Jazz /
The Art of the Improviser
"The Art of the Improviser", a 2XCD, is Shipp's most audacious attempt yet to answer the enigmatic question of what it means to be a modern jazz musician. Already having explored the possibilities of electronically infused jazz on critically acclaimed projects with the likes of DJ Spooky, Scanner, and Anti-Pop Consortium, Shipp revisits an acoustic sound for this fearless voyage into the psyche of the improviser. Shipp's "idiosyncratic genius" shines through on this album, explaining once again …
Music Of Group Ongaku
"Group ONGAKU, founded mainly by students at Tokyo National University of Fine Art & Music, was the 1st collective musical improvisation group. The group began their activities in 1958, & from the naming of the group in 1960 onward continued until somewhere around 1962. They attempted to create acoustics corresponding to actual time & space by means of collective improvisation. Although methodically different, the music that they pursued incidentally shared common directions with contemporaries …
Life Amid The Artefacts
Two releases in one, Otherways was a 2nd generation free improvising group from London performing in '73; and Free Space was a group assembled in '73 by John Stevens with Trevor Watts, John Russell, &c. The bulk of this CD features Otherways, a 'second generation' London group that has not appeared on record before. This delayed publication, combined with the general lack of recognition of the musicians involved, does not prepare one for the excellent music they made together, distinctly differ…
Horizon
An amazing live date from Sun Ra & The Arkestra – recorded in Cairo in 1971, with a very transcendent sound overall! Ra and the group are clearly inspired to be working in the shadow of the pyramids – and their music sometimes has Eastern overtones, a bit in the manner of Salah Ragab – their associate in Egypt – yet at other times, things get quite outside and noisy too! The keyboards are especially wonderful – as Ray plays "tiger organ" and moog, in addition to conventional piano – adding in th…
Cosmo Sun Connection
A CD containing the limited edition Recommended LP release that has been out of print for the last 12 years - though much in demand, since it comprehensively covers the diversity of the Arkestra's work - via Africa, through Ellington and all the way on to Pure Electronics. Given to us by Ra over a decade ago, we intend to apply the royalties of this re-release directly to the Arkestra. A Classic
Townsville
The Necks in quiet mood recorded at a concert recording in Townsville, Thuringowa, Northern Queensland. Though many Necks' pieces open with - or eventually arrive at - some discernable groove, Townsville just floats in a state of suspension from beginning to end. It's like watching the ocean as wave follows wave follows wave: each the same; each different; assymetric. Bassist Lloyd Swanton who, on this occasion, provides the motif that set Townsville running says he had had no idea where it woul…
Beyond The Purple Star Zone / Oblique Parallax
Two related classic Saturn LP reissues on a single CD, both recorded at the Detroit Jazz Centre - in 1980 and 1981 respectively. They share an excellent sound quality and great playing - there's a classic version of Rocket No.9 and plenty of otherworldly Moog and electronic keyboards - up there with Ra's best on record. Rocket excepted, all the pieces are original to these LPs and don't appear elsewhere (though the first track of Purple is heard again at the end, with another name (exactl…
Binome
Recorded in 1984, this issue on vinyl of a performance by German bass clarinetist Michel Pilz and French drummer Jean-Noël Cognard is everything my heart needs today, bringing raw but lyrical improvisations on two short album sides (really too short). Both musicians are absolutely great to hear. Pilz's tone on the bass clarinet is excellent, and so are his improvisations. He did not release much under his own name, but performed amonst others with the Globe Unity Orchestra, Peter Kowald a…
The source
“A 4000 year old rock band" W. S. Burroughs. Recognised internationally, Jajouka goes back up to the late Rolling Stone Brian Jones, across his collaboration of 1968, but also to Paul Bowles, Brion Gysin, and William S.Burroughs which had already established their residences for some years together with these musicians of the mountains of Rif. "The Source" is the new record of The "true" Master Musicians of Jajouka and it goes back to the origins of their sacred music. Bachir Attar, last …
The complete short stories 1998-2010
Howard Riley : piano. CD 1 was recorded on 23rd July 1998. CD 2 was recorded on 11th April, 1999. CD 3 was recorded on 29th June 2004. CD 4 was recorded on 2nd August 2006. CD 5 was recorded on 27th June 2008. CD 6 was recorded on 22nd April 2010. All compositions by Howard Riley (PRS MCPS). Mastered by Ar nas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Producer Ð Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer : Valerij Anosov.' label info. 'The beauty of a short story, of course, is that it can be taken …
Live in Nashville & Louisville
arthur doyle- tenor sax, voice; vin paternostro- roland 505; ed wilcox- percussions; leslie q- bass ;rec. march 26 & 27, 2004 at springwater tavern & artswatch...the final available rec. i have left of Arthur, unfortunatly ?! i kept it for the last since i find it a really special goody: a more intimate 4et live dates from 2004
Revenge of the one-eyed hyena
Moody, open, and airy – not really a jazz record, but one that feels quite improvisational in nature – although more in the ways you might get from an extended minimalist jam at start of the 70s! Instrumentation here includes synth, music box, violins, guitar, kalimba, and toy keyboard – but often used in these really abstracted ways, so that the sounds float out in the air, and are circled back a bit – and getting nice and noisy by the end! (Limited edition.)
Tenor
Bertrand Denzler tenor saxophone. Recorded by Christophe Hauser on february 21st, 2010. 'As well as being part of such improvisation ensembles as Hubbub, Trio Sowari and Propagations Sax Quartet, Bertrand Denzler, who plays the tenor saxophone, also records solo music. Each of the three lengthy pieces on Tenor use a single note which are subsequently layered. Not by repeating them on the computer, like say Phill Niblock would do this, but by adding small variations in how he plays them. In Filte…
Paper of pins
"the coming together of this quartet on "paper of pins" has resulted in mature, yet unforced sounding compositions. the touching number "brown reduse" wins you over with its catchy piano sounds and subtle trumpet which is rounded off by the electronica. it's a small orchestral gem in the jazz style which is still edgy despite its perfection. this is highlighted, for example, by the fact that you can hear the brass player drawing breath on some tracks. certainly, the scottish composer is no perfe…
The Paris Tapes
Surprisingly, this remarkable and magnificently captured performance has never been issued on LP (or CD) before. Sun Ra and his larger than usual Arkestra are caught live here – dancers and all – sometime during 1971 at the Théâter du Châtelet in Paris, France for what is surely one of the Arkestra's finest concert happenings – particularly during this period.While Ra's Arkestra was recorded live several times during 1971, the personnel and the instrumentation presented here are closest to a Oct…
Space Probe
Recorded mostly in the early'60s with Ra, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, James Jacson, Nimrod Hunt and Thea Barbara, Space Probe explores stripped back forms and colour combinations that are far from jazz Ð or that attempt, very successfully, to take jazz into wholly new territories. Especially notable is the extraordinary Conversation Of J.P. for piano and percussion which, along with the opening track - an 18-minute Moog solo, probably recorded in 1970, just after Ra had newly acquired the…
A Message From Mozambique
restocked, 2010 repress. Exact repro, originally released in 1973 on the Strata-East affiliated Black Fire label. This is the first LP from this classic Afro free jazz group. Very much in the spirit of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but with more spiritual/soul jazz stylings tempering the pure free jazz fire music vibe. The group would shortly hereafter change their name to Oneness of Juju.
One Night In '88/Pas De Trois
"The boundaries in jazz have now become smoother, the horizon is expanding. Dauner, Mariano and Saluzzi anticipated these developments back in the eighties. You can hear it immediately: three world class musicians get together. Wolfgang Dauner is one of the pioneers of German jazz and is one of the first avant-garde players; he also explores classical territory on the piano. Charlie Mariano showed for decades that he had an open ear for world music influences. And the virtuoso on the bandoneon, …
Identical Sunsets
"Best known for his collaborations with people like Paul Flaherty, Michael Flower and Thurston Moore as well as a year-and-a-half stint as the drummer for Björk's Volta tour, Chris Corsano is widely considered to be one of the best and most adaptive drummers of his generation. Equally adaptive is UK saxophone giant, Paul Dunmall, who has worked disparately with jazz greats like Alice Coltrane and Evan Parker as well as funk and folk acts like Johnny Guitar Watson and Dando Shaft. After a…
The outer darkness
"Our third volume of Sun Ra spoken word opens with a rare space story that I discovered on an unmarked five inch reel of tape. When I played the recording, I discovered an incredible story recited by an unknown artist, with Sun Ra going beyond the call of duty on keyboard. Included are two complete lengthy performances from this 1967 session.... The group recitation, 'The Outer Darkness,' is a reworking of the poem 'I Seek A Better World' originally recited by Ray Stubbs on the first volume.... …