Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Velvele : Beating the usuls of Ottoman/Turkish Music, dividing them by section.

*50 copies limited edition. 2025 stock* Introducing morosphinx, a squeaky trio from Brussels. Recorded in Vilvoorde, on the outskirts of the Belgian capital, this album probes impressions of relative distances within a sound space. morosphinx projects us into a musical context that is both strange and familiar, where sounds blend together and define their own landmarks. The A side of Vilvoorde is experienced as a long, unresolved breath. Silence is its latent base and reminds the listener of it …

LP version. Original score by Krzysztof Penderecki. New reading and conduction by Mats Gustafsson. The first (and until now only?) recorded interpretation of Krzysztof Penderecki's Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra took place in 1971 at Donaueschingen and featured the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by the great Polish composer. That orchestra also consisted of 14 musicians, including international jazz heavyweights such as Kenny Wheeler, Peter …

*2024 stock* Mathias Eick’s intensely melodic trumpet occupies the centre-stage in this album of self-penned tunes which will appeal to an audience beyond “jazz”. Against the powerful backdrops offered by his sleek, modern band, driven by two drummers, he delivers richly lyrical soliloquies.

Mathias Eick reflects on distances travelled in this intensely melodic set of original compositions, which makes an imaginative journey from Hem, the tiny Norwegian village where the trumpeter grew up, to the vast plains of Dakota in the American Midwest. It was to the Midwest that hundreds of thousands of Norwegians travelled by sea in the 19th and early 20th  centuries – and naturally they took their music with them. In similar spirit Eick, a Norwegian improviser-composer strongly influenced b…

1998 release ** "This CD represents the pinnacle of IST's achievements so far. Phil Durrant's Sowari For Ist, concentrates upon texture and timbre as opposed to pitch and rhythm. The resulting music is detailed, fragile, abstract and beautiful, pushing acoustic instruments further into a sound-world more often associated with acousmatic forms. In Mark Wastell's Ritmico the emphasis is upon rhythm and the particular sonorities produced by the percussive possibilities of the wooden parts of each i…

After a solid run of five studio albums and 2019's two double live albums, Psychedelic Backfire I and II, Elephant9 had taken their groovy mix of high energy rock and power jazz as far as they could. In this respect, Arrival Of The New Elders comes as a welcome and most timely addition to their recorded output. More varied, mature and reflective, don't let the self-ironic (?) title mislead you, they are as groovy as ever, but more structured and less jam oriented, with the longest track clocking…

**2022 Stock. Originally released in June 1973, audiophile pressing taken from the original analog tapes** It had been preceded by ECM duo albums with Barre Phillips and with Derek Bailey as well as the cooperative band Circle’s great Paris Concert, but Conference of the Birds, recorded in 1972, was Dave Holland’s first album as a full-fledged leader. An album of driving, progressive jazz it is also of historical significance as the only occasion when Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton, two of the m…

CD version. After a solid run of five studio albums and 2019's two double live albums, Psychedelic Backfire I and II, Elephant9 had taken their groovy mix of high energy rock and power jazz as far as they could. In this respect, Arrival Of The New Elders comes as a welcome and most timely addition to their recorded output. More varied, mature and reflective, don't let the self-ironic (?) title mislead you, they are as groovy as ever, but more structured and less jam oriented, with the longest tr…

2025 stock It´s not often a "jazz" band take the big step from the club scene to a 1300 capacity rock venue like Oslo´s Rockefeller. But then again, Elephant9 is not your ordinary jazz band, often being named as Norway´s best live band - surely quite rare for an instrumental band - they are equally popular in jazz and rock circles. Here Elephant9 once again join forces with Reine Fiske - who brings another dimension to the band - for an epic slice of mindblowing modern rock´n´jazz prog psychedel…

Their previous album Arrival of The New Elders presented a more varied and reflective trio, still as groovy as ever, but more structured and less jam oriented, earning them a 9/10 review in Uncut and a spot in their albums of the year list, noting their telepathic communion and concluding with “this is an Elephant9 you´ll never forget”. Reviews in Jazzwise, Shindig, Prog, Electronic Sound, The Quietus and several others followed in the same fashion. We´re delighted to confirm that Mythical River…

1988 release ** "Sometimes with a touch of disdain, but it’s merely poetic, political reflection on an incomplete world—the only one we know. Beauty and cruelty, joy and sorrow. The piano, mastering every language, responds to the glowing voice of the singer: Romansh, German, English, French. Sweet, strict, harsh, thrilling, playful."

2025 Stock. On their fourth album, counting the limited vinyl-only Live At The BBC (RLP 2118LP), Elephant9 join forces with Reine Fiske, the quite excellent Swedish guitarist from Dungen, The Amazing and Träd, Gräs och Stenar, for yet another heavy slice of mindblowing modern rock'n'jazz psychedelia. Writers have called upon names like Tony Williams´ Lifetime, Deep Purple, Brian Auger and early '70s Miles Davis to describe Elephant9's music, pointing to the fact that they are comfortable in both…

Girl Talk completes the "trilogy" of great records that started with Midnight Sugar and Misty, Girl Talk solidified Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's reputation as Japan's premier jazz pianist. Though he would continue to tour and record for Takeshi "Tee" Fujii more than a decade, Girl Talk became the pinnacle of his career. This trio of classic LPs together are a benchmark in Japanese jazz records in particular and recording engineering in general. As usual, master recordist Yoshihiko Kannari worked with Yam…

After completing her master's degree at the Anton Bruckner Private University in 2018, Judith Schwarz has been working nationally and internationally as a drummer and composer in the field of jazz and improvised music. Judith is active as an instrumentalist, bandleader and composer in the following projects: Other:M:other, chuffDRONE, Beyond the Beat, Little Rosies Kindergarten, Schülande Engaling, Duo Hofmaninger/Schwarz, Mel*E. She has collaborated with Maria Portugal, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ange…

Following his success with “Blow Up,” the once-weekly favorite bassist Isao Suzuki returns with his fourth release under the Three Blind Mice label. The heavy, groovy sound he crafts alongside the eccentric talent Kenji Mori remains timeless and undiminished by the years.

Helsinki tenor saxophonist Jussi Kannaste's debut album as a band leader has been a long time coming. A top musician in the local scene revered by his contemporaries and sought after as a band member,  Kannaste now presents his new work Out Of Self and Into Others on We Jazz Records. His quartet, Kannaste4, brings together Finnish musicians Tomi Nikku (of Bowman Trio) and Joonas Riippa, plus Berlin-based Swedish bassist Petter Eldh (of Koma Saxo / Post Koma and Y-OTIS), and features an all origi…

Joona Toivanen Trio returns to We Jazz Records with their new album "Gravity", out 31 January 2025. A landmark work for the long standing group, the album showcases the forward-looking sound of the band, moving way beyond the basic scope of the "piano trio". There’s a startling sense of telepathy and intimacy at work in the music of the Joona Toivanen Trio, something you can glean from the opening moments of their latest album, Gravity. It’s that rare synergy that can only come with years of tim…

This concert recording from Munich’s Schwere Reiter performance space features improvisation with an expanded palette of possibilities. “To work with these colours is a great challenge and joy!” says bassist Barry Guy of the glowing and ever-changing tints, timbres and tones radiating from Jordina Millà’s freely associative piano.  Like Guy, Millà is both a player of prodigious technical capacity and a fearless improvisational explorer, and her highly creative use of the piano interior opens up …

1999 release **

Unbalanced Out (Unbalanced In)'. A powerful, challenging 50-minute collaborative piece constructed over a year through file-sharing by a sextet of leading musicians across the world, with Barry Chabala (USA, guitar), Bonnie Jones (USA/Korea, electronics), Louisa Martin (UK, laptop), Tisha Mukarji (Germany, piano), Toshi Nakamura (Japan, no-input mixing board) and Gabriel Paiuk (Argentina, piano)

Abdul Wadud's 1977 solo cello album, privately released and never reissued until now, cut from a DSD transfer of the only surviving master tape. Wadud plays the cello much as a jazz bassist would.

"Beyond a Dream" is a live jazz album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and drummer Norman Connors, recorded on July 22, 1978, at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and released in 1981 by Arista Novus. The album showcases a blend of spiritual and free jazz elements characteristic of Sanders' style, complemented by Connors' dynamic drumming. A reviewer from Dusty Groove described it as "a dream of a record from this legendary spiritual jazz duo."

"Finnish saxophonist Harri Sjöström has been calling Berlin home for nearly 40 years, and for over 10 of them, he has been organizing concerts at venues around the city, featuring a who-is-who of the city's rich improvisation scene and beyond, under the title "SoundScapes." Starting in 2016, he extended the concept and held the first two SoundScapes Festivals in Helsinki, followed by one in Munich, and then, finally, in his adopted hometown. SoundScapes #4 was held over two mid-autumn nights in …

This year we are celebrating the 10th birthday of our label. On this occasion, we have prepared a lot of surprises and very unique musical offerings for you. Here is the first one! What you can expect from the music is perfectly reflected in the album title. Parallel aesthetics which, however, when listened to together become a new perhaps the third aesthetic!One of the most active and respected saxophonists and improvisers on the American jazz scene. An American, Brazilian-born, Jewish-born mus…

"Remedy’s “Hipp Hipp Hooray” honors the 100th birthday of pianist and composer Jutta Hipp, born February 4th, 1925, in Leipzig, Weimar Republic. Consisting of nine compositions loosely related to Hipp’s life story and output, the goal wasn’t to emulate the sound of her day but to get to the essence of Jutta Hipp’s spirit and tell her story through our artistic lens. A multi-level pioneer, Hipp was known as “Europe’s First Lady of Jazz,” the first woman ever to record as a leader for Blue Note Re…

Simon Nabatov - piano, live electronicsMark Helias - bassTom Rainey - drums All music by Simon Nabatov (GEMA) except collectively improvised tracks 4,8,10,12

Marius Cultier was born in 1942 in Fort-de-France, Martinique. He was recognised a highly talented and gifted child who, at the age of nine, conducted with the L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Fançaise, the French national public broadcasting organisation. He also cut his teeth as a radio presenter, hosting a popular show 'Punch en Musique', a rapid and precocious rise that further cemented his name as a musical prodigy. Cultier recorded his debut album in 1969 and by the mid-70s was crafti…

2007 release  ** "NEWS is a new work, whose ingredients, on the surface, are quite simple. Lukas Simonis wrote the music, while Takayuki Kawabata wrote the lyrics, which are featured on the CD cover, and also spoken or sung, in Japanese or in English. Simonis plays the guitar, which mostly appears as "sound" (the main exception being an arpeggio sounding halfway between Thinking Plague and Pink Floyd which appears more than once in the track titled Original NEWS), and also "effects", which judgi…

2006 release  ** "This is the 2nd album by the incredible Polish Jazz ensemble Sing Sing Penelope, led by drummer Rafal Gorzycki and also including trumpeter Wojciech Jachna, saxophonist Tomasz Glazik, keyboardist Daniel Mackiewicz and bassist Patryk Weclawek. Violinist Sebastian Gruchot guests on one track. They play all original music, composed mostly by Gorzycki and Jachna or credited to the ensemble. Stylistically this is an incredible mixture of many elements from Jazz, Rock, Ambient, RIO a…

1998 release  **

2006 release  ** "Avant garde jazz, it's all just a load of old guys making squeaky sounds with long pauses isn't it? Well yes, to a point it is but I think Rune Grammofon have taught us that it can, occasionally, be a lot of fun. Over two giant sprawling live improvisations (one 40+ mins and the other 30+), Bob Marsh and co proceed to learn and unlearn their craft, weaving in and out and creating some quite terrifying sounds. You don't need a degree in avant garde musical forms to enjoy this, b…

2010 release  ** "In the late 1990s, New Yorkers became enamored with a brash group of freewheeling improvisers from Atlanta going under the name Gold Sparkle Band. The chemistry of their fresh and ambitious style clicked with the New York establishment, and the group members soon began integrating with the entrenched Downtown musicians in taking the music forward at events like the Vision Festival and venues where free speech was practiced. Drummer Andrew Barker and reed player Charles Waters a…

2007 release  ** "Trapping captures BTT virtually live in the studio - from memory, only the vocals were overdubbed - , and reveals a tight band which constantly rehearsed and modified it's music always with the next gig in mind. The recording covers the whole range of the band's music from free improv to RnB influenced pop. The disc kicks off with "Sanctified", which combines Pete and Paul's stop/start riff with a horn part I ripped off from John Lee Hooker's VeeJay recording of Green Onions ad…

2010 release  ** "Bolognesi has expanded her group this time out - featuring a core group of bass, drums, trombone, saxophones and percussion surrounded by other performers on various saxes, flutes, clarinets and trumpet, to form an 11-piece ensemble. This "open-ness" opens up a wide range of sounds and colors that is centered by Bolognesi's vibrant yet substantial bass tones. […] The result is a cohesive whole that displays Bolognesi's surprisingly mature writing that combines traditional with …

2007 release ** "Tanake is unexpected music, hearth lungs sweat (even brain but kept in a hidden place), is music mentally physic, is music physically mental, is twilight at dawn, bitter honey, fresh decomposition, joy in crying. tanake is music generated by her 3ree sweethearts... In the early days [by the way: in the first album "tsu.zu.ku" (2000) tanake meant to reach structure by means of improvisation, but time left the songwriter soul all alone, and tanake's been surrounded by the never en…

Among the fiercest and greatest documents of Free Jazz is a lone LP - Al-Fatihah - self-released in Ohio by Black Unity Trio in 1969, the official reissue of which stands before us now. A hard cut diamond of pure fire and artistry, it’s a good as improvised music from this era gets and absolutely not to be missed

*2023 stock* "The arrangements by Carla Bley are miracles of dynamics, rising and falling in volume and velocity and the awe-inspiring balance of collective ensembles improvising freely through swellings and contractions of individual voices entering and leaving the mysterious swirling circle of simultaneous songs as diverse as the number of performers yet never lacking in the kind of transporting telepathic unity that makes this multiplicity of musical lines such a far cry from the chaos of the…

2025 Stock. Instant Composers Pool presents Goede Reis !. All music composed by Oscar Jan Hoogland and Han Bennink except Hornin’ In, Epistrophy and Ugly Beauty by Thelonious Monk, Peer’s Counting Song by Misha Mengelberg, Aanhanghuis by Oscar Jan Hoogland, Rhythm Three by Cor Fuhler and Fleruette Africaine by Duke Ellington.  Recorded & Mixed by Marc Schots at Bimhuis, Amsterdam August 13th 2020. Artwork by Han Bennink. Photo artwork by Pieter Boersma. Graphic Design by Emma Fischer.

There is no doubt that Misha Mengelberg was an excellent, even a great, jazz pianist.  He was already close to that when he recorded with Eric Dolphy at the end of the latter’s career and he certainly was there by the mid ‘60s, when he was leading a quartet with alto saxophonist Piet Noordijk and drummer Han Bennink. But Mengelberg, like Bennink, was a musical maverick rarely content as a performer to play ‘just’ jazz and this is reflected on the solo record Pech Onderweg, recorded 40 years ago …