Avant Garde 2023

With his extensive artistic biography, Michael Formanek is one of the most outstanding figures in American jazz, as a composer, as a bassist in ensembles, and as a soloist. The fact that the bassist has been an integral part of the creative music scene for several decades speaks for his creativity and versatility.

When I left NYC for Philadelphia during the COVID pandemic, I had a lot of big dreams and plans about what I was going to do to free myself from the survival game that I had played for 30 years. When my plans fell apart, I was thrown back into the game. I lost the first round really badly, tapped out and took a job as a hospital housekeeper, where as of this writing I’m still working full time. I still work on music and art every day before I work from 3-11pm. Although I’ve been drained physically, mentally, and spiritually, I simply refuse to give up my life’s calling. I still play for peace - for the world and for myself.

Saxophonist Carlo Cattano's simple but ingenious idea is to have formed a stable jazz orchestra made up of musicians of all generations, all from eastern Sicily.

«Hva nå, Ekko?» (“What now, Ekko?”) tells the story about Ekko that is unhappily in love with Narcissus. She follows him wherever he goes, and has neither her own thoughts or opinions. After a while it feels meaningless, and Ekko starts to wonder what happens if she stops to repeat what other people say. What shall she say then? And does she need to follow Narcissus that anyway just cares about himself? The music explores Ekko´s feelings and possibilities, and the unpredictability of the improvisational music is a parallel to an echo that speaks freely. What happens then?

Omniverse, recorded in New York in 1979 and released that year on Sun Ra's Saturn label, has been gathering dust for too long. It's a fine, overlooked item in the vast Ra catalog. The tracks aren't so much compositions as they are excursions, with only a few memorable themes or recurring motifs. It's pure jazz, somewhat "inside" (for Sun Ra), with little of the aggressiveness and confrontation for which the bandleader was known. (Track 5, "Visitant of the Ninth Ultimate," is an exception.) Omniverse is a very intimate album, offering lots of reflective piano in trio, quartet, and quintet settings, with spare horns. But instead of exhibiting a keyboard showcase, Sun Ra engages in dynamic interplay with the rhythm section. Moreover, the horns are featured largely as soloists; there are few ensemble passages.

Astro-Black mythology, astro-timeless immortality! Astro Black has long been known as a cornerstone of the Ra catalog. It is well recorded, features a superb Arkestral lineup, and successfully combines several of the styles in which Sun Ra orbited, from Saturnic jazz to astro-funk.

Celestial Love contains recordings made in September 1982 at New York's Variety Studios, which had hosted countless Sun Ra sessions since the late 1960s. This was one of the last extended sessions at Variety, and these recordings were the last studio works released on Sun Ra's own Saturn label (though the label did continue to press concert recordings, and new studio recordings did appear on other labels).

This Sun Ra 1980 solo set has been kicking around the internet and in the digital libraries of Ra collectors for years. It has not previously been commercially released, nor has there been any (known) diligent attempt to upgrade the fidelity. We've taken action on both counts.

1970 serves as a tectonic shift within the crossroads of American popular music. With rock and roll on the cusp of dive bombing into its arena-era, the more adventurous and esoteric off-shoots tended to be whisked away from the spotlight while oppressive corporate behemoths drooled at the opportunity to rule labels, touring, publicity and all of their ancillary business interests with an iron fist.

Oiro Pena is a Finnish jazz collective helmed by prolific composer Antti Vauhkonen. Their forthcoming album, Puna, recorded in bedrooms, studios and other salubrious locations around Helsinki during 2022, is a mix of lo-fi spiritual jazz, experimental, and avant-garde music forms.