Avant Garde 2023

A new horizon pioneered by New Hard, led by Toshiyuki Miyama, one of Japan’s leading big bands. Four songs written by rare composers and arrangers such as Masahiko Sato, Hiroshi Takami, Norio Maeda, and Kozaburo Yamaki, based on classical Japanese themes such as “Mujou,” “Heian Period Prostitute,” “Soul,” and “Sumo.” With a sharp and enthusiastic performance that ranges from free jazz to jazz rock, the group carefully depicts “old Japan.” This is one of the most quintessential examples of Japanese big band jazz.

HIIT is a piano trio of contemporary improvised music, with compositional frames that feed focused real-time composition. You hear aesthetics reminiscent of the improvised and composed music of the 20th and 21st century. You hear hot blooded energy which is not afraid of lyric melody, abstract contemplation, and structured formal matrixes.

'Echolocation' is the astonishing debut album from Mendoza Hoff Revels, a formidable new unit led by Ava Mendoza & Devin Hoff and featuring James Brandon Lewis & Ches Smith.

Frode Haltli ‘Avant Folk’ is an all-star cast of Norwegian musicians spanning all ages, generations and genres, an elaboration of Frode Haltli’s work somewhere in the twilight zone between jazz, contemporary and folk music. Jazzland Recordings is proud to present «Avant Folk Triptyk», the third album by this exceptional constellation of musicians led by one of the Norwegian scene’s most unique and innovative band leaders.

The most well-informed aficionados of NYC's jazz avant-garde speak of pianist John Blum with reverential respect, yet his discography is shockingly small for someone with a three-decade career: five albums as a leader, four as a sideman. Blum studied piano with seminal avant-gardist Cecil Taylor and ambidextrous master Borah Bergman, and it shows, yet his style at its most intense is more thickly textured than even theirs, and fully individualistic.

In 1972, trumpeter Baikida Carroll and some of his colleagues from the Black Artists Group (more precisely saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd LeFlore) took the advice of their friends in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and left their native Missouri to come and discover the bright lights of Paris for themselves. The following year they would even get the chance to record their only album which would rapidly attain mythical status and a collector’s item: “In Paris, Aries 1973”.

Digitally mastered from original BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Florida-born saxophonist, composer, poet, actor and playwright Archie Shepp was one of the most articulate exponents of politicized black culture in the late ‘60s, a time of enormous upheaval and radical thought.

THY CATAFALQUE is a metamorphic entity that’s constantly evolving, showcasing musical ingenuity that’s as limitless as it is daring. Meaning “The Earth,” ‘Alföld’ is grounded in the Avant Garde project’s heavy beginnings. While the record takes a cue from THY CATAFALQUE’s early days, mastermind Tamás Kátai’s modern progressive instincts shine through, elevating the record beyond the realm of metal as-you-know-it and once again creating a cutting-edge sound that’s far ahead of its time.

Ra to the Rescue is one of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with quality content (or lack thereof). When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs.

Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of Black music.