Experimental guitarist Nels Cline's latest album is a project that he had been planning and delaying for several years. Multiple guitars, electronics and many layers of music combine to make for an album that seems very much like a journey inside Cline's particular musical universe. "Prayer Wheel" h...

The influential jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard has died in Los Angeles aged 70 his spokesman said....

I managed to score a copy of Orgasm when Verve briefly reissued the album as part of its short-lived "Elite Edition" series. It's kind of an odd album in that in the middle of recording Alan apparently switched producers, and also had to replace some of his players. In spite of the behind-the-scenes...

Griot Galaxy was a Detroit-area crew that flourished during the 1980s. Kins was, as far as I know, their first release. I first of heard of Griot Galaxy in 2004, and over the next year learned a good deal about the band and one of their members, Faruq Z. Bey. These cats at times sound like a portion...

Here's another one of those extreme hard-to-find albums. I obtained my copy several years ago on one of the p2p networks, and haven't seen it around the internet tubes since (save perhaps for the long-gone Church Number Nine blog). The sound is practically Coltrane-esque. This is music with plenty o...

Last Polka in Nancy? was the second album released on the Center of the World label (catalogue # CS 002). The album was later reissued as a CD in 1999, with a bonus track on Fractal Records (catalogue # Fractal 007 CD). Like its companion recording, Center of the World, Vol. 1 , Last Polka in Nancy?...

Here's a reed/drum duo, in the tradition of John Coltrane and Rashied Ali (Muhammad's brother), tearing the roof off the sucka! If you like energy music, and loved Interstellar Space, you'll love this. Muhammad Ali didn't get a lot of recording opportunities during his career; his brother, who was a...

I wish I knew a bit more about this one. From what I can surmise, it was recorded around 1977, and released in 1981. The first track has a gritty, rockin' bass line, and a sound that would probably fit in with what the No Wave scenesters were digging on toward the end of the 1970s. Jacki Bee Tee is ...

Your Spirit is Calling is an out-of-print limited very limited edition recording in which Doyle partners with legendary free jazz percussionist Hamid Drake. This was one of Qbico's early releases (catalogue # QBICO 15), recorded in 2003 and released the following year. It's as free-spirited as any o...

Here's a personal favorite from the Arthur Doyle vaults - Alabama Feeling. This album was originally released in 1978, and then reissued on CD 20 years later. It's an intense ride from beginning to end. Doyle has made an art form out of lo fi free jazz recordings, as well as serving up a unique styl...