Jazz /
The Shape of Jazz to Come
Zeitkratzer keeps on being good for a surprise and finally goes jazz! Looking at the line-up of the "modern composition supergroup" (The Wire) it seems astonishing that it took so long: Saxophonists Frank Gratkowski and Hayden Chisholm both won independently the German radio SWR Jazz award, the French horn virtuoso Hild Sofie Tafjord grew up with jazz, as her father and uncle are members of Norwegian jazz group Brazz Brothers, Hilary Jeffery toured with numerous jazz musicians, as did drummer Ma…
Cepi Meets Hic
"Cepi is a solid reality located in the south of France. It’s Barre Phillips’ vision about improvisation. It can be flexible about the team but not about the idea above it all. Hic stands for Hidden Improvisers Consort; it’s a study group under the guide of Claudio Lugo. This meeting has been organized and strongly desired by Barre Phillips and Tommaso Rolando. We made a big circle, we played with the fire."The Cepi Nomads: Barre Phillips - Contrabass / György Kurtag - Electronics / Laurent Char…
First Time Out: Live at Slugs 1967
The musical legacy of Rashied Ali receives a powerful rejuvenation with the publication of a previously unissued set by Ali's group, recorded live at Slugs in 1967. This obscure appearance may have been only the second time that Ali had led a band in public. Band membership is stellar and unprecedented, and the tunes they play predate all known segments of Rashied's career as a composer or bandleader. Drummer Rashied Ali (1933–2009) was still officially on the job as John Coltrane's drummer whe…
Dauwhe
Black Saint present a reissue of John Carter Octet's Dauwhe, originally released in 1982. Dawhe is the first chapter in John Carter's Roots and Folklore saga. A five-part epic journey through the African American heritage conceived by the great clarinetist-composer and performed by a stellar line-up featuring Carter himself, Bobby Bradford (cornet), James Newton (flute), Charles Owens (soprano sax, oboe, clarinet), Red Callender (tuba), Roberto Miranda (bass), William Jeffrey (drums), and Luis P…
Nonzigo
Anma Ott is excited to announce the debut LP of Spemakh, a six-piece surprisemusic-group from across Germany (Saarbrücken, Nürnberg, Berlin, Bonn). Drawing from all corners of the compositional sphere, from free-jazz to serialism and concrète, and using a wide range of homemade and custombuilt wind and percussion instruments, as well as viola, doublebass, voice-noise, guitar, objects and miniature electronics, the band is aiming for a radical play with uncertainty, involving humour, gesture an…
Black Case Volume I and II: Return From Exile
Last copies...Joseph Jarman (1937 - 2019) was a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist best known as a founding member of trailblazing avant-garde jazz group Art Ensemble of Chicago. Jarman was responsible for the Art Ensemble’s signature face paint and elaborate costumes as well as the pioneering theatrical and multimedia elements of their shamanistic performances, which could include dance, comedy, performance art, surreal pranks, and—notably—the recitation of Jarman’s poetry. In 1977, Art Ense…
Duets 1992
2024 stock Trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Cecil Taylor, friends going back to their Truman-era school days, associated copiously in nearly every artistic fashion -- except making music together. Duets is their only meeting in studio apart from both artists appearing on Taylor's 1966 landmark Blue Note LP, Conquistador. In 1992 they made the briefest summer festival tour to Italy and France, budgeting in two additional days for this recording session. That musical output was prepared for a rele…
... Is Eternal Life
Drummer, composer and poet William Hooker has been a tireless force in free improvised music for over 40 years. He emerged from New York's loft jazz scene in the mid-'70s, part of a generation of artists fueled by the social, political and cultural frustrations of their era. This second wave of American free jazz would push relentlessly into new territories – collaborating in a variety of non-traditional settings, establishing their own labels, venues, etc. – all in an effort at creative self-de…
Peace and Blessings
** Original 1979 vinyl edition of the album. Few copies available. Sealed copies ** A fantastic album recorded in Italy, but with all the soulful roots of Kalaparusha's earlier years with the AACM – an incredible balance of tone and timing, handled by a quartet - this obscure set features passionate blowing by Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (heard on tenor, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion) along with the little-known Longineu Parson on trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, sopranino and record…
Swimming Pool Orchestra
**Original 1981 vinyl edition of the album. Few copies available** A real piece of creative madness. With "Swimming Pool Orchestra", Mario Schiano decided not only to continue with the humor of provocation (two musicians are locked in a dilapidated recording studio, where the sound engineer tries to repair the water pipes. The two try to wait, quarrel, until the studio is flooded and the record can no longer be made), but also inviting in the studio Umberto D'Ambrosio, aka Trottolino, a minstre…
The Complete Remastered Recordings
The legendary jazz recordings made by Black Saint/Soul Note make a welcome return to the active catalog with this series of specially-priced boxed sets that highlight some of the label's finest artists. Roscoe Mitchell - The Complete Remastered Recordings features nine discs in slipcases with original album artwork housed in a clamshell box. Included are Mitchell's 3x4 Eye, Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound and Space Ensembles, The Flow of Things, Live at the Knitting Factory, Duets and Solos, This …
Crystal Spears
Recorded in ’73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in ’75, Crystal Spears (or “Crystal Clear” as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Sun Ra’s once lost aural cinematheque! Includes a quad-ra-color Sun Ra poster!Crystal Spears, inten…
Ailanthus/Altissima: Bilateral Dimensions of 2 Root Songs
2010 release. Deluxe collector's item issued in a limited edition of 475 (numbered). 81 minutes of duet recordings with Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley. The pieces were selected by the musicians from ten hours recorded during their two weeks at New York's Village Vanguard in 2008. Comes in a gatefold sleeve; Accompanied by museum-grade folio, including exclusive original poetry by Cecil Taylor and paintings by Tony Oxley. Personnel: Frank Lowe - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, voice, perc…
Live At Islington Mill
**Limited edition of 100 copies only on Green vinyl** Comes with one insert. Backwards proudly presents a new Konstrukt vinyl release! Live at Islington Mill finds Konstrukt working with 2 amazing guest artists Graham Massey (of 808 State) and David McLean (of the Tombed Visions label). This live recording from last year finds the Turkish group and their guests filtering free jazz through a 70’s era-Miles approach. Konstrukt has been making a name for themselves for a quite a while now with an i…
Out Loud
2024 Restock. Strictly limited to 550 hand-numbered copies, this deluxe 2-LP edition presents the complete recordings by the hitherto invisible 1974 quartet of Frank Lowe, Joe Bowie, William Parker, and Steve Reid. For what would have been his second album as leader, Frank Lowe captured this cataclysmic quartet in-studio at Survival and in performance at Studio Rivbea. Lowe called it "Logical Extensions". These 1974 tapes went unreleased and are heard only now in this rediscovered and expanded v…
More Intra Musique
When glancing over the history of indigenous French free improvised music, there tends to be two observable categories of musicians - those who worked and collaborated with their counterparts from abroad, and those who worked independently. The former is generally more celebrated, and among those the drummer Jacques Thollot, who worked with Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Sonny Sharrock, Sam Rivers, Joachim Kühn, and numerous others, as well as with French pioneers like Barney Wilen and Jef Gilson, rank…
Cosmic Love
Joe McPhee on seven inches of pure loving vinyl. Features two versions of the 1970 classic "Cosmic Love". McPhee rocking the cosmic wavelength on space organ and tenor sax. Recorded in Poughkeepsie, NY, 1970; Produced by John Corbett; Vinyl project coordinated by Marc Bonadies. Cover artwork by Dick Higgins. 33 1/3 rpm.
Staffan Harde
2015 release. A reissue of Staffan Harde's self-titled album, originally released on Svenska Jazzriksförbunded Records (SJR) in 1972. Based on the tiny Swedish fishing island of Smogen, guitarist Staffan Harde created a wholly unique and wondrous approach to his instrument, documented assiduously on hand-made reel-to-reel tapes and this lone LP from 1972, which features Harde solo and with small groups. His accomplices included pianist Lars Sjösten, bassist Lars-Urban Helje, and the acclaimed pe…
Intra Musique
Some of the earliest music from groundbreaking French drummer Jacques Thollot – and proof that right at the start, he was already in a unique space that was all his own! His first release, released on the Futura Records in 1971, is called "Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Giraffe A La Mer"; it is a splendid example of spacey-like, fragile and imaginative compositional style fusing jazz, electronic experiments, culminating in a blissful listening experience and it has earned Thollot the place …
Hidros6
"A significant part of the success is down to the amazing tour de force by Norwegian experimental vocalist Stine Janvind Motland who brings an affecting mix of vulnerability, sexuality and sheer prowess to the party. Gustafsson selected a line from each of 20 favorite Little Richard songs to serve as the basic text for Motland to embroider. Via a graphic score Mats Gustafsson also ensures ample solo space for his illustrious cast, as well as composed sections peppered throughout the performance.…