Jazz /
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.
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…
Give the Vibes Some
Philadelphia vibraphonist Khan Jamal's 1974 Palm masterpiece receives its first proper reissue. Recorded during Parisian exile, this exploratory album showcases revolutionary vibraphone techniques across four essential tracks - a crucial document of jazz's global underground network.
Overhang-Party (A Memorial To Kaoru Abe)
Tip! *2025 stock* Reissue of the landmark free jazz album "Overhang-Party (A Memorial To Kaoru Abe)" by the visionary Abe-Toyozumi Duo. Originally recorded in Tokyo in August 1978 and released in 1979, this historic release stands as a breathtaking testament to the artistry and legacy of legendary Japanese saxophonist Kaoru Abe, with dynamic support from renowned percussionist Sabu (Yoshisaburo) Toyozumi.
"Overhang-Party" captures the electrifying chemistry between Abe and Toyozumi, two leading …
Ensamseglaren
Tip! "I stood on top of the mountain and looked out over the landscape. It was so beautiful that my chest hurt. The light vibrated, time stood still, and the contours dissolved for a moment. Everything had changed; I felt it then. I took their little hands so as not to lose contact with the ground. Then we ran down the mountain, scraping our knees. Still, we didn't make it. You had already put away all the nautical charts, loosened the moorings and steered out among the skerries. Mum stood wavin…
Bestiaries
2011 release ** Oversize folded cardstock sleeve "This disc is the most sublime treatment of minimalist form. Dominique Lash performs brackets of beauty on his wary, droning double bass while Patrick Farmer teases possibility out from hidden silent edges with different percussion styles. Both of these musicians are accomplished in their own right, skilled at their various instruments, well-instructed in the traditional modes of music composition. This feeds and informs the work on Bestiaries. Y…
Artoxin
2017 release ** "Three top-class international sound adventurers set out the connection of electronics and acoustic sound generators. Experience is the shaping of ephemeral, extreme, genreference and cliché-free sound adventures – a meeting of improvised music. The connection of two identical instruments in the concert frame is rare when you don't want to become a battle, and then with two fancy woodwind instruments is almost exotic. Deep-sounding instruments are mostly and inflexible, but in ma…
Hypomaniac
This is the debut album from that modern free jazz impro trio. Hypomaniac recorded on March 15th 2025 at Thessaloniki-Greece during ''Take 2'' festival organized by defkaz records and Mikri Skini venue. The end result is absolutely fascinating, bringing a fantastic journey that is hypnotic and build up like a sonic storm setting the house on fire. The interplay between the trio sounds organic, flowing and inventive, despite their different approaches. Collective chaos but always grooving very ha…
Giovanni Di Domenico, Akira Sakata, Paal Nilssen-Love, Giotis Damianidis, Aleksandar Skoric, Petros Damianidis, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
HyperentasisHyperentasis is a double LP celebrating the unique connection between legendary saxophonist Akira Sakata and the city of Thessaloniki. Home to Defkaz Records and the birthplace of the Damianidis brothers, Thessaloniki has welcomed Sakata countless times. This release captures two of his landmark performances as a bandleader in the city. The first LP features the group Entasis with Giovanni Di Domenico (upright piano), Giotis Damianidis (electric guitar), Petros Damianidis (double bass), and Alek…