“Mary Bellamy is a composer whose works have been performed by leading contemporary music ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Bozzini Quartet, The Composers Ensemble, SEM Ensemble, Ensemble Exposé and Ensemble Musikfabrik, as well as by renowned soloists Richard Craig, Séverine Ballon, Genevieve Lacey, Judith Hamman and Francesco Dillon. This album showcases Mary Bellamy's characteristic sonic craftsmanship. Since 2017, Bellamy has become increasingly...

Bassist Bryan Beller has worked with a number of artists (Steve Vai, Wayne Kramer), but is probably best known for his decade with Mike Keneally. This is his first solo, and it's exceedingly impressive. "There are some people who are so good at so many...

“Although they began and continued to work as a duo, John Spiers (melodeon) and Jon Boden (fiddle and vocals) had a vision of a larger sound for their music. In 2004, they put together Bellowhead (the name derived from their album Bellow) to play the Oxford Folk Festival. The 11-piece group was an immediate success, its mix of strings and brass virtually unprecedented in traditional English folk music. They took the band into the studio that autumn to record a five-track teaser, E.P.onymous, which proved...

“18th Century French painter Claude Arnulphy managed to capture, among other portraits, the nobility of musicians known as flute drummers, who led processions in and around Provence’s lower Rhone area, with his work, “Portrait de Jeune Tambourinaire” (pictured right). The painting captures not only a player but a musical form that dates back to the 13th Century. Folk music of a one man band- the galoubet (three-holed flute) noted with the left hand while the right smacks the tambourin (drum) in any...

Poised somewhere between mid-1970's King Crimson and electric Miles with John McLaughlin, this new project by drummer Gregg Bendian, guitarist G.E. Stinson, violinist Jeff Gauthier and bassist Steuart Liebig explores angular groove and subtle soundscapes while exploding all the old models of improv and jazz/rock.

“Super rare psychedelic folk lp from 1969, which with Shide & Acorn and Parameter is one of only three genuine Psychedelic Folk lps privately issued in England in that authentic era. Only 70 copies were made by Hollick and Taylors custom pressing plant.
Very little was known about this lp and until this edition and it had been thought of as a solo folk lp; very very WRONG. It’s a band, and completely in the hallucinogenic and magical english Incredible String Band and Donovan style, with mystical....

"Remastered and expanded two CD edition. Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then in America, both on tour and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s. Hugely successful, it is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satirical comedy in 1960s Britain.
The show was conceived in 1960 by an Oxford graduate, Robert Ponsonby, artistic director for the Edinburgh...

"A band occupying sonic territory entirely their own, BENT KNEE continues to break ground with each successive album, a record maintained with 2019’s extraordinary “You Know What They Mean”. The Boston outfit’s myriad influences are distilled into a deeply moving art-form that defies categorization, merging texture and style into music that’s thrilling, addictive, and unapologetically original.
“You Know What They Mean”, the fifth full-length by BENT KNEE is a prime example how to unite rock, pop...

Alison Bentley (vocals) with Dave Frankel (piano), Dave Jones (bass), Paul Cavaciuti (drums), with guests Steve Waterman (trumpet and flugelhorn) and Martin Speake (alto saxophone). New ideas on music by the greatest composers played by some of Britain...

''Improvisor, composer, arranger, producer, vocal stylist and bon vivant, Steve Beresford is one of Europe's most charming and versatile musical minds. These varied and and delightful cues originally composed for British film and television are perform...

First time ever reissue of this incredibly little known album from 1980 that is very much in the 70s ECM kinda vibe. Berg, a guitarist, is a monster with great tone, and this is easily comparable to some things that Terje Rypdal was doing at the same time (as it says below), although I also hear parallels to Phil Miller and In Cahoots. Hard to believe that it was this obscure.

“Gunnar Andreas Berg is a Norwegian super guitarist, teacher, and owner of the record company Bergland Productions. He...

Bengt Berger-drums, Kjell Westling, bass clarinet and sopranino sax.

There is a lot of improvisation here, but despite what Bengt says below, this is not a completely improvised; there are WAY too many moments that are obviously rehearsed, when...

"Founder of the Creative Music Studio and a close collaborator of Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Gato Barbieri, Anthony Braxton and so many more, Karl Berger is a master musician and one of the pioneers of creative music. The third and final CD in his trilogy for Tzadik features fourteen tracks spanning a wide variety of moods. Karl’s gorgeous string arrangements are highlighted here in this beautiful and soulful suite of music for piano and strings."
Karl Berger: Piano
Ken Filiano: Bass...

"The product of a recording session in New York City in 1970, “Where Fortune Smiles” is one of the milestone albums to be recorded at a time when the divisions between the worlds of jazz and rock were less defined and albums such as Bitches Brew by Miles Davis and the work of Tony Williams’ Lifetime pointed a new direction in music.
Originally released on Pye Records’ “Progressive” imprint Dawn Records, Where Fortune Smiles was recorded fresh on the heels of John McLaughlin and Dave Holland’s work...

"The Film Scores and Original Orchestral Music of George Martin is a magnificent album. I would characterize this as an essential album. It sounds great. It sounds lush and beautiful and engulfs you into the essence of George Martin's love, knowledge and understanding of the power of music on all levels. This album is a real labor of love. You can feel the warmth and love in the performance of the Berlin Music Ensemble. For me, I made this purchase because of the musical suits for YELLOW SUBMARINE and...

“For a decade jazz cornetist Josh Berman has been a mainstay of the post-Vandermark generation of Chicago improvisers, a wide circle of ambitious musos who meet up in varied ad hoc or fixed settings: a circle including all the players in Josh’s group Old Idea.
He’s already recorded some–as part of a quartet on Chicago-Luzern Exchange alongside tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, with Jackson’s big and small bands Project Project and Fast Citizens, with Jason Adasiewicz’s quintet Rolldown and Rob...

Two thirds of The Samurai Of Prog after the success of "Gulliver" re-propose a great symphonic Prog album with this La Tierra. The present section is the one composed by the Finnish Kimmo Pörsti (drums and percussion) and the Italian Marco Bernard (bass Rickenbacker 4003), and together with them a series of great guests chosen among the most famous South American musicians and the great Italian keyboard player. Oliviero LaCagnina. The Album is a small masterpiece where the tale of our land is told and...

Tim Berne alto saxophone
Oscar Noriega Bb and bass clarinets
Matt Mitchell piano
Ches Smith drums; percussion

Tim is one of the (many) greats of modern jazz, releasing a huge string of good to superb albums and leading /...

Tim Berne: Alto Saxophone
Matt Mitchell: Piano

“Tim Berne, pioneer of New York’s legendary “downtown scene”, and his long-time duo partner Matt Mitchell on piano release the album One More, Please – an impressive and refreshing example of the art of improvisation. The two virtuoso instrumentalists have worked together for more than ten years – including in Berne’s acclaimed band Snakeoil – and over this time have developed a distinctive language and musical depth in a dynamic musical...

Tim Berne - alto sax Nasheet Waits - drums

“Full of timbral invention, utilising chasms of nihilistic space and a ferocious fervour to their interplay, navigating the no man's land of free form jazz where anything is possible and composition is in real time via high wire reflex and in the moment ideas, recorded live 10/19 at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn.”

Tim Berne: Alte Saxophone
Marc Ducret: Guitars
Matt Mitchell: Piano, Tack Piano, Modular Synths
Oscar Noriega: Bass Clarinet, BB Clarinet
Ches Smith: Drums, Vibes, Glockenspiel, Haitian Tanbou

This is just great from front to back!

“AThe band balances the possibilities of composition, improvisation and the tonal possibilities of an acoustic and electric playing jazz band in an unmistakable way. The Fantastic Mrs.10 is one of Snakeoil's most mature and at the same time m

“The one-time Italian punk guitarist and current experimental musician-producer-sound designer Eraldo Bernocchi joins Indian slide guitar master Prakash Sontakke for a rare encounter on the sublimely beautiful Invisible Strings. A melding of East and West, Bernocchi plays sparse baritone guitar lines behind the Hindustani lap steel virtuoso on this evocative collaboration between the two. From “The Last Emperor Walked Alone” to “Sublime Skies,” “Bangalor Electric” and “The Unsaid,” Bernocchi and Sontakke...