Fantastic vinyl reissue of this massively revered side from the inspirational tag-team of saxophonist/clarinettist/pianist Peter Brotzmann and drummer/pianist/bass-clarinettist, viola and banjo player Han Bennink. Originally issued in 1977 on FMP, the record has a classic Brotz title – Half A Dog Can’t Piss – and consist of a bunch of ferociously beautiful live recording from early ’77, with the players moving from roaring post-Fire Music deconstructions to Industrial folk music and the sound of gospelised holy terror that no one else outside of Albert Ayler could ever pull off. Sounds great on 180g vinyl with a limited edition pressing and high quality sleeves. Highly recommended!

Another massively necessary high quality reissue of primo Peter Brotzmann material, this time 1975’s classic Tschus. Here Brotzmann switches between clarinet, alto, tenor and bass sax and vocals while Fred Van Hove is on piano and accordion and Han Bennink uses drums, cymbals, accordion, clarinets, floors, walls, megaphones etc. It’s a ferociously inventive set, a tour-de-force of the boundless possibilities of free improvisation rescued from the hands of musical conservatives, moving from vamping/rasping runs through triumphal brass work through rusty, proto-Industrial free form blow-outs. Simply fantastic, on 180g vinyl in a limited pressing and with gorgeous high-quality sleeves. Highly recommended.  

Beautifully rendered live recording of the world-beating trio of saxophonists Peter Brotzmann, Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark captured by the BBC’s Jazz On 3 for radio broadcast at London’s Cafe OTO in April of 2011. The absence of drums give the music a spectacular hymnal/gospel quality, with three horns testifying in fast, chirruping waves underlined by hypnotic, ululating drones and delicate asides. Indeed, the most striking aspect of the recording is the lightness of touch. You would think with a trio of conceptualists this weighty that the set would be more about monolithic force but there are long passages of beautiful, fluttering blues that seem to have as much to do with Jimmy Giuffre – or even Chet Baker/Terry Riley – as it does to post-FMP wildmanisms. All three players interact with a profound feel for the unravelling of compositions, laying down a slow-moving counterpoint that allows the horns to pirouette higher and higher, circling in bird-like hypnotics and carving spectacularly dramatic arcs of martial melody. A phenomenal set. 180g vinyl, edition of 500 copies.

Debut vinyl outing from the greatest live music venue in the UK, London’s Cafe Oto: ...The Worse The Better documents a scalding trio set from saxophone titan Peter Brotzmann, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble recorded in January 2010 during Brotzmann’s first residency. The trio blur into an unstoppable juggernaut right from the start, with Brotzmann’s fiery tone and fleet melodic ability more than matched by Edwards non-stop rolling out of ideas. Even Noble sounds inspired, raining down assaultive rhythms w/uncommon force. A striking label debut, beautifully presented on 180g vinyl with two-colour silkscreen sleeves and card inner. Recommended. 

Beautiful archival reissue of this classic document from this ferocious, short-lived trio led by saxophonist Peter Brotzmann: bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo were key players in the South African free jazz diaspora. Miller played widely, jamming with everyone from King Crimson through Willem Breuker, and he was the founder of Ogun Records, another key artist-run independent free jazz label. Moholo was part of the legendary Blue Notes and the Brotherhood Of Breath and played with almost every interesting European free thinker. The combination of Brotzmann on bass clarinet, soprano, alto and tenor sax and the rollicking South African rhythm section was truly one of the greatest of Brotzmann’s career and it’s a tragedy that there aren’t more recordings from this singular hook-up. It’s not all balls-to-the-wall force by any means, Miller in particular was a very inquisitive player, sounding odd aspects of the bass and worrying tiny textural details that means Peter can really get into the exploration of this abstract sandpaper textures that he loves so much. And when they do take off, Moholo comes on like a goddamn freight train. Still a classic side, originally released on FMP in 1979, this beautifully restored edition comes in a run of 750 copies on 180g vinyl. Highly recommended!

Stunning double CD set that presents phenomenally powerful solo and trio live blow-outs from the Wildman of European free improvisation: both sets were recorded on consecutive days at the Victoriaville fest in 2011. The solo set is just gorgeous, re-connecting Brotzmann’s thunderous saxophone style with the heart of the jazz tradition, moving from a glorious, weeping reading of “Never Too Late But Always Too Early” through to “Frames Of Motion” which features a lift from Harry Barris’s “I Surrender Dear” and a stunning rendition of Ornette Coleman’s classic “Lonely Woman”. It’s a true tour-de-force, by turns achingly emotional and explosively exhilarating. But it’s the second set that really seals the deal. Here he’s paired with two-thirds of the Hairy Bones quartet, drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and electric bassist Massimo Pupillo. Pupillo is on absolutely devastating form, propelling the group through a single seventy minute piece that barely relents, riding metal crescendos with alla the bombast and psychedelic steel of prime Fushitsusha. Brotzmann is absolutely in his element, riding the torrential percussive waves with a mile-wide tone and some of his most raucous and soulful testifying. Indeed this even outdoes the Last Exit live jams in terms of the ultimate marriage of ferocious free rock and wild fire music stylings, even outgunning The Blue Humans in terms of maximum velocity freedom. If you’ve ever dreamt of Peter Brotzmann fronting Fushitsusha (and who hasn’t?!) then this is pretty much your dream date. At 71 years old Brotzmann has never sounded better and is making some of the most radical and sublime music of his lifetime. Can’t possibly recommend this mind-blowing set enough, truly has to be heard to be believed!

Amazing limited release of a staggering live blow-out from the premier improvising big band of the era, Alex Von Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra: this is a wild combination of rollicking big band vamps and all-out brass blurt, dedicated to Evan Parker and recorded by Conny Plank in his studio in May 1975. The line-up is phenomenal, with the addition of Hans Reichel on supremely weirdo guitar as well as heavyweights like Peter Brotzmann, Manfred Schoof, Kenny Wheeler, Rudiger Carl, Evan Parker, Gerd Dudek, Albert Mangelsdorff, Paul Rutherford, Peter Kowald, Schlippenbach, Buschi Niebergall and Paul Lovens. An essential addition to the weirdo shelf of killer free jazz 7s, highly recommended. 

Excellent live set, stunningly rendered, from the trio of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Raymond Strid. Tarfala formed in 1992 after a meeting at the Solo-92 Festival in Sweden. There have been two CDs so far on the Maya Recordings label but this deluxe 2xLP gatefold set with a bonus 7” and a large glossy booklet represents their first vinyl outing. This is classic high-energy free jazz, with Guy’s playing serving to drill them an elemental foundation deep into the earth, anchoring furious string navigations with massively heavy bottom end bombs that Strid knocks around all over the place, shepherding them into weird time fluxes that somehow combine static detail with constant movement. Gustafsson is, of course, one of the premier deconstructive thinkers on the saxophone but here his playing feels more focussed on classic free jazz grace and power, matching Peter Brotzmann in terms of lyrical fury and radical invention. Edition of 600 copies. Recommended. 

Stunning new LP/CD set from free European saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, dedicated to the memory of his late mentor the saxophonist Bengt Nordstrom: Nordstrom is best known for producing Albert Ayler’s first recording, Something Different!!!!!!, and he was also a talented saxophonist, playing solo free improvised saxophone as early as 1962.  For Bengt, Gustafsson moves to a plastic Grafton alto sax, the same one favoured by Nordstrom, making this a unique entry in his back catalogue. The sound is breathy, muted, with a soft muffled tone that sounds at points like Frank Lowe or Marion Brown and Gustafsson’s playing is oddly lyrical, ripping through staggered scales and sounding single note fanfares in a way that is utterly compulsive. The rigour is still there, the deconstructive vision, but this one feels somehow more affirmative, a classic solo record in the mode of Braxton’s For Alto and Kaoru Abe’s Live At Gaya series. On white vinyl in an edition of 500 copies with a bonus CD edition of the album bundled alongside it. Highly recommended!