Compact Disc


The only LP featuring a band under Peter Kowald's name, Peter Kowald Quintet comes from a vital moment in the German bassist's career. A close colleague of Peter Brötzmann's in their formative years, including the saxophonist's debut For Adolphe Sax and the classic Machine Gun, Kowald had by 1972 broadened his circle of collaborators, eventually working with a who's who of global creative music. Recorded live in Berlin, released on FMP, this date documents a tensile ensemble, with an unusual lineup featuring two trombones – Londoner Paul Rutherford and the German maestro Günter Christmann – together with the less-well-known Dutch alto saxophonist (and sculptor) Peter van de Locht and brilliant German percussionist Paul Lovens. Kowald adds to the low brass when he turns from double-bass to tuba and alphorn. Spacious and fiery, these four tracks are exemplary European free music led by one of the music's foremost originals – Kowald's rough and ready bass, which was anchoring (and de facto leading) the Globe Unity Orchestra of that period, is echoed in the take-no-prisoners music of the fivesome.Mastered from original tapes, this first-ever CD release features a facsimile version of the original cover, which featured artwork by ten non-musician friends and unique hand-additions. Track Times: Platte Talloere (13:08) Wenn Wir Kehlkopfoperier Te Uns Unterhalten (7:09) Pavement Bolognaise (14:01) Guete Luuni (2:38) Peter Kowald, bass, tuba, alphorn Paul Rutherford, trombone Günter Christmann, trombone Peter van de Locht, alto saxophone Paul Lovens, drums

Peter Kowald Quintet – Peter Kowald Quintet

LP / CD

Until now, the earliest recordings anyone has heard by Joe McPhee come from the period around his 1968 debut album, Underground Railroad. McPhee had just started playing tenor saxophone at that point. A couple of years earlier, the bassist featured on all of McPhee's early recordings, Tyrone Crabb, led a band of his own, the Jazzmen, in which McPhee was featured on his first instrument: trumpet. Indeed, McPhee was a trumpet legacy – his father was a trumpeter. In the mid-'60s, Joe was a serious young player with deep knowledge and an expansive ear. Performing around Poughkeepsie and across the Hudson Valley, the Jazzmen were one of the very first ensembles recorded by Craig Johnson, who would go on to form the CjR label expressly to release McPhee's music. The fledgling audio engineer was clearly learning the ropes when he documented this incredible 1966 performance, but despite a few excusable acoustic blemishes, it's a beautiful window into McPhee's trumpet playing, suggesting that, had he stuck to that instrument alone, he might well have been considered a major figure on the horn (of course, he is such a figure on the pocket trumpet); the opening track, a version of "One Mint Julep" as arranged by Freddie Hubbard (on his Blue Note record Open Sesame) shows McPhee's lithe stylings to good effect. McPhee's musical cosmology was much bigger than a single axe, however, as is evident on the sprawling second track, which, over the course of half-an-hour proceeds from an excoriating yowl to a version of Miles Davis's "Milestones" taken at a sweltering tempo. A fiery portent of the free jazz to follow and a marker of McPhee's foundations in hard bop and soul jazz, Nineteen Sixty-Six features the entire reel-to-reel tape long thought lost, simply labeled: "Joe McPhee, 1966, trumpet."  JOE MCPHEE trumpet, recorder HARRY HALL tenor saxophone, recorder REGGIE MARKS tenor saxophone, recorder MIKE KULL piano TYRONE CRABB bass, bandleader CHARLIE BENJAMIN drums Recorded June, 1966, in Newburgh, New York.

The Jazzmen (Joe Mcphee) – Nineteen Sixty-Six

Joe McPhee is one of the great multi-instrumentalists of contemporary improvised music. His instrumental battery has included saxophones, clarinets, valve trombone, pocket trumpet, sound-on-sound tape recorder, and space organ, but another arrow in his quiver is text. McPhee has been writing poems since the 1970s. He occasionally introduces one into performance, as an introduction or afterword to music, and in recent years he's been known to do full-on readings, text only, featuring his inimitable sense of dramatic timing intoned in his rich voice. The poems range from the observational to the political to the surreal. They're composed in rhyme or according to an internal rhythm, sometimes utterly prosaic, sometimes fantastic and flamboyant. A few of them capture the immediacy of improvised music more acutely than any critical writing on the subject, his half-century immersion in the craft of free music having given him a bottomless cup to draw on and his sensitivity to the nuances of language providing a host of palpable metaphors and metonyms, similes and strophes. The poems are marvels on the page, but they really take flight in McPhee's mouth. In 2021, during a flurry of pandemic-inspired poetic activity, he traveled to Chicago expressly to record a program of his poems. For the studio date, he invited saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark to play duets as interludes between groupings of the poems. Then Vandermark, engineer Alex Inglizian, and the CvsD team sat breathless in the Experimental Sound Studio control room as McPhee proceeded to perform his poetry nonstop and without repetition for nearly two hours. The result is Musings of a Bahamian Son, the first full-length release dedicated to McPhee's writing, with 27 poems interspersed with nine musical interludes and a postlude. This CD release anticipates the forthcoming McPhee memoir, Straight Up, Without Wings: The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee, written with Mike Faloon, a book that will be published in the fall by CvsD. oe McPhee, voice and soprano saxophone. Ken Vandermark plays clarinet and bass clarinet on Interludes and Postlude.

Joe Mcphee (with Ken Vandermark) – Musings of a Bahamian Son: Poems and Other Words by Joe Mcphee

wo hardcore proponents of free improvisation from different generations meet for a granular explosion. Born in Poland, based outside Hannover, Germany, Günter Christmann hails back to the origins of European improvised music, when he played trombone in Rüdiger Carl Inc., the raucous trio that issued King Alcohol on FMP in 1972, as well as groups let by Peter Kowald, Alex Schlippenbach, and others. Christmann's personal arc drew him away from free jazz and deeper into a kind of improvised chamber music, which he explored in great detail with his many-versioned ensemble Vario and as a member of King Übü Örchestrü, as well as in an extensive discography of solo and duo records on the Moers label. Marshalling incredibly acute listening with lightning quick response time and an endless well of extended techniques not only on trombone but also bass and cello, Christmann remained true to his own very particular vision, championing the most personal kind of absolutely free play. On insisting, he combines forces with Niklas Fite, a young Swedish guitarist who's equally committed to spontaneous music. Fite is the son of beloved Stockholm guitarist Andy Fite and was a student of British guitarist John Russell, with whom Christmann worked extensively. On this recording, Fite makes crystal clear his ability to pack gargantuan impact into the tiniest of sounds, manipulating time by placing ample space between sounds and allowing the mutuality to unfold in an unforced way. Christmann plays cello exclusively here, the two stringed instruments combining with intensity and grace. A gorgeous, intimate recording, packaged with ink drawing by Christmann on the cover and notes by Fite.  Niklas Fite - guitar Günter Christmann - cello

Niklas Fite & Günter Christmann – insisting

Two historical heavyweights of European free music, clarinetist Rüdiger Carl and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson, join forces with younger bassist Joel Grip for a night of incredible trios. Recorded a few months before the pandemic clampdown, in November of 2019, at Berlin's Au Topsi Pohl, the music is exploratory and swinging, with Carl's viscous clarinet and a brilliant rhythm team steeped in time-based feel but loose and sometimes oblique. Johansson was part of the first Peter Brötzmann Trio to commit music to wax, on For Adolphe Sax (BRÖ/FMP, 1967), and he was on the legendary Brötzmann Octet date Machine Gun (BRÖ/FMP, 1968); the drummer's 1972 solo outing Schlingerland kicked off the SAJ sub-label of FMP, so named for Johansson's initials, and he has made a slew of great records for his own label, also called SÅJ.  Playing tenor saxophone, Carl led a fiery group called Rüdiger Carl Inc., which recorded the classic King Alcohol (FMP, 1972); he was part of important groups with pianist Irene Schweizer, also playing clarinet and accordion, and has recorded with many of the leading improvisors in Europe.  Johansson and Carl have recorded together numerous times, including Fünfunddreissigvierzig (FMP, 1986) and Djungelmusik met Sång (Hapna, 2000).  This sparkling live set features three longer pieces, beautifully recorded, with a cover photo by Johansson and liner notes by Peter Margasak. --- Rüdiger Carl, clarinet Joel Grip, double bass Sven-Åke Johansson, drum --- Recorded November 8/9, 2019 at Au Topsi Pohl, Berlin, by Alexis Baskind. Mixed by SÅJand Alexis Baskind. Mastered by Alex Inglizian. All rights retained by the artists/GEMA. Cover photo by SÅJ (West Berlin, 1970). CD design by SÅJ and David Khan-Giordano. Produced by SÅJ and John Corbett. --- Released: Corbett vs Dempsey

Rüdiger Carl, Joel Grip, Sven-Åke Johansson – In Early November

In 1981, British percussionist Paul Lytton and German guitarist Erhard Hirt met and recorded for a couple of days in Belgium. This explosive, ahead-of-its-time first encounter, which had been planned as a release on the legendary Po Torch label, has remained dormant for over four decades. In that period, Lytton and Hirt teamed up often, joining forces with saxophonist/clarinetist Wolfgang Fuchs and bassist Hans Schneider as the quartet X-Pact, a group that has recently reformed – several years after the untimely death of Fuchs – with Stefan Keune in the saxophone chair. Lytton and Hirt were key participants in the Aachen (Germany) improvised music scene, also key members of King Übü Örchestrü, one of the most radical improvising large ensembles. Lytton's legacy hearkens back to his time in the London jazz scene of the late 1960s, where he played with a who's who of heavies, and he's perhaps best known for his long standing collaboration with saxophonist Evan Parker, in duet settings and their collective trio with bassist Barry Guy. He is one of the great innovators of European improvised music, both as a percussionist and with his unique electronics rig. Hirt's super-resourceful guitar work – here both on electric guitar (with active whammy bar) and acoustic dobro – deserves to be more widely heard. Along with his own solo music, which started with a killer record called Zwischen den Pausen on Uhlklang in 1983, he's worked intensively with musicians such as Axel Dörner, Phil Minton, Thomas Lehn, Phil Wachsmann, and John Butcher. For its debut voyage, Borne on a Whim was lovingly transferred (for the first time) from the original reels by Ken Christianson, preserving every crispy, crackling noise.The cover features a stencil used to make a poster for them back in the period that Lytton and Hirt first began their work together. Borne on a Whim is the first release drawn from the Paul Lytton Archives at Corbett vs. Dempsey. Paul Lytton, percussion & live electronics Erhard Hirt, electric guitars & dobro Recording PLo/PLy, Plombieres, Belgium, 17/18 April, 1981.

Paul Lytton & Erhard Hirt – Borne on a Whim - Duets, 1981

One of the towering creative musicians of our time, a master drummer and multiple percussionist, Hamid Drake has anchored inumerable bands. As a hard working player, constantly touring the globe, he's collaborated with most of the major figures in improvised music and contemporary jazz, from David Murray and Peter Brötzmann to Pharoah Sanders and Don Cherry. Along the way, Drake has never had an opportunity to stop and make a solo record. Indeed, he's only performed solo on a few occasions. John Corbett began petitioning Drake to record an unaccompanied session twenty years ago. At last, after the pandemic had (just slightly) slowed down Drake's incessant travel itinerary, a plan was hatched and he entered Experimental Sound Studio during the cold, hard month of December, 2020. With Corbett, Jim Dempsey, and engineer Alex Inglizian as his audience, Drake worked through a vaguely plotted-out blueprint, however after a few months had passed, the drummer was unsatisfied with the result. He returned to the studio in July, 2021, with no pre-planned notion, and this time the Hamid Drake magic was everywhere – perched on his drum-throne, working exclusively at the kit, sometimes plying metallic percussion atop the snare, Drake recorded nine tracks, a cornucopia of rhythms and textures that touch on his love of reggae and funk but retain the openness and buoyancy that have made him such a go-to figure among his peers. In the CD's liner notes, he says: "A dedication in spirit to all those who have influenced, helped, opened, nurtured, shown love for, and cared for me along the way." These include Brötzmann's band Die Like a Dog, longterm percussion pal Adam Rudolph and mentor Fred Anderson, fellow drummers Paul Lovens and Milford Graves, Don and Moki Cherry, Big Black, and others. The record, precisely and soulfully recorded by Inglizian, has the beauty and warmth that always radiate from Drake's sticks, from his person and spirit – deep humanity in the form of an unstoppable engine room. Cover art by Christopher Wool. 1. Dedicated to Die Like a Dog [8:25]2. Dedicated to Adam Rudolph [13:21]3. Dedicated to Don & Moki Cherry [6:06]4. Dedicated to Milford Graves [8:29]5. Dedicated to Paul Lovens [9:14]6. Dedicated to Big Black [7:43]7. Dedicated to Fred Anderson and to the beauty and diversity of Chicago [5:28]8. Dedicated to Lex Hixon (Shaykh Nur) and Shaykha Fariha [8:45]9. Dedicated to Lenn Keller, Brenda Jones, and Calvin Gantt [3:56]Hamid Drake – drum set and percussion Recorded by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, on July 12, 2020. Mixed and mastered by Alex Inglizian with Hamid Drake, Jim Dempsey, and John Corbett at ESS. Cover design and artwork by Christopher Wool. CD design by David Khan-Giordano. Produced by John Corbett and Christopher Wool.CvsDCD088

Hamid Drake – Dedications (Black Cross Solo Sessions 6)

Originally released in 1979 as a double-LP on Hat Hut, Stamps was Steve Lacy’s first for the legendary Swiss label, and it remains one of the strongest statements of what he termed the “scratchy seventies.” With the classic lineup of Lacy’s soprano saxophone, Steve Potts on soprano and alto sax, Irene Aebi on cello (and singing on one track), Kent Carter on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums, the recording catches the band live, performing Lacy’s angular, intervallic compositions, using arrangements that leave the rough patina, rather than buffing things to a smooth shine. This is the first time the important music has been reissued on CD, adding a bonus track, all remastered from the original tapes. The double-disc package sports a facsimile reproduction of the gorgeous artwork by Klaus Baumgärtner, with action photographs from the concerts on the interior. A must for Lacy fans and for anyone interested in creative music. Steve Lacy, soprano saxophone and Japanese bird whistle Steve Potts, alto and soprano saxophone Irene Aebi, cello, violin, voice, bells Kent Carter, bass Oliver Johnson, drums Originally released on hat Hut Records (hat Hut K/L, 1979). Track 4 is previously unreleased. CD 1 recorded by Walter Troxler, August 27, 1977, at Jazz Festival Willisau, Switzerland. CD 2 recorded by Philippe Quinsac, February 22, 1978, at Jazz Au Totem, Paris. Production coordination by Craig Johnson, CjR Productions. Mastered by David Crawford at Masterdisk, New York. Cover art by Klaus Baumgärtner.

Steve Lacy – Stamps

Recorded at the ICP Jubileum, a festival in Uithoorn, Holland, in 1978, Yi Yole brings together the core of the Instant Composers Pool – pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink – with legendary South African alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana. Longtime member of the Blue Notes, Pukwana was a beloved figure in European free music after he left South Africa in the mid-sixties and settled in London. There he worked with all of the leading lights of free improvised music, recording extensively with the Brotherhood of Breath and eventually releasing LPs under his own leadership before his untimely passing in 1990 at the age of 51. What the three tracks on Yi Yole make clear is how surprisingly well the Dutch and South African sensibilities fit together, an overall relaxed vibe leading to unforeseen directions in the music. Han Bennink ranges far beyond his drum kit and its metallic add-ons, playing trombone, clarinet, and viola; his collage design for the record, as with all ICP productions, is brilliant and perfectly matched to the music. This is the only time these three prime movers of free music would record as a trio, hitting just at the moment when the Instant Composers Pool was gaining momentum and South African jazz was growing in international stature. Released on ICP, Mengelberg/Bennink’s self-produced label, Yi Yole saw limited distribution and attention in its time, but it remains an absolute classic of improvised music, presented here in all its glory with Bennink’s design, remastered from original tapes, the box of which is reproduced on the interior spread, replete with never-seen hand notations.

Dudu Pukwana/Mengelberg/Bennink – Yi Yole

Hailing from the Germantown section of Philadelphia, well known as the site of the Sun Ra Arkestra communal homestead, Sounds of Liberation were at the forefront of seventies black liberation music. After a series of gigs in elementary schools, prisons, and community centers, in 1973 the band travelled along with their manager George Gilmore (father of Linc Gilmore of Breakwater fame) to NYC for a recording session at Columbia University. This five-song session has never been heard until now. Had it ever been issued, it would have followed on the band’s debut, New Horizons, released in an edition of 500 copies on Dogtown Records, now a highly prized item in creative music collector circles. Sounds Of Liberation formed in early 1970, initially lead by vibraphonist Warren Robert Cheeseboro, aka Khan Jamal, but it wasn't until the eventual arrival of Byard Lancaster that the band’s prospects started to take off. Lancaster was a master at making a deal (with or without the band’s approval). This deal-making lead to more gigs and more recognition, especially from local newspapers. Sounds Of Liberation was more of a community than a band at times and because of that spirit there was a strong desire by the entire group to work with schoolchildren as well as inmates. They did just that, and continued to do so throughout the early to mid-seventies. Released briefly last year as a special edition of 100 copies by Brewerytown Beats, who have forged positive working relationships with the living members of the band and the estates of those passed, the music on Sounds of Liberation has never been heard before, which is especially strange given how wonderful and accessible it is. Shoulder-deep in groove juice, it’s a record with heavy ostinati and beautiful backbeats, including the mellowing influence of Jamal’s vibes and the incisive guitar of Monette Sudler, the final track featuring an unidentified vocal group singing a stone-cold soul hit, also featuring some searing saxophone courtesy of Mr. Lancaster. A treasure for fans of so-called spiritual jazz and free funk, Sounds of Liberation is a snapshot of its era and equally an inspiration in ours. The package comes with never seen photos of the band and a cover design by artist LeRoy Butler, who worked with the SOL in the era, at the same time he was designing records for Sun Ra. With music lovingly coaxed from long-unplayed original tapes, Sounds of Liberation is a new line item in the soul improvisation pantheon.

Sounds of Liberation – Sounds of Liberation

X-Ray Hex Tet = Seymour Wright / Crystabel Riley / Edward George / Pat Thomas / Paul Abbott / Billy Steiger Reading Group is proud to present the debut album of a new ensemble of some of the most adventurous artists in and around London’s contemporary music scene. X-Ray Hex Tet is the confluence of Seymour Wright (alto saxophone), Crystabel Riley (drums), Edward George (words and recordings), Pat Thomas (piano and electronics), Paul Abbott (real and imaginary drums), and Billy Steiger (celeste and violin). Wright and Abbott, elsewhere as XT, have developed a private language in their uncompromising explorations of the “histories and logics of the saxophone and drum kit.” Wright and Thomas make up half of the extraordinary research ensemble [Ahmed], named after legendary oudist and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik. ([Ahmed]’s Giant Beauty is undoubtedly one of the best releases of 2024). Here, the music is transformed through the quasi-narrative presence of Edward George, the seminal scholar of dub and founding member of the great Black Audio Film Collective (1982-1998). Artist and multi-instrumentalist Billy Steiger provides subtle textural sway beneath the chaos on the violin, as well as eerily unaffected punctuation on celeste, shimmering in the corners as if in the postapocalyptic final moments of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony. The percussive core of the group is carried by Crystabel Riley, frequent collaborator with Wright and formerly of the power noise trio Maria and the Mirrors. Her drums move through the storm with geological heft, rolling like a small avalanche. From the sound of this album, recorded live at the Taktlos Festival in Zurich in 2023, the music of X-Ray Hex Tet appears well-nigh impossible to represent. After ascending to its vertiginous heights, though, what comes to mind is a small undercanon of music about history: not in any facile programmatic way, but in its very logic, on the level of form. (Think of Matana Roberts’s Coin Coin cycle, Iannis Xenakis’s Persepolis, Morton Feldman’s Coptic Light.) X-Ray Hex Tet intends towards totality, as a striving, as a gravitational pull. Our feet are swept up in Riley’s cascading drums and we reach out for some resolution to ground us but grasp only shards of alto saxophone, a cacophonous web of samples, gossamer string textures, and electronic whirrs. George’s voice emerges out of this thicket and hovers above it, intoning the names of—or reappearing as—those who have most recently represented the violent threshold of history. From this angle we are both under the avalanche and being blown away from it like a composite recording angel of history: there is no place outside the storm from which to reflect upon it.

X-Ray Hex Tet – X-Ray Hex Tet

“Ideas about exploratory behavior, Neuro Music and Transcultural Music have been the basis for many of my works over the last 20 years. Exploratorium is an album of some of those works and a space of exploration. Indeed, all the works on this album are examples of Neuro Music, which is the fundamental connection point across these compositions.” 
— Gene Coleman, from the CD bookletGene Coleman is a composer, musician and video director, who has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Central to his work is the inventive use of sound, image and time, and the desire to create experiences that expand our understanding of the world. Since 2001 he has explored the global transformation of culture and music's relationship with video, science and architecture.Gene has been developing a series of works around concepts of Neuro Music and Transcultural Music, some of which are collected for the first time on Exploratorium, which is also the first album exclusively dedicated to Gene’s compositions.Gene defines Neuro Music as “an area of research and creation based on the study and application of models and concepts from Auditory Neuroscience, as a form of musical composition. … The Neuro compositional methods I have developed are modeled on the auditory pathway of the brain … including the three mechanical stages of hearing (outer, middle and inner ear functions), the auditory nerves and the various stages of auditory information processing, ending in the neocortex and so-called frontal networks.”Neuro Music concepts are explored across various works on the album, including string quartet, and pieces which combine voice, electronics, shamisen and/or ensemble.Gene defines Transcultural Music as “an area of research and composition based on the integration of music from different cultures and traditions”, and has been exploring how musical styles and traditions might meet and combine in new ways for over 20 years. Models of Neuro and Transcultural Musics have been combined in the longest piece on the album, Across Time (Transonic Symphony #1), which explores new possibilities for what a symphony can be in the 21st century and features musicians from many different places and traditions. The musicians featured on the album:-- RITORNO: The Hemmi Quartet.-- Kokhlos I: Nicholas Isherwood, Adam Vidiksis.-- Kokhlos IV: CumTempora Ensemble (coordinated by Virginia Guidi), Adam Vidiksis.-- Vidrone: Sansuzu Tsuruzawa, Toshimaru Nakamura.-- Across Time (Transonic Symphony #1): Transonic Orchestra, Directed by Gene Coleman: Shinjoo Cho, Ko Ishikawa, Sansuzu Tsuruzawa, Thomas Kraines, Naoko Kikuchi, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M., Jonah Rosenberg, Yasutaka Hemmi, Marino Nagira, Yuta Tsubonouchi, Yasunori Onishi, Marcus Weiss, Jean-Michel Goury, Pierre-Stephane Meuge, Serge Bertocchi, Aya Motohashi, Sasamoto Takeshi.The album also foregrounds Gene’s integration of material from the writer Lance Olsen’s novel Dreamlives of Debris.This is Gene’s second album on the False Walls label: Storobo Imp., a set of improvisations with Uchihashi Kazuhisa, was released in 2004. --- Mastering by Stephan MathieuProduced by CJ Mitchell and Gene ColemanDesign by David Caines 6-panel gatefold sleeve, with 24 page booklet and CD sleeveBooklet includes sleeve notes by Gene ColemanAll Compositions, 2023 Gene Coleman / Lontano Music (ASCAP)

Gene Coleman – Exploratorium