GULFH of Berlin - GULFH of Berlin (October 15, 2021 ESP - Disk')

Gschlössl, Ullmann, Leipnitz, and Fink improvise as composers would do. From scratch they create a holistic sound sculpture – each time unique and unpredictable – always with a formal approach. Haves was invited to create with them using analogue electronics. In the moment and without overdubbing he becomes the fifth element in GULFH of Berlin.

“Few improvising artists can boast the stream of creative ideas that seem to bubble from Gebhard Ullmann. Ullmann focuses on the fundamentals of improvised jazz: melody, sound, syncopation and technical excellence, but what makes his writing and playing so successful is his seemingly neverending innovative nature: without grasping for neoteric straws, Ullmann's performances are grounded in the past but plunge forward deliberately toward modernity. Ullmann leaves the strong mark of a disciplined sculptor of sound, who speaks his own compelling language.” — Steve Loewy, Cadence

1. Nether

2. K3

3. Joja Romp

4. GG

5. Tellus

6. Serenade

7. Prisoner's Dilemma

8. Mann aus dem Himmel

9. 5 Elements

10. Jeton

Gebhard Ullmann - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet

Gerhard Gschlössl - trombone, sousaphone

Johannes Fink - double bass, cello

Jan Leipnitz - drums, objects

Michael Haves - live sound processing

Recorded March, 6th 2018 at Low Swing Studio, Berlin.

Engineer: Guy Sternberg.

Mixed and mastered 2019 by Michael Haves at The Cop Shop, Berlin.

PREORDER

ROVA Saxophone Quartet - The Circumference of Reason (October 15, 2021 ESP - Disk')

Despite the obvious obstacles, this singular San Francisco Bay Area band is staying on mission, moving forward. Over its four-plus decades, the quartet has defined itself by applying an array of improvisational strategies to an ever-expanding body of new music.

The Circumference of Reason includes six tracks composed or, in the case of the piece "NC17," designed between 2011 and 2016. Then – in typical ROVA fashion – the pieces were worked over and performed by the quartet in rehearsals and concerts until perceived to be ready for recording. They include an arrangement of a Glenn Spearman piece as well as a piece by Steve Adams dedicated to Glenn; the playing on both inspired by that expressive saxophonist’s spirited personality and playing.

As well, this recording features two distinctly different versions of NC17, another in the series of ROVA’s structured-improvisations, all of which have been designed using an ever-expanding set of visual and aural cues that the quartet has invented, or borrowed and adapted. On its face, "NC17" is simply a specific set of conceptual options to cue in, in any order, and to then explore, populating the spontaneously chosen series of cued events with immersive music/sounds/energies etc. 

The group creates a palpable sonic architecture for each new performance of the piece. Even as we write this, we can say that the takes of "NC17" you will hear on this CD are unique; no one take of "NC17" can be exactly the same as any other take of "NC17."

“ROVA performances can reach the soaring lyrical intensity of bel canto, the rough-and-tumble tumult of a garage rock band, or the insistently patterned matrix of a minimalist chamber work.” So wrote Andrew Gilbert in 2018. The piece from which the CD’s title comes, "The Circumference of Reason," is a good example of a minimalist piece when penned by a ROVA composer, in this case Steve Adams.

1. The Extrapolation of the Inevitable

2. NC 17, Version 1

3. The Circumference of Reason

4. Xenophobia

5. NC 17, Version 2

6. The Enumeration

Bruce Ackley – soprano and tenor saxophones

Steve Adams – alto and sopranino saxophones

Larry Ochs – tenor sax

Jon Raskin – baritone sax

Recorded on 6/22/18, 9/23/18 and 7/1/19 at New Improved Recording by John Finkbeiner.

Mixed on 1/16/19, 1/23/19 and 8/2/19 at New Improved Recording by John Finkbeiner and Steve Adams.

Mastered by Myles Boisen at Headless Buddha Labs.

Produced by Steve Adams.

PREORDER

Eunhye Jeong - NOLDA (September 24, 2021 ESP - Disk')

Korean pianist Eunhye Jeong is a game-changer. She’s jazz from a different perspective. She’s a pianist who doesn’t sound like anyone else on the scene.

In her liner notes for the release, Jeong writes, “I made my first solo piano recording under the name Chi-Da. Chi-Da and Nolda can both be translated as “play.” While Chi-Da refers to physical motions that produce sounds by crashing together two objects, Nolda is more associated with playful activities. One may interpret this word as a fun, free-flowing action on the piano. That is partly true, but I dare ask: who can have fun and experience true freedom without “knowing thyself”? Nolda means transcending the physical reality without abandoning it at all, which is made of body, mind, and the world. We music creators are artists who work with invisible and intangible energy forms as ingredients to create. Nolda, in this sense, is the magic of music-making.”

1. Perspective Shifts

2. Strange Rocks

3. Blue Sun

4. Columnar Jointing

5. Rooted

6. Ultraviolet-lightly Coated

7. Emerging Islands

8. Threading Stories

9. If I Were

Eunhye Jeong, piano

Recorded at Futura Productions, Roslindale, MA on January 8, 2021

Mixed and mastered by Travis Karpak

PREORDER

William Parker & Patricia Nicholson - No Joke! (October 29, 2021 ESP - Disk')

“He stands now as one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz.”

— David French, DownBeat

“William Parker pursues spirituality through hard work. He plays bass as if reaching heaven is a matter of steadily, repeatedly knocking until someone opens the door; he's one of the avant-garde jazz players most dedicated to the pursuit of higher purpose and heightened awareness in music, and he approaches it with a heavy, elemental tone.”

— Chris Dahlen, Pitchfork

“Patricia Nicholson… is also an outstanding poet and dancer.”

— Chris Tart, DownBeat

“Parker's creative energies have made him the unofficial mayor of the New York improvisational scene.”

— Piotr Michalowski, Ann Arbor Observer

William Parker is a towering figure in 21st century avant-garde music, widely recognised as a crucial link to the heart of free jazz, and a true heavyweight of the double bass.”

— Daniel Spicer, BBC 

1. Flare Up

2. Little Black Kid with the Swollen Stomach

3. Struggle

4. Wilted Light as Flower

5. No Joke

2/4: William Parker, bass; James Brandon Lewis, tenor sax; Devin Brahja Waldman, alto sax; Francesco Mela, drums, vocal on 2

1/3/5: William Parker, bass; Patricia Nicholson, spoken word, James Brandon Lewis, tenor sax; Devin Brahja Waldman, alto sax; Melanie Dyer, viola; Gerald Cleaver, drums

All music by William Parker, centering music. All words by Patricia Nicholson except “Little Black Kid with the Swollen Stomach” by William Parker.

Recorded (2/4: July 30, 2020; 1/3/5: September 5, 2019) and mixed at Park West Studios by Jim Clouse.

Cover art and packaging layout by Bill Mazza Studio.

PREORDER

Larry Ochs & Donald Robinson - A Civil Right (2021 ESP - Disk')

This duo’s second and definitive recording will be released on ESP-Disk' - the legendary free jazz label where Albert Ayler released his breakthrough recording in 1964, the first jazz recording on ESP. A lot has changed since 1964, but a lot and perhaps too much remains virtually the same. So their "free jazz" music, while influenced by many musical discoveries and sociological developments that have become part of the firmament over the past 50+ years, still celebrates and revels in the spirit of Sixties free jazz.

Ochs is a founding member of the great ROVA Saxophone Quartet, one of the Bay Area’s avant-garde treasures since 1978. Robinson – “a percussive dervish,” according to Coda – was the drummer of choice for ROVA’s revivification of John Coltrane’s Ascension. The East Bay Express has said of the saxophonist’s sound: “Ochs’ full-bodied tenor is out of the John Coltrane/Albert Ayler ‘free’ tradition: forceful, passionate… talking-in-tongues,” while the Chicago Reader said about the drummer and his relationship with Ochs, “Robinson is neither flashy nor explosive, but his playing has heft and he covers lots of ground – he can maintain a feeling of order while playing meter-less rhythms or transform the pulse of jagged post-bop until it’s almost abstract. He’s a good match for Ochs, and over the decades the two of them have developed a fine-tuned rapport.”

Although Ochs and Robinson have collaborated in various groups for more than 20 years – including in the trio What We Live with bassist Lisle Ellis – their duo is a recent phenomenon, having developed over the past couple of years. Ochs says, “Our playing together has evolved to a really special place, I think. We’re definitely coming out of the tradition of horn-drum duos from John Coltrane & Rashied Ali to Wadada Leo Smith & Billy Higgins, but we’ve found our own space after a long stretch of shows together. Our set will include new, original material, with some high-energy playing and things that are more spatial, as well as some homages to more popular music. In a sparse setting like this, the music hits a listener right away – nothing is obscured, everything is clear.” 

1. Arise the Poet 12:33

2. Yesterday and Tomorrow 08:57

3. A Civil Right 05:36

4. The Others Dream 13:03

5. Regret 05:49

Larry Ochs, saxophones

Donald Robinson, drums

PREORDER

East Axis - Cool With That (2021 ESP - Disk')

Allen Lowe says: “To me, free improvisation is another form of narrative, just as linear in terms of the consciousness of moving from one place to another, as any kind of storytelling. Yes, anyone can do it, you might say (and this is an old argument in jazz circles) but not everyone can do it with purpose and form and like they really mean it. This group is the epitome of all that has changed for the better in jazz in the past 50 years, and I am thrilled to be in it.”

Kevin Ray says: “This band is both exhilarating and terrifying to play with. You never know where the music will go, just that it’s somewhere exciting, and you hope you can keep up. Allen has a wonderful sense of melody, Matt is an endless font of ideas, and this rhythm section is a dream to be in—Gerald is tasteful, stunningly creative, and grooves like hell. I’m so glad to be a part of it.”

Matthew Shipp says: “I am always looking for new situations to renew who I am and the language I am involved with—this group has allowed me to reboot my brain. Allen is a unique figure, who is unlike anyone I play with in any other situation. Kevin has a delicious cross section of experience over several genres that gives him a different look than a bassist who might be seen as the usual in the idiom. Gerald—who I have a history with—is different now because he has had such a deep and cross section of experiences since then. The music this group makes is unique. I really enjoy playing with these gentlemen.”

Gerald Cleaver says: “To paraphrase Miles Davis, ‘This is social music.’ My take on free jazz is that it’s not free at all, rather (in my mind) many, many contexts and frames of reference held at once. Playing this set with Matt, Allen, & Kevin took me through some really nice interactions and reaffirmed for me that the roots of this music are still strong.”

1. A Side 12:10

2. Oh Hell I Forgot About That 10:41

3. Social Distance 06:10

4. I'm Cool With That 07:35

5. One 28:29

Matthew Shipp: piano

Allen Lowe: alto and tenor sax

Gerald Cleaver: drums

Kevin Ray: bass

All compositions by Shipp/Lowe/Cleaver/Ray.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered, by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, NY, August 9, 2020.

Album design and 3D renderings by Pablo A. Medina.

Produced by East Axis and Steve Holtje.

PREORDER

Michael Bisio / Kirk Knuffke / Fred Lonberg-Holm - The Art Spirit (2021 ESP - Disk')

This music is inspired by Robert Henri (June 24, 1865 - July 12, 1929) artist, teacher, writer and an organizer of the group known as "The Eight," a loose association of artists who protested the restrictive exhibition practices of the powerful, conservative National Academy of Design.

1. Not a Souvenir of Yesterday 05:10

2. r. henri 07:49

3. Both Keys Belong to You 11:17

4. Use Them 06:51

5. Orange Moon Yellow Field 05:35

6. Things Hum 05:03

7. Like Your Work As Much As 11:01

8. A Dog Likes to Gnaw a Bone 09:08

Michael Bisio: bass

Kirk Knuffke: cornet and soprano cornet

Fred Lonberg-Holm : cello/electronics

Recorded 24 September 2018 by Eli Winograd at Lone Pine Road, Kingston NY

“r. henri,” “Orange Moon Yellow Field,” and “Things Hum” composed by Michael Bisio, AMB Music ASCAP. All other compositions by Michael Bisio, AMB Music ASCAP; Kirk Knuffke, BMI; Fred Lonberg-Holm, BMI.

Band photo by Peter Gannuskin.

PREORDER

Duck Baker - Confabulations (June 25, 2021 ESP - Disk')

In his five-decade career, finger-style acoustic guitarist Duck Baker has played in lots of styles, from folk (real folk, such as Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes) to blues to jazz, in the latter genre particularly focusing on bebop greats, with whole albums devoted to the music of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. But he has flashed an avant-garde side as well, and of course ESP-Disk’ was interested in exposing more of the latter work. This album of duos and trios with an all-star roster of players, mostly British, collects recordings ranging from 1994 through 2017.

1. Imp Romp 2

2. Shenandoah

3. Indie Pen Dance

4. East River Delta Blues

5. Ode to Jo

6. Duo for 225 Strings

7. The Missing Chandler

8. Tourbillion Air

9. Pope Slark

10. Signing Off

Duck Baker, guitar on all tracks

Derek Bailey, guitar, #3 (7/4/2002)

Steve Beresford, piano, #6 (9/18/2009)

John Butcher, tenor saxophone, #7 (9/19/2009)

Mark Dresser, bass, #2, #9 (1994)

Michael Moore, alto saxophone, #1 (10/10/2008)

Roswell Rudd, trombone, #4, #10 (1/9/2002)

Alex Ward, clarinet; Joe Williamson, bass, #5 (9/12/2010)

Alex Ward, clarinet; John Edwards, bass; Steve Noble, drums, #8 (3/7/2017)

Pre-order

Talibam! - Hard Vibe (ESP - DISK' 2018)

Talibam! delights in creating music that cannot be pinned down within the safe-spaces of existing genres. With each new album, Talibam! reinvents their methodological palette in order to bolster a fresh clarity of joyous auditory surprise, something their fans have come to depend on. Talibam! focuses on compositional clarity, with reverence for their diverse interest in genre. On this new album they push the pulse of Motorik rhythm through a Psychedelic Jazz filter. This time out, they have created a sonic edifice so radical, so intricate in its density, that additional hands were required to bring it to life; thus was born the Talibam! Hard Vibe Band with Matt Nelson (Battle Trance, tUnE-yArDs) and Ron Stabinsky (Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Peter Evans Quintet, Relâche) joining Mottel (CSC Funk Band, Alien Whale, Nymph,   Platinum Vision) and Village Voice "Best Drummer in New York" Shea (Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Rhys Chatham, People featuring Mary Halvorson).

The scientists in the Talibam! laboratory describe the results thusly: The HARD VIBE composition transforms aspects of rhythm changes into a disciplined sequence of minor key modulations to create a rigorous Hard Vibe obstacle course for the soloists over a tight melodic/rhythmic grid. Inspired by Herbie Hancock's '70s cosmic music, long-form repetitive works such as Miles Davis's On the Corner, Charlie Parker's "Salt Peanuts," Tenor Sax endurance soloists, Albert Ayler's New Grass, the legendary organ brutality of Larry Young, and the NYC Avant-Garde Rock Minimalism of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, Hard Vibe maintains an infectious pulse with virtuosic structural jazz improvisation. The Jan Hammer/'80s soundtrack-inspired Keytar payoff (second half of side B) brings festival audiences to its feet in epic dance and ripping solo proportions. But those are inspirations more than ingredients. As we at ESP-Disk' are fond of saying, "You never heard such sounds in your life."

"Talibam! manage to cast themselves as a powerful rhythm section... It's pretty cool to hear the Manhattan abstracters create such a cool free jazz/free rock hybrid." - Byron Coley

"Co-conspirators Matthew Mottel and Kevin Shea have something in common with John Coxon and Ashley Wales of Spring Heel Jack in their application of multiple instruments, electronics and collaborators to create an eclectic musical milieu." - Derek Taylor

"This is wildly new music, fresh in its approach to the collision of melody, harmony and rhythm that makes for quite a soup for the songs to swim in." - Raul d'Gama Rose

"Amid the fun and exuberance a clever brain and a strong heart of integrity beats." - Lisa Thatcher

01. Infinite Hard Vibe Pt. 1 19:44

02. Infinite Hard Vibe Pt. 2 19:21

Matthew Mottel: Fender Rhodes, synthesizer

Matt Nelson: tenor saxophone

Kevin Shea: drums

Ron Stabinsky: Hammond B3 organ

John Olson (Wolf Eyes): cover art

Stephen Dydo & Alan Sondheim - Dragon and Phoenix (ESP - DISK' 2018)

Dragon and Phoenix refers to the names of the sound holes on the Chinese instrument known as the guqin a.k.a. qin (gu is a prefix meaning "ancient"), which figures prominently on this album of improvised acoustic duos, being heard on thirteen of the sixteen tracks, with two qins on four tracks.

Stephen Dydo, former president of the New York Qin Society, is the more traditional player here, whereas Alan Sondheim has a style heavily based on free improvisation. The two bonded over their instrument collections, sometimes trading or loaning choice items. Dydo, who has also had lengthy careers as classical guitarist and as a twelve-tone composer, once told the author that a good day of composing yielded a measure and a half; this painstaking attention to detail has stood him in good stead during his more recent study of the qin. Sondheim, who has previously had three releases on ESP-Disk' starting in the 1960s and has prolifically spread his recent musical evolution across a variety of other labels, is an impulsive musical adventurer who uses his dizzying array of instruments for what their sounds can contribute to his musical style; he is not unaware of the traditional performance techniques of his instruments, but he never lets his musical expression be limited by or to those techniques.

Except for the use of madal (a hand drum) on one track, all the music here is made with stringed instruments. The music is very often focused on contrasts of timbres and textures. However, there may be as much pure melodic content here as on any Sondheim album. Harmonies are spare but spiced with microtonality. Though it may be more subtle than much of our catalog, attentive listeners will likely find that this meeting of tradition and experimentation lives up to an old ESP-Disk' slogan: "You never heard such sounds in your life."

01. 天 (Tian/heaven 6:56

02. 地 (Di/earth) 5:17

03. 玄 (Xuan/black and) 3:15

04. 黄 (Huang/yellow) 3:52

05. 宇 (Yu/space and) 6:30

06. 宙 (Zhou/time) 5:32

07. 洪 (Hong/vast and)4:48

08. 荒 (Huang/desolate) 5:45

09. 日 (Ri/sun and) 3:26

10. 月 (Yue/moon) 5:14

11. 盈 (Ying/full and) 3:53

12. 昃 (Ze/setting sun) 3:34

13. 辰 (Chen/stars early) 6:02

14. 宿 (Xiu/interval) 4:51

15. 列 (Lie/ordered and) 5:38

16. 张 (Zhang/spread) 3:35

A note about the track titles: They are based on the first sixteen characters of the Ch'ien Tzu Wen, translated by Ellen Zweig and Alan Sondheim, correlated with other English translations in Ch'ien Tzu Wen, The Thousand Character Classic, A Chinese Primer, edited by Francie W. Paar (Ungar, 1963). The translation is slightly modified for the CD, creating an almost haiku-like poem.

Stephen Dydo: qin, viola, banjo

Alan Sondheim: qin, viola, banjo, guzheng, rababa, erhu, madal

Megumi Yonezawa / Masa Kamaguchi / Ken Kobayashi - Boundary (ESP - DISK' 2018)

All the members of this trio are Japanese. The pianist and drummer live in New York City and often collaborate; the bassist lives in Madrid but comes to N.Y.C. twice a year for a month each time. The producer heard them at Manhattan jazz bar Tomi Jazz and immediately booked a session to capture their magic before Kamaguchi left town. Yonezawa, from Hokkaido, earned multiple awards while studying performance and composition at Berklee, then joined Greg Osby's group on Jason Moran's recommendation and can be heard with him on the Blue Note album Public. Other credits include work with David Liebman, George Garzone, Sam Newsome, and many more. In 2016 the Fresh Sound New Talent label released her debut album, A Result of the Colors. But none of these credits reflect the freedom with which she plays on Boundary. Kamaguchi , also from Hokkaido, has the most recording credits (upwards of 30) in the trio, ranging from Ahmed Abdullah's Actual Proof (CIMP, 1999) to a series of tribute albums with Vinnie Sperrazza and Jacob Sacks (Fresh Sound New Talent). Inspired to play bass after hearing Jaco Pastorius albums, he studied with Gary Peacock student Yoshio Ikeda, then moved to Boston to attend Berklee, followed by a dozen years in New York City performing and recording with ESP star Sonny Simmons, David Murray, Charles Gayle, Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Frank Kimbrough, and even Toots Thielemans. Kobayashi, who put the trio together, hails from Tokyo, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in art criticism and art history from Tama Art University. After moving to New York, he expanded his knowledge at the Drummer's Collective. He can also be heard on Jan (2014) with bassist Jochem van Dijk and Nine Stories (2016) with Takeshi Asai.

01. Boundary 4:23

02. Alchemy 6:03

03. Tremor 4:40

04. Meryon 7:18

05. I’ll Be Seeing You 6:39

06. Reef 7:31

07. Veil 8:50

08. Onement 6:08

09. Wavelength 5:15

10. Nostalgio 9:51

Megumi Yonezawa, piano

Masa Kamaguchi, bass

Ken Kobayashi, drums

All tracks by Megumi Yonezawa/Masa Kamaguchi/Ken Kobayashi (ESP-Disk' Ltd.) except "I’ll Be Seeing You" by Irvin Kahal/Sammy Fain (Fain Music Co./BMG Gold Songs).

Cover art by Kiichiro Adachi

Photos by Eva Kapanadze

Liner notes by Matthew Shipp

Produced by Steve Holtje

Recorded at Park West Studios on June 4, 2017 by Jim Clouse

Matthew Shipp - Sonic Fiction (ESP - DISK' 2018)

After a duo album and two trio albums by Shipp and Walerian, all for ESP-Disk', we get a quartet album from them that continues their strategy of working with different musicians each time out. Bisio and Dickey are long-time collaborators with Shipp, but the addition of Walerian's Zen style changes the dynamics of their interactions.

Walerian and Dickey, masters of restraint, were a match waiting to be made, and their instant rapport is one of the attractions of this album.

"[Walerian] is one of the most talented young jazz musicians on the Polish scene, if not THE most talented." – Maciej Lewenstein, Polish Jazz Recordings and Beyond

"The reed work of Mat Walerian really warms up the piano of Matthew Shipp here – as Mat provides these beautiful lines on alto, bass clarinet, flute, and soprano clarinet – which have a resonant quality that really seems to open up Shipp's music too! We've really moved back towards enjoying Shipp in recent years – and the sense of persona in records like this is a good reason why – almost a renewed soul that we haven't heard in years, unlocked in the right setting like this." – Dusty Groove

"Amazing sympathetic piano-sax interaction. Often somber, sometimes blues-inflected, sometimes explosive." – rotfest.com

"Live in Okuden exemplifies the possibilities of the duo. Shipp is in great form and the album is a nice introduction to Walerian's imaginative playing." – Paul Acquaro, freejazzblog.org

"[D]espite featuring the nimble, expressive, and yes interesting and evocative fingers of pianist Matthew Shipp, Live at Okuden really gets its mood, and thus its mojo, from the bass clarinet, alto sax, soprano clarinet, and flute playing of Mat Walerian." - Paul Semel, CultureCatch.com

01. First Step 3:24

02. Blues Addition 6:23

03. The Station 5:53

04. Lines of Energy 4:02

05. Easy Flow 5:39

06. The Problem of Jazz 5:00

07. The Note 0:17

08. 3 by 4 6:25

09. Cell in the Brain 5:33

10. Sonic Fiction 11:23

Matthew Shipp, piano

Mat Walerian, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet

Michael Bisio, bass

Whit Dickey, drums

Thollem / Duroche / Stjames Trio - Live in Our Time (ESP - DISK' 2018)

Through the wood, sinew, skins, metal and fingers, one hears the years of experiential exploration, responsive nuances, and overwhelming power in the trio's joyfully intense playing. They cover a lot of territory in this recording, conjuring epochs and eras, terrains and cultures. This is improvised music composed spontaneously out of the breadth of experiences.

André Stjames is a cornerstone of the rich, thriving Pacific Northwest jazz scene and works regularly with his own ensemble, Mel Brown, The Kin Trio, Gordon Lee, Renato Caranto, and many others. Over the last three decades, Stjames has worked with Sonny Rollins, the Harold Land-Blue Mitchell Quintet, Andrew Hill trio and large bands, Bobby Hutcherson, Charlie Rouse, Pharoah Sanders, James Moody, Alan Shorter, Nancy King, and George Cables. Stjames's strong sense of lyricism, buoyancy, and surging momentum, as well as a deep respect for both tradition and innovation, have taken him to both ends of the jazz spectrum -- from torch songs and two-beat to bop and beyond. He has enjoyed freewheeling, open-ended avant-garde combustion with keepers of the flame including Judy Silvano/Cathi Walkup/Andrea Wolper, Ron Steen, Joe Pass, Kai Winding, Herb Ellis, Greta Matassa, and Houston Person as well as trailblazers such as Julius Hemphill, Marty Ehrlich, Eugene Chadbourne, Michael White, India Cooke, Kash Killion, Mal Waldron, and Sun Ra, to name a handful. www.andrestjames.com

Tim DuRoche works regularly with the collective ensemble Battle Hymns & Gardens and The Kin Trio, and has logged extensive time with an array of U.S. and European avant-garde jazz innovators, including Dominic Duval, Burton Greene, Matana Roberts, Paul Plimley, Lisle Ellis, Wally Shoup, Gust Burns, Bert Wilson, Urs Leimgruber, Jon Raskin, Perry Robinson, Jack Wright, Doug Theriault, Marco Eneidi, Didier Petit, and Frank Gratkowski, among others. Tim is the host of "The New Thing," a weekly radio jazz radio show on KMHD 89.1 FM, and is the author of the book Occasional Jazz Conjectures (Durable Goods). www.timduroche.com

Thollem has spent his life skirting and erasing the edges of boundaries musically, culturally, geographically. His work is ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines including William Parker, Susie Ibarra, Nels Cline, Amy Denio, Faruq Z. Bey, Michael Wimberly, John Butcher, Gino Robair, Jon Raskin, Henry Kaiser, Scott Amendola, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, Pauline Oliveros, Vinny Golia, and Hafez Modirzadeh, among many, many others. "He inhabits a world uniquely his own, rhythmically, harmonically and formally" (Terry Riley). This is Thollem's fourth appearance on ESP-Disk', following The Naked Future's Gigantomachia (ESP4053), TSIGOTI's Private Property Speaks to the People of the Party (ESP4057), and Thollem McDonas & Mad King Edmund's Happening: A Movement in 12 Acts (ESP5012) www.thollem.com

01. Persisted Resistance 18:59

02. Reparation Apparition 14:26

03. Sunshine Pipeline 11:38

Thollem McDonas, piano

Tim DuRoche, drums

André Stjames, bass

Northwest Mini-Tour

March 1st the Royal Room in Seattle, WA

March 2nd House Concert in Tacoma, WA

March 4th at Leaven in Portland. OR

Matthew Shipp - Zero (ESP - DISK' 2018)

"[A]n aspect of Shipp's character that is always evident, yet seldom discussed: the emotional commitment in his compositional method is equal to the rigorous intellect he applies in the architecture of creation." – Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com, re: solo album Piano Sutras

"The jazz world does not lack for fine pianists, but those who can sustain listener interest through an extended solo set always have been in shorter supply. These days, few pack their soliloquies with more information, drama and free-ranging thought than Matthew Shipp." – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

In the first part of his career, Matthew Shipp avoided solo recordings, saying he wasn't ready – and the first solo album he made, Symbol Systems, happened by accident when the other player on the session didn't show up. Since then, his style expanded and matured and he recorded prolifically, including a number of solo albums, but they have remained special events, distinct statements of purpose. Zero continues in this tradition; its philosophical basis can be gleaned from the lecture on the bonus CD. But, of course, it is the music itself which speaks most eloquently.

Please note that the tune titled "Zero" is not the same as a previous Shipp composition of the same title.

Only the first edition (first 880 copies) of this album will include the bonus CD containing the talk Mr. Shipp gave at The Stone.

01 Zero 5:31

02 Abyss Before Zero 3:48

03 Pole After Zero 3:19

04 Piano Panels 4:13

05 Cosmic Sea 3:43

06 Zero Skip and a Jump 2:11

07 Zero Subtract From Jazz 6:35

08 Blue Equation 5:14

09 Pattern Emerge 2:46

10 Ghost Pattern 1:39

11 After Zero 5:12

Bonus CD:

01 Zero: A Lecture on Nothingness 62:58

Matthew Shipp: piano (CD 1), voice (bonus CD)

Steve Dalachinsky: liner notes

Toxic: Mat Walerian, Matthew Shipp, William Parker - This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People (ESP - DISK' 2017)

Released May 5, 2017 

This is Polish multi-instrumentalist Mat Walerian’s third CD, all for ESP and all with Matthew Shipp. Walerian’s first album [ESP5007] was the last new release approved by ESP-Disk' founder Bernard Stollman. This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People is also William Parker's first time back in the studio for ESP since his first released appearance on record in 1973, Frank Lowe's Black Beings [ESP3013] (an album of outtakes from the same session was released in 2011, The Loweski [ESP4066]). TIBBWABP is also noteworthy for containing a rare Shipp performance on organ. 

Shipp says of Walerian, "Mat approaches his instruments in a non-traditional way. He is a conceptualist and has a different personality on each instrument.

The Toxic trio is another revelation. The material was recorded in Brooklyn in December 2015. … The first piece is very peaceful flute and shakuhachi duo of Parker and Walerian with a discrete accompaniment on prepared piano and finger picked bass later – the tune has an Asian/Japanese spirit, so characteristic of [Walerian]. The second piece is started by William bowing, who is joined by the piano. After couple of minutes Mat enters on alto and plays very expressively.... The third piece starts also with bowing part, and at is even more melancholic and peaceful than the previous one; Matt's parts and solo on piano are here truly outstanding. The fourth piece begins with finger picked solo of Parker, who is joined after 3 minutes by the piano and the clarinet. The closing fifth piece is my favorite: it is first of all Mat’s and Matt’s show on bass clarinet and organ, joined later by Parker. Mat turns to alto again in the second part of the track, while Matt to piano.... For me this is another amazing artistic achievement. - Maciej Lewenstein, Polish Jazz Recordings and Beyond 

Heralded pianist Matthew Shipp and Polish multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Mat Walerian team up for their third recording as a core unit, this time with legendary bassist William Parker. As to be expected, their sounds take a significant shift in tone from previous offerings. “Lesson” opens with a sparse soundscape recalling Sun Ra’s more stripped-down work, a reference that continues throughout the sessions. The pair of twenty-minute sessions dubbed “The Breakfast Club,” however push things even further into ‘60s territory as Shipp explores his classical leanings with Cecil Taylor’s hands, Walerian teeters between Ornette Coleman experimentalism and John Coltrane beauty and Parker plays with the intuition, finesse and innovation that has always marked his work. It’s all the magic you’d expect from such a powerful trio. - Chuck Foster, upcoming issue of The Big Takeover

1. Lesson 13:27

2. The Breakfast Club Day 1 19:55

3. This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People 11:11

4. The Breakfast Club Day 2 20:28

5. Peace And Respect 14:10

Mat Walerian: alto saxophone, bass clarinet, soprano clarinet, flute

Matthew Shipp: piano, organ

William Parker: double bass, shakuhachi

Recorded December 15, 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.