Jazz /
Composition No. 30: Compilation III For Improvisers, Bigband And Chamber Ensemble (2CD)
1998 release ** "Composition No.30, which represents Simon H. Fell's third 'Compilation' for large ensemble, is, in my view, an important monument in the history of late 20th Century music. In this single piece one finds not only Ives, Webern, Cage, Ligeti, Partch, and Boulez, but also Ellington, Mingus, Sousa, Sun Ra, and even a little urban blues. It's as if all of Braxton's varied and copious output were microscoped into one audacious work for large ensemble. Fell seems to me to have created …
In The Shadow
Joe Maneri’s last Microtonal recordings from the year 2002. These are not typically arranged songs, but asymmetrical, asynchronous constructs that develop from simultaneous, complimentary but peripheral gestures of the mind and heart. The harmonic contrasts that result from Joe Maneri’s breathy microtones; the fixed pitches, inclining towards atonality, of Tyson Rogers’ piano; and Jacob Braverman’s ambiguously scored percussion color their contrapuntal angles and parallel lines. Layers of energy…
Say Yes. Till No.
2025 stock ** "What Phil Minton creates with nothing but his voice those "simply unbelievable and uncanny sounds for which nothing comparable exists, far and wide" (Bert Noglik) seems to lie beyond what it is possible. He is the indisputable vocal giant of the jazz avant-garde. He meets a collective of kindred spirits with the ICI Ensemble. Comprising some of the most enthusiastically experimental instrumentalists and sonic artists of the German improvisation scene, this ensemble has been creati…
Asynchronous
2009 release ** Paul Dunmall's playing goes from strength to strength. 'Asynchronous' was recorded live at The Europa Jazz Festival, Le Mans in May 2008, and sees Paul in the unmistakable company of longstanding sidemen Paul Rogers and Paul Lytton and the titanic Fred Van Hove on piano.“Dunmall's big, rounded sound and spiralling runs bursting out of a low-key overture, and then engaging in a long, dignified dance with Rogers's dark bowed chords. Dunmall sometimes builds solos in patterns of bri…
Brown Paper Business
2025 stock Suddenly, there was a stick to dig a hole. Now countless years into the future, we await, anticipating more than competition and violence. I am drawn in, and ultimately mesmerised. Later that night, I began to clearly see the de-centralised nature of an awakened awareness, baked to a crisp by a relentless sun on the inside AND the outside. Unobserved, the need for acknowledgement will run away with the spoon leaving nothing to chance. It must be said that no two instances are ever the…
Live At The South Bank
2025 stock ** "On South Bank - the most vital and essential document of Reid and Hebden's five-year partnership-- it feels clear that, at least onstage, they were finally able to go the distance. The invocation "Morning Prayer" opens slowly, circling in space with a meditative calm. For 17 minutes, the pair traces lines around the other's rhythm, Hebden's electronics and keys shaping a cradle for Reid's busy tom-and-cymbal patter, and vice versa. Back in 2006, on Volume 1, "Morning Prayer" felt …
(Y)earbook Volume 1
1992 release ** The first in a three volume compilation (each available separately) of 114 improvisers from around the world, covering a wide variety of approaches to improvisation. Includes Henry Kaiser, Splatter Trio, and Randy McKean.
Live
1991 release ** "Jon Rose, Peter Hollinger, Johannes Bauer & Dietmar Diesner live in Victoriaville in 1990."
No Train
1998 release ** "This is a change of pace for West Coast musician Steuart Leibig, who is joined here by saxophonist Vinny Golia and drummer Billy Mintz for a mix of Leibig compositions and thoroughly improvised numbers. Leibig leaves his violin at home, instead focusing on contrabass guitars, while Golia muscles his way on baritone and soprano saxophones. The composed pieces are loose constructs; a different course from the leader's earlier penchant for densely layered colors. If the disc has a …
Improvvisazioni
1995 release ** "This engaging little slab reflects a 1995 recording date between Evan Parker's saxophones, Antonello Salis' piano and accordion, and Mauro Orselli's drums and cymbals. Featuring nine variously timed improvisations, this works simply because of the sheer delight and will of the performers. Here, texture means nothing, tonality means nothing, listening means nothing. The reason for being, the raison d'être, if you will, is simply action and reaction and more action. This is consci…
Original Gravity
1988 release ** "This is what you get when you put three nutcases like Tony Bevan, Greg Kingston, and Matt Lewis in a room together with their instruments and a case full of toys to play with and turn the tape machine on. Actually, it was recorded live in 1988, so there was the concert's respectability to hold them back somewhat, but not much. This is free improvisation completely realized, articulated, and cacophonously executed in front of a live audience by a group of musical troublemakers wh…
Waterway
2025 stock ** "The quirky acoustic trio of German improvisers Udo Schindler on clarinet, saxophone, cornet, and Euphonium, Johannes Ollinger on acoustic guitar and toys, and Dine Doneff on double bass, waterphone, and toys, the odd instrumentation adding surprising textures and disorienting angles to really fine dialog, technically, melodically, and eccentrically. Two preformances are captured, one at Pollat Pavillon in Munich, Germany in 2015, the other from Schindler's own Salon fur Klang+Kuns…
Hell Dunkel
2025 stock ** "Live recordings from Pöllat-Pavillion in Munich, Germany in 2015 from this seriously fun spontaneous collective improvising trio of Udo Schindler on reeds, cornet, euphonium, and monophonic analogue synthesizer, Philipp Kolb on trumpet, tuba and live electronics, and Sebastiano Tramontana on trombone, voice and whistling; expect the unexpected! "
Etchings In The Air
1996 release (RARE) ** "This encounter between Japanese mystic guitar/hurdy gurdy/percussion and voice demon Keiji Haino (leader of the power rock trio Fushitsusha) is a free for all of textured noise and plucked and bowed notes -- screaming, yelling, hollering, and percussion-like sounds that have nothing whatsoever to do with rhythm. In fact, to be perfectly honest, it is quite difficult to find a language in which to review a music that has no linguistic precepts at all. When Haino is screami…
Kouartéto
"We recorded this CD in May 2023 on the magical Greek island of Hydra in the Old Carpet Factory Studio. The title Kouartéto emanates from the cover image by the artist William Pownall who in the true spirit of Hydra has for many years been an important focus for visitors seeking original artistic creations. And so, in this spirit. The music on this CD reflects a multifaceted response to a multicultural and open understanding of how artists can work together.
Every project involving these four cr…
Live At Jazzdor
Jazz Festivals have often provided the opportunity for a first encounter with musicians that were “on the radar” , so to speak , but for various reasons (often geographical) never came to fruition. Jazzdor in Strasbourg was no exception, and on the 15th November 2023, at the invitation of its director Philippe Ochem, the Trio of Angelica Sanchez, Ramón López and myself performed a set that continued my lifelong association with piano trios.
Ramón is no stranger to me and we have collaborated on …
Sidereus Nuncius – The Starry Messenger
*2025 stock* "It was at Ramón’s suggestion that we record as a duo in the downtime of another studio session, and perhaps it was his constellation of drums and cymbals that prompted the thought of a metaphorical planetary system. So Sidereus Nuncius - The Starry Messenger the title of Galileo Galilei’s short astronomical treatise published in early 1610, did not necessarily stretch the imagination unduly – there it was in front of me!
Galilei’s telescopic observations of the moon and other celes…
So It Goes...
*2025 stock* "Barry Guy and I first met and played together in a version of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the days of the legendary Little Theatre Club. The late John Stevens, visionary prophet of the coming music was the key figure at the centre of things who brought us together. “So it goes“ – John often used this figure of speech.
I was reminded of this when I was looking through Samuel Beckett’s Collected Letters, hoping to glean some titles, knowing that Barry would be happy with a Beck…
Syllogistic Moments
*2025 stock* "Peter Evans and I have occasionally met in larger ensembles for special projects. This particular concert in Uster (Switzerland) within the PAM festival on 18. November 2016, allowed us to delve into the minutiae of duo performance where intense listening and decoding of intentions kept our minds and bodies in high alert. This occasion had us playing somewhat athletically, pushing and pulling ideas around, and to be honest, we both felt exhausted after the concert but also exhilara…