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While remaining steeped in the musical traditions of her native Japan, pianist and composer Aki Takase emerged as one of the most versatile figures in contemporary jazz, her work running the gamut from conventional structures and harmonies to complete abstraction. [...] From 1988 to 1994, Takase regularly played in a duo with Maria João and maintained her busy festival schedule. (Extract from Aki Takase's biography at itunes.apple.com)

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"...36 minutes of free discourse fueled by social injustice and political rage...displaying the German-Dutch improv alliance in particularly fine form..." Down Beat (1/02, p.73) "...This is the sound of free music uprooting itself from the art labs and jazz salons of Mittel Europa to galvanize the storming of the barricades..." The Wire (8/01, p.65)

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In 2001, Maria João, Mário Laginha, Helge Norbakken and Toninho Ferragutti formed the Mumadji quartet. Mumadji means "Portuguese-European" in Xangana, a language from Mozambique. The group recently released a live album. (Source: Emarcy Records)

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Keith Tippett is acknowledged as one of the great founding fathers of Post Modern British 'jazz'. [...] 'First Weaving', with its 21 musicians is from the 1998 Le Mans Jazz Festival. [...] Originally commissioned by the BBC it stayed under wraps because the intention was to produce a studio recording for which the funding never materialised. (Source: amazon.co.uk)

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In terms of depth, spirit, originality, and diversity, this is the recording that best brings those vibrant elements of Aminda Claudine Myers' musicianship to ultimate fruition. With bassist Don Pate and drummer Thurman Barker, Myers freely explores jazz, blues, and gospel-tinged creative music in her own inimitable way. All of these six pieces were written by Myers, each showcasing a different side of her joyous persona, making her music deep, listenable, tuneful, and emotional. Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

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A fiery, energetic recording features Mal Waldron (who played with Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, and John Coltrane) with an excellent group. Economy, elegance, and the hypnotizing power of slowly changing patterns are at the core of Waldron's highly individual piano style, once described as "a meeting between Thelonious Monk and Erik Satie." Up Popped the Devil was recorded in the early seventies in New York, and is considered by many to be his most exciting recording of that time. (Source: Editorial Review at amazon.com)

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Brazilian guitarist Ulisses Rocha made a name for himself in his homeland not only as a musician, but also as a composer, arranger, and educator. He has performed at various jazz festivals in Brazil, New York, Paris, and Canada, and recorded several albums including 1985's Alguma Coisa A Ver Com O Silencio, Casamata, and 1993's Caminhos Cruzados (none available in the U.S.). Rocha continues to tour Brazil and made his U.S. debut with the album Moleque, recorded for Malandro Records, in 1998. ~Steve Huey, All Music Guide

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In 1998 Maria João and Mário Laginha released the album Cor, commissioned to mark the commemoration of 500 years since the arrival of Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in India. The album was inspired by and dedicated to the Indic cultures, especially those of India and Mozambique (where Maria João has roots). The album features Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu and guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel.

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Like one of his great heroes, Thelonious Monk, pianist Randy Weston never lets his classics go, continually reworking and resetting them on record as well as in performance. But if you think you can safely pass on yet another album including "Blue Moses," "African Sunrise," "Hi Fly" and "Portrait of Frank Edward Weston," think again. The 80-year-old Brooklyn native, one of the first American artists to effect a merger of bop-school jazz and North African forms, is enjoying new creative life in the lively company of strumming, popping bassist Alex Blake and African-style percussionist Neil Clarke. Not only does "Zep Tepi" capture him at the height of his powers, it blesses him with the best recorded sound he has had in a long time. That's no minor element: His dancing right hand is a wonder to behold in the way it makes melodies flower and no one gives the dark side of the keyboard the deep luster and body that Weston does, whether hammering rhythm notes or lyrically introducing a ballad. It's great to hear a recording that does justice to his earthy elegance. --Lloyd Sachs, amazon.com

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This 1968 reissue (originally released on Polydor) belongs with 60s and early-70s recordings by Tony Oxley, Keith Tippett and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble: uncompromising jazz-improv from little-known UK artists on a major, pop-oriented label - an inconceivable notion now. Exiled South African pianist Chris McGregor's musicians were a volcanic force on the British scene. In its unrelenting collective intensity, this set might surprise a few John Zorn admirers in being this far out, this far back; in fact, the fiery South African ensemble was joining the raucous all-night dialogues of the townships shebeens to the American free-jazz of Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. The luxuriously dirgey Marie My Dear is an Ellington-esque last-dance smooch, but with the late, great alto saxist Dudu Pukwana erupting like a hybrid of Ornette and Johnny Hodges. Hearts' Vibrations is Zorn-like in its bursts of collective wailing punctuated by dead stops, The Sounds Begin Again has a bebop line that hurtles off into free-playing through trumpeter Mongezi Feza's bubbling-lava phrases, and Don't Stir the Beehive (the richest and most dynamically varied track) is like a New Orleans funeral dirge that becomes a deranged dance, powered by Louis Moholo's dramatic drumming. This was a world-class free-band, and it's great to have the evidence back. John Fordham, The Guardian, Friday 18 April 2022

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Silent City has something for nearly everyone-- classical music fans will appreciate the fine quality of the playing, world music aficionados will enjoy the cross-cultural currents, and it's very easy to see kids reared on post-rock and miminalist electronic music feeling at home here (if you've ever liked anything released on Kranky, you're almost certain to enjoy this). Experimentalism is always more rewarding when it leads to resounding emotional depth, and this is as good an example as you'll find of a group of musicians achieving that ideal balance. — Joe Tangari, January 23, 2022

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Mighty music for the head, the heart and the feet. Long out of print, this wonderful album continues the ground-breaking music of their spectacular debut album (now on FLED 3062). “The Brotherhood of Breath is the kind of band you want to tell people about. It’s not for private enjoyment, or for worship by a elitist cult. The Brotherhood’s music is for sharing with the world, and that’s what makes its name so apt: the musicians and the audience are brothers (and sisters), and they share the same breath, becoming merely parts of the same giant metabolism. Chris McGregor came out of South Africa in 1964, leading a band called the Blue Notes. Three of those Blue Notes can be heard on this record, and the fact that Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana and Louis Moholo are still with Chris is some tribute to the fantastic empathy they share, both personally and in the music they make together.” (From Richard Williams contemporary sleeve note.)

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Brasil Musical was the brainchild of Brazilian guitarist and composer André Geraissati who set himself the task of putting together a series of concerts and recordings of "all" the artists involved with Brazilian instrumental music and surrounding them with the best technology possible. In 1993, with the financial support of Banco do Brasil, the project became reality. There were hundreds of concerts and shows in theatres, universities, auditoriums, and public squares. Twenty performances were released on a series of 11 CDs called "Música Viva," with ten CDs each containing extracts from the live performance of two groups or solo artists and the eleventh CD being a sampler with one track from each performance. All the CD covers show works by Brazilian painter Siron Franco.

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An album that fuses the influence of African music, jazz-rock, and free improvisation, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath shares affinities with the '70s music of Don Cherry and Miles Davis. Somewhat of a legendary album amongst collectors of British jazz and fusion, the LP was originally released in the '70s and in early 2002 finally became reissued by the Italian label Akarma. Enlisted on the session were the talents of a group of extraordinary musicians from the free jazz, progressive rock, and improvisation scenes. Chris McGregor led the group on piano and African xylophone with Malcolm Griffiths and Nick Evans on trombones, Mongezi Feza on pocket trumpet and Indian flute, Mark Charig on cornet, Harry Beckett on trumpet, and Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone. Ronnie Beer's tenor saxophone is outstanding, and pitched up against Alan Skidmore's tenor and soprano saxophone, completing a massive horn section, are two bigger names: '70s U.K. jazzman Mike Osborne on alto saxophone and clarinet and John Surman on baritone and soprano saxophone. Brotherhood of Breath created one of the defining recordings of ethno-jazz with this album; with an expansive use of African-inspired melodies, they trace textures which culminate in an ecstatic peak on "Night Poem," the album's 20-minute standout track. Not to forget, the album is driven by the organic pulse of the rhythm section -- bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo, no less -- who will be names familiar to fans of British free jazz. This album comes highly recommended to fans of Don Cherry, Afro-beat sounds, and the Sun Ra Arkestra. Skip Jansen, AMG

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The Hungarian-born Attila Zoller was never quite a household name, but jazz musicians in the know considered him one of the music's finest and most original guitarists. After initially achieving a reputation as an excellent bop-oriented player, Zoller developed an interest in free jazz, and in the '60s became one of the music's most accomplished practitioners. (From the biography by Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide)

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