Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.
Peter Brötzmann was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward. His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".
Eugene Chadbourne is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Han Bennink is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano.
Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.
Spillane is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, composed of three "file-card pieces", as well as a work for voice, string quartet and turntables.
Last Date is a live album by jazz musician Eric Dolphy released in early 1965 on Limelight Records. It was recorded on June 2, 1964 in Hilversum, North Holland, shortly after Dolphy had settled in Paris, France, following a tour with Charles Mingus. Dolphy is accompanied by the Misha Mengelberg trio on the album.. The audience was an invited group of recording executives and studio personnel.
Tenor is a live solo album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee, recorded in 1976 it was the third album released on the Swiss HatHut label and was rereleased on CD in 2000 as Tenor & Fallen Angels with a bonus track.
Iskra 1903 is the debut album by the group of the same name, featuring trombonist Paul Rutherford, guitarist Derek Bailey and bassist Barry Guy which was recorded at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1970 and in a studio in 1972 and first released as a double album on the Incus label then as a triple CD box set entitled Chapter One 1970-1972 on Emanem in 2000 with additional material.
Composition No. 94 for Three Instrumentalists is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton featuring two variations of the title piece recorded in Italy in 1980 and first released on the Golden Years of New Jazz label in 1999.
Irène Schweizer & Han Bennink is a live album by pianist Irène Schweizer and drummer Han Bennink. It was recorded in January 1995 at Jazzclub Moods in Zürich, Switzerland, and was released by Intakt Records in 1996.
Die Like a Dog: Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in August 1993 at Townhall Charlottenburg in Berlin, and was released in 1994 by FMP. The group, which would go on to tour and make multiple recordings, became known as the Die Like a Dog Quartet.
From Valley to Valley is a live album by the Die Like a Dog Quartet: saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in July 1998 at the Fire in the Valley festival held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Bezanson recital hall in Amherst, Massachusetts, and was released in 1999 by Eremite Records.
Alarm is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. It was recorded on November 12, 1981, at NDR Studio 10 in Hamburg, Germany, during the 164th NDR-Jazzworkshop, and was released in 1983 by FMP/Free Music Production. On the album, Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Willem Breuker and Frank Wright, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, trombonists Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, bassist Harry Miller, and drummer Louis Moholo. In 2006, the album was reissued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series.
Hints on Light and Shadow is an album by trombonist Julian Priester and saxophonist Sam Rivers. It was recorded on November 14 and 15, 1996, and was released in 1997 by Postcards Records, now part of the Arkadia label. On the album, Priester and Rivers are joined by electronic musician Tucker Martine.
Schwarzwaldfahrt is an album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and percussionist Han Bennink. It was recorded during May 9–11, 1977, in the open air of the Black Forest in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, using a Stellavox tape recorder, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by the FMP label. In 2005, Atavistic Records reissued the album on CD as part of their Unheard Music Series, with previously unreleased tracks. The album was reissued on vinyl in 2012 by the Cien Fuegos imprint of Trost Records, and, in 2022, Trost reissued it again in limited quantities, accompanied by a 120-page book containing photos and an essay by novelist David Keenan.
3 Points and a Mountain is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink. It was recorded on February 26, 1979, at the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by the FMP label. In 2000, FMP reissued the album on CD, with previously unreleased tracks, under the title 3 Points and a Mountain... Plus, and, in 2022, it was reissued on vinyl by the Cien Fuegos imprint of Trost Records.
Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink is an album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, pianist Fred Van Hove, and drummer Han Bennink. It was recorded on February 25, 1973, in Bremen, Germany, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by the FMP label. In 2003, it was reissued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series, and in 2015, it was reissued on vinyl by Cien Fuegos, an imprint of Trost Records.
Still Quite Popular After All Those Years is an album by saxophonist and clarinetist Peter Brötzmann and drummer Han Bennink. It was recorded on February 4 and 5, 2004, at the Loft in Cologne, Germany, and was released on vinyl in limited quantities later that year by Brötzmann's Brö label, which was revived in 2002 thanks to a partnership with Eremite Records.
