Jazz & Improvisation / Quintet

Masabumi Kikuchi's quintet recorded live in the studio in March 1973, just before his move to New York: two saxophones over a piano trio, five original compositions. Japanese reissue by Universal Music on vinyl.

Drummer George Otsuka's third album for Three Blind Mice, recorded in February 1976 with Fumio Karashima on electric piano and synthesizer and Shozo Sasaki on saxophones, closing on Coltrane's Naima. Official reissue on 180g vinyl.

Studio album by Miles Davis with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, with Chick Corea and Dave Holland on the September session, recorded in New York in 1968 and produced by Teo Macero.

Studio album by the Miles Davis quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York in June and July 1967 and first issued in 1968.

Jackie McLean's first released Blue Note album, recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, on 2 May 1959 with Donald Byrd, Walter Davis Jr., Paul Chambers and Pete La Roca, produced by Alfred Lion.

Freddie Hubbard's first album as a leader, recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, on 19 June 1960 with Tina Brooks, McCoy Tyner, Sam Jones and Clifford Jarvis, produced by Alfred Lion for Blue Note.

Jackie McLean quintet sessions for Blue Note: five tracks recorded on 11 February 1963 with Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, Butch Warren and Tony Williams, one from 2 May 1959. First issued in 1980. Tone Poet 180g LP.

Jackie McLean's A Fickle Sonance, a quintet session with Tommy Turrentine, Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins, recorded on October 26, 1961 at Van Gelder Studio and first released by Blue Note in 1962.

Bobby Hutcherson's Medina, recorded on August 11, 1969 at Van Gelder Studio with Harold Land, Stanley Cowell, Reggie Johnson and Joe Chambers, unissued until Blue Note released it in 1980 in the LT series (LT-1086).

Alan Skidmore's 1970 Deram Nova album with Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Harry Miller and Tony Oxley, fresh from their Montreux triumph: a jazz waltz, long suites and free passages, back on vinyl from the stereo masters.

Joe Harriott's 1964 quintet with Shake Keane, Pat Smythe, Coleridge Goode and Bobby Orr turns songs from the Broadway musical High Spirits into lyrical, swinging jazz, now on vinyl in stereo for the first time.

The Second Quintet with Shorter, Hancock, Carter and Williams on its autumn 1967 European tour: Antwerp, Copenhagen, Paris and Karlsruhe on three CDs, restored by Michael Brändli, with an essay by Art Lange.

Hidefumi Toki's 1975 album Toki offers a deeply personal journey into the realms of jazz, showcasing his expressive prowess on alto and soprano saxophones. Backed by a stellar quartet including Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums, Toki creates a stunning sonic landscape filled with gentle, raspy tones. The album's ambiance is laidback and mellow, yet infused with a profound sense of spiritual depth reminiscent of Coltrane's work. Original compositions lik…

Original release completely reproduced as faithfully as possible. Pressed and printed in Japan. Mind-blowing reissue of Kosuke Mine Quintet's first release, Mine, originally released on Three Blind Mice in 1970. This is the terrifying debut album from saxophonist Kosuke Mine, with a sense of tension that seems to burst throughout, and is a monumental work that marked the historic beginning of the prestigious three blind mice label Completely original reproduction specification (reproduced as f…

Bomb! The debut recording by The Ancients, the intergenerational coalition of Isaiah Collier, William Hooker and William Parker formed by Parker to play concerts in conjunction with the Milford Graves' “A Mind-Body Deal” exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and now a working group. Across 2LPs of side-length long-form improvised sets recorded at 2220 Arts & Archives in LA and The Chapel in San Francisco, The Ancients bring the free jazz trio languages first explored by t…

Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts fro…

Temporary Super Offer! Recorded 1964, 1965 & 1966 live New York. 7 Tracks, 2 tracks never on CD available. "This fabulous album, recorded during three New York club engagements in 1964, 1965 and 1966, ranks among the finest in the pianist/composer's illustrious catalogue. There are several things going for it: the quality and shared intentionality of the two, slightly different, lineups; the choice of material and its careful sequencing; the vibrancy of the performances, which is enough to pract…

Live improvised concert by the John Heward Quintet, celebrating drummer John Heward and bassist Barre Phillips, both eighty at the time, with Lori Freedman, Joe McPhee and Dana Reason.

The music Coltrane, Tyner and others did back in their prime made a sizable ripple in jazz. Many went on to emulate their style well after the originators either died or moved on. For the most part I find these emulator (or keepers of the flame, to be more polite) to be either alright or great. Kohsuke Mine Quintet is one of those greater ones. They're relatively obscure from what I gather, releasing only a few albums back in the 70s and a resurgence album in the 90s but their music is much more…

This collector's LP mostly features the 1963 Miles Davis Quintet (which included tenor-saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams) during a live apperance in St. Louis. The previously unissued music is reasonably well-recorded and gives listeners additional versions of such standards as "I Thought About You," "All Blues" and "Seven Steps to Heaven." - Scott Yanow, Allmusic.com

Miles Davis gave two concerts at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 1960 as part of a Jazz at the Philharmonic package, one on April 9 and the other on October 15. Stunning european live performance from Miles with his early quintet featuring the magic of a young and talented Trane. Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone), Wynton Kelly (Piano), Paul Chambers (Bass), Jimmy Cobb (Drums).

The Roadburn Festival has, in recent years, expanded from a metal-oriented set of concerts to include classical, jazz, and ambient / drone music as well. What’s more, Roadburn typically books outside-leaning artists in these additional styles of music. Enter the Martina Verhoeven Quintet, consisting of an all-star lineup with Verhoeven on piano, Gonçalo Almeida on bass, Onno Govaert on drums, Dirk Serries on guitar, and Colin Webster on sax. Driven is a near 50-minute, single-track excursion int…

Quintet album by saxophonist John Tchicai and guitarist Garrison Fewell with Tino Tracanna (soprano and tenor sax), Paolino Dalla Porta (bass) and Massimo Manzi (drums), released by Soul Note in 2005: composed pieces alternating with improvised duos and trios.

David Liebman (soprano sax, wooden flute) with Phil Markowitz (piano), Vic Juris (guitar), Tony Marino (bass), Jamey Haddad (drums), recorded at Red Rock Studios, Saylorsburg, PA, in May 1994. Pieces for his daughter Lydia, who sings the last track.

Tom Varner (French horn) with Ed Jackson (alto sax), Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax), Drew Gress (bass), Tom Rainey (drums), plus Pete McCann (guitar) and Dominique Eade (voice), recorded at Tedesco Studios, New Jersey, March 5-6, 1996.

Live quintet set recorded at The Hobbit, Portland, Oregon, on June 25, 1987: David Friesen (bass), Mal Waldron (piano), Julian Priester (trombone), Jim Pepper (tenor sax), Eddie Moore (drums), playing three long standards.

Giorgio Gaslini Quintet with Roberto Ottaviano and Claudio Fasoli (saxophones), Bruno Tommaso (bass) and Giampiero Prina (drums), recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, on October 6-7, 1987. Seven Gaslini pieces and Jelly Roll Morton's Chicago Breakdown.

Bob Moses (drums) with Dave Liebman (tenor sax), Terumasa Hino (cornet, percussion), Steve Kuhn (piano) and Steve Swallow (electric bass), recorded in Brooklyn in August 1979 and remixed in 1994. Five tracks first appeared on the 1980 LP Family.

Enrico Rava Quintet with Augusto Mancinelli (electric guitar), John Taylor (piano), Furio Di Castri (bass) and Bruce Ditmas (drums), recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, on July 7-8, 1986. Six Rava compositions and Holiday For Strings.

Standards sung by Shannon Gibbons with Kenny Barron (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Ben Riley (drums) and Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet, flugelhorn), recorded in New York for Soul Note and released in 1987.

Michael Cochrane's first album as a leader: seven of his compositions for quintet with Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn), Bob Malach (tenor sax, flute), Dennis Irwin (bass) and Jimmy Madison (drums), recorded at Titanic Sound Studios on September 23-24, 1985.

Quintet album co-led by Jeff Hittman (tenor sax) and Yoshitaka Uematsu (drums), with Valery Ponomarev (trumpet), Larry Willis (piano) and Dennis Irwin (bass), recorded at The Studio, New York, on November 14, 1986.

Barry Altschul (drums) with Glenn Ferris (trombone), Sean Bergin (alto and tenor sax), Andy McKee (bass) and, on two tracks, Mike Melillo (piano). Recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milan, November 25 and 26, 1985.

Saheb Sarbib (bass) with Joe Lovano and Pete Chavez (tenor sax), Joe Ford (alto and soprano sax), Kirk Lightsey (piano) and Rashied Ali (drums), recorded in New York on January 12-13, 1984. Five Sarbib pieces, a Don Raye ballad and Coltrane's Crescent.

Ellen Christi and Lisa Sokolov (vocals) with Rahn Burton (piano), William Parker (bass) and Tom Bruno (drums), recorded live at Irving Plaza, New York, on June 28, 1984, during the Kool Jazz Festival. Three Christi compositions.

Art Farmer (flugelhorn) and Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) with Fred Hersch (piano), Rufus Reid (bass) and Akira Tana (drums), recorded at Classic Sound Studio, New York, on December 13 and 15, 1984.

Hugh Ragin Collective (Ragin, trumpet; Greg Carroll, vibraphone; Marc Sabatella, piano; Erik Turkman, bass; Scott Gordan, drums), recorded at Eye In The Sky Sound on August 10 and 11, 1993. Dedicated to Sun Ra.

Leroy Jenkins (violin) live at P.S. 122, New York, on March 15, 1992, with Brandon Ross (guitar), Eric Johnson (synthesizer), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Reggie Nicholson (drums). Seven Jenkins compositions. Black Saint, 1993.

John Lindberg (bass) with Hugh Ragin (trumpet), Marty Ehrlich (alto sax, flute), Billy Bang (violin) and Thurman Barker (drums), recorded live at Cami Hall, New York, on February 27, 1981. Four Lindberg compositions.

Leroy Jenkins (violin) with James Newton (flute), John Clark (French horn), J.D. Parran (clarinet) and Marty Ehrlich (bass clarinet), recorded at CI Studios, New York, on March 22 and 23, 1979. Two long Jenkins compositions.