Han Bennink

One of the bittersweet byproducts of Derek Bailey’s death was a final dissolution of his earthly discord with Evan Parker. It’s unfortunate that the two didn’t reconcile prior to Bailey’s passing, but Parker’s decision to reissue one of their most heralded early meetings with a memorial tag speaks to a post-mortem accord.

Eric Dolphy's career was tragically brief and his studio output - particularly as a leader - quite small, with the result that live albums, most of them recorded in Europe with pick-up rhythm sections, account for much of his legacy.

The complete long unavailable concert by the Dexter Gordon Quartet at the Amsterdam Paradiso, one of his best performances from the period. Recorded February 5th, 1969, this release includes the complete contents of the two LP set Live at the Amsterdam Paradiso, issued in Holland soon after its recording date.

Anthony Braxton takes this wonderful legacy of bebop and makes it speak anew. But in doing so, he is only renewing Charlie Parker’s promise – the promise that runs throughout the African-American creative tradition – that now is the time the music can and must address. — Graham Lock

What’s a versatile Italian reed player doing in the company of a slam-bang Dutch rhythm section, you ask?

Musicians play Irving Berlin because he makes them sound good. The pretty songs make you sound poetic just reading; the tapinflected songs Astaire introduced will bring out your swing if you have any. So what you get with Irving Berlin is melody so strong and self-supporting it keeps its integrity, no matter how stretched or yanked from context.

"Following on the heels of European Echoes, Balls was the second release by the German FMP label; it remains one of the great documents of Peter Brötzmann's core late-sixties/early-seventies trio with pianist Fred Van Hove and drummer Han Bennink.

"This cooperative trio released a number of albums for FMP in the late '60s and early '70s, and affords the listener a chance to hear a lighter, more playful side of Peter Brötzmann, whose reputation is derived from more extreme and assaultive sessions such as Machine Gun and Nipples.