MUSIC

Mindblowing!!! Originally released on Impulse! in 1971, Universal Consciousness is a major turning point in Alice Coltrane's momentous career. While her previous albums pushed the limits of spiritual free jazz and featured much of her late husband's band, Universal Consciousness expands the harpist / pianist's compositional palette with organ and strings (working with Ornette Coleman). "Oh Allah" is the finest example of Coltrane's new direction: tense violins dissolve into sublime organ solos and exquisite brushwork from long-time Miles Davis collaborator Jack DeJohnette. While the title track undulates with a fierce clamor, "Hare Krishna" showcases Coltrane's uncanny ability for transcendent and slow-paced arrangements.

In The Wire's "100 Records That Set the World on Fire," David Toop writes, "[Universal Consciousness] clearly connects to other dyspeptic jazz traditions – the organ trio, the soloists with strings – yet volleys them into outer space, ancient Egypt, the Ganges, the great beyond. The production is astounding, the quality of improvisation is riveting, the string arrangements are apocalyptic rather than saccharine, the balance of turbulence and calm a genuine dialectic that later mystic / exotic post-jazz copped out of pursuing. Her lack of constraint was dimly regarded by adherents of '70s jazz and its masculine orthodoxies, yet Alice deserved better credit for virtuosity, originality, and the sheer willpower needed to realize her vision."

A bizarrely entrancing jewel from the depths of the Japanese underground, Doo Dah Nean was originally released in small run of hand assembled cassettes by the La Musica label in the late 90’s. The album is the sole release and evidence of Nean, an entirely under-the-radar trio that crossed the sensual, disassociated female vocals of Japanese iroke kayōkyoku music with off-balance shamanic rhythm and echoing electronic rumble. Nean were the trio of Yui on bass and electronics, Naoko on voice, and Non on drums. Both Yui and Non were also part of Holy Angels, and Yui played with Ohkami No Jikan and Mauduit Nuit. Vocalist Naoko, in her lone recorded appearance anywhere, elevates the proceedings to peak outsider strangeness. Her ultra-repetitive chants and sighs balance childlike innocence with sinister knowing. Alternately distracted and humming to herself or delivering breathy, near field whispers, the simple juxtaposition of her vocalizations with Non’s stumble-drunk drums, and the amorphous blobs and gloops of tone unleashed from Yui’s instruments lands like an avant garde, proto-ASMR incantation. A truly confounding release in a La Musica catalogue that’s not exactly thin on the ground for such form. From the original cassette release: “Cult Lolita psychedelic group who smile sardonically as they fuck with contemporary classical and free jazz. The world is coming down with all-girl groups, but there are none that can compare with Nean for innocence, ignorance and plain idiocy. Totally bizarre work - exotic rhythms and avant-garde improv collide with flying Lolita vocals. 100% Lolita essence, ultra-acid.” Available for the first time digitally, on LP or any physical form aside from La Musica cassette (LA-017). Housed in a custom die-cut, "Uni-Pak" style gatefold with metallic ink, spot finishes and matching La Musica inner sleeve.

At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler.

In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It’s Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of… Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again.

On Palm Records (Gilson’s label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib.

“Us”, the first of the four records was recorded on November 24th, 1973 with Sylvin Marc on electric bass (a Fender… Lancaster?) and the evergreen Steve McCall on drums.

On the album, the trio works from the John Coltrane model; free jazz shook up by the timely contributions of the bassist, followed by a mesmerizing atmospheric music. Then, Lancaster delivers a sinuous solo path, which is a reminder of his unique tone. On the album’s companion single, the trio launches into great black music of a

different genre which would lead the clairvoyant François Tusques to claim that Byard Lancaster is an “authentic representative of soul/free jazz”, to sum up this is Great Black Music!

A Senegalese Griot singer, an Amsterdam improviser and a Puerto Rican jazz drummer find eachother on an open playground, a stage build for improvisation, an old cinema now used for minute made story telling. Equiped with an m'bira, a xalam, a drumkit, a voice, percussion, house hold tools and an electric chlavichord on 220 volt, they sit down and take off: Wrrrrrraaang!

Singer and percussionist Mola Sylla is in many ways a musical explorer. Born and raised in Dakar, Senegal, he grew up in the tradition of the griots. Griots play conveying stories – sometimes decorated with music, theater and dance – which all play an important role in West African culture. His rhythm and melodic compositions differ from the western agreed schedules and provide surprising twists.

Puerto Rican drummer Frank Rosaly has been involved in the improvised and experimental music scenes since 2001 when he became an integral part of Chicago's musical fabric, navigating a fine line between the vibrant improvised music, experimental, rock and jazz communities.

Oscar Jan Hoogland is the sound of Amsterdam in person. He is an instant composer and inventor of his own instrument by joining a clavichord, a keyboard instrument from the 17th century, to 220 Volt electricity. As the last student of the late pianist, composer and improvisor Misha Mengelberg he tears like a tornado through the Amsterdam jazz and impro scene.

Together they are MOTHER TONGUE.

“Children Of The Fire” is a monumental spiritual‑jazz suite from 1974, led by trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson and his Sunrise Orchestra. The album explores themes of war and prayer, anger and hope, unfolding as a powerful, large‑scale work of deep emotional and spiritual intensity.

“If I have anything to contribute to this art form . . . It’s a voice of our culture. This is a voice right out of them cotton fields—this ain’t out of the conservatory. This is out of the neighborhood. And that’s where my impetus comes from . . . I have seen it from the bottom up.”.—Julius Hemphill

“Throughout my years of talking with Julius, the desire on his part to reach a directness of expression, to communicate in a direct way, was an ongoing imperative in his thoughts. The Dogon A.D. recording session introduces him to the world as a protean composer, as a singular and passionate improviser and instrumentalist, and as a cultural thinker. In this striving toward transcendence, he brings in a sense of celebration and high spirits, of tough loss and sadness, and of proud resistance and survival. This recording, made on a cold February day in St. Louis in a studio with little heat, has lit up the musical world for so many for so long. It is wonderful to have it available again in this iteration for a new generation of listeners.” -- (from the liner notes)

Meticulously remastered & includes a 28-page booklet with new notes by Marty Ehrlich, complemented by several stills from a 30-minute film of an early ’70s dance performance featuring complete performances of Dogon A.D. and Rites with Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, Phillip Wilson, and John Hicks.

This, at long last, is the definitive edition of this seminal jazz masterwork.

In the pantheon of classic free jazz, Noah Howard's The Black Ark looms large. Recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in 1969 - just prior to the alto saxophonist's relocation to Europe - the album was eventually released in 1972 on Alan Bates's Freedom label, and has since acquired near-mythical status among collectors and devotees of the music. Now, Superior Viaduct presents the definitive remastered edition on vinyl, restoring this landmark to the visibility it has always deserved. Born in New Orleans in 1943, Howard grew up saturated in gospel and the deep traditions of the Crescent City before making his way west to Los Angeles, where he studied with Dewey Johnson, and eventually to New York, where he fell into the orbit of Sun Ra. By the mid-1960s he had already cut two remarkable records for ESP-Disk - Noah Howard Quartet and At Judson Hall - but The Black Ark was something else entirely: a quantum leap, the moment when everything locked into place.

The Black Ark exhibits not only the power and imagination of Howard's playing, but also his breadth as a composer and bandleader. Listeners expecting unrelenting blasts of "energy music" might be surprised to find a cohesion atypical of free jazz; amidst the wild, impassioned solos, Howard weaves in Latin rhythms and fat-bottomed grooves. The first side, consisting of Domiabra and Ole Negro, sets the album's tone - both tracks sound as if they could have appeared on some of Blue Note's proto-spiritual jazz, groove-heavy releases, evoking the likes of Horace Silver or Bobby Hutcherson, before ceding the floor to the horn players' anarchic firepower. Mount Fuji, the extended centerpiece, builds from a spare, almost Japanese-inflected melody into fifteen minutes of breathtaking interplay, while Queen Anne closes the record as a ballad of devastating lyricism - proof that Howard's command of his alto was as refined in whisper as it was in fury.

The ensemble Howard assembled is nothing short of extraordinary. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes: "Two players stand out. Bassist Norris Jones - who would soon consolidate his name into a one-word reversed amalgamation/permutation of the two, Sirone - is given ample room, largely unaccompanied; his corporal approach foreshadows later work with the Revolutionary Ensemble. But the secret weapon on The Black Ark is Arthur Doyle. Straight from basement rehearsal sessions with Milford Graves, whose ensemble he had joined and who remained a favorite of the drummer for decades, Doyle is a human flamethrower." Trumpeter Earl Cross's guttural, vocal effects complement Doyle's take-no-prisoners approach, while the estimable combination of Muhammad Ali (Rashied's brother) on drums and Juma Sultan on congas adds an ever-shifting propulsion. The septet is rounded out by the enigmatic pianist Leslie Waldron, who anchors the group with imaginative accompaniment and occasional boppish flourishes.

Noah Howard would go on to record prolifically through the 1970s and 80s, founding his own AltSax label and living between Paris, Nairobi, and Brussels before his death in 2010. But The Black Ark remains the burning heart of his legacy - every bit worthy of its reputation as an "out-jazz" holy grail, a record that only sounds better with age. It remains the ideal album to convert the remaining free-jazz skeptics.

Brazilian avant-jazz vanguardists Grupo Um celebrate their 50th anniversary, sharing a second previously lost 1970s album from the vaults. Nineteen Seventy Seven (titled after the year it was recorded) is another rip-roaring instrumental fusion treasure from the band which spawned from within Hermeto Pascoal’s famed mid-1970s São Paulo collective.

Like their debut album Starting Point, Grupo Um’s Nineteen Seventy Seven was recorded when Brazil's military dictatorship was at its most repressive. “There were no open doors to those who dreamt to be protagonists in creative instrumental music”, remembers drummer Zé Eduardo Nazario, “even popular composers and singers had to submit their songs to censors and many records were banned and confiscated from the stores.”

Just like Hermeto Pascoal's Viajando Com O Som (1977) and Grupo Um's previous album Starting Point (1975), both of which remained unreleased until the 21st century, Zé Eduardo asserts that the 1977 album was flatly 'without any chance to be released at that time."

Recorded at Rogério Duprat’s Vice-Versa Studios in São Paulo, the group were under both time and space restraints, “we chose the small Studio B,” Lelo Nazario recalls, “which had a Tascam (TE AC) 12x8 console and a 4-channel AMPEX AG 440 machine. Therefore, we had to record without overdubs, everything straight to tape.”

Expanding from a trio to a quintet, original Grupo Um members Lelo Nazario (keys), Zé Eduardo Nazario (drums), and Zeca Assumpção (bass) were joined by saxophonist Roberto Sion and percussionist Carlinhos Gonçalves. Carlinhos, Zé and Zeca had already played together in the group Mandala, while brothers Lelo and Zé had just finished a stint backing Hermeto Pascoal during his years in São Paulo.

Lelo was deeply immersed in modular synthesizer experimentation during this period, working extensively with the ARP2600 and EMS Synthi AKS. These electroacoustic explorations formed the sonic foundation for "Mobile/Stabile," one of his first compositions to merge modular synthesis with Brazilian music, a fusion that would ripple throughout the Brazilian jazz scene. The piece premiered at the first São Paulo International Jazz Festival in 1978, performed by Grupo Um with guest trumpeter Márcio Montarroyos. In a shocking moment, festival organizers interrupted the show mid-performance, sparking fierce backlash from both audience members and journalists who denounced the incident as artistic censorship during Brazil's era of political and cultural repression. The version on Nineteen Seventy Seven is the first recording of the composition.

Nineteen Seventy Seven combines Afro-Brazilian rhythm, modular synthesis and a plethora of whistles, percussion and effects pedals. Album opener “Absurdo Mudo” - so titled for the absurd difficulty it poses to the musicians performing it - starts out in a cloud of mysterious dissonance, before the haze breaks for a glorious keyboard and saxophone interplay atop an uptempo samba groove. “Cortejo dos Reis Negros (Version 2)” (Procession of the Black Kings), based on the maracatu rhythm, inverts the traditional jazz song structure by beginning with improvisations, which are followed by the theme and a final coda. “The studio also had two Parasound electronic reverb units,” Lelo notes, “and the timbre is very audible on the soprano sax and percussion.”

Grupo Um’s daring music represents a manifesto of resistance during the dictatorship years, but it’s one which remains just as relevant today. As Lelo puts it: “For me, the aesthetic issue has always been about combining contemporary avant-garde languages with Brazilian music, independent of categories and commercial interests. The result of this fusion takes music to a new level.”

Nineteen Seventy Seven will be released for the first time on vinyl LP, CD and digitally on 23rd January 2026 via Far Out Recordings.

Morgenmusiken by Green Cosmos – A Cosmic Jazz Journey Unearthed

In the late 1970s, four young musicians from Marsberg, Germany—despite the absence of a local jazz scene—came together to form Green Cosmos, a quartet whose sound drew equally from John Coltrane’s spiritual fire, world music traditions, free jazz, and Indian classical influences.

Morgenmusiken marks a pivotal stage in the group’s evolution, moving beyond the ballad-driven character of their debut Abendmusiken—reissued earlier this year by Frederiksberg Records—toward freer, more meditative soundscapes. Across seven previously unreleased tracks, the album blends “cosmic music” with “live compositions,” reflecting the band’s distinctive approach to spontaneous creation. Sessions often began in silence and meditation, gradually unfolding into collective improvisations.

The lineup featured Michael Boxberger on saxophone, Benny Düring on piano, and twin brothers Alfred and Ulrich Franke forming a rhythm section frequently described as having a “telepathic connection.” Joined by sitar master Narayan Govande, they shaped a sound that balanced freedom with improvisation, space, and silence. “Silence might be the most beautiful part in music,” the band once reflected. “One single note can make more of an impression than 100 notes.”

With this ethos, Morgenmusiken invites listeners on a journey both meditative and expansive - a discovery of music that feels timeless.

50th Anniversary Reissue!

Step into the wild heart of New York’s underground avant-garde jazz scene with Voyage from Jericho.


Recorded in 1974, release in 1975, this landmark session finds the Charles Tyler Ensemble pushing boundaries with fearless improvisation, deep spiritual yearning, and a raw emotional fire.

Joined by top-tier collaborators — including Arthur Blythe, Earl Cross, Ronnie Boykins, and Steve Reid — Tyler shapes a sound that fuses avant-garde intensity with soulful depth, creating a powerful celebration of freedom and expression.

This is music that demands attention and rewards deep listening. Whether you’re a devoted explorer of the avant-garde or a curious listener seeking something beyond the mainstream, Voyage from Jericho offers a journey both challenging and transcendent.

In short: if you’re ready to move past comfort zones and into the outer reaches of jazz, Voyage from Jericho is a voyage worth taking.

“This first-ever vinyl reissue of saxophonist/composer Charles Tyler’s Voyage from Jericho album brings his life and work into much greater detail with an exhaustive liner essay by historian Cisco Bradley, unpublished photos and a new remaster from the original tapes. Essential!” – Clifford Allen

In 1978 Having Been Built on Sand was conceived as a vinyl edition and released by the Rüdiger Schöttle gallery in Munich with sleeve design by Weiner. The piece consists of eight untitled tracks. Lawrence Weiner, Tina Girouard, and Britta Le Va recite text with Dickie Landry’s woodwinds, all recorded in the natural reverb of Robert Rauschenberg’s studio, a former mission and chapel in Lower Manhattan. Layering Girouard in English, Le Va in German, and Weiner in English and German blocks of related or physically proximal texts repeat, invert, and intersect with Landry’s music as a constant. The layers of text and sound have meanings that fluctuate in complexity and scope, and like much of Weiner’s work, beyond mere facts. The first piece is a trio for Landry’s keening tenor, repeating winnowed but breathy lines that contrast with and buoy Le Va’s clear, husky phrases, building in intensity as Weiner, in English, offers statements that are caught just off mic. The third cut adds Girouard, and one can hear woven parallels in the two women’s voices, cadences, and pitches, with Weiner’s cutting inflection dancing amid them. Landry’s bass clarinet is rich in its warble, full and gentle with woody footfalls that demarcate shapes through the chorus. Vocal rhythmic cycles, wordless in nature, are the energy that courses through the fourth song, urgent and sweaty as Weiner recites statements of political position in the Middle Ages, Le Va declaiming alongside in German. On soprano saxophone for the fifth tune, Landry pierces and darts in a bright manner in a private dialogue with himself, echoing Steve Lacy as female voices nearly bury one another in closely valued hues. Weiner, meanwhile, volleys between the LP’s title phrase and cornerstone proclamations such as “the artist may construct the piece. The piece may be fabricated. The piece need not be built.” The closing cut makes curious use of delay and alto flute, Landry’s breath and the inherent percussiveness of the instrument’s keys creating a slick rhythmic support that courses through overlapping vocal phrases, advancing and receding declarations of presence and intent.

Vibrations is a historic free‑jazz masterpiece recorded in Copenhagen in 1964 by Albert Ayler and Don Cherry. Ayler’s spiritual, fiercely raw tenor saxophone collides with Cherry’s sharp, searching cornet lines, creating moments of astonishing harmony amid the turbulence. With Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray driving the chaos from the rhythm section, the album captures one of the purest and most essential expressions of free jazz ever put to tape.

On “Cold Sweat,” James Brown famously called to “give the drummer some.” In 1974, Philadelphia vibraphonist Khan Jamal called to Give the Vibes Some, with superb results. Pianist and composer Jef Gilson’s PALM label gave Jamal the platform he needed to deliver a thorough exploration of contemporary vibraphone. After launching PALM in 1973, Gilson quickly demonstrated that he would only produce records not found anywhere else. Give the Vibes Some, PALM number 10, was another confirmation of this guiding principle.

Raised and based in Philadelphia, Khan Jamal took up the vibes in 1968, after two years in the army during which he was stationed in France and Germany. Decisively drawn to the instrument by the work of the Modern Jazz Quartet’s Milt Jackson, Jamal studied under Philadelphia vibraphone legend Bill Lewis and soon made his debuts in the local underground.

Early in 1972, Jamal made his first recording, with the Sounds of Liberation. The band attempted an original fusion of conga-heavy grooves with avant-garde jazz soloing. Saxophonist Byard Lancaster, an important figure in Jamal’s development, contributed much of the solo work. Later in 1972, Jamal made his leader debut with Drum Dance to the Motherland, a reverb-drenched, never-to-be-replicated experiment with live sound processing. Both albums appeared on the tiny musician-run Dogtown label.

“We couldn’t get no play from nowhere. No gigs or recording sessions or anything. So I took off for Paris,” Jamal recalled in a Cadence interview with Ken Weiss. “Within a few weeks, I had a few articles and I did a record date. It didn’t make me feel good about America.” That was in 1974, while Byard Lancaster was recording the music gathered on Souffle Continu’s recent The Complete PALM Recordings, 1973-1974.

Jamal’s record date delivered Give the Vibes Some. At its core, it was an exploratory solo vibraphone album, even if two tracks added (through technological resourcefulness?) a très célèbre French drummer very much into Elvin Jones appearing under pseudonym for contractual reasons. Another track, for which Jamal switched to the vibes’s wooden ancestor, the marimba, added young Texan trumpeter Clint Jackson III. The most notable article published on Jamal during this stay in France was a Jazz Magazine interview. Jamal’s last word there were “The Creator has a master plan/drum dance to the motherland.” “Give the vibes some” could be added to this programmatic statement.

NooPop Records proudly presents 'Naissoo Freeform Quintet,' led by keyboard maestro Tõnu Naissoo.

Recorded in Tallinn during two electrifying, improvisational sessions in July 2024, this LP captures the infectious energy of funk, the adventurous spirit of free jazz, and infused with a nostalgic nod to the psychedelic era.

This album is a celebration of dynamic percussive rhythms and exploratory sound of Bass Clarinet, Rhodes, Moog Source and ARP Odyssey, offering a unique blend of past and future musical influences.

Whether you're a jazz aficionado, a groove enthusiast, or simply a lover of innovative music, "Naissoo Freeform Quintet" is an essential addition to your collection. Join us on this cosmic expedition and discover the infinite possibilities of sound that await in the astral realms of plate reverb and tape delay.

"Naissoo Freeform Quintet" is a rare gem for collectors and music lovers alike. Grab yours before it’s gone and embark on this stellar journey!

PRAED return to Discrepant, after their 2017’s entry Fabrication of Silver Dreams (CREP44).

Known for their signature blend of Egyptian Shaabi, free jazz and improvisation, the Lebanese duo behind PRAED - Raed Yassin and Paed Conca - now assemble a full orchestra for the second time taking the music to a deeper, rooted level.

Following their 2020 release Live in Sharjah, also under the PRAED Orchestra! moniker, the duo now revisit their unique blend of Arabic heritage and free jazz sensibilities with an album that keeps pushing further into strange and unexpected directions.

The Dictionary of Lost Meanings is just that, seven fully composed pieces and large-scale improvisations, performed by an expanded ensemble of musicians from across the globe. The result is dense and playful, unpredictable but familiar, a record where Arabic rhythms and microtonal melodies collide playfully against electronics, warped vocals and orchestral textures.

It’s less about genre than about memory — like tuning into a radio station broadcasting from somewhere between the past and the future.

PRAED continue to blur the line between popular culture and experimental music in ways that feel both grounded and completely their own.

Mama Too Tight is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1967. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Roswell Rudd, tuba player Howard Johnson, clarinetist Perry Robinson, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Beaver Harris in August 1966.

Village of the Pharoahs is the eighth album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973. The key word, and concept, informing this album is percussion: of the 13 musicians appearing on Village of the Pharoahs, seven of them are credited with contributing drums or percussion… and there is a conga player. The centerpiece of Village of The Pharoahs is the three-part title suite, which stretches over 16 minutes. This is the work of a confident explorer willing to go anywhere and do anything.

Klimt present a reissue of Don Cherry's Relatively Suite, originally released in 1973. Finally, available again on vinyl. Recorded with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. At this time, Cherry was becoming increasingly interested in Middle Eastern and traditional African and Indian music, having traveled extensively and studied with Indian musician, Vasant Rai. This suite of songs was particularly influenced by the Indian Carnatic singing tradition, as can be heard from the very opening moments of the album. Featuring Carla Bley on piano, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums, as well as an extended horn and string section, Cherry collaborated extensively with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra throughout the early '70s. His Swedish wife, Moki Cherry, plays tambura on "Trans-Love Airways". Clear vinyl.

“This is one of those moments that we’re always hoping for, and it's so rare. And it's so hard to talk about, because it's so beautiful. It's like you're seeing some new species of plant that you never knew existed or something.” – Bill Frisell frozen reeds is proud to present the only recorded duo playing of two legendary musical figures. Derek Bailey and Paul Motian – two longstanding pioneers of distinct strains of improvised music – came together for a brief period of collaboration in the early 1990s. Tapes of their two known live performances (one at Groningen’s JazzMarathon festival in the Netherlands, the other a year later at New Music Cafe, NYC) were recently unearthed in the Incus archives, and their contents will surprise and delight fans of both supremely idiosyncratic musicians. The Groningen concert (1990) is released on vinyl, while the New York date (1991) is included with the digital download, free of charge for all purchasers. A conversation between Bill Frisell and Henry Kaiser on Bailey, Motian, their intertwined backgrounds, and the significance of these recordings is included as sleeve-note insert. Each player bringing decades of crucial experience to their encounters – with histories taking in vast swathes of the development of jazz and free improvisation – these fleeting shared moments provide some of the most riveting playing in the career of either. There is precious little recorded evidence of Motian as a free improviser, but his mastery is beyond any doubt in these recordings. From knife-edge precision to textural haze, Motian’s palette is astounding, but perhaps even more impressive is his confidence in the non-idiomatic conversation itself. Pushing far beyond the established vocabulary of free percussion, his playing allows a measured degree of repetition to take form, giving rise to almost song-like structures. The covert influence of the drummer’s work on the post-rock genre (just taking its first nascent steps in the early 1990s) is made overt here. In turn, Bailey allows some of his most unashamedly melodic passages to unfold without a mote of his trademark contrariness or antagonism. Patterns that would be acerbically disrupted elsewhere are allowed to settle, with variations of note and timbre introduced more gradually than is typical of his playing. When forceful changes in dynamics or tone do arrive, they do so in such close tandem with Motian’s rhythmic and textural transitions as to beggar belief. The guitarist’s duos with percussionists (Jamie Muir, Han Bennink, John Stevens…) arguably provide some of the highlights of his discography. ‘Duo in Concert’ represents a strong addition to the list. An elegant sense of construction pervades the sets, as the duo ably fulfil the promise of free improvisation: carving out hugely compelling, expertly balanced, and thrillingly paced music as if from thin air.

A solo improvisation stripped down to the extremes of resonance, silence, and impact through the drum itself! Shoji Hano, a free jazz/improvisation drummer and singular figure in the Japanese scene—known for his releases on P.S.F. Records and collaborations with European avant-garde giants like Peter Brötzmann and Hans Reichel—presents his 2024 solo cassette work 69, stocked here from Beijing’s rising label UFO CREAtions. Strikes, reverberations, and silence intertwine with tension, offering a meditative experience of sound that expands both time and inner space. What resonates here is not decoration of narrative or genre, but the raw vibration of life itself—an experience of listening to an “absent pulse,” inviting both quiet introspection and a journey into uncharted sonic territory. A stark, uncompromising document of Hano’s solitary improvisation that transcends jazz and free music, drawing the listener into profound inner resonance. Limited to 69 copies—don’t miss it!

Isaiah Collier, William Hooker, and William Parker. Just as those who once gathered in the lofts of New York built sound from rubble and dust, this trio too carves raw time itself, releasing The Ancients on eremite. Collier, the young Chicago firebrand, tears through the echoes of history with his tenor, moving between gospel exaltation and searing cries. Hooker carries the tradition of free drumming, each strike exploding with muscular intensity, while Parker grounds the ensemble with bass tones that resound like the tremors of the earth. What began as an homage to Milford Graves becomes not a mere memorial, but a living festival of blood, breath, and sweat. Filling the air of Los Angeles and San Francisco, their sound recalls the unbound spirit of the 1970s loft scene, yet surges forward as a black hymn thrust into the future.

Sydney-based Korean drummer and improviser Chloe Kim considers New York's constant movement on this volatile solo workout, exploring heady rhythmelodic cycles, extended percussion techniques and unexpected textures. RIYL Milford Graves, Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Eli Keszler or Chris Corsano. Solo drumming albums are still a rarity, so 'Ratsnake' is already a pretty thrilling prospect, but this one's worth getting a little gassed over. Kim's a pro - a lecturer at Sydney's Conservatorium of Music and a seasoned performer who's played in improv trio Holopeak, alongside Aussie saxophonist Jeremy Rose and with iconic "avant groove" act Medeski Marin & Wood. And 'Ratsnake' is her chance to broadcast her own signature techniques in high definition without interruption; for a drummer who's best-known for playing solo for 100 hours in 10 days (seriously, check '100 Hours' on Bandcamp for the juicy edited highlights), that shouldn't be too hard. 'Ratsnake' is her fifth solo release, but Kim considers it her proper debut album - it's been recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn, after all - and on the title track, she shows us what she's capable of. Her tempo-flexing, circuitous rhythms are front and center, sure, but there's no shortage of tonal experimentation on show. She doesn't play melodies as such, but Kim knows her kit so well that the melodic outlines appear like ghosts, generated by her arsenal of tuned gongs, scraped cymbals and carefully balanced toms. Similarly, on 'Birth Dream' Kim balances out her courtly marches with ringing, regal resonances that she uproots with chaotic fills. The name of the album and some of its track titles relate to Korean folklore; the Korean rat snake is a symbol of abundance, and Kim's mother had seen one in a "conception dream" before Kim was born. So it's hard not to hear a link between the percussionist's living, breathing patterns and the tempo-fluxing rhythms that sit at the center of Korean folk music. She explored these essential beats in 2018 and there are still traces of that framework here; even though Kim's style has been shaped by jazz and free improv, there's still something personal and idiosyncratic in there, just like that rat snake.

Organic Music Society is an album by trumpeter Don Cherry. Many critics consider this album the one which gives a fuller picture of Cherry as ensemble leader, spiritualist and cultural synthesizer. Indeed, Organic Music Society is a bold exploration of global musical traditions, reflecting Cherry's vision of music as a universal. Here, Cherry makes a significant shift from his free jazz roots toward a more expansive, world music fusion. Recorded in Sweden, the album features a diverse ensemble blending Swedish, Turkish, Brazilian, and African musicians. Cherry himself contributes not only trumpet but also vocals, harmonium, flute, conch shell, and piano. The compositions include his own works, as well as interpretations of pieces by Terry Riley, Pharaoh Sanders, and Dollar Brand. The album's sound is eclectic and experimental, with tracks ranging from meditative chants like "North Brazilian Ceremonial Hymn" to the dynamic "Relativity Suite."

Each cassette in this trilogy is based off over a decade of audio-spiritual research on three beings who have created highly spiritual musical compositions, and who have transitioned off this planet in the physical: Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane (Swamini Turiyasangitananda), and Sun Ra. You will hear two ensembles - Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group as well as The Cosmic Tones Research Trio - play interpretations, responses, and hypotheses pertaining to the research on the music and message of those beings. Each cassette is simultaneously in tribute and is also a sonic dissertation. These cassettes are intended as future research on how the music of these beings affected the playing, the witnesses, and the hearers at the time of performance.

The first cassette "Something’s Happening: The Transitioning of a Pharoah" centers the beingness and music of Pharaoh Sanders. This recording took place on the day of his transition (9-24-22) at The Lumber Room in Portland, Oregon and features the ensemble Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group. The news of Pharaoh’s transition stunned the whole planet. The ensemble had different compositions prepared for this day originally, but immediately made new sonic arrangements in response, prayer, grief, and gratitude. Norfleet had a formative encounter with Sanders around 2013 while working as a computer salesman and learned about the music of Sanders directly from him. They spent hours in conversation on technology and music, which included talks about Sun Ra.

The second cassette is titled "Explorations of Turiya Loka" and was recorded at Leach Botanical Garden in Portland, Oregon (9-24-23). "Turiya" is a spiritual, blissful state and "Loka" means planet - according to Vedic spiritual systems. Turiya Loka is a spiritual, blissful planet. This cassette holds a recorded ceremony by Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group honoring the music and spiritual teachings of Swamini Turiyasangitananda (also known as Alice Coltrane) and explores what Turiya Loka may sound like. Turiya Loka is a home for Swamini Turiyasangitananda based on her song “Om Supreme” on the album Eternity. Since 2017, Norfleet has been studying and fellowshipping with the students of Swamini Turiyasangitananda who are based in California and still run the Vedantic Center organization. The organization continues to hold classes and ceremony. In this recording, listeners will get a chance to hear spiritual insight from Radha Botofasina, who is a student of Swamini Turiyasangitananda and lived on the ashram the spiritual teacher founded in Agoura Hills, California.

The final cassette consists of music from The Cosmic Tones Research Trio composed of Harlan Silverman, Kennedy Verrett, and Norfleet. It was recorded in community at Mississippi Records in Portland, Oregon (12-3-23). The ensemble's name gives a nod to Sun Ra’s "Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy" album title and was formed for extensive research purposes pertaining to universal and cosmic tones - how they affect human mental wellness and overall interspecies wellbeing. Sun Ra’s "Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy" is a great example and research tool for audio wellness. The evening of this concert was the trio’s first mental wellness event which had tremendous positive effects on the beings and buildings present and surrounding.