Category Archives: Free Jazz

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 3.

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 3. Fire!-She Sleeps, She Sleeps. Back in Fenruary, Fire! released their fifth studio album She Sleeps, She Sleeps on Rune Grammofon. Just like previous albums by Fire! and the Fire! Orchestra the music on She Sleeps, She Sleeps was groundbreaking, influential and innovative. It was also captivating, progressive, genre-melting music. …

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BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 4.

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 4. Jóhann Jóhannsson-Ophee On Orphée, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s turned his attention to the beauty and the process of creation. Orphée features Jóhann Jóhannsson tracing a path from darkness into light. Inspiration for Orphée comes from the opéra bouffe Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld). It was written by Ludovic Halévy, …

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BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 5.

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 5. Martin Green-Flit Last year, when  Lau enjoying some downtime, accordionist and electronics guru Martin Green decided to release his sophomore album, Flit on Reveal Records. It was the followup to Crow’s Bones which was released in 2014 and found Martin accompanied by an-star cast of musicians. They play their …

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BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 6.

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 6. Qluster-Echtzei. Forty-seven years after he first co-founded Kluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius keeps the memory of Kluster and Cluster alive with Qluster.  They released their sixth album Echtzeit on  Bureau B during 2016.    Echtzeit marks a stylistic departure from Qluster. It’s much more ambient sounding album.  Qluster combine elements of …

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BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 7.

BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 7. Sunanna-Triangle. Triangle is Susanna’s eleventh album and first for four years. It was released on Susanna’s own SusannaSonata label, and is no ordinary album. Not by a long chalk. Instead, Triangle is a twenty-two song cerebral epic, where Susanna muses and meditates on mortality and religion.  It’s a powerful album, …

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BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 1

BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 1 For years, I’ve been writing about the Nordic Wave scene, which is, without doubt, one of the most eclectic and vibrant in Europe. During that period, I’ve witnessed the rise and rise of the Nordic Wave. There’s no sign of the bubble bursting. Quite the opposite. This latest …

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BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 2.

BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 2. Hedvig Mollestad Trio-Evil In Oslo. In July 2016, the Hedvig Mollestad Trio released two albums. This includes the live album Evil In Oslo. It was released by Rune Grammofon and is the Hedvig Mollestad Trio’s first ever live album. Evil In Oslo is a tantalising taste of the …

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BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 3.

BEST NORDIC WAVE ALBUMS OF 2016-PART 3. Nicklas Sørensen-Solo.  Ever since 2010, Copenhagen based instrumental rock trio Papir’s star has been in the ascendancy. One of the men behind Papir’s success was guitarist Nicklas Sørensen, who released his debut album Solo on El Paraiso Records. He set out to experiment on Solo. However, on other …

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IMPULSE! 1961-1974 BOX SET.

IMPULSE! 1961-1974 BOX SET. In 1955, the American Broadcasting Company decided the time was right to diversify into the record business. So on June 14th 1955 as Am-Par Record Corporation was incorporated. Samuel H. Clark became the Am-Par Record Corporation’s first president. He oversaw the birth of what would become one of the biggest record companies …

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IKARUS-KRAUTROCK’S NEARLY MEN.

IKARUS-KRAUTROCK’S NEARLY MEN. In Greek mythology, Icarus, the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, who created the Labyrinth, met a tragic ending. Icarus and Daedalus were desperate to escape from Crete. So Daedalus constructed wings made of feathers and wax. As Icarus prepared to make his escape, Daedalus warned his son of complacency and hubris.  …

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GARY BARTZ-JU JU MAN AND LOVE SONG.

GARY BARTZ-JU JU MAN AND LOVE SONG. By 1976, saxophonist Gary Bartz’s reputation was on the rise.This came as no surprise to those within the jazz community. Already, Gary Bartz had played with some of the biggest names in jazz. Especially before he formed his own band in 1969. Baltimore born Gary Bartz had started …

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MIROSLAV VITOUS-THE BASS.

MIROSLAV VITOUS-THE BASS.  In 1967, twenty year old Miroslav Vitous was playing alongside Clark Terry in a Chicago club. It was just the latest gig for the up-and-coming Czech bassist. He had made America his home in 1966, when he won a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Now he was …

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MOTORPSYCHO-ANGELS AND DAEMONS AT PLAY.

MOTORPSYCHO-ANGELS AND DAEMONS AT PLAY. Nowadays, not many bands stay together twenty-seven years. Longevity seems to be a thing of the past in the music business. Sadly, so is releasing an average of an album a year. That was common in the sixties and seventies. Not any more. Very few bands come close to releasing …

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RHYTHM ON THE RADIO: OVAL RECORDS-SINGLES 1974-1987.

RHYTHM ON THE RADIO: OVAL RECORDS-SINGLES 1974-1987.  By 1972, Charlie Gillette was a successful journalist, based in London. He wrote for various publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including Creem, NME and Let It Rock. Occasionally, Charlie presented the BBC TV music program The Old Grey Whistle Test. It was a program  that suited Charlie’s …

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KOLLECTION 06: CLUSTER 1971-1981-COMPILED BY JOHN McENTIRE.

KOLLECTiON 06: CLUSTER 1971-1981-COMPILED BY JOHN McENTIRE. One of the most important, influential and innovative bands in the history of German music were Cluster. Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius formed Cluster in 1971. Previously they had both been members of Kluster since 1969. However, Conrad Schnitzler, the third member of Kluster, left the band in mid-1971. …

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TIM BUCKLEY- LADY, GIVE ME YOUR KEY: THE UNISSUED 1967 SESSIONS.

TIM BUCKLEY- LADY, GIVE ME YOUR KEY: THE UNISSUED 1967 SESSIONS. Having released his eponymous debut album in 1966, Tim Buckley was told by Elektra wanted to record a followup album. Before that, Elektra’s founder Jac Holzman told Tim Buckley he wanted him to record a single. Then the album would follow. This made sense. …

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FORASTERO-EL SUBMARINISTA EN EL TEJADO.

FORASTERO-EL SUBMARINISTA EN EL TEJADO. For the last few years, Forastero have been familiar faces on Madrid’s underground jazz scene. It offers alternative venues to the ones that are regularly frequented by the city’s more conservative jazz fans. They’re not quite ready for Forastero’s jazz-punk sound The six members of Forastero take to the stage with …

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SUN RA- SINGLES THE DEFINITIVE 45s COLLECTION.

SUN RA- SINGLES THE DEFINITIVE 45s COLLECTION. Ever since his death in 1993, interest in Sun Ra’s music has grown. That comes as no surprise. He was a fascinating figure, and one of most enigmatic and innovative musicians in the history of music. The man that many referred to as Mr. Mystery  is nowadays regarded …

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AK MUSICK-AK MUSICK.

AK MUSICK-AK MUSICK. By the early seventies, the West German music scene was thriving. Across the country, new bands were being formed, and releasing new, ambitious,  innovative and experimental music. This had been the case since the late sixties, when the first wave of new bands were formed. One of the earliest groups were Amon …

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TOM ARTHURS AND ISAMBARD KHROUSTALIOV-VAUCANSON’S MUSE-VINYL EDITION.

TOM ARTHURS AND ISAMBARD KHROUSTALIOV-VAUCANSON’S MUSE-VINYL EDITION. Trumpeter Tom Arthurs and electronic musicians Isambard Khroustaliov have been friends for the best part of ten years. During that time, they’ve been involved with the Not Applicable record label and collective. It organised an English tour of Graphic Scores back in October 2013, that inspired Tom Arthurs …

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