A wonderful little set – one that features all four FMP albums recorded by Peter Brotzmann and his Die Like A Dog quartet – a cool combo that features Brotzmann on reeds, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet and electronics, William Parker on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums! The group's got a style that draws heavily from Brotzmann's earlier improvisatory work, and really draws him back to his roots after some of his 80s recordings. The reed work is especially great here – and Brotzmann plays alto, tenor, tarogato, and clarinet – but Kondo's trumpet is no slouch either, and really adds a bracing quality to some of the more dynamic numbers. The pairing of Drake and Parker sets the group on very solid, almost soulful rhythmic ground at points – and the 4CD package features the full albums Little Birds Have Fast Hearts 1, Little Birds Have Fast Hearts 2, Fragments Of Music Life & Death Of Albert Ayler, and Aoyama Crows – plus an added booklet of notes. CD

A beautiful chapter in the evolution of these three key artists on the European scene – and a record that has some warmth and wit that nobody might have expected in their music a few years before! All three are still very much in exploration of the kinds of tones and sounds they could reach when playing their heads off – but they also allow for some warmer interplay that almost hints at a slight influence from Misha Mengelberg, whose spirit almost seems to be lurking around the corners of the recording! Peter Brotzman blows Brotzophon, alto, tenor, and clarinet – with Fred Van Hove on piano, and Han Bennink on drums, clarinet, homemade junk, "everything", and "anything" – on titles that include "Das Ist Doch Einfach Genung", "Schoner Geht's Nimmer", and "Ende Mit Brotzophon". LP, Vinyl record album

A key record in the evolution of the free jazz spirit on the German scene – one that not only has the Machine Gun generation allowing for a bit of extra space and moments of contemplation in their music, but which also opens itself up to work from a slightly older member of the scene as well! The group is great – with Peter Brotzmann on clarinet, alto, tenor, and baritone – plus Fred Van Hove on piano, and Han Bennink on drums, self-made clarinet, and "homemade junk" – joined by trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, who almost feels as if he's been waiting for the chance to really open up and experiment with the other improvisers – showing sounds that are maybe even more mindblowing than on his own records of the time! Titles include "Serienze Serie", "Boogie Fur Fred", and "Der Spaziegang". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing document of one of Peter Brotzmann's greatest albums from the time – a set that includes the album on CD, plus a book of photos taken during its creation! The record features spare duets between him and percussionist Han Bennink – recorded in the Black Forest, in a very nature-oriented setting that often has Bennink playing on rocks, sticks, and whatever else he could find – even some water, which sounds especially amazing! Han turns in some of his most inventive percussion ever – and proof that he's easily one of the most creative musicians on the European scene! There's a real focus on sound and feeling on the album – an organic sensibility that's quite different from other Brotzmann sessions, and which often comes across with a surprisingly gentle feel – and the album's a perfect example of the FMP formula at its best, when applied with the right sense of freedom. The whole thing comes in a softcover book with a fantastic presentation – loads of photos that were taken on the way to the forest where the set was recorded, then during the recording of the material too – really beautiful images that live up to the aesthetic of the cover art. The book also features an introductory essay – and the whole thing is 120 pages, with the CD inside the cover – black and white images throughout. CD

Way more than a snapshot – as the double-length set acts more like a full portrait of the European free jazz scene at the time – with special contributions from a wide array of avant German musicians! The feel here is very FMP – especially in the mode of that label's live recordings, which often feature unique combinations of musicians, really driving each other on. As part of that promise, the album features work from the Berliner Improvisations Quartett, with Hermann Keller on piano, Andread Altenfelder on trumpet, and Manfred Schulze on reeds; the trio of reedman Friedhelm Scholfeld; the Ulrich Gumpert Workshop Band, with Gumpert on piano, Ernst Ludwid Petrowsky on reeds, Heinz Becker on trumpet, and Johannes Bauer on trombone; the duo of Gumpert on piano and Gunter Sommer on drums; the Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky Quartet with Sommer on drums and Heinz Becker on trumpet; the Studio IV group, with Petrowsky on reeds, Hubert Katzenbeier on trombone, Eberhard Weise on piano,a nd Joachim Graswurm on trumpet; a trio with Gumpert on piano, Sommer on drums, and Manfred Hering on alto and tenor; and the Hans Rempel Orchester, with Rempel on piano, plus Becker, Graswurm, Petrowsky, Bauer, and Forsthoff. LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal album from Hans Reichel – a musician who might be to free jazz what John Fahey was to acoustic music – a player who can at once be immediately modern and completely timeless in his approach – working here in a way that opens up the instrument beyond any conventional expectations! Many of these tracks have an inherent cyclical pulse – a bit like the way that Fahey could mix Eastern elements with blues inspiration – but there's also a more chromatic approach to the instrument, and ways of playing that go beyond simple notes – so that each touch of a string is almost like a little explosion of color – explosions that work together to make some amazing sounds throughout! Titles include "Bonobo I", "Peter Zweifel", "Lurch", "Toeni", "Moor", "Nicht Sand Sondern Popel Im Getriebe", and "Mariahhilf". CD

Pure acoustic genius from Hans Reichel – an improvising musician who rose up in the same generation as Derek Bailey and Fred Frith, but who's got a sound that's maybe much more in the experimental style of American artists like John Fahey or Robbie Basho! We're not saying that Reichel sounds exactly like either of them, but there is a similar love of overall sonic possibilities, and finding tunefulness far from the norm – continually coming up with breathless beauty at a level that's really unexpected, and definitely different than the usual session of free jazz on the FMP label. Titles include "Could Be Nice", "Two Small Pieces Announced By Cigar Box", "Bonobo Beach 1", "Southern Monologue", and "Bonobo Beach 2". CD

Cecil Taylor on piano, Franky Douglas on guitar and voice, Tristan Honsinger on cello and voice, and Andrew Cyrille on drums and timpani. CD

A masterpiece from the second chapter of FMP – that moment when the label and the European free jazz scene seemed to ruminate with some more intimate, sometimes contemplative modes – which only seemed to further allow the players to express themselves in an even greater range of talents! That's definitely the case here, on the two side-long tracks on the record – work that's free, but also feels more organically grown out of the fertile mental soil of the quartet, rather than sprung up instantly – served up with great care by a lineup that features Schlippenbach on piano, Evan Parker on reeds, Alan Silva on bass, and Paul Lovens on drums. Each track is a side long, and live – and titles include "Ore" and "Anticlockwise". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more soulful, spiritual records to ever come from the horn of Peter Brotzmann – thanks to tremendous work from both Rashied Ali on drums and Fred Hopkins on bass – a duo who give the record a very different flavor than some of Brotzmann's other albums for FMP! The record gives lots of open space both musicians, and Hopkins is especially wonderful – almost inheriting a Jimmy Garrison legacy in his work here, with a balance between outside steps and a core pulse that really sounds wonderful. Ali's as great as on his late work with Coltrane – and Brotzmann seems to respond in spirit in his work on tenor, alto, and tarogato. Titles include "Songlines", "Two Birds In A Feather", "No Messages", "Old Man Kangaroo", "Man In A Vacuum", and "It Is Solved By Walking". CD

An early moment of brilliance as a leader for bassist Peter Kowald – and maybe a record of his that matches the early FMP albums of Peter Brotzmann for sheer, raw intensity! There's almost a Machine Gun-like power here – as the group comes on with all the amazing energy that the early European free jazz scene had to offer – that moment when music like this was as much a force in politics and the larger cultural world as it was in jazz – with Kowald at the head of a group that also features Gunter Christmann and Paul Rutherford on trombones, Peter Van De Locht on alto, and Paul Lovens on drums. The trombones alone are worth the price of admission – and Kowald sometimes joins in on tuba and alphorn – on improvisations that include "Pavement Bolognaise", "Guete Luuni", "Platte Talloere", and "Wenn Wir Kehlkopfoperierte Uns Unterhalten". CD

Overlooked work by one of the true guitar geniuses of the 70s – an artist who should be right up there with Derek Bailey and Fred Frith – especially with groundbreaking work of this nature! Hans Reichel has a very unique approach to the electric – one that's both very deft on the strings, but also has a sonic sensibility that almost seems to use the instrument to trigger sounds as much as to create notes – moments that are often quite melodic, even when free – shifting between the infinite tonal possibilities of the guitar and some of its textural elements too. Some of Reichel's later work wasn't as great as his 70s output – but this album's a tremendous and well-lauded classic! Titles include "Lupi", "Shaved Guitar", "Krampfhandlugen", and "Alfons Al Piepenbrink & His Lonely Wah Wah Pedal". CD

Amazing work from this seminal group on the FMP scene – a quartet led by pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach, but equally balanced between the saxes of Evan Parker, bass of Peter Kowald, and percussion of Paul Lovens! We're not sure how much to take the "nails" in the title seriously, but it does sound as if Schlippenbach is playing prepared piano at times – or perhaps his command of the keyboard is just so strong, he can make other-worldly elements come from the instrument whenever he wants! Much of the music has a full-on FMP intensity – that non-stop, sonically adventurous quality inherited from Machine Gun – spun out over three great live improvisations, titled "Range", "Black Holes", and "Three Nails Left". CD

Amazing work from this seminal group on the FMP scene – a quartet led by pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach, but equally balanced between the saxes of Evan Parker, bass of Peter Kowald, and percussion of Paul Lovens! We're not sure how much to take the "nails" in the title seriously, but it does sound as if Schlippenbach is playing prepared piano at times – or perhaps his command of the keyboard is just so strong, he can make other-worldly elements come from the instrument whenever he wants! Much of the music has a full-on FMP intensity – that non-stop, sonically adventurous quality inherited from Machine Gun – spun out over three great live improvisations, titled "Range", "Black Holes", and "Three Nails Left". CD

Charles Gayle calls forth the ghost of John Coltrane wonderfully – in this freewheeling set that also features bass from William Parker and drums from sometime Trane-mate Rashied Ali! The record is filled with the kind of openly expressive energy of Coltrane's mid 60s period – that point when structures really broke down, and The Great One opened up the tenor sax in ways that went onto have a huge impact for decades to come! Gayle's music has always owed a lot to this period of Coltrane – and he pays it right back here in a sparkling performance that would definitely have made the Great One proud. The set's one long performance, with varying moods and moments – ala late Coltrane on Impulse! CD

Evan Parker on tenor and soprano saxophone, Cecil Taylor on piano, Barry Guy on bass, and Tony Oxley on drums. CD

Cecil Taylor on piano, voice, and percussion. CD

Cecil Taylor on solo piano. CD

Maybe the greatest moment ever on record from Rudiger Carl – and not just because the album is "dedicated to all drinker friends"! Despite that embrace of alcohol, the record's got a very sobering power – as the group is a free jazz trio, working in the best bracing early FMP way – with Carl on tenor, Gunter Christmann on trombone, and Detlef Shoenenberg on drums – all turning their instruments inside out as they madly, freely, explosively work off the power of one another! Christmann is especially amazing – and this album might well be to his trombone what the late 60s FMP sides were to Brotzmann's tenor – although Detlef's drums are pretty amazing too – very different than any contemporaries or precursors, and worth the price of admission alone. Titles include "Thrombose", "King Alcohol", "AEIOU", and "Rush Hour/Something/Triotrip". Plus, this 2CD reissue adds in an astounding 70 more minutes of unreleased recordings from the same sessions! CD

One of the most ambitious albums ever from the Globe Unity Orchestra – a set that not only features work from some of the key free jazz musicians you'd usually find on their records, but also the choir of the NDR Orchestra – who make all these amazing vocalizations next to the equally amazing sounds from the musicians! As with other outings, the group is led by pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach – who's clearly outdone himself here, and who must have been completely worn out by the end of the performance – as he does a masterful effort directing the vocalists alongside a top-shelf lineup that includes Manfred Schoof and Kenny Wheeler on trumpets, Cunter Christmann and Paul Rutherford on trombones, Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker on reeds, and Han Bennink and Paul Lovens on drums. The album features two extremely long tracks entitled "Hamburg 74" and "Kontraste Und Synthesen". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that really takes its title seriously – as this debut by pianist Georg Grawe definitely marks a new movement in free jazz – work from some slightly younger players who maybe open up with even more intensity than the founders of the movement – completely breaking down any expectations of what you might get from a quintet that seems to otherwise feature familiar jazz instruments! Grawe has a monstrous approach to the piano – really taking on the instrument with unbound frenzy, alongside Harald Dau on tenor and soprano sax, Hort Grabosch on trumpet, Hans Scheider on bass, and Achim Kramer on drums – a group who at times seem to try for some more composed modern jazz conceptions at the start of a tune, but quickly break out and really revel in the group freedom of the performance! A key record in the second chapter of FMP – and titles include "New Movements", "Green Screen", and "V 626". CD

A landmark set from the freer side of the British jazz scene at the end of the 60s – a relatively open-ended session cut by alto saxophonist Trevor Watts with his Amalgam trio – a great group that features John Stevens on drums and Jeff Clyne on bass (although Barry Guy also sits in on bass for one of the tunes!) The sound here is somewhere between the original trio formation of the ESP groups of the mid 60s and the more freely expressive groups of the FMP years – but is also touched with a good deal of that sense of sadness and depth of emotion that colored some of the best modern British jazz sessions of the period. Watt's work on alto is incredible throughout – dominating the record more than most players we could imagine on the instrument in such a setting – and titles include "Tales Of Sadness", "Judy's Smile I", "Judy's Smile II", and "Prayer For Peace". LP, Vinyl record album

Very rare, very obscure material from this important free jazz trio of the German scene in the 70s – a set that features one long performance originally issued on the JG label, despite the FMP-like image on the cover – plus two more tracks from the same year that appear here for the first time ever! "Just For Altena" offers up the power trio at their best – very freewheeling piano from Fred Van Hove, drums from Han Bennink, and tenor from Peter Brotzmann – with intensity that may well surpass the Machine Gun years, and an understanding of each players strengths that means that there's almost no tentative moments at all in the improvisation! "Filet Americain" and "ICP No 17" are from earlier in 1971 – and showcase a different, more sonic side of the trio – some tones that are at the farther end of hearing, which ruminate then blossom into bolder statements, but still often with a very abstracted approach to each instrument. Great stuff – and every bit as essential as any of the better-known Brotzman recordings of the time! CD

A wonderfully ambitious project from these two legendary improvising musicians – a larger project for stage that was created by both pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach and drummer Sven Ake Johansson – the latter of whom here is very much into his later life role as a composer! The set features a mix of voice, vocals, and music – some spoken parts by Johansson, sung passages by the great Shelly Hirsch – and work from a very hip group that includes Wolfgang Fuchs and Dietmar Diesner on saxes, Paul Lovens on drums, Tristan Honsinger on cello, Anne Le Baron on harp, and Schlippenbach on piano. There's a mixture of free jazz, structure, and voice that almost feels as if Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill had the chance to record an album for FMP – and this beautiful set presents the first-ever release of the important 1994 performance of the material. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic lost legacy in European free improvisation – the complete works of a group who were first known as Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe, then later as Fourmenonly – presented here in a beautiful 3CD set! First up is the album Trees – issued on a small label in 1968, but a set that matches the groundbreaking energy of the early work on FMP – played by a group that features Helmuth Zimmer on piano, Wilfreid Eichorn on tenor and soprano sax, Claus Buhler on bass, Rudi Thielmann on drums, and Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, Mellophon, piston, and percussion! The group have a melodic vibe at the core – often feeling out the initial space as a unit, then exploding with sound and color – and really making especially great work of the talents of Joos and Eichorn – players who work together with great power, driven on by the others. Titles include "Lonely Time", "Trees", "Schnee Verbrennt", "Change Of Beauty", and "The Devil Is Green Blue Yellow". CD also features a bonus unreleased improvisation too! Next is Position 2000 – a record of even longer improvisations, and one that shows the quintet really developing their sound – strongly aware of the farther reaches, but always beginning in some more colorful passages that almost have a melody, before exploding out with very vibrant energy! The lineup is the same as on the debut – with Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, mellophone, Indian flute, and percussion – and Wilfried Eichorn on tenor, soprano sax, bass clarinet, flute, and percussion – alongside Helmuth Zimmer on piano, Klaus Buhler on bass, and Rudi Thielmann on drums. Titles include "The Sun Is Coming Over", "Position 2000", and "Where Love Forever Shines". CD also features an unreleased improvisation. For the next album, bassist Buhler has departed the group – who are renamed Fourmenonly! Their first record is a brilliant set of free jazz from the German scene of the 70s – very different than other work of the time, in that there's maybe more of a future-thinking balance between sounds and silence, frenzy and fragility – all served up by a quartet that features Herbert Joos on trumpet and flugelhorn, Wilfried Eichhorn on tenor and soprano sax, Helmuth Zimmer on piano and percussion, and Rudi Theilmann on drums and percussion. Titles include "Viridiana/Ich Und Meine Bruder/Compulsion" and "Count Down/Excess". On the album Eight Science Fiction Stories, the Fourmenonly lineup is expanded by trombonist Wolfgang Czelusta – and perform some fantastic work billed as "science fiction stories", all composed by Herbert Joos. The sound is as revolutionary as on the group's earliest material, but also maybe more compact as well – nicely focused, with especially strong emphasis on the interplay between Czelusta on trombone, Wilifried Eichorn on bass clarinet, flute, and oboe, and Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, trumpet, and mellophone. The piano of Helmuth Zimmer is amazing – almost Cecil Taylor-like in intensity at times – and drummer Rudi Theilmann does a great job of moving from passages of full-on power to more spacious percussion. Titles include "Lucifer Is Marching On", "Dead Season", "The Beauty Without A Face", "Departure", "Plastic Happiness", and "Space Wall". CD

One of the boldest statements from the French avant garde of the late 60s – a fairly free set led by Michel Portal, and featuring a quintet that includes Joachim Kuhn on piano, alto sax, and percussion, JF Jenny-Clark on bass, and Aldo Romano and Jacques Thollot on drums and percussion. Portal himself plays tenor, clarinet, and bass clarinet – as well as other percussion – and overall, the album's a fairly percussive affair – pulsating along with the rhythmic intensity of an ESP session, but even taking things further, with FMP-like full-blown, free range improvisation. Titles include "Our Meanings & Our Feelings", "A Train In A Very Small Town", "Dear Old Morocco", and "For My Mother". LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderful under-discovered performance by Sun Ra & The Arkestra – a complete live set from 1984, presented here with really stunning fidelity! The package is a great antidote to some of the fuzzier Ra live sets on the market – as it's got the care that the Trost label has brought to their reissues of material by Peter Brotzmann and the FMP generation – with sound that's more than sensitive enough to capture some surprisingly great spare piano passages, as well as the full force of the Arkestra when they really get going. Sun Ra is still a tremendous force on the keys at this time – and delivers a lot of solos that are interspersed between larger, more structured songs – played with fire by a lineup that includes John Gilmore on tenor and clarinet, Marshall Allen on alto and flute, James Jackson on bassoon and infinity drum, and Danny Ray Thompson on baritone and flute. Titles include a number of "untitled improvisation" tracks – plus "Big John's Special", "Days Of Wine & Roses", "What's New", "Nuclear War", "East Of The Sun", "Yeah Man", "Mack The Knife", "Day Dream", and "Love In Outer Space". This great 4LP box set includes an insert card with notes and photos. Beautiful! LP, Vinyl record album

The cover's got a classic FMP look, and the album follows suit nicely – a set of solo acoustic guitar improvisations from Duck Baker, played in a spirit that recalls the 70s generation of improvisers, such as Derek Bailey or Henry Kaiser – yet played with a nice undercurrent of warmth! Baker really uses the full range of the instrument – still sticking mostly to the strings, but plucking, strumming, and knocking them in some very cool and creative ways. Titles include "Peace", "Juxta Pose", "Pole Ska", "The Idea Of San Francisco", "Instant Opus", "Allah Perhaps", and "Adolescent Ballad". CD

One of the greatest releases ever from the Okka Disk label – a legendary set that stands as a great testament to the global improvising scene that exploded in Chicago during the 90s! Back in the early years of FMP, nobody would have thought to use the name "Peter Brotzmann" and "Chicago" in the same context – but by the time of these recordings, the legendary reedman had been spending quite a bit of time in the Windy City – working strongly alongside that decade's fresh generation of improvisers, at a level that also helped Brotzmann discover new energy in his music too! The lineup here is great – both octet and tentet groups that operate in an improvising orchestra tradition – with players that include Ken Vandermark on tenor and bass clarinet, Mars Williams on tenor and alto, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Mats Gustafsson on baritone and fluteophone, Joe McPhee on pocket cornet and valve trombone, Fred Lonberg Holm on cello, Kent Kessler on bass, Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake on drums and percussion, and Brotzmann himself on tenor, clarinet, and tarogato. The set features three different live recordings, and one long studio set recorded over two days – a fantastic collection of music. Titles include "Burning Spirit (For Kazuka Shiraishi)", "Other Brothers", "Old Bottles No Wine, "Aziz", "Foolish Infinity", "Immediate Music", "Makapoor", "Foolish Infinity", "Other Brothers" and "Divide By Zero". CD

Genius early work from reedman Marion Brown – an album that was originally only issued overseas, where it was recorded – as part of that legacy that's always had Brown getting a lot more attention in Europe than back at home! Yet the record's a monster that stands equally with Marion's seminal sides for Impulse and ESP – and is maybe even bolder than both of them, as Brown blows alto in a loose trio – with Maarten Van Altena on bass and Han Bennink on drums – in a mode that definitely puts the "free" in free jazz – recorded before the start of both FMP and BYG! Yet there's also that sensitive, soulful quality that makes Brown so great – that element in the music that's always had recordings like these as key pointers forwards to the loft jazz years on the NYC scene – a brilliant blend of freedom and inner spirit – on titles that include "Sound Structure", "QBIC", "Porto Novo", and "Similar Limits". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary moment in European free jazz – performances all recorded on a single Sunday in 1969 – but which stand as some of the most powerful music of the time! The vibe here is often in the best spirit of early FMP, or maybe the most outside work of MPS – and the recording quality equals the best avant jazz on both labels – with very long performances on each track that represent the pinnacle of all players involved! One side alone is worth the price of admission – a searing track titled "Finally", performed by an octet with Peter Brotzmann at the helm, alongside Evan Parker on tenor and soprano sax, Fred Van Hove on piano, Paul Rutherford on trombone, Peter Kowald on bass, and Pierre Favre on drums. Favre returns on "Let's Talk About The Weather" – played by a trio with Kowad on bass and Irene Schweizer on piano. Other tracks include "Five To Five" and "Gluga Gluga Blues" by the Joki Freund Quintet, "In Memory Of John Coltrane" by Marion Brown, "Vibration" by the group of saxophonist Joe Fiera and trombonist Ed Kroger, and "Circus Live" by a quartet led by Rolf Kuhn on electric clarinet, with Joachim Kuhn on piano and Stu Martin on drums. CD

Long overdue reissue of this classic FMP recording by Brotzmann – dedicated to Johnny Dyani, and featuring a group that includes Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Fred Van Hove, Paul Rutherford, Willem Breuker, and Brotzmann himself. The track's politics are stated very clearly in the title – and it's got the same sort of 1968 blast of raw power that Brotzmann first made heard around the world in "Machine Gun". Not surprisingly, a rare unreleased live version of that track – recorded in 1968 – is added to the CD as a bonus cut! CD

A record that seemed to open the music of Peter Brotzmann up for a whole new generation of listeners – in part because it features the European legend on an American label that got him some of the widest circulation he'd enjoyed here in years – and also in part because drummer Hamid Drake provides a very different foil for his music! The sound is almost an imaginary 70s meeting between the FMP and loft jazz scenes – with Hamid offering up these beautifully rich tones on standard drums, frame drum, and tablas – while Brotzmann blows tenor, alto, tarogato, and e flat clarinet – often with a sound that's searing, but more soulful than usual too – especially on some of the more spacious, open moments on the record. Titles include "It's An Angel On The Door", "Trees Have Roots In The Earth", "The Uninvited Entertainer", and "Dark Wings Carry Off The Sky". CD

A recent collaboration between Peter Brotzmann and Han Bennink – and a great testament to the decades of musical interaction between the players! The style here is very much in the classic FMP mode that first got Brotzmann and Bennink notice on these shores – free improv, but always with a great sense of care – a clear mutal respect that each artist has not only for the instrumentation of the other, but for their persona as well – as you can really hear Brotzmann and Bennink sounding each other out in the performance – taking the time to find the right sound and space for the other player to work with. Peter plays alto, tenor, tarogato, and b-flat clarinet – and Bennink is on drums. Titles include "This Is My Faith", "My Strength", "I Am His Brother", "Every Man Is Me", "No Man Is My Enemy", "My Deepest Hope & My Only Belief", and "And He Is In & Of Me". CD

A brilliant pairing of two musicians who never recorded together during their early days on record – but who more than made up for that lack with later classics like this! The cover's got the boldness of an FMP album from the 70s, and the music within follows that spirit – a bold live performance at Chicago's Empty Bottle, a frequent home to both musicians at the time – with Joe McPhee on trumpet, alto, and tenor – Peter Brotzmann on alto, tenor, clarinet, and tarogato – driven by tremendous work on bass from Kent Kessler and drums by Michael Zerang. The set features two long live improvisations – "Guts" and "Rising Spirits". CD

A brilliant pairing of two musicians who never recorded together during their early days on record – but who more than made up for that lack with later classics like this! The cover's got the boldness of an FMP album from the 70s, and the music within follows that spirit – a bold live performance at Chicago's Empty Bottle, a frequent home to both musicians at the time – with Joe McPhee on trumpet, alto, and tenor – Peter Brotzmann on alto, tenor, clarinet, and tarogato – driven by tremendous work on bass from Kent Kessler and drums by Michael Zerang. The set features two long live improvisations – "Guts" and "Rising Spirits". CD

A bold statement from the Free Music Ensemble – not a large group, but instead a searing power trio that features Ken Vandermark on reeds, Nate McBride on bass, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums! The group work in a full-on mode that recalls the early power of the FMP scene, or some of the most striking work on ESP from the 60s – but given Vandermark's influence, they've also got a more open sensibility – clear in the shift from passage to passage of the album's numbered tracks, dedicated to influential heroes that include Peter Brotzmann, Paul Lytton, Joe Morris, and Joe McPhee – all contemporary heroes that are given great due here, but in a way that still has the trio retaining a very strong identity of their own. CD

There's nothing wooden about this music at all – as the album's one of the loosest, freest, liveliest sessions to ever come from the legendary trumpeter Tomasz Stanko – a performance that was originally done for Radio Bremen in 1972, and which is very different than most of his other albums from the time! The music here is all freely improvised, with a vibe that's at the headiest of the FMP generation – as Stanko's trumpet interacts with the tenor and flute of Janusz Muniak, bass of Bronislaw Suchanek, violin of Zbigniew Seifert, and drums of Janusz Stefanski – all players who are completely unbridled all the way through! If you only know Seifert from his mellower albums later in the 70s, he'll blow you away here – as, like a few other key musicians at the time, he's got a way of improvising on his instrument that matches the energy of a reedman – and which really adds a lot to the group. The set features six pieces, all improvised – issued here commercially for the first time ever, and a real revelation! LP, Vinyl record album

Tremendous live work from avant piano legend Cecil Taylor and always-creative drummer Tony Oxley – a duo who recorded most famously for FMP at the end of the 80s, but who also turned in some great live performances over the following decades! This set is definitely one of those – captured at a time when Taylor was not making many forays into the studio, but still very much at the top of his game in the sort of long form improvisational setting that defined his 70s material – especially when in the company of a player as great as Oxley! There's a balance here between percussive attacks and gentler flows on both instruments – spontaneous creativity in action from both musicians, on the very long titles "Power Of Two" and "Being Astral & All Registers". CD

Don't be put off by the title – as these guys aren't abrasive in the way that some noise act might be – and instead, they've got this really complex way of spinning out improvised sounds on an array of instruments – all in a spirit that's very much like the German work on the FMP label at the time! Axolotl are much more obscure – as a French trio, they were more overlooked – but they really share an ear for the best free improvisation that was exploding in the hippest scenes in Europe by the end of the 70s – served up here in a two-reed lineup that has Jacques Oger on tenor, baritone, and other reeds – and Etienne Brunet on alto, bass clarinet, and more – accompanied by guitarist Marc Duford. As you can imagine, with a lineup like that, there's plenty of fresh sounds within – delivered on shorter tracks that really keep their focus, with titles that include "Illusion", "Ombre Pilee", "Suave", "Dehors", "Paris Froisse", "Trottoirs Defunts", and "Couloir". LP, Vinyl record album