Jazz /
Orbit of Sound
“Orbit of Sound” is the new release from composer/double bassist Max Johnson’s newest trio, with Anna Webber on tenor saxophone/flute, and Michael Sarin on drumset. Formed in 2018, the trio traverses tightly knit composed music and patient, sprawling improvised textures, highlighting all three individual voices as improvisers. The trio completed their inaugural tour of Europe in February & March, having to cancel their final concert and subsequent recording due to the pandemic, delaying the reco…
Emergence
The music on this album was not preconceived or premeditated in any way whatsoever. The ensemble's method of collaboration has been to begin playing without any discussion of what is to be played or how the music should be approached. The group was formed after a number of informal, but fruitful sessions. It was unanimous among the group that the musical chemistry and dynamic we shared was fertile enough to merit further exploration. « We went into the recording studio after several years of enj…
Free Reservoir
'An exciting and forceful album of free jazz from the trio of pianist Simon Nabatov, bassist Max Johnson and drummer Michael Sarin, recording in the studio in New York City with each player propelling themselves in dynamic, inventive collective free playing with an experimental bent, but never departing from the traditions of identifiable jazz music; recommended!
"While Nabatov and Sarin met over 30 years ago (as participants of the famous Banff Jazz Workshop), the Johnson-Nabatov connection clo…
Elevated Vegetation
'Well here is Max Johnson's picture, his snapshot of three men in a room making music, and as with any great composed shot, here would be his law of thirds for creating a great image.
First Law: Max Johnson (bass) has the ability to search out the best musicians to suit his current project. Ziv Ravitz (drums), drawing from his Israeli roots, contributes not only a solid and earthy foundation for the others to play over but also provides just enough world music flavor without making it old or tir…
The Invisible Trio
'The musical lineage within the small circle of bassist Max Johnson's trio is unquestionably among the finest in cutting-edge jazz. The leader has played with bassist William Parker, alto legend Anthony Braxton, trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. In the case of Johnson's current trio, his drummer, Ziv Ravitz, is also a member of the Lee Konitz Quartet and has performed with Joe Lovano, Tomasz Stanko, Aaron Parks and many others. Kirk Knuffke ranks as an equal to Rob Mazurek and Ta…
Unfolding to Be You
*In process of stocking* 15 self-portraits by Sebi Tramontana. The shortest is about 30 seconds and the longest is almost nine minutes.In these fifteen pieces the trombone is explored in multiple directions. There are techniques dear to the world of European improvised music as well as echoes of Duke Ellington's trombone masters, Italian accounting as well as the pure sound of the air. Tramontana is a northern wind but Tramontana comes from the south, they have met and through a tube they take u…
Songs and Poems
*In process of stocking* Songs and Poems is a project born from the necessity to explore, in a chamber dimension, the possibilities of the sound of the word. The quartet joins Blend 3 - the trio of Andrea Grossi with Manuel Caliumi and Michele Bonifati - to the voice of Beatrice Arrigoni and finds its personal dimension within a sound world generated by the fusion of 20th century European traditions, starting from improvised music and European jazz, passing through contemporary music until arriv…
Fuchs
Fuchs is a band that never was. It vanished as quickly as it appeared in the picture, much like the animal that can be seen on this album and after whom it was named. In 2005, Kante singer and guitarist Peter Thiessen travelled to Weilheim to visit Markus and Micha Acher in their studio, where they were joined, among others, by Notwist-affiliated musicians like Cico Beck, Robert Klinger, Carl Oesterhelt and Stefan Schreiber. Spirits were high, but schedules were full: after a week of improvised …
Hamburg 1968
*All tracks previously unreleased. Stereophonic sound. In process of stocking* Composer/bassist, Graham Collier’s career was littered with “firsts” – Britain’s first jazz graduate, first jazz musician to be awarded an Arts Council grant, founder of the first full-time jazz degree in the UK. More to the point for our purposes here, he was the first British musician to perform his own music at the Hamburg Jazz Workshop. Collier opened doors to opportunities for himself and other British musicians …
Moves
Toronto-based octet Eucalyptus has been steadily gathering a devoted cult following since the release of their debut 10” Eeeeeuuucaaaaaaallyyypppptus in 2012. Led by acclaimed saxophonist and composer Brodie West, the band's languid, kaleidoscopic jazz is very much a collective endeavour, the product of an internal network of improvisational synergy they've built over more than a decade together. Moves is their sixth release, and somewhat of a milestone. In addition to it being the octet's most …
Nuba (LP)
* Original 1979 vinyl edition of the album. Few copies available. Sealed copies * Drummer Andrew Cyrille and alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons developed an impressive chemistry during their years with Cecil Taylor. Cyrille's array of percussion instruments and mastery of multiple styles, from hard bop to Afro-Latin, enabled him to play rippling rhythms or light, tinkling lines, attack, or lay back. Lyons' alto solos were alternately driving and soft, sometimes searing in their intensity, sometimes mo…
Contactos
Cosmic jazz from the Canary Islands, recorded by Argentinian pianist Luis Vecchio.
Instant Composers Pool
**Restocked, with slightly reduced price. Very last copies** A Monumental 52 CD + 2DVD + photo-book box (Every box is numbered and unique because Han Bennink himself painted each copy by hand! ) to celebrate 45 years of Instant Composers Pool - and worldwide delivery is included! "Improvisation is like daily life... like crossing a street" - says Han Bennink. The ensemble of the Instant Composers Pool, or ICP, improvises for 45 years now on the highest level. "These guys can swing like madmen a…
Bospaadje Konijnehol I
ICP presents Bospaadje Konijnehol I. Recorded live in The Netherlands, Germany and Italy in the 80s and 90s.
Komen & Gaan
Even in the wildly eclectic ICP catalog, this 66th release stands out. Absent are the ‘3 T’s’ (Tristan Honsinger, Tobias Delius, Thomas Heberer); instead, you get familiar guests (Joris Roelofs and Terrie Ex) and the musical direction of ICP co-founder Han Bennink. And then there is the setting: Le Brocope, a gallery, music venue, caférestaurant situated in a tiny village in Holland’s far North. An inspiring location that takes up a central role on Komen & Gaan. The ensemble begins by airing out…
MiHa
This CD was released as part of the ICP 30th Anniversary celebrations and came in a paper pocket fixed to the inside front cover of the Anniversary booklet.
track 1 recorded at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, NL on January 31, 1997track 2 recorded at Theater Romein, Leeuwarden, NL on April 1, 1992recorded by Dick Lucascover art by Han Bennink
What You Seek Is Seeking You
'Sometimes a piece of music seems to trigger a sense of déjà vu. I had that experience listening to the Nick Mazzarella Trio’s new recording. It was as if all the things that had caught my sincere attention for some years was suddenly distilled into one set of compositions. That was an illusion, as déjà vu always is; however, it was not without some substance. I heard traces of traces of Andrew Cyrille, Steve Lacy, and Fred Anderson. This recording hit me like some of those did. The beginning of…
Heisse Scheisse
'At its best moments – throughout most of the album in fact – Heisse Scheisse is joyous chaos. The quintet seems to relish playing two or three different overlapping pieces of music. Case in point, Lapsarian begins with a labyrinthine riff-like structure that rapidly deteriorates into Eisenberg and Neuburg heading in their own directions. After a relatively calm and short interlude, Pitsiokos and Eisenberg both solo at the same time, but in an orthogonal fashion, before the overall structure is …
…And Then There’s This
The members of the all-star Artifacts Trio – flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Mike Reed – have long been recognized as torchbearers of Chicago’s innovative jazz scene, as well as the most prominent performer-educators in the third generation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM), the historically vital, leading-edge Chicago arts organization. The trio served on the organization's executive board from 2009–2011, and their music advances the organi…
Obstacle Illusion
'Obstacle Illusion is born out of my love for a wide array of musics that I've experienced and studied over the years. The album includes edited live concert recordings from my 3-month European tour at the end of 2021 (Centro d'Arte in Padova, AngelicA Festival in Bologna and the Rassegna di Nuova Musica in Macerata). The first and fourth tracks are solo acoustic piano. The second and third tracks are solely with the Korg Wavestate: all live, no overdubs. This music is the result of a collaborat…