Jazz /
More
2013 reissue; originally released in 1966. More,Giuseppi Logan's second album, has two tracks from the same legendary May 1st, 1965, Town Hall concert, produced by ESP-Disk' owner Bernard Stollman, that gave us Albert Ayler's Bells. This ESP-Disk' 50th Anniversary Remaster edition of Moreincludes previously unissued music from Logan's set that reissue producer Michael D. Andersondiscovered at the end of the Albert Ayler Bellsmaster tape. The astonishing thing about this ten-minute segment of aud…
Trio
Lowell Davidson recorded this singular session on July 27th, 1965 with Gary Peacock and the ever amazing Milford Graves. Sadly, the only recording ever released by Davidson, it remains fresh and exciting 40 plus years later. On Ornette Coleman’s recommendation, ESP-Disk’ owner Bernard Stollman signed up pianist Lowell Davidson (then majoring in biochemistry at Harvard) for this album without having heard him play. Davidson came to New York and got to work with the elite rhythm section of drummer…
The Giuseppi Logan Quartet
On November 11th, 1964, Giuseppi Logan went to Bell Sound Studios to record his first album for the newly-formed ESP-Disk label. Bernard Stollmandiscovered Giuseppi and others who would form the nucleus of his label at the October Revolution Concert of 1964. For the recording, Giuseppi chose friends and fellow music companions Don Pullenand Milford Graves, and added bassist extraordinaire Eddie Gomez. The session is rich with imagination, and added to the dimension of musicians who would become …
The Byron Allen Trio
Originally released in 1965. The Byron Allen Trio was among the first batch of ESP-Disk' jazz LPs. Recorded on the afternoon of September 25, 1964, at Mirasound Studio in midtown Manhattan, it was Allen's debut. He had been recommended to ESP-Disk' by Ornette Coleman, and one of the tracks, "Decision for the Cole-Man," reflects this connection. Allen and his trio also play in a style somewhat similar to that of Coleman's trio of that era with bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett, th…
The New York Art Quartet
“Roswell Rudd assembled the newly formed New York Quartet for an afternoon recording session at Bell Sound Studios in midtown Manhattan. They were joined by a small, youthful appearing individual, the poet Amiri Baraka. Their engineer was the late Art Crist, an accomplished pianist. I was introduced to Lewis Worrell, Amiri Baraka andJohn Tchicai. The group was short lived. I heard them again 40 years later, when they reassembled for a concert at the South Street Seaport in New York City, opening…
Spiritual Unity
2014 expanded reissue. Mono. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, less regard for standard pitch, and no obligation to p…
Red Cloud On Silver
Double LP. Brotzmann has worked quite often with Swedish drummer Peeter Uuskyla (e.g. on Dead and Useless) since 1997 and in general the reeds/drums line-up is something he feels very comfortable with. His duos with Han Bennink, Hamid Drake, Paal Nilssen-Love and Steve Noble belong to best releases in free jazz. Uusklya cannot quite keep up with these drummers because they are able to challenge him. Uuskyla is more the supporting kind of a drummer on this album.My favorite passage is on side …
Kaishi: Live at Kargart
A new chapter of the ongoing series of live recordings of the Turkish quartet Konstrukt, this time teaming up with saxophonist Akira Sakata, already a key character of the Japanese free jazz movement since the 1970s. Recorded at Kargart in Istanbul on January 17th 2015, this seventy-minute long jam is one of the most psychedelic act of the band so far, with Sakata's growling shomyo-alike chant finding the perfect setting - like a snake charmer - in a jungle of constantly reinvented sound. Killer…
Dead And Useless
CD edition. This album features Peter Brotzmann on tenor saxophone and Peeter Uuskyla on drums, they are longtime collaborators and this album was recorded back in 2006 in Uuskyla’s home base of Sweden. Parts of the music on this album was previously released as part of the Born Broke 2CD set, and is remixed here for LP and MP3 and some of Brotzmann’s provocative artwork graces the cover. The title track is a continuous 36 minute improvisation broke in two sections for the vinyl. They open …
Mollie's in the Mood
BRÖ presents Mollie's in the Mood by Peter Brötzmann & Jason Adasiewicz, the label's third LP since its revival in 2003 and the sequel to the Brötzmann/Adasiewicz 2012 tour-only CD. Recorded in "you-are-there" fidelity, the LP captures a performance at Chicago's Hideout on the duo's 2012 U.S.A. tour. Brötzmann played alto and tenor saxophones, b-flat clarinet, and tárogató; Adasiewicz played vibraphone. This is what happens when the most original vibraphonist of his generation slams into …
Routing Lynn
This is the first duo album since 2010 by leading British improvisers Rhodri Davies (harp) and John Butcher (saxophone). In January 2014, together with respected musician and sound recordist Chris Watson, they visited Routing Lynn, an area of ancient rock carvings in Northumberland, northern England. In this natural setting, Davies and Butcher played music and Watson recorded. Two months later, at a festival in Gateshead, England, Davies and Butcher performed along with the 4-channel play…
Mishima, Day & Night
Seijiro Murayama (percussion), who is currently based in Japan, lived in France for a number of years and since that time has performed frequently with the French alto sax player Jean-Luc Guionnet. Mishima, Day & Night is their third duo album after Le Bruit du Toit (Xing-Wu Records, 2007) and Window Dressing (Potlatch, 2011). These four tracks document their improvised music performances in Mishima City at Hongaku Temple (day) and Teke Bar (night) on the same day in July 2013. Murayama uses…
Universal Consciousness
Mindblowing!!! Originally released on Impulse! in 1971, Universal Consciousness is a major turning point in Alice Coltrane's momentous career. While her previous albums pushed the limits of spiritual free jazz and featured much of her late husband's band, Universal Consciousness expands the harpist / pianist's compositional palette with organ and strings (working with Ornette Coleman). "Oh Allah" is the finest example of Coltrane's new direction: tense violins dissolve into sublime organ solos a…
Galactic Parables: Volume 1
Composer, cornetist, electronic & acoustic sound specialist and musical director Rob Mazurek leads his largest regular ensemble, the Exploding Star Orchestra through one of his most ambitious recordings. While Galactic Parables: Volume 1 is a self-contained cosmos, marked by colliding melodic lines and startlingly beautiful passages, as the title indicates, it’s part of a larger work. Ever since Exploding Star Orchestra’s debut recording, Mazurek has been gradually building an epic science ficti…
Return The Tides: Ascension Suite And Holy Ghost
"I have always thought of the idea of passing as a beautiful thing, in which the soul or life force of the individual is somehow transferred to the immensity and brilliance of the entirety. The idea of Heaven and Hell (and everything inbetween) has always been a hallmark within the limited spectrum of what we humans can come up with and the idea of God or Gods has, for some, been an interesting way of putting a life and circumstances into some kind of mysterious belief system that can at times b…
Munster Bern
Peter Brötzmann is described as mad by some and as the 'Godfather of free jazz' by others. His improvisational musical horizon ranges from violent outbursts and delicate, dreamy fantasies. The Live recording of his solo concert at the Münster of Berne from october 27th 2013 is an extraordinary contemporary document. "Solo performance has long been a vital part of Peter Brötzmann’s practice, but recordings of such sessions have been few and far between – at least until recently. Albums like 198…
Virtually
The previously unreleased show captured on Virtually, recorded 3/23/71, presents the classic quartet Softs [Elton Dean/Mike Ratledge/Hugh Hopper/Robert Wyatt] during their final European tour & just 4 months before their dissolution. The recording [licensed from German radio & taken from the master tapes] is superb for the time period, & the performance really sparkles, with everyone shinning, although special note must be made of Robert's drumming, as he plays with more gusto on this show than …
Noisette
Noisette is the third in Soft Machine series, recorded January 4th, 1970 at the same concert as "Facelift" on Third, by the short-lived quintet formation of the group: Elton Dean & Lyn Dobson-reeds, Hugh Hopper-bass, Mike Ratledge-keyboards & Robert Wyatt-drums & vocals. Noisette features the rest of the concert, & showcases a band in transition from their earlier psychedelic/ progressive sound towards the jazz rock sound of Third & Fourth. It features the quintet performing versions of material…
Way Back When
This is a truly stupendous archival find, with broad appeal to both jazz and early fusion fans. This never before released album was recorded on October 7th, 1969 by John Surman and British jazz superstars. It is a mix between the vibrancy of late 60's uk jazz and spacey early electric jazz/rock ala "In A Silent Way"; listening to this album, you can hear that the fusion explosion is on the cusp of happening. Soprano/baritone saxophonist John Surman is one of the UK's best known jazzmen, having …
Switzerland 1974
Soft Machine were one of the greatest UK avant/jazz-rock bands of all time and their work, whether their earliest performances as a psychedelic band, who were contemporaries of, and shared stages with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way to being one of Europe's best known 'fusion' bands, their work continues to be name-checked by today's hip experimentalists. By mid 1973, Soft Machine had gone through a tremendous amount of personnel turnover and a shifting in t…