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“Guitarist Luciano Margorani has been active in the Italian experimental music scene since the mid-80s, as a solo artist, as a member of La 1919, Ferdinando Farao’s Archipel Orchestra, and Fracture, as well as collaborations with the likes of Chris Cutler, Derek Bailey, Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, Ferdinand Richard, Bruno Meillier, Charles Hayward, Giovanni Venosta, Roberto Musci, Gregg Bendian, and many others. For this 40-minute improvisation he has teamed up with his drummer from La 1919, Federico...
Label  ADN

Conrad Bauer: Trombone / Ulrich Gumpert: Piano / Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky: Alto Saxophone, Flutes, Clarinet / Günter Sommer: Drums, Percussion, Mouth Harp

The four greats of German jazz—Conrad Bauer, Ulrich Gumpert, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky...
Label  Intakt

Conrad Bauer: Trombone
Ulrich Gumpert: Piano
Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky: Alto Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Günter Sommer: Drums, Percussion, Bells

"Plie is something like a curtsey, bending your knees, a dance step. Ballett language...
Label  Intakt

Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Saxophones / Conrad Bauer, Trombone / Ulrich Gumpert, Piano / Günter Sommer, Drums, Percussion

"The four greats of German jazz – Conrad Bauer, Ulrich Gumpert, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, and Günter Sommer – have recorded..
Label  Intakt

The Zeraus Quartet is led by Leo Arias, who supplies all of the compositions, of Akineton Retard and it is a new music sax quartet. You can hear elements of Akineton in their music (as distilled into a sax quartet) and you can also hear influences from...
Label  Zeraus

If you give this very spacious, large emsemble recording that is very open and also very planned the time and attention that it needs to unfold, I think you’ll be entranced!

“As a musician, I've been curious for many years of how collective musical practices can provide a sense of weightlessness, as well as how a focused interplay can blur the lines between musicians and sound sources and create reconfigurations of the relations between the two. I have also tried to explore these observations in...
Label  Relative Pitch

Torbjörn Zetterberg - double bass
Susana Santos Silva - trumpet, tin whistle
Mats Äleklint - trombone, harmonica
Jonas Kullhammar - tenor saxophone, flute
Alberto Pinton - baritone saxophone, clarinet, flute
Jon Fält - drums

“If you've missed out on bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg, now's your chance to play some catch up ball. He's one of creative music's most eloquent exponents, having emerged from the fertile Swedish jazz scene around 2005.
With his band Torbjörn Zetter
Label  Corbett vs Dempsey

One of the world's premier noise percussionists and a learned scholar of Kabbalah, Torah and Talmud, Z'ev has been a vital force in the downtown scene since the late 1970s. In addition to his collaborations with Glenn Branca, Rudolph Grey and his fasci...
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"The music of Zevious shrewdly juxtaposes order and its opposite: structural intensity pushed to its breaking point in the most appealing way. These boys are brilliant and fearless."–Vijay Iyer

"...Zevious is for anyone who loves aggressive, rock-oriented improv with grooves and some semblance of a song...these guys put their music degrees to work...letting us know that being intense doesnt mean you can't have arrangements and following a script doesnt mean you can't let your hair down." – DownBeat..
Label  Cuneiform

Zevious split the difference between the Tony Williams Lifetime and the 80s Downtown scene...[they make] algebraic music feel wholly organic , almost swinging." – Jazz Times

"...[This] is for anyone who loves aggressive, rock-oriented improv with grooves & some semblance of a song...these guys put their music degrees to work...letting us know that being intense doesn't mean you can't have arrangements & following a script doesn't mean you can't let your hair down." – DownBeat
Label  Cuneiform

Zevious split the difference between the Tony Williams Lifetime & the 80s Downtown scene...[they make] algebraic music feel wholly organic , almost swinging." – Jazz Times

"...[This] is for anyone who loves aggressive, rock-oriented improv with grooves & some semblance of a song...these guys put their music degrees to work...letting us know that being intense doesn't mean you can't have arrangements & following a script doesn't mean you can't let your hair down." – DownBeat
Label  Cuneiform

"Classic recording by the ever deeper Russian instrument builders and masters of live electroacoustic/song/sound sculptures. Dangerous, Bitter, Desperate and Down to the Bone, but carrying a huge emotional charge and a rare beauty. This is lived music, both mature and profound."-Chris Cutler
Label  ReR

Long out of print second ReR release by this Rigan electro-acoustic ensemble. “Stonery industrial with noise pop hints. Great and psychedelic.”
Label  ReR

“File under early Russian industrial rock/art; Harry Partch, incorporating primitive analogue electronics. A legend in art and industrial music circles, ZGA was formed under the old regime in Riga, Lavia, in 1984, by Nick Sudnik and Valery Dudkhin.
Unable to rehearse acoustically because of the neighbours, they invented their own instruments from scrap and springs and shaped metal fitted with contact microphones; these were not just noise instruments, but ways of accessing complex pitches, strange...
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Jon Davis: Chapman Stick, guzheng, Mellotron, ARP 2600
Dennis Rea: Electric guitar, resonator guitar
Alicia DeJoie: Electric violin
James DeJoie: Baritone saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
Randy Doak: Drums, percussion
with special guest:
Daniel Barry: Trumpet (Track 11)

"Zhongyu is an American band with a Chinese name and an attitude that encompasses the full spectrum of musical sounds and sources. Composer Jon Davis teams up with three members of Moraine and an experie
Label  MoonJune
UPC  692287907822

Omri Ziegele: Alto Saxophone, Uzbek Flute, Vocals
Yves Theiler: Keyboards, Reed Organ
Dario Sisera: Percussion, Drums

“Under the band title Where's Africa Omri Ziegele has long played with Irène Schweizer. Now he presents That Hat, his second album in the trio formation with keyboarder Yves Theiler and drummer Dario Sisera. The three are interested in an Africa seen through the eyepiece of Central European musicians who know everything from jazz to rock.
"There are certain jazz...
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OMRI ZIEGELE Altosax, Voice
CHRISTIAN WEBER Bass
HAN BENNINK Drums

"Swiss saxophonist Omri Ziegele presents with the Tomorrow Trio an adventurous line-up featuring the legendary Dutch drummer Han Bennink and accom­plished Swiss double bassist Christian Weber. A collaboration that offers a perfect platform for Ziegele's robust, powerful sound and his dynamic phrasing, while at the same time showing interest in poetry and the spoken word.
"If the Tomorrow Trio has a defining feature
Label  Intakt

Omri Ziegele Altosax, Voice
Jürg Wickihalder Sopranosax
Bernhard Göttert Cello
Gabriela Friedli Piano
Jan Schlegel E-Bass
Herbert Kramis Bass
Marco Käppeli Drums
Dieter Ulrich Drums, Bugle

"Billiger Bauer is fre
Label  Intakt
UPC  7640120191122

"Omri Ziegele, saxophonist, composer and und leader of the small orchestra Billiger Bauer, presents a new work with his orchestra. For its 15th anniversary, it quite aptly premiered the first performance of a 15-part work at the Zurich Theater...
Label  Intakt
UPC  7640120192471

Omri Ziegele: Alto Saxophone, Uzbek Flute, Vocals
Yves Theiler: Keyboards, Reed Organ, Melodica, Vocals
Dario Sisera: Percussion, Drums
"This new album by Omri Ziegele’s «Where’s Africa» trio is in a place where there is unmitigated joy; its movements are feather-light, yet its grooves are earthy. That state of being in which everything can flow freely, the songs, time, like children’s rhymes and rounds, circling until they suddenly lead us out into the open.
The keyboard transforms....
Label  Intakt

Omri Ziegele: Altosaxophone, Voice / Yves Theiler: Piano

"Omri Ziegele, saxophonist, composer and und leader of the small orchestra Billiger Bauer presents a duo with younger Zürich pianist Yves Theiler – after Ziegel had made his musical way...
Label  Intakt
UPC  7640120192181

“Recording debut for Francesco Ziello from Rome, a very particular record and to be listened to with great attention for its fascinating sound texture, between acoustic sounds and feedback. An experimental work that revolves around the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, for the chronicles the Milwaukee monster.
The album title 957 is the prison years he was confined to in prison and 213 (title of a track) was his apartment number.
The 14 tracks are a real sound experience to be experienced in an...
Label  ADN

"The Gypsy wedding music of Bulgaria has been made famous by the likes of Yunakov and Papasov, but this ensemble is every bit their equal as they thunder through Gypsy music, crazy jazz and wild improvisations on accordion, tupan, percussion and guitar."
Label  Kuker

''Melodies Franais'' by soprano voice Zimmer, piano, & small ensemble. [New Albion]
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Ethan Iverson-piano
Chris Tordini-bass
John Hollenbeck-drums
Patrick Zimmerli-sax

"New York and Paris-based composer-saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli has pursued overlapping careers in jazz and classical music for over two decades. His 1992 jazz quartet project Shores Against Silence (finally released on Songlines in 2016 to critical acclaim) was inspired by his love of avant-garde modernist composers such as Babbitt, Carter, Stockhausen and Boulez.
In Clockworks he draws on some..
Label  Songlines

Patrick Zimmerli, tenor saxophone
Ben Monder, guitar
Stomu Takeishi, bass
Satoshi Takeishi, percussion

"Zimmerli’s originals are as abstract and exotic as ever. “Sand,” the opener, begins with a drone note that sets up a strikingly subtle, Eastern-influenced rubato theme. (Kevin Whitehead’s second-by-second analysis in the liner notes is well worth reading.)…Both the originals and the standards bear clear marks of Zimmerli’s highly individual style, in which contemporary classical an
Label  SongLines
UPC  774355153024

Patrick Zimmerli, tenor saxophone
Ben Monder, guitar
Stomu Takeishi, fretless electric bass
Satoshi Takeishi, percussion

“Zimmerli has unveiled an ornate and shining vista of new sounds…The Ensemble compositions are all twelve tone, but they are also tonal — Zimmerli’s mastery of counterpoint enables him to combine serial practice with a love of tonal harmony, yielding tightly organized but aurally exotic material that can nonetheless be represented by traditional chord symbols…
Label  SongLines
UPC  774355150825

Most of you have never heard of this guy, but he’s a brilliantly great (and accessible!) composer doing interesting new things in the realm where jazz, classical music and electronic music all meet. Highly recommended.

“Phoenix, the sixth CD by Patrick Zimmerli, finds the New York-based composer/saxophonist investigating new avenues of expression. The record integrates saxophone and jazz instruments with electronics and strings to create an appealing hybrid sound. It draws on Zimmerli’s wealth...
Label  Songlines
UPC  774355154823

Composer Patrick Zimmerli is one of the more interesting and deep composers on the scene today. Highly recommended for anyone interested in ‘beyond jazz’ ala John Hollenbeck, etc. “This recording of New York saxophonist-composer Zimmerli's first quartet (Kevin Hays, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Tom Rainey, drums) went unreleased at the time. His first released recording was with his Ensemble, followed by three other Songlines releases). Now he has returned to Shores and edited it for release in....
Label  Songlines
UPC  774355161920

Patrick Zimmerli, soprano saxophone
Laurent Blondiau, trumpet, flugelhorn
Geoffroy De Masure, trombone
Guillame Orti, alto saxophone
Bo Van der Werf, baritone saxophone
Fabian Fiorini, piano
Pierre Van Dormael, electric guitar
Otti Van der Werf, Jean-Luc Lehr, electric bass
Stéphane Galland, Chander Sardjoe, drums
Ben Monder, acoustic/electric guitars (1, 10)

"Patrick Zimmerli is one of the most unusual jazz composer/saxophonists around. For his third So
Label  Songlines
UPC  774355154120

Professionally packaged and nice looking, you wouldn't guess this is a CDR unless you look carefully.
Dave Ballou – trumpet, electronics
Nick Didkovsky – guitar, table top guitar, and homebrew software
Kevin Norton – drums, percussion...
Label  Punos

"Portuguese violinist Carlos “Zíngaro” is committed to reinventing chamber music through improvisation. Consider some of his past collaborations – in duo with Joelle Léandre, Dominique Pifarely, Peggy Lee, Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, and Dominic Duval; in
Label  Clean Feed

''Mexican electro-world siren Alquimia (London) meets through cyberspace Bavarian electro-prog bat Zinkl (Munich),...and during almost one year, & only by email & post they created musical fantasy tales about the secret life of underwater creatures.'' ...
Label  Prudence

In 1964 Zinovieff sold his wife's wedding tiara to purchase the first computer housed on a private estate and converted his garden shed into the most advanced music studio in the world, housing 384 oscillators, as well as a collection of filters, noise generators, ring modulators, signal analyzers, and amplifiers....
Label  Space Age

"Zion 80 is the brainchild of guitarist Jon Madof, a wildly popular project that seamlessly blends the Afro-pop stylings of the legendary Fela Kuti with the Jewish tradition. Featuring an exciting 11-piece all-star band, Madof masterfully blends horns...
Label  Tzadik
UPC  702397831921

The brainchild of guitarist Jon Madof, Zion80 is a dynamic 10-piece ensemble that explores the Jewish tradition through the lenses of afro-beat, funk, rock and jazz.
Drums and percussion drive this tight band of horns and guitars into a polyrhythmic intensity as driving grooves blend with the madness of the Downtown scene. Spiritual, grooving and endlessly exciting, this is essential Jewish music for the 21st century.
With Zorn guesting on one intense track, Hod is a dynamic highpoint to the...
Label  Tzadik

Excellent 'is it post-rock?/is it jazz?' work by this instrumental guitar/bass/drums trio. The guitarwork is spacious, but has ties to ECM and even to early John McLaughlin, the drumming is light and jazz-tinged and the whole thing is interesting...
Label  Lizard
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Vincenzo performs on the Celtic harp, along with a guitarist and a tabla player, giving this record a sound quite different than any Celtic harp album. [Felmay/New Tone]

Reissue of the Celtic harp maestro's first recording (1986). After long studies in those years, Zitello was writing his own original pieces and practicing his singular style, blending virtuoso playing with an intuitive lyricism. One is struck immediate...

"For his debut as a leader, drummer James Zitro leads a couple of lengthy blowouts ("Freeken" and "Happy Pretty"), plus the dense "Fourth." With altoist Allan Praskin, tenor saxophonist Bert Wilson, trumpeter Warren Gale, pianist Michael Cohen and...
Label  ESP

The 1st by the duo of Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille plus guests. Primitive electronics, reeds, electric & acoustic pianos, noise, songs, & the hovering spirit of Satie. Not as divine as Traite De Mechanique, but still an excellent and essential releas...
Label  ReR

Back in print after being utterly unavailable for something like 20 years! And this is a great, landmark album (although it's a quiet landmark...). A gem and a classic and lovely to see this again!
The 2nd and best of this legendary band's two albums, comprised of the duo of Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille + guests, who use keboards, clarinets, guitars, violin and much more.
This record was utterly out of step with the prevailing trends in 1977, but in retropect, this turned out to be an early...
Label  ReR
UPC  752725038720

“This legendary band, whose reputation continues to grow as time passes, were gone before anyone knew they were there. They played a handful of concerts, reformed very briefly to make a second LP, then immediately disbanded again. But the records attracted a cult following, especially in Japan.
Their existence became tenuous, flickering, mythological. How come there's an original Beefheart drawing on the inside cover of their first LP? Why were they invited onto France Culture to debate...
Label  ReR

Working and releasing records since at least 1993, this is their sixth album! They are a trio of guitar/vocals, bass/vocals, drums/vocals, with plenty of guests on violin, saxes, additional voices, etc. They are a totally smoking, avant punk/progressive..
Label  Zavod Sploh

Yeah, I know you never heard of these guys and yeah, I know this is on the pricey side, but this is a fine band. This is their second album and the group consists of:
John-Dennis Renken: trumpet, electronics, composition
Andreas Wahl: guitars...
Label  Traumton

Some of the worlds greatest Jewish poetry is set to a variety of brilliant compositions and arrangements in this dark and passionate new CD by Zahava Seewald, one of the most creative singers in the magical firmament of New Jewish Music. Moving and evo...

This is the first release by a new UK trio featuring Andrew Prestridge and Andy and Matt Thompson. The group uses all analog keyboard (synths, mellotrons, etc), bass, guitar and drums. The band are obviously influenced by darker progressive rock soundtracks from the 70s, most notably Goblin and have a similar feel/are also influenced by other more modern bands in that vein/influenced by that vein, such as Zombi, Morte Macabre and Guapo....

...Some of you will immediately recognize Matt Thompson...
Label  Cineploit

"The UK progressive synth group known as Zoltan have been turning heads since arising in 2010 as one of the most interesting projects signed to a then-fledgling Austrian label by the name of Cineploit Records. Fast forwarding four years later, both...
Label  Cineploit

“Zombi's first new album in five years, 2020 showcases the songwriting prowess that has pushed the duo of Steve Moore (synthesizers, guitars, bass) and A.E. Paterra (drums) to evolve throughout their storied, 20 year career. Zombi has strived to build upon and expand their sound with every release. Now more than ever, the band stays true to their ethos. From the pulse-pounding, dramatic opener "Breakthrough & Conquer", to the melodic bass whirls found in "XYZT", 2020 proves to be ZOMBI's most riff...
Label  Relapse

“Zombi make their long awaited return with their new album, Direct Inject! Capturing the spirit of previous albums like Escape Velocity and Surface To Air, while expanding the band's sonic palette into territory, ranging from 80's synth rock ("Direct Inject") to saxophone-heavy slow jams ("Sessuale II"). Direct Inject is essential Zombi, and quite possibly their most diverse and engaging record yet. You can't help but get carried up in the slipstream of tracks like "Bodies in the Flotsam", the hard rock...
Label  Relapse