Peters"Serries and Webster meet again at their favorite studio, Sunny Side in Anderlecht, Belgium, in September 2019 for an intimate duo where Serries plays only acoustic guitars. They already recorded a du…

“‘Melancholia’ is, perhaps, a somewhat misleading title for the duet of John Edward (double bass) and label boss Dirk Serries (acoustic guitar). One might expect some sad music, a soft thud on the bass, a few strums on the acoustic guitar, but it is clear that these men deal with a different kind of melancholia right from the start. In the two pieces (forty-four minutes), I think there is a mutual agreement between the two to work along dynamic lines. They cut out the middle ground, it seems. Th…

**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** "It’s the classic 'the journey, not the destination' attitude. Dealing with the moment. Dirk Serries, Martina Verhoeven and Colin Webster have a refreshing take on that. They use instruments, but it feels as if they are playing with wood and metal. With breath and touch. They caress, pluck, sigh, thump, blow, push, creak, sputter. There is no obvious order to what they are doing, yet you are aware of a certain concord, an understanding below the surface of what’s there. The openne…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "In its essence, free improvisation is a leap into the unknown. A question mark. And while it is possible to reproduce previously used ideas, in its purest sense it takes balls to accept its challenges, for the simple fact that the performer is out there alone, even when playing with others. Free Improvisation is being naked on a stage. The unavailability of form and reassurance about what is happening next cannot be underestimated. In improvised music, the musician is…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "This free improvised sax-electric guitar duo has nothing to do with previous duos of similar instrumentalists. The meeting between the muscular Brötzmann-ian sax wails of American, Amsterdam-based sax player John Dikeman, known from the free jazz bands Cactus Truck and Universal Indians, and the reserved, serene playing of the effects-laden guitar of Dirk Serries forced the two to transcend any possible comfort zone.  On the first piece the two still struggle to find …

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Apparitions, unlike the volatile spirit of Live at Café OTO, stresses a different approach for this set of four collaborative free improvisations. Here the four musicians explore a kind of a slow-cooking interplay, a calm and conversational one. Apparitions begins and ends with the minimalist I and IV, where all restrain their playing to low whispers, skeletal guitar lines and brushing of the cymbals, building the tension tension patiently and methodically until reach…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "(...) Lisle, Serries and Webster reconvened again in October 2015 for another studio recording at the same studio in London, now calling themselves the Kodian Trio. This trio is supposed to be a working group and is already touring the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.The interplay on their debut release is much more energetic and experimental than the one explored on Apparitions. Serries and Webster alternate the leading roles, both sounding aggressive and assertiv…

Le Sud trio works from the concept of lower-case free music, which has been a common European currency since the mid-1970s. Despite Brexit, violist Benedict Taylor asserts himself during this continental concert by sawing, sweeping and stretching distinctive patterns from his strings. During the two over half-hour each improvisations however there’s no lead instrument. Positioned power strokes, steel string plinks and diverted chords from Dirk Serries plus Friso Van Wyck hollow pops, metal casca…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Understated, tightly controlled, minimalist music always gets the better deal. There is something mature and cultured about an artist who distills and reaches for the essence instead of provoking and dabbling in exuberance, volume and a cluster of diverging ideas. In a world that is nearly driven to total chaos by a maddening abundance of impulses, Goethe’s worn out adage - that it is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself - has become the ultimate compl…

*In process of stocking* "Onno Govaert. Now here is a guy who deserves to be in the spotlights.  Verhoeven and Govaert form a beautiful musical partnership that thrives on abundant dynamics and colourful interaction. Whether it is the subtle ripostes or the unanimous cadences that develop throughout their improvisations, there is always a crisp and natural affinity at the core of their partnership. With Dirk Serries, Govaert alters his approach. The combination with the amplified acoustic guitar…

Sainkho Namtchylak is a singer originally from Tuva, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation just north of Mongolia. She is known for her Tuvan throat singing or Khöömei. Her music encompasses avant-jazz, electronica, modern composition and Tuvan influences. Once the Soviet Union had collapsed, she moved to Vienna, making it her base, although she traveled widely, working in any number of shifting groups and recording a number of discs that revolved around free improvisation. Amongst th…

When Circle took the stage in Paris in 1971, they weren't just performing - they were igniting a musical revolution. This extraordinary quartet, featuring Chick Corea (piano), Dave Holland (bass), Anthony Braxton (reeds), and Barry Altschul (drums), represented the cutting edge of jazz experimentation at its most vital. Fresh from their tenure with Miles Davis, Corea and Holland were eager to push boundaries in an entirely improvised context. They found the perfect collaborators in Braxton - who…

Three improvisers having fun and taking risks. The classic piano-less jazz trio reinvented by mixing melodies, dirty sounds, noises, extended techniques and references to tradition with a quasi-punk approach.

Dark moon music. If you are interested in the moon. Music concentrated in the process of discovering music, taking any risk. Extreme.How extreme is the exploration of one’s instruments, body, memories and stories. Vibrant, fast but at the same time calm music; slow.In search of the sound. Of movement that becomes sound. Of sound that becomes voice. That becomes movement.We dedicate this music to Coleman Hawkins, master improviser.

Trost Records is pleased to release Live at Kafé Hærverk, the latest transmission from one of the most exciƟng figures in European jazz, the Oslo-based Danish saxophonist and composer Amalie Dahl. Since dropping the debut album with her stellar quintet Dafnie in 2022, Dahl has enjoyed a meteoric rise, both in terms of acclaim and ambition. This new live album, taped at one of Oslo’s most beloved venues in March of 2025, arrives on the heels of the duly lauded Dafnie Extended—Live at Molde Jazz, …

Also known as the leader of the jazz trio Inga, Sam Gendel is an L.A. saxophonist who has developed a free and unique sound that has been described as psychedelic, outsider, and meditative, and Shin Sasakubo is a Chichibu-based guitarist. A new album by the duo of Sam Gendel, an up-and-coming saxophonist from LA, and Shin Sasakubo, an uncanny guitarist based in Chichibu, who is also active as a photographer and contemporary artist. The two showed great chemistry in Shin Sasakubo's previous work …

*2023 stock* "A few rare albums fit perfectly into your emotional state of mind and capture the fragility of our impermanent lives so beautifully as Another Way of the Heart by Norwegian reeds and trumpet player Torben Snekkestad and Danish pianist Søren Kjærgaard. Both Snekkestad and Kjærgaard were associated with the Danish label-musicians cooperative Ilk Music but, unfortunately, their discographies, especially in recent years, don't match their great creative potential. Snekkestad and Kjærga…

On Trio, Lowell Davidson explodes the piano tradition from the inside out, trading clustered storms, sudden lyric breaks and pregnant silence with Gary Peacock and Milford Graves in a one‑off 1965 session that still feels dangerously new.

After performing and recording together for over fifteen years as members of various bands, musical genius Daniel Carter, pianist Matthew Putman, and drummer Federico Ughi have come together as a trio for the first time.  Whether you recognize them individually, as the core team at 577 Records, or from their involvement in ensembles like the legendary quintet Telepathic Band (which released seven spectacular albums of its own), you’ve never heard them like you will in their debut album, Stream o…

Phil Ranelin's first record as a leader is worlds away from his later 1976 offering, Vibes From the Tribe. The Time Is Now is a vanguard jazz record, full of the spirit, determination, and innovation inspired by John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, and Archie Shepp. Recorded in 1973 and 1974 and released at the end of 1974, the set shows Ranelin to be an imposing composer and frightfully good trombonist. The original album contained six compositions that are a deep musical …

Ancient Infinity Orchestra return with their third album, It’s Always About Liberation, a new record that deepens the vision of their acclaimed recent work while moving into darker, more searching emotional territory. Conceived as a partner to It’s Always About Love, this new body of work shares its predecessor’s generosity and spiritual openness, but carries a different charge. Where the previous album focused on healing and warmth, It’s Always About Liberation is largely animated by struggle, …

2024 stock. Federico Ughi, New York drummer, improviser and producer releases a new studio recording to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of his very first album, recorded when he resided in London, UK. The theme of the album is Ughi’s experience of home, and how it has evolved, living between Brooklyn, New York, his native Rome, Italy and all the places in the world he has passed through while touring. It’s Ughi’s deeply personal meditation on all the incredible things he’s gotten from travelin…

After eleven albums with a varying ensemble size, Martin Küchen’s Angles returns with The Death of Kalypso, its most ambitious statement to date: a jazz opera for our times. Joining forces with vocalist Elle-Kari and Angles pianist Alexander Zethson, who wrote the string arrangements and band notations, Küchen adds another volume to the band’s sizeable, yet coherent catalog, which merges infectious free jazz grooves with tumultuous emotional cadences that reflect both human and political concern…

* 300 copies, deluxe edition with two booklets, perfect replica of the original. * Joining their rapidly growing catalog of radical gestures of creative sound, Holidays Records returns with one of their most important releases to date, the first ever vinyl reissue of Pygmy Unit’s “Signals From Earth”, a towering private press obscurity, originally released by the band in 1974. Blending Native American references into a body of sonority that draws on free improvisation, experimental electronic mu…

On his self‑titled debut, Bauke Meersman steps into focus with an intimate, detail‑oriented statement: a set of pieces shaped as much by touch, space and recording perspective as by melody, quietly framed by DHM Records’ tactile artwork and production care.

** Gatefold 2 folders with booklet 24 pp. and Cd with black sleeve **  From Gleam Records, one of Italy's most engaging imprints dedicated to the outer reaches of jazz - comes a true marvel: the first ever vinyl reissue of Modern Art Trio's lone self-titled LP, originally released by Vedette in 1971. A rare and thrilling artifact that utilizes serialism and 12 tone technique within the idiom of freely improvised jazz and hard bop, its absolute singularity and distinct sound has placed it as one …

NYC Bassist Brandon Lopez Teams Up with Gayageum Master DoYeon Kim in New Album, Redefining What We Thought Was Possible with Improvisation. Prepare to have your wig blown back by the improvisational force of nature that is adored bassist Brandon Lopez.  He has returned to 577 Records once again – this time with gayageum master DoYeon Kim!  Syzygy, Vol. 1 delivers a cosmic blast of experimental fascination that will open the door for you to leave our reality. Based in NYC, Brandon Lopez has been…

And just like that, you’ll never think of improvisation the same way again. GPS is the emerging trio raising the bar for improvised music, and 577 Records is elated to present its debut album, Directions + Destinations. The group includes clarinet wizard Guillermo Gregorio, Yamaha Performance Artist Charley Sabatino on the double bass, and flourishing saxophonist Jeff Pearring. What they make isn’t just music; it’s an unforgettable experience.  Recorded in two sessions a year apart, Directions +…

"The edges of Schlippenbach’s trio/quartet music have gradually feathered over the past dozen years, a process benchmarked by “Anticlockwise”. Evan Parker’s careening tenor prompts a dramatic sweep from the group that echoes Coltrane’s last period, as on Ore; his multiphonic-oriented soprano style elicits a more spiky rapport. The exceptional American bassist Alan Silva makes an intriguing debut with the quartet, his incisive phrasing and nuance-filled arco technique serving as a lynchpin betwee…

Noah Howard's 1971 album, recorded in the Netherlands with Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and Earl Freeman and the first he released on his own Altsax label. Free jazz built on melody and pattern.

Comes in a heavy gatedold sleeve and with printed innersleeves. Peter Brotzmann reflected: "The idea of expressing my love of and admiration for Albert Ayler - both man and music - in a musical statement is not new. We both tried to do similar or almost identical things at the same point in time, each independently and without knowing anything about each other - each of us within his own culture." This album was recorded in August 1993 during the Free Concerts series at Townhall Charlottenburg i…

"A real cause for celebration. A performance distinguished by gleeful energy and audacious dada wit. It possesses a vigor of discovery and invention that makes it sound timeless." - Cadence "A great and enjoyable session from three of the most creative and unique musicians in European avant-garde music." - All Music Guide"Wonderful, intoxicating stuff. Together theses three troubadours tiptoe exaggeratedly through pastiches of bop, cabaret, baroque, and lounge, and work through dozens of mood ch…

A monument of post-free solo reeds playing and a stunning album in Peter Brötzmann's discography

Cien Fuegos present a reissue of the Peter Brötzmann Octet's Machine Gun, originally released in 1968. One of the most important albums of European free jazz, finally in the Cien Fuegos series. Recorded May 1968 at "Lila Eule", Bremen. Recorded with a whiff of revolution in the air back in May '68, this landmark Brotzmann LP taps into the spirit of its time with a robust garage rock sensibility, lending a considerable urgency to the session, with the highest volume passages taking up far more ai…