“When Dizzy Gillespie put his hat in the ring for President of the United States in 1964, he also off¬ered to be the first African-American astronaut, just in case they couldn’t find anyone else. In making Dizzy Atmosphere, Dave Douglas’s tribute to the great trumpeter, composer and humanist, Douglas said he wanted to explore Dizzy’s experimental and wide open mind as well as the influence of his music. This album shines a light on the whole legacy of Gillespie, one of America’s finest artists....

Dave Douglas (trumpet, laptop); Marcus Strickland (tenor saxophone); Adam Benjamin (Fender Rhodes piano); Gene Lake (drums); DJ Olive (laptop, turntables).

"Dave Douglas and Keystone (his electric group) issued their soundtrack to experimental...

It would be hard to come up with another contemporary band of modern jazz players better than this line-up; you could match it, but beat it? Dave Douglas-trumpet, Jon Irabagon-tenor sax, Matt Mitchell-piano, Linda Oh-bass and Rudy Royston-drums dig...

Dezron Douglas – basses
George Burton – piano and rhodes
Joe Dyson Jr. – drums
Emilio Modeste – saxophones
Melvis Santa – vocals and percussion on “Wheeping Birch”

“Followers of contemporary jazz might recognize Dezron for his bass work behind Pharoah Sanders, Louis Hayes, or Ravi Coltrane. Others might know him as the newest full-time member of the Trey Anastasio Band. Steady International Anthem listeners might remember him from the New York side of Makaya McCraven's...

"Bob Downes is a flautist, multi-instrumentalist and composer possessing prowess as a musical personality. Emanating from his living breath Bob conjures sublime sounds from an array of flutes and poignant weaving through his alto and tenor saxophones...

Downes is a reed player (saxes and flutes) who is most often thought of as a jazz flautist, composer and group leader, but throughout his varied career that has included such diverse musical activity as working with the John Barry Seven and playing on Egg’s second LP.
He also had his own fluid conceptual group “Open Music”. Until very recent releases on the Esoteric and Reel labels, he was pretty much a forgotten figure of Brit-jazz. And now he has a cool collection on ReR. His work tends to have a...

The second album from BBC Award-winning pianist/composer, Kit Downes and the follow-up to his Mercury Prize nominated debut album Golden. Downes is one of the most brilliant musicians of his generation. A gifted composer and sparkling improviser, who...

“Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack playing songs from the canon of Duke Ellington is as natural as the break of day. But the gris-gris king interprets Ellington in a way unlike anyone else. "Mood Indigo," arranged for Dr. John's six-man New Orleans group, takes on a fresh, heartfelt immediacy with the good doctor's vocals and piano locked into a relaxed groove. He sings another slice of essential Ellingtonia, "Do Nothing 'til You Hear from Me," with a lighthearted nonchalance that epitomizes the worthiest New...

This is a previously unreleased, unheard and never-even rumored studio album from 1980!

"During their latter period, Missus Beastly renamed themselves to Dr. Aftershave for about one year, after the title of their third LP. Their style, however, didn’t change: mostly instrumental jazz-rock, also called fusion.
They had planned from the very beginning to record some songs for an LP, which they did in the Stuttgart Zuckerfabrik sound studio from August 19 to 22, 1980. Initially, the sound...

“Irish psychedelic folkies Dr Strangely Strange were active from 1968 - 1971. Their two Joe Boyd-produced albums from that era, Kip Of The Serenes (Island) and Heavy Petting (Vertigo), are both highly sought after by collectors.
In their heyday, the band recorded only two BBC radio sessions, a Top Gear slot and an In Concert, both with John Peel. Frustratingly, the BBC's tapes were wiped, but after extensive research with European collectors, TLAK has been able to locate off-air recordings of both...

Bob's fifth album is another of his completely uncategorizable works. Bob performs on vocals, strings (guitars, bass, violin, etc.) keyboards & real drums, making these sound like a band effort.

"The latest collection of twisting, turning instrumentals and songs, and another instant classic. If you didn't venture down this way yet, now is a good time to start. In a category of one, Bob undermines musical, technical and production norms with a breathtaking amalgam of broken rules and unimaginable..

"So remarkable it's hard to begin. Those who liked the idea-rich, sonically breathtaking & compositionally daring pop music of the '60s, will recognise a similar mixture of pop-sensibility & radical innovation, now recast in contemporary terms. Unassuming virtuosity & state of the art studio merely as means to greater ends. I know we've all heard everything these days, but you haven't heard this" –Chris Cutler

"As always, Bob Drake is an enigma, a revered cult figure with a unique & bizarre...

“Bob’s 10th solo album sees Bob playing all the usual instruments (and a few more this time) in another collection of close-up songs with impossible structures, extraordinary harmonies, informative lyrics (though a little outré in their subject matter), virtuoso playing (in a casual sort of way), great production and impressive musical economy (Bob has enough ideas, so he doesn’t need to stretch them out).
It comes with remarkable artwork by Joe Mruk (redbuffalo.org), including a fold-out map which...

“Bob takes a professional detour to explore an intriguing byway with this atmospheric, uncharacteristic, stripped down, highly intriguing (and I think highly successful) experiment in minimal exposition. There are thirteen chapters - for voices, organ, piano and cathedral - on texts drawn directly from the 1893 edition of The legendary lore of the holy wells of England: including rivers, lakes, fountains and springs, by the English antiquary and inventor of the folding umpire’s chair, Robert Charles Hope...

''A rollercoaster of a record - intensely musical and highly attentive to the quality of sound - only not in the usual directions. This is whathappens when a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and engineer gets to do what he wants his own way, free of the ...

“A one-off release of extraordinary instrumental compositions, through-composed and performed by a massed orchestra of Bob on piano, 5-string resonator banjo, Farfisa organ, Korg MS20 synthesizer, electric and acoustic guitars, recorders, drums, bass, chromatic hand-bells, trombone, trumpet and violin. 22 exquisite, enigmatic and compressed vignettes that defy comparison.
It's a new departure for Bob, though the mixture of complexity, simplicity, virtuosity and dramaturgy remain the same. It's a...

52 songs of strange events, places and things. Includes 20 original paintings by Ray O'Bannon-Bob. The songs are brief, amusingly creepy or creepily amusing (takes your pick!) with really nice creepy/cool paintings to accompany the mood. "Perhaps the s...

"Bob Drake was one half of Indie rock group Hail, and still plays bass with ruthless avant rockers The 5UUS. His previous solos Little Black Train introduced us to his version of Death-Country, and Medallion Animal Carpet followed up with what sounded like a collaboration between Bonnie Prince Billy and Captain Beefhart. And now theres Skull Mailbox. With this CD Drake has lost it altogether. Strange little picked guitar pieces are the basis for grotesque songs; a seance goes horribly wrong, headless...

What Day Is It is Bob Drake’s first-ever solo album and was self-released by Bob in a hand-made package in 1993. He performed all the music with some assistance from Dave Kerman on drums. Odd songs with an almost folk or Cajun feel to them; folk music from another planet, perhaps. This is a great one for me if only simply because it was the first time that anyone heard Bob’s instantly recognizable solo sound! Recommended.

"Bob is already celebrated for his many ReR solo CDs, as well as for his...

Hamid Drake: drums, frame drum
Sylvain Kassap: eb, bb, bass and contrabass clarinets, chalumeau

"When I put these CDs on I knew immediately that from the first time I had heard them together until the time of these recordings their art, their voices, their intense empathy/telepathy for one another had grown to an almost unparalleled level: two instruments in complete harmony and synchronicity."Steve Dalachinsky, excerpt of the liner notes

CD-1 recorded live on February 5th 2007 by...

2000, 24-bit SBM remaster with lyrics, photos and Nick's hand-lettered lyrics(!) of the 1970, superb second release by this genuis folkie with the wonderful husky voice. Nick was possibly the greatest of the many great modern folkies who worked with Jo...

SBM version of this wonderful, wonderful album with with lyrics, photos and Nick's hand-lettered lyrics(!) of the brilliant, final work by this genius folkie with the wonderful lightly husky voice and absolute masterful guitarwork. Nick was possibly...

As the universe reels in pain from the reality, yet becomes used to the idea, of a 'post Cardiacs world', music is still being created by some of the ex-members. And the more I hear, the more I realize what a talented crew manned that ship. William...

Very nice, very song oriented spacey rock music with nice melodies and good singing; only thing it makes me think of comparing it to is like an intergalactic Emmit Rhodes!

"...rekindles the excitement I vividly recall about music in the early to mid 70's...deep shit, where creativity and homage go together and fit like the best pair of well worn Levis...warm breezes on summer evenings and ice cold frosties go down like candy...like Gerry Rafferty and "On The Third Day" ELO collide in an alternate..

Laura Polence voice
Björk Níelsdóttir voice
Ada Rave tenor saxophone (1, 3, 5, 6), clarinet (2, 4), mouth organ
Ab Baars clarinet (1, 2, 4, 5), tenor saxophone (3, 6), mouth organ, voice (5)
George Dumitriu violin, viola, mouth organ
Kaja Draksler piano, kalimba, cowbells
Lennart Heyndels double bass, voice (5)
Onno Govaert drums and percussion, mouth organ

"With the previous “Gledalec”, Slovenian pianist and composer Kaja Draksler found a gem to work on