Jazz /
Opinions
Torbjörn Zetterberg’s new record, Opinions, is not a conventional “solo” outing. It doesn’t represent the bassist, composer, and bandleader stepping away from all that to prove his mettle as a virtuoso unaccompanied improvisor. Anyone familiar with Zetterberg’s small group recordings needs no confirmation of his prowess. And anyway, strutting his stuff is not his vibe. Certainly not the vibe of this record, where the bassist plays more than bass, a solo venture on which he is occasionally joined…
Itaru Oki Last Message With Masahiko Satoh
Japanese free jazz pioneer and trumpeter Itaru Oki, who passed away in August 2020, was active mainly in Europe. He was one the key players in the development of a distinctively Japanese take on free jazz in the Tokyo scene of the late 1960s and early 70s, leading his own power trio and collaborating with other formative names like percussionist Masahiko Togashi and bassist Keiki Midorikawa. His last recording (recorded live on October 7, 2018) was a 75-minute improvisation with legendary Masahi…
Hidros 8 Heal
Tip! For the 8th edition of Mats Gustafsson's NU Ensemble, Gustafsson focused on the current state of the world, „Hidros 8 Heal" is an attempt to rise and find the questions about the state of things. there is an extreme unbalance on local and global levels at the moment — from ideological, economical, cultural and political perspectives – and we need an equilibrium of some sorts very soon. can it heal ? what can make it all heal? and for how long can it heal?
Anna Högberg - alto and baritone sa…
MSM Molecular Systematic Music - Live
Over the last half-decade Saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis has emerged as one of the most exciting figures in jazz and improvised music, a voracious listener who rejects stylistic hierarchies and one that has feverishly explored new ideas and embraced fresh motivations with every new project. Inspired by molecular biology, he develops a special system for a surprising and beautiful music with his Quartet with drummer Chad Taylor, pianist Aruán Ortiz, and bassist Brad Jones. He has ta…
Idrissa's Dream
Strut continues their work from the archives of Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids with a first ever vinyl release of Ackamoor’s debut avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from 1971 with The Collective, based out of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The group was formed after Ackamoor had returned to Antioch from a spell in L.A. under the wing of influential saxophonist Charles Tyler. Pianist Lester Knibbs had been appointed to the Antioch college music department as an assistant professor and had followed a sim…
Spurious Correlations
Limited edition of 200 copies.* "In statistics, a ‘spurious correlation’ is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen, factor. Spurious correlations look like causal relationships in both their statistical measures and in graphs, but they're not real."
Tomorrow Is The Question!
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* This was definitely a perfect title for Ornette Coleman's second and last album for Contemporary before switching on Ertegun's Atlantic label. Originally released in 1959 "Tomorrow is the Question" was an early evident step towards the revolution to come. An adventurous yet accessible, bluesy album with Coleman and Don Cherry tasting for the first time the freedom of a pianoless rhythm section featuring Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass and the great Shelly Man…
4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter"
4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter", the companion piece to Solos, is the sonic result of a collaboration with artist Lawrence Weiner. As Landry remembers, “I was working for Keith Sonnier at Castelli Gallery and met Lawrence. He asked ‘can you make a video for me?’ So we did "To and Fro..." At some point he was working on "A First Quarter" (1973) and wanted me to do the music. I said ‘I already have the music.’ He said ‘what do you mean?’ I had recorded several pieces with Kurt Munkcasi and walk…
Solos (2LP)
On February 19, 1972, a crew of mostly Louisiana-raised musicians came together at the Leo Castelli Gallery on West Broadway in Soho to perform a wholly improvised concert. This ensemble’s solos spring from collective improvisations and a tumultuous backbeat, loosely inspired by the creations of Coltrane, Coleman, Albert Ayler, and their brethren. The de facto leader was Richard “Dickie” Landry, a saxophonist and keyboardist who joined composer Philip Glass’s group in 1969. Landry had become a f…
Universal Tonality
William Parker’s Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, this Universal Tonality happening took place in December 2002. Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds – to j…
Gravity Without Airs
*In process of stocking.* The exemplary & well-traveled cornetist Kirk Knuffke here introduces a bold new trio – with bassist Michael Bisio & pianist Matthew Shipp – on an intimate & expansive double album. Gravity Without Airs features the three world-class musicians on both Knuffke compositions and in open form, together creating a tour-de-force of poetry and verve. “Rhythmically precise, New Orleans funky and full of grace, Kirk Knuffke’s music is a reflection of his multifaceted personality:…
Wesen
*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 200 copies.* Imagined (?) dreams of being chased, false awakenings, etc. analyzed through a lens of the gestaltpsychologic understanding. Perceptions containing qualities that do not result from the arrangement of simple sensory qualities. An example of Gestalt-qualität, as Christian von Ehrenfels writes, is a melody that may consist of individual tones, but is much more than just the sum of these tones. Individual tones could combine to form completel…
I'm Here
*Limited edition of 500 copies* Drummer and composer Edward Vesala, the most internationally renowned jazz musician from Finland, was very keen on percussion instruments. Oddly enough, this broad and enduring interest is hardly evident on his albums.Whether playing on his own albums or contributing to other musicians’ work, Vesala played a standard drum kit most of the time. He hardly used external percussionists on his own albums either. And most of all: his music was almost never percussive, a…
Signe Emmeluth
Its an honor for the AFJ-Series to introduce the self-titled debut album by Danish Oslo resident Signe Emmeluth. Recorded at Flerbruket, in the forest an hour outside of Oslo - Emmeluth alone in a room with her alto and tenor saxophones.
A fantastic session of sax solo ecstasies recorded by Magnus Hemnes Nergård. Much like Joe McPhee's Tenor and Peter Brötzmann's 14 Love Songs, this album share the same beautiful intimacy. It is close, sparse, poetic and raw at the same time. Minimalist and soul…
Introducing Paul Bley
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Originally released in 1953 on Charles Mingus's own "Debut" label, this is Paul Bley's historical debut album. Here the young talented and technically strong pianist appears as leader of a super-trio with nothing but Mingus himself on bass and Art Blakey on drums. This is a beautifully varied set including both renditions of classic standards such as "I can't get Started", and Bley's early originals like "Opus 1" and "Spontaneous Combustion" This is where you ca…
Penumbra II
Limited edition compact disc of a previously unreleased recording made at a rare 1971 studio performance by a Karl Jenkins-led nine piece group of stellar musicians.
“At the time, I had taken Karl’s answer to mean that Penumbra II contained no material exclusive to it, possibly consisting of different arrangements of music previously recorded by Nucleus or recycled later in Soft Machine. At it turns out, I was both right and wrong: Penumbra II is previously unheard but does include some famili…
Globe Unity
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* In 1966, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach assembled his first large ensemble to play his compositions “Globe Unity” and “Sun.” This 14-piece band, which brought together some of the leading figures in European improvised music, would eventually expand – incorporating not only Europeans but also American and Asian musicians – and assume its rightful name: Globe Unity Orchestra. In its nascent outing, beautifully recorded at Ariola Studio in Cologne, Schlippenba…
The Art Is In The Rhythm
"The music on this recording definitely has a mainly Jazz slant, so I thought it a good idea to dedicate it to other Jazz players (Charlie Parker and Eric Dolphy), that represent the best of that music and were an inspiration to us and many more players. I felt a recording that represented this very important project, and what we achieved together, was long overdue. So here we offer you some music we played in 1989. But still sounds, to me, as fresh as the day we first played it."
I felt a recor…
Respiration
Respiration adds to the Cecil Taylor oeuvre a nearly perfect 43 minutes of Taylor’s solo power recorded at a beautiful level of quality. It comes from early-ish in his career—it’s always surprising to me, even though I know the history very well, how early Taylor was going this far away from the rails—when he had only just cemented his mature vision ( Conquistador! and Unit Structures were 1966). It feels as joyfully playful for him as it does for him as it does for us.
It’s hard to tell sometim…
Jazzpreis
Tip! *In process of stocking. Limited edition of 500 copies.* Dry-sober: The whole thing is not new. Neither the line-up nor the methodology according to which the music on this record is organized. The two have known each other for 40 years, then as now they just met and started playing, without prior arrangements, earlier out of ignorance, today out of the opposite: the results are amazingly similar. Only: the recordings from the last 40 years, made privately with the tape recorder or later by…