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Complete Communion & Symphony For Improvisers
Temporary Super Offer! Don Cherry cornet, Gato Barbieri tenors saxophone, Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophone & piccolo, Karl Berger vibes & piano, Henry Grimes & J.-F. Jenny-Clark double bass, Edward Blackwell drums. Following a 1964 Albert Ayler tour, trumpeter Don Cherry remained in Europe, working on new concepts of improvising based on form itself, developing his concepts with saxophonist Gato Barbieri, vibraphonist Karl Berger & bassist J.F. Jenny Clark, composing two brilliant albums: 1966'…
Free Form & Abstract, Revisited
Temporary Super Offer! Unheard music from this key reedman on the British avant scene in the 60s – This double album features Joe Harriott working with a quintet that includes Shake Keane on trumpet, Pat Smythe on piano, Phil Seaman on drums, and Coleridge Goode on bass – playing in territory that's somewhat in the neighborhood of his Abstract and Free Form albums. 'Abstract is split over two dates some months apart, with some change of focus over the set. Free Form has more of the drama of a si…
Berlin, Lörrach, Paris & Stockholm - Revisited
In the fall of 1966, Albert Ayler embarked on a European tour with his current quintet. For the first time, the four recorded concerts previously issued by Hat are presented here in one package, in chronological order. The group included his brother, trumpeter Donald Ayler, with whom he worked for years but the other three members were relative newcomers to the ensemble. Beaver Harris, who had played and recorded with Archie Shepp and Marion Brown, took over the drum duties from Ronald Shannon J…
Blase and Yasmina Revisited
The sessions Archie Shepp led for BYG over five days in August 1969 is a body of work that merits revisiting outside the context of the entire Actuel series and the well-trodden trope of the African American avant-garde in radical Paris. The resulting albums were not ad hoc firestorms: rather, they were considered statements mirroring the pan-stylistic of his Impulse! albums. Shepp's BYG are occasionally framed as somewhat anomalous items on his discography, but their subject is the same as that…
Newport, New York, Alabama, 1963, Revisited
John Coltrane played the long game. Longevity in life wasn’t his lot; his fortieth year being his final bow. That circumscribed career, particularly in its final decade, evinced a trajectory of creative ascendancy that was as indelible to improvised music as it was omnipresent in impact. Charlie Parker arguably wears the posthumous mantle of most influential saxophonist, but Coltrane suggests a close contender in terms of ineluctable clout on those who play the instrument.
Practice and the pursu…
The Birth of BeBop - Celebrating Bird at 100 vol 1
The incomparable life and extraordinary, trailblazing career of jazz titan and influential composer Charlie Parker will be honored throughout 2020 with a worldwide celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth (August 29, 1920). Lovingly dubbed Bird 100 after the nickname of the preeminent alto saxophonist who was one of the fathers of bebop and progenitors of modern jazz, the centennial will include a host of major initiatives including exciting new music releases, a tribute tour…
Spirits Rejoice & Bells - Revisited
Together, ‘Spirits Rejoice’ and ‘Bell’s encapsulate a four month period where long-gestating ideas of Ayler’s were birthed, helping to usher in a conception of music unlike virtually anything else extant, paving the way for his own adventures of the next several years and, perhaps more importantly, providing an extremely fertile bed for a generation or two of musicians to come. – Brian Olewnick
Albert Ayler’s recording career was a short one, spanning only the years 1962 – 1970, yet he went thro…
Why Not? Porto Novo!
Reissuing two essential albums from saxophonist Marion Brown--Why Not? (ESP, 1968) and Porto Novo (Polydor, 1969)--the first recorded in NY in a quartet with pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali, the second recorded in The Netherlands in a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Maarten Van Regteren Altena on double bass; essential.
Prophecy
With the essential sidemen to express his unique voice and approach to free jazz, saxophonist Albert Ayler, double bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Sunny Murray, recorded these sessions in 1964 for the ESP label as "Prophecy", this excellent reissue & remaster also adding the live "Albert Smiles with Sunny" (inRespect) from the same concert; essential.
Capricorn Moon To Juba Lee
Merging and remastering two essential albums from free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown: his 1966 ESP album "Marion Brown Quartet" with trumpeter Alan Shorter, bassist Reggie Johnson and percussionist Rahied Ali; and his 1967 Fontana album "Juba-Lee" in a septet with Reggie Johnson, drummer Beaver Harris, pianist Dave Burrell, trombonist Grachan Moncur III & saxophonist Bennie Maupin.
Bill Evans Duos With Jim Hall & Trios ‘64 & ‘65 (Revisited)
"The emerging credo of western society’s post-Beat counterculture was egalitarian and
anti-hierarchical, be the hierarchy social, political or on the bandstand. Evans and Ayler shared
the belief; only their lexicons were different. If hearing Spiritual Unity was akin, as Ted Joans
wrote, to someone shouting “Fuck!” in St. Patrick’s" – Chris May
Near Blue-A Taste of Melancholy
"Near Blue – A Taste of Melancholy is a soundtrack for being unstuck in time, if just for an hour. It is a glide through a rich past and present, with glimpses of a future worth reaching." - Bill Shoemaker
Franz Koglmann - flugelhornGert Schubert - violinKurt Franz Schmid - clarinetSandro Miori - tenor & soprano saxophones & alto fluteRudolf Ruschel - tromboneRaoul Herget - tubaRobert Michael Weiss - piano
You Can Blackmail Me Later
"It is not easy to find a description of what constitutes “the art of the duo” in jazz or improvised music. Suffice to say that any credible description would have to encompass the duo of Gallio and Turner, their approaches to playing together and the contents of You Can Blackmail Me Later." - John Eyles
Lotus Blossom
"To me, these guys sound as if they have a story to tell and enough confidence to believe that they can tell and retell the old stories in new and exciting ways. Hendriksen and Gisler have formed together on this kind of thing, but if it remains true in jazz that rhythm and the percussionist are at the heart of every new step forward, then Paul Amereller’s role in the trio is crucial. No one will mistake him for anything but a contemporary, but he plays in full knowledge of the history of the mu…
The Human Factor
"It is a message, and you will hear it sounding firmly through the various pieces that make up The Human Factor, that tells us much about how we might live together: sharing, giving way, simple giving, lifting up, helping ... above all, listening ..." - Brian Morton
Panorama
"Given their distinct backgrounds and individualistic sense of creative process, it’s not surprising to discover that the sounds Levin, Mariam and Miguel generate do not fall into common improv tactics, stylistic clichés, or the isolation of chance. There are individual characteristics that affect our perception of the flow, cessation, and singularity of events heard here, and serve to identify and intensify the moment." – Art Lange
Live At Cafe Oto London
"I've been listening to Christoph Gallio and the various incarnations of Day & Taxi for over three decades – almost since its inception. On this album, however, the Swiss saxophonist makes a debut with a different trio, featuring British improvisers Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders. The result is pungent, powerful music on the cusp of free jazz and free improv – a dichotomy that helps define Gallio's work, though he also composes. Listening to this wonderful album invites re-consideration of the rh…
Dialog
"Dialog: Two Rooms One Vibraphone 1 to 6 & Five Interludes differs, however, from the classical Greek idea of dialectics, that of thesis-antithesis-synthesis, in one respect. There is thesis, from Armaroli, and antithesis, from Parker, but it is a third party, the listener, who provides the synthesis. And there will be as many syntheses, and as much diversity among them, as there are those of us tuning in." -Chris May
FFlair III
"Basically, we witness an intimate dialogue between two improvisers. If there had not been a special circumstance leading to this result. Christine Abdelnour and Hans Koch could not hear each other. In fact, "FFlair" is based on two separately recorded solo improvisations, which were superimposed at the end. Mind you, without any subsequent editing." - Rudolf Amstutz
Satoko Inoue Presents Jo Kondo's New Works For Piano 2015-2020
Temporary Super Offer! "This CD, the third album of my piano works played by Satoko Inoue, presents all the pieces written for piano between 2015 and 2020, along with an introductory miniature piece." – Jo Kondo