‘A collection of canonical, mature acoustic guitar soli to contrast against the fractured downtown conceits of previous acoustic releases… Jump On It, with its living-room aesthetics and big reverb, packs a disarming intimacy absent from the formal starkness of Orcutt’s earlier acoustic outings… Not quite refuting (yet not quite embracing) the polish of revered watershed records by Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, or Bola Sete, Jump On It treads a path between the raw and the refined… Each track is a key to a memory, a building block in a shining anamnesis leading to the recollection that hey, we’re all humans in a shared cosmos, and music is one way we might make that universe go down easy. And who wouldn’t jump on that?’ (Tom Carter)

‘What really impressed was its precision, its 14 guitar miniatures bringing to mind the cascading melodies of Steve Reich, or Malian kora music… There’s so much going on in these dense constructions, you’re likely to hear new layers and combinations with each spin’ (The Wire, Releases Of The Year).

With Louis Moholo and Harry Miller in 1975.

Contemplative, mysterious excursions in the Russian psalms and folk-songs of the Finno-Ugric diaspora, songs of the Udmurtian, Vepsian and Karelian peoples. Drums, trumpet, piano.

‘A never-before-released recording of a performance in Bochum, Germany, in 1992; in its complete glory, mastered from the original tapes. The storied English drummer leads an intriguing quintet: the trumpeter and flugelhornist Manfred Schoof, whose 1969 FMP LP European Echoes stands as one of the great documents of orchestral improvisation; the American bassist Sirone, from the Revolutionary Ensemble; the saxophonist Larry Stabbins, bringing the versatility and mix of ferocity and buoyancy that he added to diverse projects from Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Peter Brötzmann to Weekend and Working Week; and Pat Thomas on piano and electronics, when he was still a relative newcomer to the British scene, rapidly becoming one of its leading lights and most sought-after collaborators.
‘Oxley drew on this crew’s wide range of orientations for this iteration of Angular Apron — a work combining jazz improvisation with the influence of Xenakis, Ligeti and co — exploiting their extremes of timbre and register, calling on their acuity as listeners, and prodding them with his finely-honed junkshop of metal percussion, with which he detonates the hour-long piece.’

Militant jazz, fusion, funk and soul from mid-seventies Manenberg, outside Cape Town, with a set of roots in club dance traditions like ballroom (‘langarm’), Khoisan hop-step and the whirling ‘tickey draai’ (‘spin on a sixpence’) of the mine camps; others in jazz-rock and the New Thing.

‘The eleventh and final concert recorded by Tom Albach at Immanuel United Church of Christ, here is one of the greatest Arkestra live recordings
‘Brimming with intense energy throughout, it culminates in the 1-2 punch of a blazing Leland’s Song followed by a fragile rendition of Tapscott’s As A Child, featuring Adele Sebastian performing her favorite Tapscott composition.
‘This one is not to be missed.’

‘At the Immanuel United Church of Christ on November 25, 1979. This is the eighth in a series of eleven concerts recorded at the church. This month saw the Arkestra stretching out at blissful heights — the half hour of Carnival is worth the price of admission alone, but the same could be said for the monumental Nation Rising, and the deep take on Roberto Miranda’s Faith. The groove kicks off with Horacio and doesn’t let up the whole concert.’

A stunning complement to Theme De Yoyo!
Panou was an activist and actor, in Paris from Benin; he plays a refuse collector in Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend. His texts here cross existentialism and Black Power like a knockabout Richard Wright, with an extra shot of anti-colonialism. Recorded by Pierre Barouh for Saravah, in the same months as its classic Comme A La Radio LP with Brigitte Fontaine, furthering the AEC’s rowdily brilliant elaborations of Leroy Jones’ Black Dada Nihilismus.
It’s a scorcher; hotly recommended.

His third LP, fronting a septet in 1996. The women’s extra percussion keeps things bubbling; and AACM stalwart Shelton Salley brings a new edginess, on guitar.
Try the Latin groove of the opener, Psalm 37.

Firing interpretations of Curtis, full of funk and soulfulness, grooving jazz fire, and good old-fashioned revolutionary politics, by this octet with Hamid Drake, Dave Burrell, Leena Conquest, Amiri Baraka.
Dynamite twenty-minute version of (Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go.

Four dazzlingly varied, closely written, new works — WP’s first composition for symphony orchestra; a commissioned piece for a standing new music ensemble; a chamber-jazz song series featuring Leena Conquest; and something for a particularly diverse line-up, Universal Tonality in mind. Handsomely presented; a limited edition.

His long-standing quartet with Hamid Drake, Rob Brown and Lewis Barnes — plus singer Leena Conquest and pianist Eri Yamamoto. The entire balance of the material recorded at the 2007 session for the classic Corn Meal Dance album.