Jazz /
Free Music (1975-1988)
Cortizona proudly unveils Cortizona Heritage, a new sublabel created in partnership with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (SVM) to revive and showcase hidden chapters of Flemish music history.The debut release sets the tone: blending the exuberance of a marching band with the unpredictability of free improvisation, WIM Fanfare brought raw, joyful musical anarchy to city squares, parades, and unsuspecting audiences.
Mystiphonic
"Mystiphonic" is the third release from Roland P. Young on EM, following "Isophonic Boogie Woogie" [EM1045CD/LP] which was originally released in 1980 and re-issued by EM in 2005, and the 2009 "Istet Serenade" [EM1087CD/LP].
"Mystiphonic" is the fruit of two years of recordings at Young's Isophonic Sound Laboratory in Brooklyn, "comprovisations" which are more electronic than the previous EM releases, and yet this new CD retains Young's emotional life-long horn playing, a romance which began in …
Re-Union In Berlin
2025 stock The reissue of Rolf & Joachim Kühn Quartet’s "Re-Union In Berlin" on b.free is a welcome resurrection of a historic German jazz masterpiece. This album, first recorded in 1965, captures the Kühn brothers at a creative peak, blending modal jazz with free improvisation in ways that still sound fresh and daring today.
"Re-Union In Berlin" showcases Rolf Kühn’s virtuosic clarinet lines and Joachim Kühn’s exploratory piano, supported by Klaus Koch on bass and Reinhard Schwartz on drums. Ea…
Feelings
Feelings marks Jake Henry’s long-awaited return as a leader, more than a decade after his debut with Sweet Talk Glitterbomb. This album is a deeply personal exploration of the intricate harmonic language and angular counterpoint Henry developed during his formative years as a guitarist. Drawing on the frenetic energy of math rock, raw intensity of metal, and chaotic textures of noise, Henry recontextualizes common song form into a bold, genre-defying soundscape.
The quartet—featuring Brian Krock…
Of the Essence
"In the early 1990s, trombonist Jeb Bishop became an essential part of Chicago’s musically and geographically outward-looking jazz community. His mastery of the full spectrum of trombone language, from earthy melody to abstract sound effects, made him indispensable in every band he joined—including the Vandermark 5, Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, School Days, and Engines—and the indelible quality of his compositions made his recordings with his own bands landmarks of the era. Bishop left Chic…
Look Both Days
First meetings are always a risk, but if the vibrations are right and the doors are open, magic will be made. When the members of Look Both Days (brought together by Chicago pianist Erez Dessel) took the stage on the opening night of the 2023 Catalytic Sound Festival, nobody knew quite what to expect. With Marvin Tate on the mic, Mai Sugimoto and Fred Jackson Jr. both on alto saxophone, Erez Dessel on piano, and Ben Hall on drums, these stalwarts of the midwestern improvised music scene were poi…
Groppler Zorn
*2025 stock* Emerging from the fertile ground where language meets rhythm, Groppler Zorn proudly announces the release of their highly anticipated debut album. Conceived in the transition from spoken word to music, the project embodies the belief that the urge to speak and the impulse to dance spring from the same source. Far from being a singular vision, the album is the result of a series of creative dialogues — conversations between musicians and artists from diverse, and at times opposing, a…
Double Helix Quartet
*2025 stock* The acclaimed ensemble Double Helix Quartet proudly announces the release of their highly anticipated new album, an adventurous collection that redefines the boundaries between contemporary classical music, improvisation, and experimental soundscapes. With this bold statement, the quartet reaffirms its role as one of the most forward-thinking voices in today’s chamber music scene.
Fusing tradition with innovation, the album showcases the group’s signature interplay of precision an…
Fear is Heavy, I've Got Plans ...
*2025 stock* Fear is Heavy, I've Got Plans ... is the debut recording by Turtle Boat, a free-jazz outfit led by Abhilasha Chebolu (Null Copula, Princsex, Gault, Ryan Jewell Quintet) featuring her compositions with additional contributions from saxophonist Alex Burgoyne (Small Songs, Alex Burgoyne Quartet, Gault, Liver Quiver, Ryan Jewell Quintet). Joined by Dan DiPiero (Small Songs, Alex Burgoyne Quartet, Common Things), the trio first assembled in 2015 after a decade of playing together in vari…
Ism
*2025 stock* Ism highlights the distinct qualities of each member. Fred's methodical approach to melody, Ed Wilkerson’s relentless dynamism, Jim’s uncanny ability to subvert expectations, and Avreeayl's inescapable rhythm, which weaves through the music—shaping everything from textured explorations to intense grooves to wild improvisations.
Harmos – Kraków
Maya Recordings presents "Harmos – Kraków" a breathtaking new release by Barry Guy with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. Capturing the creative spirit and electrifying artistry that has defined Guy’s decades-long career as a composer, director, and double bassist, this album is an essential document for contemporary jazz and improvisational music fans.
Recorded live, "Harmos – Kraków" showcases Guy’s celebrated composition Harmos in one of its most compelling interpretations, performed in K…
A Modicum of Blues
Polish label Fundacja Słuchaj is thrilled to announce the release of "A Modicum Of Blues," an electrifying new album by five powerhouse improvisers: Ivo Perelman (tenor sax), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Matt Moran (vibraphone), Mark Helias (bass), and Tom Rainey (drums).
This recording captures the quintet in their purest element—live in the studio, free of plans or constraints, driven only by their joy of spontaneous creation. Renowned for his visionary approach, saxophonist Ivo Perelman assembles a…
The Cliffhanger Session
Tip! This new acoustic trio is consisting of three of the most iconic players of todays European jazz, improvisation and experimental music scene. This line-up took a long birth phase, but was a logical step and basically came out of juggling the possibilities and attempts of combining the effort of two high energy noise + electro-acoustic duos: Ignaz Schick/Oliver Steidle (Ilog) and Ingebrigt-Håker-Flaten/Ignaz Schick. Both duos started in 2013 (Ilog) and 2015 (Håker Flaten/schick) and have a l…
Mountain In The Clouds
Originally released in 1972, bassist Miroslav Vitouš’s acclaimed album Mountain in the Clouds returns to the spotlight as a remixed, expanded edition of his influential 1970 debut, Infinite Search. Widely celebrated as a seminal document in the birth of jazz-fusion, this recording chronicles the early, creative explosion of a new musical era. With Mountain in the Clouds, Vitouš pushes the limits of jazz bass, blending lyrical improvisation and experimental technique to striking effect. The album…
Extraordinary Popular Delusions
Two decades ago, an all-star assembly of Chicago improvisers started a new band, drawing its name from an 1841 book by Charles Mackay: Extraordinary Popular Delusions. With weekly gigs at a spot in Chicago called Hotti Biscotti, Jim Baker, Mars Williams, Brian Sandstrom, and Steve Hunt honed their sound, which could be ferocious or nerdy or diffuse, as they moment required. After a couple years, the quartet moved to a regular Monday session at Beat Kitchen, where they have maintained their weekl…
Mwandishi
This album is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz, as well as the beginning of an original and creative style which eventually appealed to a wider audience. In addition, Mwandishi was Hancock's attempt at continuing the musical principles and styles he explored in his previous experiences with Miles Davis. Mwandishi was recorded at Wally Heider Studios Studio C, in San Francisco, California in January 1971, by Hancock's Mwandishi Sextet. The recording incorporat…
Echoes
2007 release ** ""Echoes," a 2006 live quintet featuring Olivieri alongside Innarella on saxophone, Battiston on piano, and the prodigious rhythm section of Parker and Drake. A pulsating energy that free avant-garde revisits with a distinctive, modern harmonic structure, with clear structures that allow for intense improvisational vigor. Five dense tracks of near-perfect dialogue, with Innarella and Olivieri chasing each other in a play of references underscored by Battiston's percussive touch a…
En Corps
2012 release ** "Two for two, Dark Tree. Last year’s Pourtant les Cimes des Arbres was a challenging, powerful piece of music, a perfect snapshot of the bold, demanding improvisation currently being produced on the French scene. It was also a hell of a way to launch a record label. So, even after multiple listenings, it’s still a little hard to digest the fact that their follow-up—En Corps, with Eve Risser on piano, Benjamin Duboc on bass and Edward Perraud on drums—is even more challenging and …
Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live At Moers
Balance Point Acoustics proudly announces the release of "Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live At Moers," a strikingly original album recorded live at the renowned Moers Festival in Germany and dedicated to the late Hans Schneider (1951–2024). The release features the adventurous trio of German saxophonist Stefan Keune, American guitarist Sandy Ewen, and acclaimed bassist and label curator Damon Smith, three master improvisers converging in an equilateral triangle of spontaneous sonic exploration.
"Two Felt-…
Miniature Paintings And The Impossible Warehouse
*2025 stock* Founded in the Winter of 2017 Adam Shead’s Adiaphora Orchestra is a large mixed chamber orchestra performing the compositions and conductions of percussionist composer, and educator Adam Shead. The Adiaphora Orchestra, located in Chicago, IL, is comprised of the cities finest rising star improvisers from a variety of performance idioms and practices. Including a full string, brass, woodwind, auxillary, and rhythm section the ensemble performs what Shead calls “indifference music”. A…