* small repress available*This special bundle collects the latest Be! Jazz / FMP vinyl represses, namely the following three LP:

Globe Unity Orchestra and Guests "Pearl" (1977)
Brötzmann / Oliver / Kellers feat. Manfred Schoof "In a State of Undress" (1989)
I.C.P. Tentet "In Berlin" (1979)



Globe Unity Orchestra and Guests "Pearl" (1977)

**Edition of 200 copies.** For fans of European free jazz, Globe Unity Orchestra needs little introduction. The project is nothing short of legendary, carving a path over the last half century. Formed as with a commission received by Alexander von Schlippenbach in 1966 - debuting at the Berliner Philharmonie late in that year - it joined three of the most powerful forces in German freely improvised music as a single unit - Gunter Hampel's quartet, Manfred Schoof's quintet, and Peter Brötzmann's trio - and in so doing gave rise to a sound that has had little equivalent before or since.

Globe Unity Orchestra belongs to an important shift in the development of free jazz that began to percolate on both sides of the Atlantic around the time it was formed; the development of larger collectives and ensembles - from the AACM, Arkestras led by Sun Ra and Horace Tapscott, to John Coltrane’s band on Ascension and beyond - at a rate not seen since the rise of be-bop in the 1940s. With it came a new, wilder sound of new possibility, driven and focused, often howling like a thousand voices at once. Almost from inception, Globe Unity Orchestra became a vehicle for collaboration and discourse from artists across the globe; linking different scenes of artists in the same creative conversation, something incredibly apparent in the line up of their seminal 1977 LP, Pearls, reissued now for the first time by Be! Jazz.

It would be hard to find a more distinguished group of players, from such a range of geographies and individual cultures, than the ensemble that features on Pearls. It’s jaw dropping; Alex Schlippenbach, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Gerd Dudek, Michel Pilz, Peter Brötzmann, Rüdiger Carl, Buschi Niebergall, Peter Kowald, Paul Lovens, Albert Mangelsdorff, Günter Christmann, Paul Rutherford, Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler, and Manfred Schoof. Recorded in Baden-Baden during November of 1975, as a culmination of the "New Jazz Meeting - Ten Years Globe Unity Orchestra”, the album is comprised of 4 compositions, covering a vast range of approaches and forms of attack, from the Evan Parker’s opening howls on his own, Every Single One Of Us Is a Pearl, stretching across the entire first side, to the brittle, frenetic interplay featured across Alexander Schlippenbach’s Kunstmusik II and The Onliest, to a stunning reworking of Thelonious Monk’s Ruby My Dear, that chugs like a train and makes a loving nod to this music’s roots in earlier forms of jazz.

One of the most coveted artifacts of the legendary FMP catalog, as well as within the seminal output of Globe Unity Orchestra, Pearls is one those records that defies justice with words. Diverse and ambitious in its compositional make up, as much as through its players, it’s a crucial window into the potential and spirit envisioned by improvisers during the mid 1970’s; an optimist, global conversation in sound that offers a forward thinking vision of creativity as a social cultural bridge. Unquestionably one of the most exciting and important free jazz reissues in recent years. Not to be missed!



Brötzmann / Oliver / Kellers feat. Manfred Schoof "In a State of Undress" (1989)

**Edition of 200 copies. This is the sixth release in BeJazz reissue series of long-lost classics from the legendary vaults of FMP Records, presented in restored original packaging and newly remastered for optimal sound** This is the sixth release in BeJazz reissue series of long-lost classics from the legendary vaults of FMP Records, presented in restored original packaging and newly remastered for optimal sound** In the context of European free improvised music, it would be hard to find a name that towers to the heights of Peter Brötzmann. Trained as a visual artist, the saxophonist turned toward music during the second half of 1960s, and quickly became a focussed, creative lens for the social and political upheaval that was sweeping Europe, shooting from the gate with some of the most furious and emotive recordings in the history of jazz - For Adolphe Sax, Machine Gun, Nipples, Balls, etc. - so potent that, more than 50 years later, they still feel like a brick to the head.

Still as active as ever, Brötzmann remains one of the great spirits of collaboration in the field of free improvisation. Always keen to share the stage and billing, he is equally a master of conversation, as ready to interject as he is to step back and listen. At no point during his long career has Brötzmann failed the call to challenge himself and others, and grow and change as an artist. But, as is often the case, attention often focuses on his early groundbreaking gestures from the 60s and 70s, and those emerging now, while the link between - just as vibrant and thrilling - gets overlooked. Be! Jazz’s reissuing of his 1989 LP with Jay Oliver, Willi Kellers, and Manfred Schoof, In a State of Undress, takes incredibly important steps toward bringing his seminal efforts from the 80s and 90s back into the larger consciousness.

Free jazz from the 80s and 90s tends to get the short end of the stick, and not without reason. It was an era during which many of the remaining lights of the 60s and 70s scenes veered down more conservative paths, sometimes flirting with outright traditionalism. But there are plenty of exception that tell another tale of underground, radial activity continuing the change, and In a State of Undress is one such case. Recorded with the American expatriated bassist, Jay Oliver, who also did exceptional work with Jemeel Moondoc, Jimmy Lyons, Rüdiger Carl, and others, regular Brötzmann collaborator, the drummer Willi Kellers, and the legendary Manfred Schoof, on Trumpet, Flugelhorn, the album almost feels like a critique of the moment unfolding in real time, Schoof weaving lines that flirt with straight ahead jazz, before being attacked by Brötzmann’s horn, and Oliver and Kellers’s furious and intricate patterns of texture and rhythm.

Stunningly rich, engaging, and challenging at every turn, In a State of Undress, emerging in the capable hands of Be! Jazz, is nothing short of a revelation. A crucial link between Brötzmann’s furious beginning, and the fire we all know him to carry today. Absolutely essential and mind-blowing. Not to be missed.



I.C.P. Tentet "In Berlin" (1979)

**Edition of 200 copies. This is the seventh release in BeJazz reissue series of long-lost classics from the legendary vaults of FMP Records, presented in restored original packaging and newly remastered for optimal sound** Not unlike Globe Unity Orchestra and the Company ensembles led by Derek Bailey, Instant Composers Pool (I.C.P.) was one of the seminal large free-jazz bands to emerge on the global and European scenes during the 1960s. Founded in 1967 as a musicians co-op by iconic Dutch improvisors, Han Bennink, Willem Breuker, and Misha Mengelberg, the project rapidly became one of the central aggregators of avant-garde creativity in the Netherlands, expanding and contracting between smaller ensembles, a tentet, and full orchestra, often including the contributions of artists from other geographies, most consistently Peter Brötzmann.

Recorded live during the Workshop Freie Musik in Berlin during April of 1977, In Berlin is among Instant Composers Pool’s most iconic documents, featuring a Tentet comprised of John Tchicai, Gilius Van Bergeijk, Peter Bennink, Peter Brötzmann, Maarten Altena, Tristan Honsinger, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Michel Waisvisz, and Bert Koppelaar. Comprised of 12 individual compositions by a selection of the featured players, doubling as document and workshop, it quickly reveals why I.C.P. stood out from all the rest. It’s one of the few instances where free-jazz equally inspires the desire to laugh, as well as complete awe in the creativity unfolding before your ears.

A joyous explosion, splicing playful humour with rigorous creative exploration and freedom, In Berlin sounds like a circus exploding into a thousand pieces, where each fragment is joined in a wild and unpredictable dance. In a total structure where flirtations with woozy popular music give way to incredible improvisations where all the stops are pulled out, it’s hard to think of any equivalent for what is accomplished on these two sides. An absolutely thrilling, singular topsy-turvy world of its own, there’s no way to recommend this one enough. It rewrites nearly every known perception of free jazz in the 70s. We can’t thank Be! Jazz enough for bringing it back.