This week, we received a significant number of new albums, including standout releases from Tzadik (notably Brian Marsella's absolutely excellent iMAGiNARiUM triple CD); NoBusiness (featuring an early Arthur Blythe album recorded at Rivbea Studios, and a spectacular solo album from Joel Futterman); and the latest from The Attic (Amado / Almeida / Govaert) with guest pianist Eve Risser. We also saw the arrival of Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra's live album on International Anthem, four book-and-4-CD releases from Nandor Nevai on Psykomanteum, a wild jazz-rock fusion album from Elephant9 featuring ECM icon guitarist Terje Rypdal on Rune Grammofon, and a 1971 Sun Ra lecture at Berkeley, released by Corbett vs. Dempsey, along with a piano solo and an eclectic Moog solo. Additionally, we restocked the excellent West Coast tribute to Steve Lacy by Ackley, Chen, Centazzo, DeGruttola, Kaiser & Manring, which inspired me to revisit Steve Lacy's The Wire.

Overall, it's been a fantastic week for new music, accompanied by another major task: updating our mailing list format to look less like the 2000s and more like 2024. The evolution of our mailing list has been a long journey, starting with a text-based format 21 years ago that offered little detail about our activities. For the past 13 years, we've used a consistent format, gradually adding sections for Just In and The Squid's Ear updates. While the content remains the same, we believe the new look is distinctly more modern and easier on the eyes.

Another key focus this week was preparing for the annual Autumn Hat Sale, in collaboration with ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd. We've reduced prices on 105 albums-$7.95 for single albums and $8.95 for doubles-marking our largest sale ever from the label. Many of these albums have never been discounted before. We brought in a significant inventory to ensure ample stock for the sale and worked closely with the label to select the albums. The Hat sales are some of our biggest events each year, and we're excited to see this sale grow alongside the label's expanding and impressive catalog.

Blythe, Arthur Quartet (Blythe / Booth / Abdullah / Reid): Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 2 (NoBusiness)

One of alto saxophonist and composer Arthur Blythe's earliest recordings as a leader, this 1976 session at Sam & Bea Rivers' Studio Rivbea in New York City features four Blythe compositions performed by an exemplary quartet: Steve Reid on drums, frequent Blythe collaborator Muhammad Abdullah on congas, and long-time Sun Ra bassist Juini Booth.

Futterman, Joel: Innervoice (NoBusiness)

Joel Futterman delivers a coherent and expansive studio performance presented in three parts, seamlessly weaving beautiful melodic passages, rapid harmonic and rhythmic development, and a profound sense of jazz history that evokes the finest players while remaining distinctly and unmistakably his own — an absolutely masterful achievement.

Attic, The / Eve Risser (Amado / Almeida / Govaert / Risser): La Grande Crue (NoBusiness)

The title translating to The Great Flood, French Pianist Eve Risser joins the trio of Rodrigo Amado on tenor saxophone, Goncalo Almeida on double bass, Onno Govaert on drums, aka The Attic, for a collective interpretation in four parts of a vividly descriptive prose piece titled "ANGLE" by Portuguese essayist, poet, writer, novelist Nuno Jϊdice (1949-2024).

Marsella's, Brian iMAGiNARiUM: Medietas [3 CDs] (Tzadik)

Led by pianist Brian Marsella, the sonic theater supergroup iMAGiNARiUM unites a remarkable cast from the Downtown NY scene for a wildly creative 3-CD set that blends jazz, fusion, psych, experimental, and contemporary forms with a sense of awe, humor, and effortless ingenuity, resulting in a captivating journey filled with wonder and, yes, imagination.

Mazurek, Rob & Exploding Star Orchestra: Live at Adler Planetarium (International Anthem)

Drawing from the 2023 studio album Lightning Dreamers, trumpeter and bandleader Rob Mazurek assembles a stellar lineup — including electric pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn, cellist Tomeka Reid, flutist Nicole Mitchell, bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, drummers Chad Taylor and Gerald Cleaver, and vocalist Damon Locks — for a psychedelic improvisational journey recorded under the dome of Chicago's Adler Planetarium.

Also available on vinyl LP

Ackley / Chen / Centazzo / DeGruttola / Kaiser / Manring: Two Views Of Steve Lacys The Wire (Don Giovanni Records)

Saxophonist Bruce Ackley, percussionist Andrea Centazzo, pianist Tania Chen, cellist Danielle DeGruttola, and bassists Henry Kaiser and Michael Manring present a tribute to soprano saxophonist & composer Steve Lacy's 1977 album The Wire, replicating the instrumentation of that album but electrifying the bass, as they reflect twice on Lacy's incredible contribution to creative jazz.

Stretching The Neck:

I've been a fan of the Australian improvising band The Necks since about 1994 when Recommended Records made available Silent Night. Impressed by their unique approach to evolving improvisation that embraces and references many styles while being uniquely The Necks, I went backward and have stayed current with the band ever since. Thirty years later Bleed has come out, which we're carrying on CD, black vinyl and green vinyl. You can imagine that I've given the album several listens, and it's one of the more "stealthy" releases they've put - starting with a whisper and richly electronic, this album bleeds out slowly, taking its time to create beautiful languid atmospheres adorned with beautiful sonic detail.

While researching the new album I came across this excellent interview with all three band members on Passion of The Weiss, an online magazine I wasn't previously familiar with. Though not about Bleed, it does give great insight into the evolution and development of their approach to improvisation, and is a good companion to the new album.

Necks, The: Bleed (Northern Spy)

The ever-chameleonic Australian trio The Necks — featuring Chris Abrahams on piano and keyboards, Tony Buck on drums & guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass — explore electronic stillness in this 42-minute, single-track composition, evolving from a meditative opening through rich textures and sonic spaces to a beautifully structured conclusion, offering a rewarding and captivating journey.

Necks, The: Bleed [VINYL GREEN + DOWNLOAD] (Northern Spy)

The ever-chameleonic Australian trio The Necks — featuring Chris Abrahams on piano and keyboards, Tony Buck on drums & guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass — explore electronic stillness in this 42-minute, single-track composition, evolving from a meditative opening through rich textures and sonic spaces to a beautifully structured conclusion, offering a rewarding and captivating journey.

Necks, The: Bleed [VINYL BLACK] (Northern Spy)

The ever-chameleonic Australian trio The Necks — featuring Chris Abrahams on piano and keyboards, Tony Buck on drums & guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass — explore electronic stillness in this 42-minute, single-track composition, evolving from a meditative opening through rich textures and sonic spaces to a beautifully structured conclusion, offering a rewarding and captivating journey.

Squidco Publishing Roundup:

These are the updates to Squidco and The Squid's Ear over the last week. You can see our latest fully cataloged albums in our Recently Section.

You can see new albums as they enter our Just In Stock Section, meaning that we physically have an album and are able to ship it with an order, but that we're not satisfied that we've added all the information we can about that release.

You can also see recent restocks of previously listed items at our Recently Restocked page.

You can ask us to inform you via email of any upcoming release that you're interested in, with no obligation.

October 24, 2024: New @ Squidco:
Brian Marsella's iMAGiNARiUM -Medietas [3 CDs] (Tzadik)
Ackley/Chen/Centazzo/DeGruttola/Kaiser/Manring -Two Views Of Steve Lacys The Wire [CD] (Don Giovanni Records)
Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra -Live at Adler Planetarium [CD] (International Anthem)
Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra -Live at Adler Planetarium [VINYL] (International Anthem)
The Necks -Bleed [CD] (Northern Spy)
The Necks -Bleed [VINYL BLACK] (Northern Spy)
The Necks -Bleed [VINYL GREEN + DOWNLOAD] (Northern Spy)
Miguel Garcia A./Fernando Carvalho -Siamese [CD] (Creative Sources)
John Zorn -The Hermetic Organ Volume 13 - Biennale Musica Venezia [CD] (Tzadik)

October 23, 2024: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: The Remote Viewers - Inside The Blizzard / Trivia (Remote Viewers) by Massimo Ricci.

October 23, 2024: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Booker Little - Out Front to And Friend Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) by Paul Serralheiro.

October 22, 2024: New @ Squidco:
The Attic/Eve Risser (Amado/Almeida/Govaert/Risser) -La Grande Crue [CD] (NoBusiness)
Arthur Blythe Quartet (Blythe/Booth/Abdullah/Reid) -Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 2 [CD] (NoBusiness)
Joel Futterman -Innervoice [CD] (NoBusiness)
Eunhye Jeong (Burik/Ridley/Mela/Kim) -End of Time/KM-53 Project Vol. 2 [CDR] (577 Records)
Michael Attias (Attias/Leibson/Pavolka/Ferber/Hoffman) -Quartet Music Vol. I: LuMiSong [VINYL] (Out Of Your Head Records)
Udo Schindler/ Olaf Rupp -HerzAtmungen [CD] (Creative Sources)
Rodrigues/Gratkowski/Rodrigues/Griener -Unstable Molecules [CD] (Creative Sources)
Federico Ughi (Ughi/Musson/Lane) -Transoceanico [CDR] (577 Records)
Deerlady (Obomsawin, Mali/Magdalena Abrego) -Greatest Hits [VINYL] (Out Of Your Head Records)

October 21, 2024: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Paul Dunmall / Simon Thoumire / John Edwards / Phillip Gibbs - Brothers in Music (FMR) by Marc Medwin.

This week was a short one, as we don't staff on postal holidays. However, our Harvest Sale kept the rest of the week extremely busy, with a large number of orders to process and customer messages to address. We scrambled to get as many new albums up on our site as possible, but you'll notice that our "Just In" section is relatively bare-unusual for us. A significant number of albums are on their way, with new releases from ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Ltd., NoBusiness, Tzadik, and Matchless anticipated very soon.

Highlights for the week include the latest Thumbscrew album (their 8th!); the 3rd duo release from Ivo Perelman and Nate Wooley, which we picked up along with the 2nd album that we somehow missed when it was initially released; Tyshawn Sorey's sophisticated album, featuring arrangements of some of his favorite works by other composers and pop bands; and Pat Thomas's fully electronic venture, "Trick Step." On the more unusual side, the Bay Area band Pet The Tiger delivers a fascinating collective album of primarily invented instruments on Public Eyesore, which also releases the latest Tungu album of strangely wonderful duos.
One last thing: next week, we're going to run one of our Friends of Squid sales — private mailings to Squidco customers who are on our mailing list. This sale will feature vinyl at cost + $2.00, as we clear out some older inventory to make way for new arrivals. If you're not on our mailing list, now might be a good time to join. We understand that many people are hesitant to subscribe to mailing lists, so I want to assure anyone considering joining that we are extremely respectful to our subscribers, sending out a minimal number of messages, and absolutely, positively never sharing email addresses with anyone or any other business.

Thumbscrew (Halvorson / Fujiwara / Formanek: Wingbeats (Cuneiform)

The eighth album from the Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibraphone, Michael Formanek on double bass and Mary Halvorson on guitar, developed during the trio's three-week residency in Pittsburgh for the community-based City of Asylum project, each member contributing three compositions, along with Charles Mingus' "Orange was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk".

Thomas, Pat: This is Trick Step (577 Records)

UK improviser and keyboard artist Pat Thomas makes his 577 debut with a solo album of abstract and active electronic experimentation with an urban edge, blending texture, depth, and 'mental stimulation' in unexpected, densely packed ways, with Thomas describing the album as the product of an alternative universe where JDilla and Morton Feldman collaborate.

Sun Ra: Berkeley Lecture, 1971 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

In 1971 as Sun Ra's deal with ABC Impulse! introduced him and his Arkestra to a wider audience, Sun Ra, aka Herman Poole Blount, accepted a lectureship at University of California, Berkeley, teaching a class titled "The Black Man and the Cosmos" heard in this half hour lecture with a solo piano rendering of "Love in Outer Space," and a 16 minute wild Moog solo.

Sorey, Tyshawn (w/ Diehl / Ragahavan): The Susceptible Now (Pi Recordings)

Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard.

Shipp, Matthew / Whit Dickey: Reels (Burning Ambulance Music)

An intimate and warmly recorded studio session between long-time collaborators and masterful improvisers — pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey — the album opens with a beautifully placid dialog, evolving into a well-balanced collection of expressive, energetic, and startlingly exciting exchanges, from "Moon Garden" to the intensely forceful title track.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 2 (Burning Ambulance Music)

The second installment from New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates the strong affinity between the two players, highlighting their impressive mastery of their instruments with a creative drive and quick responsiveness that sparks unique dialogs, full of powerful and sometimes unconventional technique and expression; a truly gratifying and remarkable set of improvisations.

Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley: Polarity 3 (Burning Ambulance Music)

Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary.

Kira Kira (Fujii / Tamura / Spence / Yoshida): Kira Kira Live (Alister Spence Music)

Picking up from their 2018 album Bright Force, the quartet of Libra label leaders Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, with Australian improviser Alister Spence on Fender Rhodes electric piano, and now with Magaibutsu/Ruins legend Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, are heard in two wildly powerful 2024 concerts at Koendori Classics in Tokyo and at Jazz Inn Lovely, Nagoya, with compositions from each member.

Tungu: Successful Utilization of Elements (Public Eyesore)

A series of 19 wide-ranging duets between Sergey Senchuk, aka Tungu, who performs on voice, acoustic bass, field recording & sampling, and an impressive set of international improvisers, including Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Jaap Blonk (voice), Gunda Gottschalk (violin), Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Sainkho Namtchylak (voice), Xavier Charles (clarinet & processing), &c.

Pet The Tiger: Hail The Traveler (Public Eyesore)

Bay Area instrument inventor David Samas leads Pet The Tiger, a collective ensemble primarily of instrument inventors, augmented with original ceramic flutes and occasionally Samas' voice, the unique quality of their sound recalling Harry Partch or Harry Bertoia, here in four major works of multiple parts performed in a mixture of composed and improvised approaches; fascinating.

Collective, Instant, Spontaneous, Free... Jazz?

I've been reflecting on the categories we use at Squidco, which, over the past twenty-one years, have evolved, overlapped, and become somewhat inconsistent. These categories aim to help our customers understand the approaches musicians use in their recordings and discover music that aligns with their interests in different forms of improvisation.