After a successful tour supporting The Hour of the Star, the group's remarkable 2011 debut for Leo Records, Perelman decided to explore his relationship with each member of the unit in more intimate settings. Having worked with Matt Shipp and Gerald Cleaver on Family Ties (LR 630) Ivo Perelman continues to explore his relationship with each member of his quartet in a slightly different setting.  "This is more free than the previous album; yes, I agree with that. I think because Matthew is such a wonderful musician, and he has this antenna; and because Gerald can go any way the music goes...Since the piano is a harmonic instrument you would think it would limit the choices, but with Matthew it does not. And when I do venture out of tonal Western music, into noises and microtones, this doesn't scare him; he takes it as an opportunity to expand the music." - Ivo Perelman "The Foreign Legion is Perelman's eighth record named in honor of one of Clarice Lispector's novels. Emboldened by the stellar contributions of his empathetic sidemen, the leader's cathartic performances transpose the Brazilian author's emotionally charged narratives into pure sonic expression, continuing his fertile exploration of a vibrant new tradition." All About Jazz --- Ivo Perelman / tenor sax Matt Shipp / piano Gerald Cleaver / drums --- Recorded, mixed and mastered at Park West studios, Brooklyn, NY, December 2011.

Rothenberg’s solo work on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet and shakuhachi has been internationally acclaimed with over a thousand performances on 4 continents since 1980. His musical voice is built on a timbral palette which integrates ‘extended’ and standard instrumental technique into a seamless whole. The Crux, in Rothenberg's own words, is "a re-assertion of solo work as a primary expression of [his] creative voice." "I've found myself gradually less concerned with 'stylistic purity' as I've gained confidence that I can play in any kind of idiom where I have enough fluency to assert my musical identity. So I indulge these omniverous interests. They, together with the input of my various co-conspiritous over the the years, are my primary source of musical energy." - Ned Rothenberg. --- Ned Rothenberg - alto saxophone, bass clarinet --- Recorded December 19, 1991, June 18 & August 9, 1992 at Acoustic Recording and Park Place Studios, Brooklyn. Edited and sequenced at Studio PASS. Mastered at NY Digital Recording. All pieces recorded direct to 2-track digital, no overdubbing is involved.

"Poco a Poco, the first Ganelin CD released by Leo back in 1988, was reissued late last year in a limited edition of 500 copies. If you missed it the first time around, don’t make the same mistake twice; this is not only one of the group’s finest documents, but one of the most distinctive visions of post-’60s avant-garde jazz available. The disc presents a concert recorded in Novosibirsk in February 1978. The recording quality, as might be expected, is brittle and thin; these are, after all, “officially” unauthorized recordings. Still, it takes little effort to get used to the sound, and the quality of the performance far outweighs such a caveat.Ganelin’s music does not prove so very foreign to those with an affinity for the A.A.C.M., especially in its members’ multi-instrumentalism and theatricality, and the Dutch avant-garde, with which the Trio shares a particularly European brand of whimsy and an informed thumbing of the nose at tradition. Tarasov’s barreling drum assaults are reminiscent of Han Bennink’s similar outbursts, but, like Bennink, Tarasov is capable of delicacy and can also swing mightily. Ganelin conflates stride, boogie, modern classical pianism and post-Taylor tumult into an impressive arsenal perfectly suited to the band’s compression of decades of jazz history-and on occasion, native folk music-into the span of a show or even a single piece. And Chekasin, inscrutable and often seemingly detached, mines a vein not far removed from Roland Kirk or the Art Ensemble’s reedmen Poco a Poco captures a vivid suite (the pieces are titled “Poco 1” through “Poco 11”) that displays the band at its best, and if the element of visual theatricality is absent, it is scarcely missed. - Steve Smith" "The Ganelin Trio in live performance must have been an impossibly seductive occasion. Most jazz life in the former Soviet Union centred around festivals which no doubt provided the usual opportunities for predictable caravans of musicians to practise their scales. The most important was the Autumn Rhythms Festival in Leningrad (present day St. Petersburg) where no band was invited to play two years in a row. The exception to the rule was always the Ganelin Trio. They played every year." - Steve Kulak "Maybe not since the first Ornette Coleman records appeared has Western European jazz experienced quite such a shock of the totally unexpected as the Ganelin Trio produced." - The Wire --- Vladimir Tarasov / drums, percussionVyacheslav Ganelin / piano, keyboards, dulcimer, guitarVladimir Chekasin / reeds, flute, ocarina, voice --- Recorded live in Novosibirsk, February 1978. Remastered by Alan Mosley

"This is the first gig that Eugene Chadbourne and Toshinori Kondo played with the veteran of the new music scene - Han Bennink - who recorded with Eric Dolphy almost twenty years earlier. Apart from playing their usual instruments, this CD is a unique opportunity to hear Han Bennink on tenor and soprano saxophones as well as trombone and piano. Eugene Chadbourne tries his hand on piano aswell. Powerful, crazy, hilarious! They even hit the be-bop once or twice." --- Tracklisting: 1. Jazz Bunker - 47:11 2. Jazz Bunker - 46:47 --- Recorded live at the Jazz Bunker, Rotterdam, Holland, February, 1980.  Engineered by Stan Wijnans at LMC Sound, London. 

"Kuryokhin's reputation as the enfant terrible of the Russian avantgarde may have deterred some listeners from checking his work. This release should change that. Behind its ungainly title lurks his most accessible music to date, a frothy concoction of wit, whimsy and flashing virtuoso power delivered at time with madcap elan." Graham Lock. --- Recorded 4 June, 1991 in London

Seven original compositions plus two bonus tracks previously unissued. "36 minutes of the Man from Saturn and his Arkestra - the length of a good LP in the old days. Plus, how can any Saturnian resist the lure of a Ra disc recorded in the shadow of the Sphinx herself, right in Cairo? Top it off with 33 more minutes of Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band, and you've got a real treat. This is Ra in 1983 and 1984, sounding surprisingly close to the tight Ra band of the Fifties, rather than to the later, looser ensembles. To be sure, there isn't a lot of intricate ensemble work on these three Ra tracks, but the heads do have a bit of a throwback bop feel. Plus, "Egypt Strut" and "Dawn" both feature John Gilmore solos of terrific architectonic coherence and passion, and Marshall Allen chimes in on flute just as mellifluously. The Sun himself contributes a keyboard solo of ringing power on "Egypt Strut." "Watusa," meanwhile, is a feast of percussion in the grand Ra fashion. The Cairo jazz ensembles, which range from 21 members ("Ramadan") to five ("Oriental Mood,") hold up their end of the disc wonderfully. This is energetic and deeply sincere jazz with a marvelous Middle Eastern feel, complete with chanting on "Ramadan." All the instrumentalists are first-rate, especially pianist Khamis El Khouly, especially on "A Farewell Theme." A great one. A feast. Don't miss it." All About Jazz

This is a fascinating context for Parker, an improvisation duo with a Chopin-specialised classical pianist, Patrick Scheyder. Scheyder's background brings a powerful undercurrent to the music: though he clearly relishes the openness of the situation, he's disinclined to tiptoe around his partner's desires, and imposes strong thematic directions to the music. One of Parker's best-recorded solo-soprano investigations of recent times bursts from the track Dancing with Dr Dee, while Scheyder's shimmering, trilling unaccompanied piano piece has both eloquent energy and patient use of space and the sonics of the piano. Skrying In Mortlake - after a toe-in-the-water start - showcases the fragility of Parker's tenor- sax nuances today in a manner unthinkable in earlier stages of his uncompromising career. - John Fordham --- Evan Parker / saxophones Patrick Scheyder / piano --- Tracklisting: 1. Skrying In Mortlake - 30:222. Dancing With Dr. Dee - 13:473. Piano-Forte - 5:404. Other (As It Were) Optical Science, For J.Z. - 4:245 . Polyphonics - 10:36 --- Recorded November 4, 2000 at Gateway Studio, London. Painting by Vladislav Makarov.

Vocalist and pianist Amina Claudine Myers pays tribute to one of her biggest influences, Bessie Smith. Myers has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1966 and has been composing for voice and instruments ever since. Gorgeous record.  --- Amina Claudine Myers / voice, piano, organ Cecil McBee / bass Jimmy Lovelace / drums, bells --- Recorded and mixed by Roddy Hoi at Big Apple Studio, New York, 19 & 22 June, 1980. Mastered by David Crawford. Front cover photography by Spencer A Richards.

A live recording by two great bass players at the "Sons d'Hiver" festival on January 9, 1998.  "Though the basses often soar and sing here, the notion of fundamentals, of the deepest pitches, remains at the core of this music, bending our ears to the subtler vibrations, training them in the messages of a profound human history. This concert is a ceremony and seminar, roots and branches, essential human song welling through and out of fundament" - Stuart Broomer  --- Joelle Leandre / bass, voice  William Parker / bass --- Recorded at the festival "Sons d'Hiver", 9 January, 1996, at the Theatre A. Vitez, Ivry sur Seine by Jean-Marc Foussat. Illustration by LS Popova. 

Recorded in London in 1985. Includes the whole of LP LR 127 "Nicols 'n' Nu" and half of LR 145 "Don't assume." DOWN BEAT wrote of Maggie Nicols: "She is more than the best singer since Rita Reys; she is truly on par with Betty Carter, Sheila Jordan, and Jeanne Lee, the best of the American post-modernists." "... she is terrific enough to make up for England's having inflicted Cleo Lane on us." --- Peter Nu / piano Maggie Nicols / voice --- Artwork by Lora Denis. Recorded by Chris Lewis. Produced by Leo Feigin. Remastered for CD by Alan Mosley.

A world premier performance by the Arizona State University Percussion Ensemble directed by Dr. J. B. Smith. Recorded Feb 6, 1994 in the Music Theatre at the Arizona State University School of Music, Temple, Arizona. For ten percussionists, slide projections, constructed environment and tape.  --- Recorded February 6th, 1994 in the Music Theatre at Arizona State University School of Music, Temple, Arizona by Clarke Rigsby. 

"Most Ghost Trance Music performances begin with the entire ensemble in unison at the opening of the work. What happens afterwards, however, differs widely depending on the piece, the make up of the ensemble, and the ever changing performance practices. At designated points of the line, often in looped sections, one may decide to switch to an improvisation, play a secondary / tertiary piece, or play the melody at a different tempo. There are no fixed rules pertaining to when this happens or for how long, and it may also be done individually or in groups. Composition n. 247 is one of the few Ghost Trance Music works tailored for a specific instrumentation: two saxophones and bagpipes (Anthony Braxton, James Fei, and Matthew Welch). It's been recorded live, and the striking quality of this recording will be evident immediately upon first hearing. "The music on this disc is unlike anything I have participated in, in terms of mental and physical endurance, mobility between different sets of material, and sheer sonic intensity."  - James Fei, NYC, December 2000.  “Ghost Trance Music” is a phrase one hears bandied about in the rather occult discourses of Braxtonologists, but this piece really makes sense of the term. Using the bagpipes not only for their sound but, it seems, their whole tradition, he creates a continuously flowing stream of notes rooted in a regular semiquaver rhythm. At the most simplistic level, this is certainly hypnotic stuff, and when one gets a way into the piec’s hour-long duration, time really does seem to dilate a bit. - Metropolis Free Jazz  --- Anthony Braxton / soprano, f and alsto saxophones; e flat and contrabass clarinets, right channel James Fei / soprano and alto saxophones; bass clarinet, left channel Matthew Welch / bagpipes --- Recorded in Middletown, Connecticut, May 15, 2000 by Jon Rosenburg. Engineered by Stan Wijnans at LMC Studio, London. 

"Recorded one day before the already famous duo performance by Anthony Braxton at the London Jazz Festival, this recording features five improvised pieces. The addition of Paul Rutherford to the two saxophone virtuosi changes the muusic in the most dramatic way and offers a sound of unending surprise." ---  Recorded May 22, 1993. Live At the Bloomsbury Theatre (London Jazz Festival) --- Tracklisting: 1. The Honker - 18:042. Arkanther - 10:373. Axtarkrut - 8:234. Vanuthrax - 9:495. The Breaker - 6:38

"Alexander Kan’s liners do a good job of setting the stage occupied by these pre-perestroika musicians; he recounts scenes that read like LeCarre. And indeed the strongest impression of this music is its urgency. Cliched reflections about the tormented Russian anima are almost unavoidable, but the fact is that music has great immediacy for people in times of crisis; I have seen it in such unromantic settings as an RAF base on the eve of the Falklands gambit. This urgency is what compels Vyacheslav Ganelin (piano, various instruments), Vladimir Tarasov (percussion) and Vladimir Chekasin (saxes, various) to free improvisations of sustained focus and intensity at live sets recorded in Leningrad and West Berlin. The latter appearance greatly impressed the Western critics, and the music stands up well. These men are playing for their lives, and have no time to worry about whether this or that transition might be difficult. As a result potential pitfalls vanish into thin air as they achieve a kind of mobility rare outside of Sun Ra and a freedom that must have been sweet indeed." - Duck Baker --- Vladimir Tarasov / drums, percussion, bells, talking drumVyacheslav Ganelin / piano, bassett, guitar, percussionVladimir Chekasin / as, ts, wooden flute, cl, bassett-horn, percussion, voice --- Part 1 recorded live in Leningrad, Nov 5, 1980. Part 2 recorded live in West Berlin, October 29, 1980. Tapes remastered by Alan Moseley. Special thanks to Liz Trott for smuggling out the tapes. 

"First 38 minutes were previously released on LP, but now long unavailable. The second part, "My brothers the wind and sun n.9", is a newly discovered piece of over 20 minutes, previously unreleased. Total time: 59'02. Essential Sun Ra, avant-cosmology. Hungry East German audience (1986) flies off to travel the spaceways." --- "A Night in Berlin" recorded live in Berlin at Friedrichstadtpalast on June 28, 1986. "My Brothers The Wind and Sun" recorded live, possibly at the Knitting Factory, NYC, Jan 30, 1988, or in Europe 1990. 

""6ix" is a group of six musicians: Jacques Demierre on piano, Urs Leimgruber on saxophone, Okkyung Lee on cello, Thomas Lehn on synth, Dorothea Schurch voice and singing saw, and Roger Turner on percussion. The music is a subtle reminder of what each improvisation should strive for: explore a little bit further - almost even further - than the previous piece of music you played. When it seems impossible, try to give a little bit more. The music is an intimate and fascinating conversation between six musicians. To be engaged in the conversation one has not only to speak but listen as well." --- Jacques Demierre / pianoOkkyung Lee / cello Thomas Lehn / synthesizer Urs Leimgruber / soprano saxophoneDorothea Schürch / voice, singing sawRoger Turner / drums, percussion --- Recorded on June 23rd, 2001 at Radio-Studio DRS, Zurich. Edited and mastered by Martin Pearson. Artwork by Olga Kokcharova.

Written in Woodstock between August 1979 and September 1980 and dedicated to Stockhausen, Composition 96 is a piece for orchestra and four slide projectors intended, says Braxton, "to celebrate the composite inter-relationship between dynamic symbolism and positive world change."  Composition 96 is, says Anthony Braxton, a key work in his music's evolution. This is true both on the structural level, where 96 is "a point of definition" in his development of "multiple line musics"; and on the spiritual or "vibrational" (to use Braxton's term) level where it is the second in his series of "ritual and ceremonial" pieces in which he employs "correspondance logics" to explore music's links with colour, shape, symbol, gesture, astrology and numerology. The visual components of Composition 96 are based on "12 symbols from various world culture religions and/or mystical teachings" (the remaining 4 symbols being created by various combinations of the original 12).  --- The Composers and Improvisors Orchestra are: Denny Goodhew / alto saxDeborah De Loria / bassScott Weaver / bassRay Downey / bass clarinetMarlene Weaver / bassoonMarjorie Parbington / celloPage Smith-Weaver / celloScott Threlkold / celloPaul Pearse / clarinetBill Smith / clarinetBob Davis / english hornDenise Pool / fluteRebecca Morgan / fluteNancy Hargerud / fluteRichard Reed / french hornMotter Dean / harpAileen Munger / oboeLauurri Uhlig / oboeEd Hartman / percussionMatt Kocmieroski / percussionJulian Priester / tromboneScott Reeves / tromboneDave Scott / trumpetJames Knapp / trumpetRick Bynes / tubaBeatrice Dolf, Betty Agent, Jean Word, Sam Williams / violaJeannine Davis, Julian Smedley, Libby Poole, Mathew Pederson, Becky Liverzey, Jeroen Van Tyn, Mary Jacobson, Sandra Guy / violin --- Written for 37-piece orchestra and four slide projectors by Anthony Braxton. Recorded by the Composers and Improvisors Orchestra at the Cornish Institute, Seattle, Washington, May 30, 1981 and dedicated to the master composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.  Conducted by Anthony Braxton. Published by Synthesis Music. Produced by Leo Feigin. Remastered by Alan Mosley.

"Saved from oblivion by Anthony Braxton himself this recording can't be more welcome, for at the time of the release other Braxton's solo CDs are mostly unavailable. But make no mistake: the thing that will strike your ears is how absolutely contemporary this music sounds. Recorded twenty four years ago it sounds as if it has been recorded today. It was a long concert, but we managed to save every sound by editiong out bursts of applause after each piece. Yet it happened to be the longest recording in the entire Leo Records catalogue: 78'02." "Not released until 24 years after it was recorded, this classic solo album by one of the giants of the saxophone is a welcome addition to Anthony Braxton's discography. Performing solely on alto sax, there is a searing lyricism and a surprisingly jazz-oriented underpinning to even the most abstract of Braxton's improvisations. While most of the compositions are originals, the two that are not -- "You Go to My Head" and "Impressions" -- reveal Braxton's remarkable ability to delve deeply inside a song's structure and make it his own. In later years, Braxton often revealed a mellow tinge to his playing, even in solo performances. The instant release, though, reveals him in an energetic mood, and should satisfy those who appreciate his more radical side within the "mainstream" of the jazz avant-garde. He barks, screeches (though only occasionally and in characteristically good taste), and shows some outstanding technical skills, including incredible speed. While he has recorded some of these compositions elsewhere (for example, as Steve Day writes in the liner notes, four of the compositions appear on the impressive Alto Saxophone Improvisations 1979), Braxton is in peak form on this one and the results are uniformly excellent. Braxton enthusiasts (and others, too) will want this in their collections." - Surfing the Odyssey