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Forget To Remember: Live Vol.2 1970
**Strictly limited to 500 copies. Digipak with bonus tracks and liner notes by Richard Williams** Jazz in Britain presents Forget To Remember: Live Vol.2 1970 by The Ray Russell Sextet featuring Harry Beckett. Previously unreleased live session recorded at the Aeolian Hall 2, New Bond Street, London on the 2nd January 1970. All tracks from the Ray Russell tape archive.
Near And Far East
Original artwork tip-on 700 gram cardboard. Black polylined innersleeve. Insert sheet Q&A with Lloyd Miller by Tony Higgins + original archive pictures on 350 gram Bristol paper. Made with the intention of exploring and experiencing the various musical and cultural perspectives of a territory as vast as that of Persia, "Near And Far East" is a significant historical document that transcends the restrictive concept of territory but rather inhabits a space of absolute time. The album's content is …
Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows: Live '75
Double CD Edition. Previously unreleased. Recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on the 20th October 1975. This is (almost) the complete Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows suite as originally imagined by Neil Ardley, over twice as long as the 'concise' version which appeared on his Gull studio album a year later. Unfortunately, due to tape issues on the night, only the first two minutes of the closing number of set one were captured. Otherwise, this album is presented exactly as the audience …
Pause, And Think Again
Eargong Records present a reissue of John Taylor's Pause, And Think Again, originally released in 1971. Pianist John Taylor's debut album featuring an all-star octet with John Surman (soprano sax), Stan Sulzmann (alto sax), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet), Chris Pyne (trombone), Chris Laurence (bass), Tony Levin (drums), and Norma Winstone (vocals). A great example of the fine art of British jazz in its marvelous original gatefold cover. A precious object from an unrepeatable era. Licensed from Turtle R…
Black & White Raga
**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 500 copies worldwide. Liner notes by Duncan Heining** Two sessions previously assumed either lost or unrecorded, by Henry Lowther’s and Lyn Dobson’s mid-sixties groups. Considered one of the missing links in the development of British free-form jazz. The Group Sounds Four session includes Jack Bruce, who contributes an original composition never otherwise recorded. Also features Ron Rubin, Ken McCarthy and Jon…
Subversion Through Jazz: The birth of British progressive jazz in a Cold War climate
It’s been four years in the making but is finally now available to pre-order with a release date of early October. A remarkable new and groundbreaking study from Jazz In Britain’s very own Matt Parker. Subversion Through Jazz examines the beginning of the British progressive jazz (BPJ) movement from 1956 to 1964, attempting to identify and plot the progress of its coming into being. This eight-year period of inception was set against the backdrop of two specifically relevant world events: the f…
Into The Archives Vol. 1
**Beautifully packaged 180g vinyl. Flip-back sleeve. Strictly limited pressing run of 300 copies worldwide ** Those already familiar with the output of Jazz In Britain to date will by now have a fair idea of our modus operandi, but for the uninitiated there is no better place to start than with this collection. Whilst none of these recordings could be considered ‘reference’ standard audio, our aim is always to present them in the best possible light, and offer the optimum listening experience to…
Free Flight
Double CD Edition. Recorded at Ronnie Scott's, London, on either the 17th or 18th October 1972. Double CD in digipak with 24 page booklet containing previously unseen images and an extensive essay researched and written by Simon Spillett. From the Ron Mathewson tape archive. This previously unissued live recording features one of the final appearances by the ‘classic’ Tubby Hayes Quartet featuring pianist Mick Pyne, bassist Ron Mathewson (who made the original recording) and drummer Tony Levin, …
Three Nails Left
Corbett Vs. Dempsey present a reissue of Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio's Three Nails Left, originally released in 1975. One of the all-time great records of improvised music from Europe. Period. Blisteringly hot. Uncompromisingly inventive. Staggeringly beautiful. And insanely rare. Originally issued in the mid '70s on FMP, at its core Three Nails Left features the legendary Schlippenbach Trio -- British saxophonist Evan Parker, and German percussionist Paul Lovens joining the German pianist …
Marching Songs Vol. 2
It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…
Marching Songs Vol. 1
It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…
An Elizabethan Songbook
In compiling a modern album of Elizabethan music, London Jazz Four were faced with both technical and interpretive problems. Musically they had to decide how far we could alter the original notation in order to allow ourselves a more modern basis for improvisation, and at the same time preserve the original character of the music. To achieve this, they concentrated on melodies that were strong enough to withstand at times rather violent re-harmonisation, without losing their Elizabethan flavour.…
Oriental Jazz
Born in 1938, and raised in Glendale, California, Lloyd Miller has had one of the most unusual careers in all of jazz. By age 12 he had declared an intent to make his living as a jazz musician, and by high school he had already begun to experiment, shunning swing music's mechanical perfection, and chafing at his parents' desire for him to nurture his talents with formal training. This tumultous relationship with his parents would eventually lead to a stint in a psychatric hospital, before reunit…
1983
Wonderful, previously unreleased recordings by Derek Bailey and his guests at Company Week in 1983. What's remarkable throughout this album is the respect and affection the musicians show for each other, exemplifying the dictionary definition of "company" as "the fact or condition of being with another or others, especially in a way that provides friendship and enjoyment." It starts with "Landslide", a brilliant, spiky, spluttering, twanging reunion of Music Improvisation Company members Evan Pa…
The Music Improvisation Company / Company bundle
Since 2017, Honest Jon’s, the London based record shop and imprint renowned for its forward thinking, democratic approach to music, has embarked on one of its most remarkable and ambitious projects to date - a close collaboration with Derek Bailey’s seminal record label, Incus, returning some of the most remarkable efforts in free improvisation and avant-gardism to the world. So far we’ve seen a stunning series of Bailey’s many solo and collaborative efforts reemerge, bringing his towering histo…
Trios
For the 1983 edition of Company Week held at London's I.C.A. in May of that year, guitarist Derek Bailey once more invited a typically eclectic collection of guests. Cellist Ernst Reijseger is a mainstay of Dutch new jazz (ICP Orchestra, Clusone Trio...), American wind virtuoso J.D.Parran a veteran of the Black Artists' Group and Anthony Davis and Anthony Braxton ensembles, while saxophonists Evan Parker and Peter Brötzmann, as titans of European free improvisation, need no introduction. French …
Epiphanies VII-XIII
More buried treasure from Company Week 1982: seven previously unissued Epiphanies by lineups involving Derek Bailey, Ursula Oppens, Julie Tippetts, Keith Tippett, Philipp Wachsmann, Fred Frith, George Lewis, Anne LeBaron, Motoharu Yoshizawa and Akio Suzuki. Fred Frith is a stellar improviser — 1974’s Guitar Solos is still a seminal album of free improv — and he has three opportunities here to showcase his considerable talents. Eleventh is a tour de force of extended technique, with George Lewis…
Epiphanies I-VI
Derek Bailey’s guests for Company Week at London’s ICA in July 1982 were contemporary classical pianist Ursula Oppens, folk/jazz singer-turned-improviser Julie Tippetts and her partner pianist Keith Tippett, violinist/electronics wizard Philipp Wachsmann, guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, harpist Anne LeBaron, and from Japan free jazz bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa and sound artist Akio Suzuki. Altogether they performed the stunning extended improvisation Epiphany. In different, more i…
Epiphany
Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Company's Epiphany, originally released in 1982. Epiphany \ i-ˈpi-fə-nē \ (1) a manifestation of the essential nature of something (usually sudden) (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something (usually simple and striking) (3) an illuminating discovery or disclosure. All three definitions apply perfectly to this span of music recorded at London's ICA in July 1982. It's a miracle of group interaction, wonderfully paced, moving steadily between mome…
1969, 1970
**Available next week** "The original concepts of vocal and instrumental music are utterly different. The instrumental impulse is not melody in a 'melodious' sense but an agile movement of the hands which seem to be under the control of a brain centre totally different from that which inspires vocal melody. Altogether, instrumental music, with the exception of rudimentary rhythmic percussion, is as a rule a florid, fast and brilliant display of virtuosity... Quick motion is not merely a means t…