Brit-Jazz and related

Ian Carr-trumpet
Karl Jenkins-oboe, baritone sax & piano
Brian Smith-tenor, soprano and flute
Chris Spedding-guitar
Jeff Clyne-bass & electric bass
John Marshall-drums

“Their second album and very impressive musically and personnel wise for 1970! Taken from the original Vertigo masters!

With breaks for days and an almost ambient, heavy jazz atmosphere throughout, this is the apex of British jazz-rock fusion. We'll Talk About It Later was first released on Vertigo i

Mastered from the original Vertigo tapes.

“Labyrinth is dark, brooding, beat-heavy, melancholic mood music courtesy of Ian Carr and the Nucleus crew. A favorite of Madlib, it goes without saying that this is one magnificent record.
Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, Labyrinth was never re-pressed and of course those original copies are now very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it's aged ridiculously well and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue...

“From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots is thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973. , genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a...

“This features every track from the highly celebrated albums “Elastic Rock”, “We’ll Talk About It Later”, “Solar Plexus”, “Belladonna”, “Labyrinth”, “Roots”, “Under The Sun”, “Snakehips Etcetera” & “Alleycat”, all newly re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes.
This re-mastered 6 CD clamshell box set celebrates the vision and genius of Ian Carr and all the musicians associated with Nucleus During the period the band recorded its most influential work. “Torrid Zone” features an illustrated...

Leon Thomas - vocals
Ian Carr - trumpet & flugelhorn
Karl Jenkins - oboe & piano
Brian Smith - soprano & tenor sax, flute
Chris Spedding - guitar
Jeff Clyne - bass
John Marshall - drums
"The first official release of the June 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival concert, from the analogue 1/4" master tape, featuring trumpeter Ian Carr’s pioneering jazz/rock ensemble Nucleus, very early in their career, performing with US vocalist Leon Thomas on a set of Thomas’ repertoire...

This is one of three albums cut by altoist Mike Osborne for Ogun and everyone agrees that this is the best of them. Recorded live at Willisau, Switzerland on April 13, 1975, this isn't the world's highest fidelity recording; the meters veer dangerously...

In his heyday from the late 1960s to the end of the 70s, alto saxophonist Mike Osborne was one of the most distinctive saxophone voices in Brit-jazz (and when you are talking about a school that included Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Dudu Pukwana, Alan...

In the history of British jazz, there were few voices as unmistakable as Mike Osborne's alto saxophone, but his story is one of the tragedies of British jazz. Within 15 years of his first recordings, simmering mental illness had taken over and...

This was the first release by British alto saxist Osborne under his own name, and was issued on the very rare (and short lived) Turtle label. It is reissued here from the master tapes in its full glory of two sidelong tracks.
Osborne had been playing with the Brotherhood of Breath, and this album sort of turned into a subgroup of the Brotherhood. Originally conceived in 1970 as a trio disc with bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo, when the date actually arrived, along also came trumpeter...

Mike Osborne - alto sax
Alan Skidmore - tenor sax
Harry Miller - double bass
Louis Moholo - drums

From Mike Osborne’s personal archives, this was mastered by Mike King for release on his Real Recordings, but he didn’t live to see it happen. But now it has happened!
A sensational, previously unheard session by legendary British free jazz saxophonist Mike Osborne, recorded in February 1970 at London's famous 100 Club.

“...wild and free and very, very beautiful.” - ★★★

Mike Osborne - Alto Sax
Harry Miller – Bass
Tony Levin - Drums

“The Seventies should be acknowledged as a landmark period in creative music making in Britain and a potent influence throughout Europe. Whilst not economic paradise there was quite a bit of public funding beginning to come to jazz but the most important support was (and still is) the networks of dedicated individuals throughout the country that provided unstinting support and platforms for the artists.
A prime mover...

Larry Stabbins : soprano and tenor saxophone
Manfred Schoof : trumpet and flugelhorn
Pat Thomas : piano and electronics)
Sirone : bass
Tony Oxley : percussion and electronics

“British percussionist Tony Oxley returned to his piece "Angular Apron" multiple times after debuting it in the early 1970s. Drawing equally on his interest in contemporary composed music by folks like Xenakis and Ligeti and on his long tenure as one of the central figures in European improvised music, Oxle

Evan Parker - soprano saxophone (1,3,5,6) tenor saxophone (2, 4)

“Evan Parker made his first trip to North America as a performer in the fall of 1978 touring solo in the US and Canada. His landmark solo record Monoceros had been recorded in April. This is a recording of his first solo performance in New York City. While it may lack the sonic fidelity of Monoceros, its raw passion makes a statement to the New York audiences lucky to have been at Environ that October evening.”

“First vinyl re-issue of Evan Parker's duo with George Lewis. Transferred from the original masters, Otoroku has discovered that the original Incus LP was cut at the wrong speed -- and so, here is the first vinyl issue of the correct masters, or "mastas" as Adam Skeaping, legendary engineer who is also responsible for Six of One and Compatibles, fondly calls them.
Skeaping, always working with the latest in recording technology for the time, has a knack for gaining access to remarkable spaces. Good...

“Mythically alluded to as "An Improvised Urban Psychodrama In Eight Parts," Collective Calls utilizes electronics, pre-records and homemade instruments to wryly in/act self-investigation. On Collective Calls, only the fifth release to appear on the newly minted Incus label, percussionist Paul Lytton arrives with an arsenal of sound making sources to push Parker into ever new territory. Recorded in the loft of The Standard Essenco Co on Southwark Street by Bob Woolford (Topography of the Lungs...

I had long read about this severe rarity as being the first ever solo bass album of improvised music!

“Recorded in St. James Norlands Church in London in November 1968 and first released in the following year, this work stands as the first solo bass album in the history of jazz and improvised music. Born in 1934 in San Francisco, Barre Phillips is one the most influential bassists of his generation. In his long career Phillips has played and recorded with almost everyone in the world of jazz and...

Here's what I know about this group. Polar Bear are a young UK jazz group who are associated with the scene that Led Bib are also involved with. PB's sound is much different than Led Bib's and also not as consistantly 'out' as Bib, although they do...

This is an archival jazz rock that was barely released in 1973, and found its first general release 39 years later!

“British jazz underground masterpiece, originally released in 1973. Ultra-rare UK prog-jazz fusion private-pressing. In 1973, four Englishmen who loved jazz, rock, and groove decided to record an independent album at Zelia Studios in Birmingham. The result was Poliphony, which had few hard copies and became a rarity among jazz rock collectors. The core of the jazz rock quartet...

“John Cale, the co-founder of The Velvet Underground, left the group in 1968 after tensions between himself and Lou Reed became intolerable; neither had much charitable to say about one other after that, and they seemed to share only one significant area of agreement -- they both maintained a great respect and admiration for Andy Warhol, the artist whose patronage of the group helped them reach their first significant audience.
So it was fitting that after Warhol's death in 1987, Reed and Cale began..

“Due to overwhelming demand for Jazzman Records' five-LP boxset, here are the first ever official individual reissues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artifacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second-hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.
Jazzman Records located and acquired the original..

“Due to overwhelming demand for Jazzman Records' five-LP boxset, here are the first ever official individual reissues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artifacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second-hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.
Jazzman Records located and acquired the original..

“Due to overwhelming demand for Jazzman Records' five-LP boxset, here are the first ever official individual reissues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artifacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second-hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.
Jazzman Records located and acquired the original..

Don Rendell - saxes, flute
Stan Robinson - saxes, flute
Peter Shade - vibes, flute
Michael Garrick - piano
Jack Thorncroft - bass
Trevor Tomkins - drums

“Live studio session recorded in London, October 1970.
Previously unreleased. Stereophonic sound.
Based on Homer's Odyssey.
Those already familiar with the classic Lansdowne Recordings 1970 British jazz album Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises by Neil Ardley, Don Rendell and Ian Carr will...

Last time ever on this release from the wonderful, now gone, Reel Recordings label.

"Jazz in Britain during the 1960s has found many musical voices speaking uniquely beyond their American inspiration, but few spoke as eloquently as the Don Rendell Ian Carr Quintet. Formed in 1964 by modernists Don Rendell (saxes/flutes) and the late Ian Carr (trumpet/flugelhorn), their quintet was perfected by the tremendous rhythm section of composer Michael Garrick (piano), Dave Green (double bass) and Trevor ...

The 3rd and 4th albums (both recorded in 1968) by this UK band, which is where Ian Carr, soon to spin off and help found jazz/rock with Nucleus, first gained the public's attention.
Carr (trumpet) and Rendell (flute, clarinet, saxes) Michael Garrick-piano, Dave Green-bass and Trevor Tomkins-drums + guests combined bits of 60's modal jazz and early 60's Ornette free jazz with a noticable Brit-jazz feel to arrive at something else. You can definitely hear traces of Nucleus in the melodic lines, but...

Originally released on the Turtle label, and making its first-ever vinyl reissue here, Flight must be considered one of Howard Riley’s most important documents. Recorded in 1971, the music represents a transitional period in Howard’s trio sound, this session also includes the input of Tony Oxley’s electronic frame and amplification and Barry Guy’s amplifier and foot pedal.

"...in the course of one improvisation we can use instrumental sounds traditionally association with music, or sounds....

"A reissue of a recording first released in 1983, For Four on Two Two is Howard Riley's ninth solo piano album (he made roughly one a year from 1972 onwards) and, as Dave Ilic pointed out in his original liner-note (expanded by a Wire article in autumn 1983), it is a prime example of the power and vitality consequent upon Riley's 'orchestral-style use of the piano'. Riley himself, in the above-mentioned article, throws more light on his approach: 'playing in groups – you were expected to fulfil a...

Paul Dunmall (saxophones)
Paul Rogers (6-string bass)
Tony Bianco (drums)

"A superbly recorded slice of free improvisation from three of the leading exponents of creative music. Recorded at the Jackson lane venue in Highgate, London during a wonderful free improv event organised by the music specialist record shop Sound 323. Seperated into three sections, the performance begins with a performance of Tony Biancos Drone style drumming, followed by Paul Rogers and Paul Dunmall’s exquisite..

“In 1988, guitarist/composer Ray Russell climbed onto the Montreux Jazz Festival stage with a crack band comprised of rhythm team Mo Foster and Simon Phillips, trumpeter Stuart Brooks, and keyboardists Tommy Eyre and Tony Hymas. The success of their show convinced Russell to capture this unit for posterity, and bolstered by saxophonists Iain Ballamy and Tony Roberts, the group entered the studio. A Table Near the Band was the result, a set originally released in 1989 and now reissued by Angel....

Ray Russell – guitars
- with -
Eric Baldwin – found sounds, sequential creativity
Georg Baldwin – bass, Chapman Stick
Chris Biscoe – tenor clarinet & soprano saxophone
Mo Foster – bass
Nic France – drums
Simon Phillips – drums
Ralph Salmins – drums
Jim Watson – keyboards

Frank Zappa famously characterized music as sculpted air, a notion Ray Russell parlays into another dimension...

Ray Russell - guitar
Harry Beckett - trumpet/flugelhorn
Tony Roberts - saxes
Nick Evans - trombone
Daryl Runswick - bass
Alan Rushton - drums

This fabulous set is a previously unreleased live-in-studio [no audience] session recorded at the Aeolian Hall 2, New Bond Street, London on January 2, 1970.
This is a the entire session, including the material that was cut because of time constraints and also alternative takes, preserved in excellent condition and we can

Like contemporaries Sonny Sharrock and Terje Rypdal, Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough, as if he's reaching for something wilder, something that can't be contained within the 6 string cage-Jim O'Rourke...

Ray Russell is a U.K. guitarist who has been working since at least the mid 60's and has produced a large body of work, both as a solo artist/leader and as a sideman with some very popular artists. This collects a previously released live album, never before on CD, alongside a CD's worth of wild, unreleased material.

"The English free jazz improvisation scene of the late 60s and early 70s was an incestuous breeding ground. Robert Fripp was producing albums by Keith Tippet, Brian Eno was using...

While this saxophone trio lasted for several years and played a lot of gigs in Europe, I believe that this is the only release that the band actually put out. It's been a real rarity until this new reissue.

"It is wonderful to have this album available for the first time on CD—and scary to realise that it was recorded and released in 1975! It is worth dwelling for a moment on how the (jazz) world has changed in the intervening years. In 1975, the idea of an all-saxophone group was unheard of; the...

Elton Dean – Alto sax, saxello
Lyn Dobson – Soprano and tenor sax, flute, harmonica, vocals
Hugh Hopper – Bass
Mike Ratledge – Hohner Pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ
Robert Wyatt – Drums, vocals

"A love affair with France preserved on film - shot with tangible cinematic flair at Paris' photogenic Theatre De La Musique in March 1970, this superb quality live footage of the Softs at their freewheeling peak was originally broadcast on..

Elton Dean – Alto sax, saxello
Lyn Dobson – Soprano and tenor sax, flute, harmonica, vocals
Hugh Hopper – Bass
Mike Ratledge – Hohner Pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ
Robert Wyatt – Drums, vocals

"A love affair with France preserved on film - shot with tangible cinematic flair at Paris' photogenic Theatre De La Musique in March 1970, this superb quality live footage of the Softs at their freewheeling peak was originally broadcast on..

Licensed from SONY, this is a legit version that is sonically the exact same thing as the latest SONY issue, now out of print.

For some reason, I think Four has always been the overlooked Soft Machine album. There's probably several reasons for this but that doesn't change the fact that I think that this is tied with Volume Two as their greatest album ever!

The tunes were getting more and more complex and astonishing: Mike Ratledge contributed what I consider the band's greatest work...



Elton Dean: alto sax, saxello, Hohner pianet
Hugh Hopper: bass
Mike Ratledge: Hohner pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ, Fender Rhodes
Robert Wyatt: drums, vocals

"Essential! And, by the way, it really does sound like the band is playing right in front of you!" – Dimensions in Sound and Space...

Roy Babbington-bass
John Etheridge-guitar
John Marshall-drums
Theo Travis-saxes, flute, Fender Rhodes

In 2018, Soft Machine released a very fine album called ‘Hidden Details’ and following that release, they toured the world in 2018 and 2019.
Anyone who went to see them were treated to an excellent set of jazz/rock of old and new tunes, played with tremendous fire and drive and extremely well received.
This excellent (and excellently recorded) live album was recorded in Lo

Elton Dean - alto sax, saxello
Lyn Dobson -- soprano sax, flute, vocals
Hugh Hopper -- bass
Mike Ratledge -- electric piano, organ
Robert Wyatt -- drums, vocals

Noisette was recorded January 4th, 1970, by the short-lived quintet formation of the group, this was this line-up's first gig and this is the concert and same recording that gave us Facelift on Third!
Noisette showcases a band in...

JOHN ETHERIDGE - guitars
THEO TRAVIS - tenor and soprano saxophones, flutes, Fender Rhodes piano, electronics FREDDY BAKER - fretless bass guitar
JOHN MARSHALL - drums
special guest
ROY BABBINGTON - bass guitar (tunes 2 and 9)

The lastest Soft Machine album is, again, a shockingly good jazz/rock album. Shocking that is if you haven’t been paying attention to them in the last four or five years or haven’t had the chance to see them knock it out of the ballpark live, night after

By this time (1973), the band were pretty much a straight-forward fusion ensemble with many of their biggest quirks and oddities excised. And all the quirky old personnel too, with only Mike Ratledge remaining (for the time being at least). Hugh Hoppper left and is replaced by the great (but not as quirky) bassist Roy Babbington along with Karl Jenkins and John Marshall. The band is now 75% comprised of ex-Nucleus players, and while they don't sound like Nucleus at all, they also don't really sound so...

Soft Machine were one of the greatest UK avant/jazz-rock bands of all time and their work, whether their earliest performances as a psychedelic band, who were contemporaries of, and shared stages with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way to being one of Europe's best known 'fusion' bands, their work continues to be name-checked by today's hip experimentalists.

By mid 1973, Soft Machine had gone through a tremendous amount of personnel turnover and a...

Roy Babbington : Electric 6-string bass
Karl Jenkins : Soprano sax, baritone sax, oboe, electric piano

John Marshall : Drums

Mike Ratledge : Electric piano, organ

From their beginnings as a psychedelic rock band in 1966, sharing stages with Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, to being one of the originators of electric jazz/rock by early 1969, Britain’s Soft Machine were restlessly creative. The Dutch Lesson captures them..

Elton Dean - alto sax, saxello, electric piano
Mike Ratledge - electric piano, organ
Hugh Hopper - bass
Robert Wyatt - drums, vocals

This was our second Soft Machine archival release and over 20 years later, it remains one of the great documents of the 'classic quartet' line-up and it is now available again after many years!

"...an innovative union of jazz and rock." – Downbeat...

A very good album from 'way back when' with a fairly incredible story! I had never seen or heard it before now, although I knew its legend...!
Chris Spedding Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
Roger Potter Bass, Double Bass
John Marshall Drums
John Mitchell Piano, Electric Piano
Paul Rutherford Trombone

"Between 1969 and 1972, Chris Spedding was a rock guitarist whose unique sound, style and musical literacy meant regular employment on the exploding British progressive jazz.

A great performance. Last time ever on this wonderful release from the wonderful, now gone, Reel Recordings label.

Latest archival treasure from Reel Recordings was a short-lived, little known (but based on this release 37 years later, quite...

"Electronic duo Spring Heel Jack return with a collaboration with the legendary American trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize nominee Wadada Leo Smith. Wadada was born in the Mississippi Delta and became immersed in the music of the great blues masters as a young musician. He then moved to Chicago and became an early member of the AACM alongside the likes of Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors and Roscoe Mitchell. Recorded 2017 in London, this LP sees Smith's authoritative trumpet joined by...

This reissues the three albums originally released by Ogun documenting a 1977 session (The Longest Night volumes one and two) and a 1993 session (Corner to Corner) by one of the founders of non-idiomatic free improvisation and one of his longest...

For nearly 45 years, John Surman has been one of England's best known modern jazz musicians. His career began in the late 60s as both a sideman and a leader with such notable greats as John McLaughlin, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath...