From David Toop What are field recordings? “My memory is not what it used to be, David,” my grandfather, Syd Senior, said to me as we huddled round a fireplace in 1979. Thanks to a cassette tape I have the memory of his gradual loss of memory, hearing him speak of Queen Victoria’s funeral and the severity of patriotism back in those old days, 1901. Syd Senior is long dead, no longer part of the field of living relations but still within the field of memories that can be revived by technology, albeit an old one that squeaks like a mouse, hisses like a cat.Where is the field? The field is populated by all the ravishing, painful, poignant, nondescript moments of remembered life. Field recordings forget, just as memories forget. My recording of Ornette Coleman forgets that he fell asleep as we were talking together. I sat quietly, waiting for him to wake; the tape machine continued its work, oblivious.During lockdown, a warm spring day, I sat working in the garden. A small fox appeared close to me, started, retreated into the shelter of plants by my pond. I took a photo with my phone but when I looked at the image no fox was visible. Earlier that day I had been reading Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a collection of short stories written by Pu Songling during the course of his life in the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century. In many of these tales, fox spirits inhabit the physical spaces of living humans in a variety of guises. Some are malicious; some benign. Their presence in the material world is wrong and yet accepted as either a temporary nuisance or a blessing that would later be regretted.“All the memories are very incomplete,” said Annabel Nicolson during a conversation I recorded with her in the early 1990s. “It’s like trying to substantiate something that was important to us . . . When I was younger I thought that didn’t matter. I thought everything could be transient because people would always be creating more . . . when you get older it seems rather different because you realise many wonderful things have just vanished. Which in some ways doesn’t matter but it also means that they can’t be shared with anyone other than those who were there.”

CD in gatefold carboard case with booklet and accompanying postcard prints by Katya Kukol "waves extinguish the wind. archive" was a collaborative audiovisual project between musician Elina Bolshenkova and artist Katya Kukol, created in 2022. The authors wanted to create immersive entry points into a version of their future, merging soundscapes with drawings, and reflecting on the political crises in their home country. This artwork helped them provoke a conversation about the future and heal a little. They hope it can help others in a similar way. This is a digital and physical documentation of their artwork, presented in a form of compact discs and actual sized prints of the drawings. It is recommended that you listen to the soundscapes and view the corresponding images at the same time.

The Trost label presents a live recording from the trio Sonore, featuring Peter Brötzmann (tenor and alto sax, clarinet and taragato), Ken Vandermark (tenor sax and clarinet) and Mats Gustafsson (baritone sax). All compositions by Brötzmann, Vandermark and Gustafsson. Recorded at Café OTO, London, for Jazz On 3, BBC Radio 3, April 20th 2011.

Absolute solo burner by Peter Brötzmann, originally issed by FMP in 1976 REVIEWS "Brötzmann is completely over-powering both in the mastery of his instruments and his overwhelming inventiveness. Here he runs the range of music from Rollins to Lacy to Bird, and touches on music from the blues to the comedia del arte, in an absolute festival of invention.... This record and FMP 0160 – The Globe Unity Orchestra – are two of the finest recordings I’ve heard in 1977." --Bob Rusch, Cadence Magazine "Overall, 'Solo' is a fascinating document, both musically satisfying for open-eared listeners and for late coming Brötzmann fans interested in learning his roots." --Bob Olewnick, All Music Guide Peter Brötzmann: clarinets, alto, tenor, bass saxophone Recorded by Jost Gebers in May 1976 in Berlin.

The only LP featuring a band under Peter Kowald's name, Peter Kowald Quintet comes from a vital moment in the German bassist's career. A close colleague of Peter Brötzmann's in their formative years, including the saxophonist's debut For Adolphe Sax and the classic Machine Gun, Kowald had by 1972 broadened his circle of collaborators, eventually working with a who's who of global creative music. Recorded live in Berlin, released on FMP, this date documents a tensile ensemble, with an unusual lineup featuring two trombones – Londoner Paul Rutherford and the German maestro Günter Christmann – together with the less-well-known Dutch alto saxophonist (and sculptor) Peter van de Locht and brilliant German percussionist Paul Lovens. Kowald adds to the low brass when he turns from double-bass to tuba and alphorn. Spacious and fiery, these four tracks are exemplary European free music led by one of the music's foremost originals – Kowald's rough and ready bass, which was anchoring (and de facto leading) the Globe Unity Orchestra of that period, is echoed in the take-no-prisoners music of the fivesome.Mastered from original tapes, this first-ever CD release features a facsimile version of the original cover, which featured artwork by ten non-musician friends and unique hand-additions. Track Times: Platte Talloere (13:08) Wenn Wir Kehlkopfoperier Te Uns Unterhalten (7:09) Pavement Bolognaise (14:01) Guete Luuni (2:38) Peter Kowald, bass, tuba, alphorn Paul Rutherford, trombone Günter Christmann, trombone Peter van de Locht, alto saxophone Paul Lovens, drums

Until now, the earliest recordings anyone has heard by Joe McPhee come from the period around his 1968 debut album, Underground Railroad. McPhee had just started playing tenor saxophone at that point. A couple of years earlier, the bassist featured on all of McPhee's early recordings, Tyrone Crabb, led a band of his own, the Jazzmen, in which McPhee was featured on his first instrument: trumpet. Indeed, McPhee was a trumpet legacy – his father was a trumpeter. In the mid-'60s, Joe was a serious young player with deep knowledge and an expansive ear. Performing around Poughkeepsie and across the Hudson Valley, the Jazzmen were one of the very first ensembles recorded by Craig Johnson, who would go on to form the CjR label expressly to release McPhee's music. The fledgling audio engineer was clearly learning the ropes when he documented this incredible 1966 performance, but despite a few excusable acoustic blemishes, it's a beautiful window into McPhee's trumpet playing, suggesting that, had he stuck to that instrument alone, he might well have been considered a major figure on the horn (of course, he is such a figure on the pocket trumpet); the opening track, a version of "One Mint Julep" as arranged by Freddie Hubbard (on his Blue Note record Open Sesame) shows McPhee's lithe stylings to good effect. McPhee's musical cosmology was much bigger than a single axe, however, as is evident on the sprawling second track, which, over the course of half-an-hour proceeds from an excoriating yowl to a version of Miles Davis's "Milestones" taken at a sweltering tempo. A fiery portent of the free jazz to follow and a marker of McPhee's foundations in hard bop and soul jazz, Nineteen Sixty-Six features the entire reel-to-reel tape long thought lost, simply labeled: "Joe McPhee, 1966, trumpet."  JOE MCPHEE trumpet, recorder HARRY HALL tenor saxophone, recorder REGGIE MARKS tenor saxophone, recorder MIKE KULL piano TYRONE CRABB bass, bandleader CHARLIE BENJAMIN drums Recorded June, 1966, in Newburgh, New York.

Officially released for the first time ever, a previously unknown half-hour from cosmic mythologist and sound scientist Sun Ra's 1971 U.C. Berkeley course "The Black Man in the Cosmos." Ra's soft-spoken intensity is underscored by the sound of chalk on the board as he ambles effortlessly through his potent and prescient ideas. The class session closes with two musical tracks, a piano version of "Love In Outer Space" and a blistering Moog solo.

Joe McPhee is one of the great multi-instrumentalists of contemporary improvised music. His instrumental battery has included saxophones, clarinets, valve trombone, pocket trumpet, sound-on-sound tape recorder, and space organ, but another arrow in his quiver is text. McPhee has been writing poems since the 1970s. He occasionally introduces one into performance, as an introduction or afterword to music, and in recent years he's been known to do full-on readings, text only, featuring his inimitable sense of dramatic timing intoned in his rich voice. The poems range from the observational to the political to the surreal. They're composed in rhyme or according to an internal rhythm, sometimes utterly prosaic, sometimes fantastic and flamboyant. A few of them capture the immediacy of improvised music more acutely than any critical writing on the subject, his half-century immersion in the craft of free music having given him a bottomless cup to draw on and his sensitivity to the nuances of language providing a host of palpable metaphors and metonyms, similes and strophes. The poems are marvels on the page, but they really take flight in McPhee's mouth. In 2021, during a flurry of pandemic-inspired poetic activity, he traveled to Chicago expressly to record a program of his poems. For the studio date, he invited saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark to play duets as interludes between groupings of the poems. Then Vandermark, engineer Alex Inglizian, and the CvsD team sat breathless in the Experimental Sound Studio control room as McPhee proceeded to perform his poetry nonstop and without repetition for nearly two hours. The result is Musings of a Bahamian Son, the first full-length release dedicated to McPhee's writing, with 27 poems interspersed with nine musical interludes and a postlude. This CD release anticipates the forthcoming McPhee memoir, Straight Up, Without Wings: The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee, written with Mike Faloon, a book that will be published in the fall by CvsD. oe McPhee, voice and soprano saxophone. Ken Vandermark plays clarinet and bass clarinet on Interludes and Postlude.

wo hardcore proponents of free improvisation from different generations meet for a granular explosion. Born in Poland, based outside Hannover, Germany, Günter Christmann hails back to the origins of European improvised music, when he played trombone in Rüdiger Carl Inc., the raucous trio that issued King Alcohol on FMP in 1972, as well as groups let by Peter Kowald, Alex Schlippenbach, and others. Christmann's personal arc drew him away from free jazz and deeper into a kind of improvised chamber music, which he explored in great detail with his many-versioned ensemble Vario and as a member of King Übü Örchestrü, as well as in an extensive discography of solo and duo records on the Moers label. Marshalling incredibly acute listening with lightning quick response time and an endless well of extended techniques not only on trombone but also bass and cello, Christmann remained true to his own very particular vision, championing the most personal kind of absolutely free play. On insisting, he combines forces with Niklas Fite, a young Swedish guitarist who's equally committed to spontaneous music. Fite is the son of beloved Stockholm guitarist Andy Fite and was a student of British guitarist John Russell, with whom Christmann worked extensively. On this recording, Fite makes crystal clear his ability to pack gargantuan impact into the tiniest of sounds, manipulating time by placing ample space between sounds and allowing the mutuality to unfold in an unforced way. Christmann plays cello exclusively here, the two stringed instruments combining with intensity and grace. A gorgeous, intimate recording, packaged with ink drawing by Christmann on the cover and notes by Fite.  Niklas Fite - guitar Günter Christmann - cello

Two historical heavyweights of European free music, clarinetist Rüdiger Carl and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson, join forces with younger bassist Joel Grip for a night of incredible trios. Recorded a few months before the pandemic clampdown, in November of 2019, at Berlin's Au Topsi Pohl, the music is exploratory and swinging, with Carl's viscous clarinet and a brilliant rhythm team steeped in time-based feel but loose and sometimes oblique. Johansson was part of the first Peter Brötzmann Trio to commit music to wax, on For Adolphe Sax (BRÖ/FMP, 1967), and he was on the legendary Brötzmann Octet date Machine Gun (BRÖ/FMP, 1968); the drummer's 1972 solo outing Schlingerland kicked off the SAJ sub-label of FMP, so named for Johansson's initials, and he has made a slew of great records for his own label, also called SÅJ.  Playing tenor saxophone, Carl led a fiery group called Rüdiger Carl Inc., which recorded the classic King Alcohol (FMP, 1972); he was part of important groups with pianist Irene Schweizer, also playing clarinet and accordion, and has recorded with many of the leading improvisors in Europe.  Johansson and Carl have recorded together numerous times, including Fünfunddreissigvierzig (FMP, 1986) and Djungelmusik met Sång (Hapna, 2000).  This sparkling live set features three longer pieces, beautifully recorded, with a cover photo by Johansson and liner notes by Peter Margasak. --- Rüdiger Carl, clarinet Joel Grip, double bass Sven-Åke Johansson, drum --- Recorded November 8/9, 2019 at Au Topsi Pohl, Berlin, by Alexis Baskind. Mixed by SÅJand Alexis Baskind. Mastered by Alex Inglizian. All rights retained by the artists/GEMA. Cover photo by SÅJ (West Berlin, 1970). CD design by SÅJ and David Khan-Giordano. Produced by SÅJ and John Corbett. --- Released: Corbett vs Dempsey

In 1981, British percussionist Paul Lytton and German guitarist Erhard Hirt met and recorded for a couple of days in Belgium. This explosive, ahead-of-its-time first encounter, which had been planned as a release on the legendary Po Torch label, has remained dormant for over four decades. In that period, Lytton and Hirt teamed up often, joining forces with saxophonist/clarinetist Wolfgang Fuchs and bassist Hans Schneider as the quartet X-Pact, a group that has recently reformed – several years after the untimely death of Fuchs – with Stefan Keune in the saxophone chair. Lytton and Hirt were key participants in the Aachen (Germany) improvised music scene, also key members of King Übü Örchestrü, one of the most radical improvising large ensembles. Lytton's legacy hearkens back to his time in the London jazz scene of the late 1960s, where he played with a who's who of heavies, and he's perhaps best known for his long standing collaboration with saxophonist Evan Parker, in duet settings and their collective trio with bassist Barry Guy. He is one of the great innovators of European improvised music, both as a percussionist and with his unique electronics rig. Hirt's super-resourceful guitar work – here both on electric guitar (with active whammy bar) and acoustic dobro – deserves to be more widely heard. Along with his own solo music, which started with a killer record called Zwischen den Pausen on Uhlklang in 1983, he's worked intensively with musicians such as Axel Dörner, Phil Minton, Thomas Lehn, Phil Wachsmann, and John Butcher. For its debut voyage, Borne on a Whim was lovingly transferred (for the first time) from the original reels by Ken Christianson, preserving every crispy, crackling noise.The cover features a stencil used to make a poster for them back in the period that Lytton and Hirt first began their work together. Borne on a Whim is the first release drawn from the Paul Lytton Archives at Corbett vs. Dempsey. Paul Lytton, percussion & live electronics Erhard Hirt, electric guitars & dobro Recording PLo/PLy, Plombieres, Belgium, 17/18 April, 1981.

One of the towering creative musicians of our time, a master drummer and multiple percussionist, Hamid Drake has anchored inumerable bands. As a hard working player, constantly touring the globe, he's collaborated with most of the major figures in improvised music and contemporary jazz, from David Murray and Peter Brötzmann to Pharoah Sanders and Don Cherry. Along the way, Drake has never had an opportunity to stop and make a solo record. Indeed, he's only performed solo on a few occasions. John Corbett began petitioning Drake to record an unaccompanied session twenty years ago. At last, after the pandemic had (just slightly) slowed down Drake's incessant travel itinerary, a plan was hatched and he entered Experimental Sound Studio during the cold, hard month of December, 2020. With Corbett, Jim Dempsey, and engineer Alex Inglizian as his audience, Drake worked through a vaguely plotted-out blueprint, however after a few months had passed, the drummer was unsatisfied with the result. He returned to the studio in July, 2021, with no pre-planned notion, and this time the Hamid Drake magic was everywhere – perched on his drum-throne, working exclusively at the kit, sometimes plying metallic percussion atop the snare, Drake recorded nine tracks, a cornucopia of rhythms and textures that touch on his love of reggae and funk but retain the openness and buoyancy that have made him such a go-to figure among his peers. In the CD's liner notes, he says: "A dedication in spirit to all those who have influenced, helped, opened, nurtured, shown love for, and cared for me along the way." These include Brötzmann's band Die Like a Dog, longterm percussion pal Adam Rudolph and mentor Fred Anderson, fellow drummers Paul Lovens and Milford Graves, Don and Moki Cherry, Big Black, and others. The record, precisely and soulfully recorded by Inglizian, has the beauty and warmth that always radiate from Drake's sticks, from his person and spirit – deep humanity in the form of an unstoppable engine room. Cover art by Christopher Wool. 1. Dedicated to Die Like a Dog [8:25]2. Dedicated to Adam Rudolph [13:21]3. Dedicated to Don & Moki Cherry [6:06]4. Dedicated to Milford Graves [8:29]5. Dedicated to Paul Lovens [9:14]6. Dedicated to Big Black [7:43]7. Dedicated to Fred Anderson and to the beauty and diversity of Chicago [5:28]8. Dedicated to Lex Hixon (Shaykh Nur) and Shaykha Fariha [8:45]9. Dedicated to Lenn Keller, Brenda Jones, and Calvin Gantt [3:56]Hamid Drake – drum set and percussion Recorded by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, on July 12, 2020. Mixed and mastered by Alex Inglizian with Hamid Drake, Jim Dempsey, and John Corbett at ESS. Cover design and artwork by Christopher Wool. CD design by David Khan-Giordano. Produced by John Corbett and Christopher Wool.CvsDCD088

Originally released in 1979 as a double-LP on Hat Hut, Stamps was Steve Lacy’s first for the legendary Swiss label, and it remains one of the strongest statements of what he termed the “scratchy seventies.” With the classic lineup of Lacy’s soprano saxophone, Steve Potts on soprano and alto sax, Irene Aebi on cello (and singing on one track), Kent Carter on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums, the recording catches the band live, performing Lacy’s angular, intervallic compositions, using arrangements that leave the rough patina, rather than buffing things to a smooth shine. This is the first time the important music has been reissued on CD, adding a bonus track, all remastered from the original tapes. The double-disc package sports a facsimile reproduction of the gorgeous artwork by Klaus Baumgärtner, with action photographs from the concerts on the interior. A must for Lacy fans and for anyone interested in creative music. Steve Lacy, soprano saxophone and Japanese bird whistle Steve Potts, alto and soprano saxophone Irene Aebi, cello, violin, voice, bells Kent Carter, bass Oliver Johnson, drums Originally released on hat Hut Records (hat Hut K/L, 1979). Track 4 is previously unreleased. CD 1 recorded by Walter Troxler, August 27, 1977, at Jazz Festival Willisau, Switzerland. CD 2 recorded by Philippe Quinsac, February 22, 1978, at Jazz Au Totem, Paris. Production coordination by Craig Johnson, CjR Productions. Mastered by David Crawford at Masterdisk, New York. Cover art by Klaus Baumgärtner.

A special 2-CD reissue of the hyper-rare El Saturn LP, recorded in 1963, early in the Arkestra's NY period, paired with a full disc of extra material. Loaded with John Gilmore, one of the greatest & rarest slabs of Sun Ra vinyl, on disc for the first time! Recorded March 10, 1963, Choreographer's Workshop, New York City. Remastered from the original tapes by Michael D. Anderson. Design by Sonnenzimmer. Reissue produced by John Corbett and Adam Abraham. 2CD, released 2013 cvsdcd009

Recorded at the ICP Jubileum, a festival in Uithoorn, Holland, in 1978, Yi Yole brings together the core of the Instant Composers Pool – pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink – with legendary South African alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana. Longtime member of the Blue Notes, Pukwana was a beloved figure in European free music after he left South Africa in the mid-sixties and settled in London. There he worked with all of the leading lights of free improvised music, recording extensively with the Brotherhood of Breath and eventually releasing LPs under his own leadership before his untimely passing in 1990 at the age of 51. What the three tracks on Yi Yole make clear is how surprisingly well the Dutch and South African sensibilities fit together, an overall relaxed vibe leading to unforeseen directions in the music. Han Bennink ranges far beyond his drum kit and its metallic add-ons, playing trombone, clarinet, and viola; his collage design for the record, as with all ICP productions, is brilliant and perfectly matched to the music. This is the only time these three prime movers of free music would record as a trio, hitting just at the moment when the Instant Composers Pool was gaining momentum and South African jazz was growing in international stature. Released on ICP, Mengelberg/Bennink’s self-produced label, Yi Yole saw limited distribution and attention in its time, but it remains an absolute classic of improvised music, presented here in all its glory with Bennink’s design, remastered from original tapes, the box of which is reproduced on the interior spread, replete with never-seen hand notations.

Hailing from the Germantown section of Philadelphia, well known as the site of the Sun Ra Arkestra communal homestead, Sounds of Liberation were at the forefront of seventies black liberation music. After a series of gigs in elementary schools, prisons, and community centers, in 1973 the band travelled along with their manager George Gilmore (father of Linc Gilmore of Breakwater fame) to NYC for a recording session at Columbia University. This five-song session has never been heard until now. Had it ever been issued, it would have followed on the band’s debut, New Horizons, released in an edition of 500 copies on Dogtown Records, now a highly prized item in creative music collector circles. Sounds Of Liberation formed in early 1970, initially lead by vibraphonist Warren Robert Cheeseboro, aka Khan Jamal, but it wasn't until the eventual arrival of Byard Lancaster that the band’s prospects started to take off. Lancaster was a master at making a deal (with or without the band’s approval). This deal-making lead to more gigs and more recognition, especially from local newspapers. Sounds Of Liberation was more of a community than a band at times and because of that spirit there was a strong desire by the entire group to work with schoolchildren as well as inmates. They did just that, and continued to do so throughout the early to mid-seventies. Released briefly last year as a special edition of 100 copies by Brewerytown Beats, who have forged positive working relationships with the living members of the band and the estates of those passed, the music on Sounds of Liberation has never been heard before, which is especially strange given how wonderful and accessible it is. Shoulder-deep in groove juice, it’s a record with heavy ostinati and beautiful backbeats, including the mellowing influence of Jamal’s vibes and the incisive guitar of Monette Sudler, the final track featuring an unidentified vocal group singing a stone-cold soul hit, also featuring some searing saxophone courtesy of Mr. Lancaster. A treasure for fans of so-called spiritual jazz and free funk, Sounds of Liberation is a snapshot of its era and equally an inspiration in ours. The package comes with never seen photos of the band and a cover design by artist LeRoy Butler, who worked with the SOL in the era, at the same time he was designing records for Sun Ra. With music lovingly coaxed from long-unplayed original tapes, Sounds of Liberation is a new line item in the soul improvisation pantheon.

Glasses was recorded in October, 1977, during a highly significant period in McPhee's work, as he was pioneering the transatlantic, collaborative spirit that has helped to define the last three decades of his career. Documented in Tavannes, Switzerland, the set contains sensational tenor work, including the title piece, which finds McPhee ringing out a rhythm on a half-full wine glass, from which he extrapolates a melody on the saxophone, as well as a stunning version of John Coltrane's "Naima." The final 15 minutes are spent in duet with the Swiss percussionist Reto Weber, who was so inspired by McPhee he asked to sit in and did so with his quite extensive battery of drums. This record come from a year-long run during which McPhee recorded and released four very different, extremely wonderful solo records, of which only Tenor has ever been reissued on CD. Along with the LP Variations on a Blue Line/'Round Midnight, this reissue was produced in collaboration with the seminal Swiss label Hat Hut Records and their chief, Werner X. Uehlinger, and was originally released in 1979.

Klein Eiland comes as a suprise: the past decade, the ROT-members (Benjamin Francart, Bram Borloo, Christophe Piette, Laurent Cartuyvels) have been playing less shows, and their record output had come to a halt. Not sure why: there has been the occasional gathering and recording session. (this one happened to be the last one feat. Floris Vanhoof as a band member) But: R.O.T. proves that they still manage to capture a specific time and place like no one else does. This session was recorded in a now demolished building in the south of Brussels, and is now replaced by the apartment block (as seen on the back sleeve). The only thing that remains is the name of the building, and the captured sounds.