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Stunning live recordings from Albert Ayler's European tour of late 1966 – during a peak creative period for Ayler – while working with an incredible group! This excellent CD captures them in Stockholm for Swedish radio on November 10, 1966 – followed by an equally well... read more

A wonderful pairing of talents – the moody, enigmatic piano of Ran Blake – and the sharp-toned alto of Anthony Braxton! The set's a sublime piano/sax duet to match similar experiments by Mal Waldron and Marion Brown, or Archie Shepp and Dollar Brand – and it's an added plus for... read more

A brilliant reinvention of the Bobby Bradford/John Carter partnership – a key force on the LA avant scene of the late 60s and early 70s – still filled with fire in this later recording! Bradford's cornet has lost none of its force – and the real shift here is Carter, who works... read more

One of Anthony Braxton's first great recordings with a larger group – a really impressive array of sounds and tones that takes his compositional experiments to the next level! Tunes here are all those complicated Braxton formulas from the 70s – carried out by a host of equally-imaginati... read more

A very angular trio recording from Anthony Braxton – one that features drums from Tony Oxley and bass from Adelhard Roidinger – and a range of great reeds from Braxton! Oxley's presence is especially important here – as the set was recorded in that great late 80s stretch when he... read more

Braxton and Ellington appear here as composers of the work, not as performers – but the spirit of both is alive and well in this performance, breaking out in complicated waves of sound that recall the earliest moments of the former, but which are also informed by the concepts of freedoms put... read more

An amazing debut from the John Carter/Bobby Bradford New Art Jazz Ensemble – one of the most powerful voices in jazz on the west coast at the end of the 60s! In a way, the quartet's sound is a culmination of the underground changes that had been bubbling under during most of the 60s on the... read more

The title might give you some hint of the feel of the set – as it's got a relatively complex quality, one that definitely fits its naming with a difficult formula – although the music itself is anything by formulaic! The group's headed by tenorist Ellery Eskelin, and features a round... read more

A really unique little trio – and one that helps Ellery Eskelin create some of his most memorable music on record! The group has a unique approach – in that Eskelin's tenor is mixed with accordion and samples from Andrea Parkins – a really wonderful combination, as Parkins is... read more

The title's "sonic fiction", not "science fiction" – but the sound here draws a great deal from that confusion of terms – as the blend of elements in the set often has a stark, almost academic nature – a sound that's as cerebral as it is experimental –... read more

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A sublime meeting of three incredibly well-matched players – all artists who worked together in various formations back in the 60s, but waited another 30 years to record here as a trio! There's an airiness that really uniques all the artists in the trio – a sense of space and grace... read more

Wonderful work from the twin-reed combo of Bernd Konrad and Hans Koller – a record that really takes off from some of Koller's free music experiments of the 70s! The group is a very cohesive one – with Konrad on soprano and baritone, and Koller on tenor and sopranino – alongside... read more

The Steve Lacy Five at the height of their 80s powers – really burning here in an extended live set that's arguably a lot more forceful than some of their studio recordings! Steve heads the group on soprano sax – alongside Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Jean Jacques Avenel on bass,... read more

A wonderful blend of free jazz & atmospheric electronic experimentation led by soprano mainstay Steve Lacy – a truly inviting blend of open-ended sounds that manages to all come together in a very natural way! Sadly, this set captured here at the NEWJazz meeting of 2002 at Baden-Baden,... read more

We're not often the biggest fans of poetry in the work of Steve Lacy – but somehow, this set seems to come off especially right – thanks, no doubt, to the fact that beat legend Brion Gysin composed all of the words! Gysin himself only speaks on 2 titles – but his presence there... read more

One of Steve Lacy's great late 70s recordings for Hat Hut – a searing live performance that was one of his boldest efforts from the time! The group here are a quintet of familiar players – Steve Potts on alto and soprano sax, Irene Aebi on cello and voice, Kent Carter on bass, and... read more

A key European appearance for saxophonist Oliver Lake – captured here at the tail end of a strong rise on the US scene in the 70s! The music here is almost a fair bit freer than some of Lake's other sides from the time – long tracks played by a trio that includes Michael Gregory... read more

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The title's almost a bit of a mystery here – as the music is so right on the money, so sense-making, that we can hardly hear a non-sequitur in the set – just these well-hewn, thoughtfully-played lines of sound coming from the twin tenors of David Liebman and Ellery Eskelin! The record's... read more

A masterpiece by Warne Marsh – and proof that there was always a committed modernist lurking behind some of his more straightforward playing! The session has sort of a post-Tristano underground west coast feel (if we can make up such a heavy handed term!), and it features a piano-less... read more

Searing early work from Joe McPhee – quite possibly his hardest-hitting recording of the 70s, even if the material wasn't properly issued until 25 years later! The performance was done for radio station WBAI in New York – and it features McPhee, Clifford Thornton, and Byron Morris... read more

A key recording from the early years of David Murray – a sharp-edged trio recording that instantly placed him in a strong lineage of tenor improvisers that includes Sonny Rollins and Albert Ayler! The record's a live date – recorded at the Wilisau Jazz Festival in 1978 with a trio that... read more

A beautiful illustration of the deep talents of Anthony Ortega – a player who still sounds as creative and inventive this late in his career as he did way back in the 50s and 60s! The bulk of the CD features Ortega in two settings – one, a batch of studio duets with bassist Kash... read more

A genius collaboration between Max Roach and Anthony Braxton – a single performance that spans the entire record, and which showcases some of the best work by both players at the time! Roach is a real revelation here – coming off of an already experimental side of 70s sessions, but... read more

A brilliant little record – and a key step in the explosion of growth that Max Roach experienced in the 70s! Shepp and Roach are no strangers to the modern frontiers of jazz – but in a series of duets like this in the 70s, Roach really pushes his own work on drums past any boundaries... read more

One of our favorite records from Archie Shepp's "new traditionalism" years – a set of understated brilliance and beauty, and proof that Shepp's tenor could sound every bit as great on the inside of jazz as it did on the out! The group here is a quartet – with Ken Werner on... read more

Pure genius from Horace Tapscott – a record that really lights a new fire under his talents – and takes us back to some of the most expressive, most righteous jazz from the LA scene of the 70s! The quartet here features key LA player John Carter on clarinet – an instrument that... read more

A very moody performance from Cecil Taylor – one long reading of the piece "Calling It The 8th", originally presented as 2LP set, but finally getting its due here as a single CD that presents the whole thing from start to finish with no interruption! Although as free as some of... read more

A beautiful little record – and one of the most compelling Hat Art sets we've heard from a younger artist in a long time! The approach here is quite fresh – initially an interplay of tones and textures, which quickly moves into some rhythmically expressive tunes that push the band... read more

A pair of burning 21st Century recordings by Per Henrik Wallin – easily one of the greatest free jazz pianists working the European scene for the past few decades – as you'll certainly hear on this set! CD 1 features duets between Wallin and drummer Sven Akie Johansson – recorded... read more

One of John Zorn's best-known "game" pieces – served up here in both a studio and live performance! Zorn doesn't play anything on the recordings, but acts as the "prompter" – a conductor of sorts, encouraging improvisations from a variety of players that include Jim... read more

A great follow-up to the initial News For Lulu project – a late 80s reinvention of the sound of Blue Note, handled by this trio of key modernists from the time! As proven by recordings like this over the years, John Zorn's a player who – despite his own very modern and avant tendencies... read more