cayetano Posted October 18, 2025 Report Posted October 18, 2025 (edited) "The three authors, music writer Byron Coley and musicians Mats Gustafsson and Thurston Moore, share a life-long mutual obsession to record collecting with a distinct focus on the recorded history of Free Music". https://www.ecstaticpeace.net/now-jazz-now Edited October 18, 2025 by cayetano Quote
clifford_thornton Posted October 20, 2025 Report Posted October 20, 2025 I'll be interested to read this, although I suppose it'll be a recap of some of what I've read in Mats's auction catalogs/Discaholic Corner, Thurston's Grand Royal Magazine article, etc. Quote
dnsrrlls Posted November 12, 2025 Report Posted November 12, 2025 Gotta say, while I'm mildly interested in what made the cut (and am also guilty of being a collector of absurdly expensive free jazz records), I'm not sure what the purpose of a book like this is other than as a "flex." The title deems these as 100 "essential" recordings, but the majority are almost certainly going to be prohibitively expensive, collector-chased items and not anything practical for someone interested in the actual history of the music. I can see some argument for it being a NWW-list-type guide for future enthusiasts who don't care about acquiring OG copies of things, but at the end of the day this feels more like boast from the authors than anything truly in service of the music. (And if you actually are a collector and don't already own these records, prepare for it to stay that way...🤑) Quote
clifford_thornton Posted November 15, 2025 Report Posted November 15, 2025 Judging from the labels on the verso, I see only a few that are super expensive, and all of those have been reissued (Ra, Pullen-Graves, Black Unity Trio, and Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble). Cautiously hoping that it won’t be all flexing… Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted November 20, 2025 Report Posted November 20, 2025 Ordered from Forced Exposure. Quote
paulfromcamden Posted November 20, 2025 Report Posted November 20, 2025 I'm looking forward to this. Mats and Thurston are both massive record nerds whose enthusiasm I find infectious (I'm less familiar with the work of Byron Coley). Based on the sample pages both the record picks and writing style are accessible. I think it's going to be a fun book to flick through. I'm seeing Mats and Thurston play tomorrow and kind of hoping there might be copies on the merch table. Quote
cayetano Posted December 28, 2025 Author Report Posted December 28, 2025 I got mine. Nice selection, fun reading, with some rare records for chase collectors. A lot of european free jazz and also some japanese. I have 9 OG, 32 vinyl reissues and 18 CD reissues. Quote
AndreyHenkin Posted December 29, 2025 Report Posted December 29, 2025 On 11/14/2025 at 10:17 PM, clifford_thornton said: Judging from the labels on the verso, I see only a few that are super expensive, and all of those have been reissued (Ra, Pullen-Graves, Black Unity Trio, and Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble). Cautiously hoping that it won’t be all flexing… You are included in the book a couple of times, quoting interviews you did. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted December 29, 2025 Report Posted December 29, 2025 huh! ordered one the other day... Quote
cayetano Posted January 1 Author Report Posted January 1 On 12/29/2025 at 5:05 PM, clifford_thornton said: huh! ordered one the other day... Quoted by Thurston Moore, author of the best-documented articles, generally with biographical profile and mention of other prominent albums. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 1 Report Posted January 1 Arrived. Handsomely assembled and an interesting array of recordings. I was a little taken aback that certain acetates and test pressings were included as "essential" but I guess the music in question has largely been issued in some form. It is cool to see the original Axiom LP, for example, even if it was made in an edition of.. 2. Wish I had not sold my copy of Heliopolis. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 9 Report Posted January 9 https://open.substack.com/pub/cliffordallen/p/book-review-now-jazz-now?r=7ikr1&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 9 Report Posted January 9 Thanks; figured I should get something on the "record." Quote
colinmce Posted 1 hour ago Report Posted 1 hour ago Still plan to pick up a copy of the book, but here's a list of the recordings therein. More surprises than I might have thought, especially near the end-- love seeing the Schweizer/Carl/Moholo, Gunter Christmann and LaDonna Smith/Davey Williams records on there, and Nuba is an inspired choice. A couple titles I wasn't familiar with either, like the Gaslini and Percussive Unity albums. Only occasionally would I say their fetishism gets the best of them-- Akisakila is great, but at least in my book it's hard to argue that it compares in stature to records like Salty Swift, Brewing Luminous, and the Fondation Maeght or New World recordings (much less the Blue Notes, but I dig that those are well-trodden). Similarly like the Marion Brown LP but find albums like Porto Novo, Gesprächsfetzen, and In Sommerhausen to be superior, and the Ware LP on Palm, while nice, is not a patch on the Hat Hut album from the period. And there are a lot more Lacy recordings that seem to fit the mold of this project better than the ESP, but ultimately these are all personal quibbles. I look forward to reading this. It would be a blessing if this book spurred on some reissues of titles like Origination, The Third World, Alabama Feeling, The Sun is Coming Up, and Orangatang! and I hope that it inspires some newer listeners to look beyond the currently dominant "Spiritual" canon. I have 68 of the 109 recordings mentioned filed, and several more that I sold off over the years. I was hoping that number would be higher, so I've got some work to do! Mary Lou Williams Signs of the Zodiac Vol. I Mary Lou Williams Signs of the Zodiac Vol. II Stan Kenton City of Glass Charles Mingus & Spaulding Givens Strings & Keys Lennie Tristano Classics In Jazz: The Capitol Session Le Sun-Ra and His Arkistra "Saturn"/"Call For All Demons" Cecil Taylor Jazz Advance Albert Ayler Spiritual Unity Eric Dolphy & Ron Carter Esoteric Sound Studios Acetate Ornette Coleman Double Quartet Free Jazz Jimmy Giufffre Free Fall Giorgio Gaslini Oltre Prince Lasha/Sonny Simmons/Clifford Jordan/Don Cherry It Is Revealed Tom Prehn Qvartet Axiom Sonny Rollins Our Man In Jazz New York Contemporary Five Recorded 'Live' At Jazzhus Montmartre Vol. 1 New York Contemporary Five Recorded 'Live' At Jazzhus Montmartre Vol. 2 Bengt Nordstrom Natural Music Paul Bley Quintet Barrage The Contemporary Jazz Quintet Action Sunny Murray Sonny's Time Now New York Art Quartet New York Art Quartet François Tusques Free Jazz John Coltrane Meditations Sun Ra and His Myth Arkestra When Angels Speak of Love Roscoe Mitchell Sound Don Pullen & Milford Graves In Concert At Yale University Hugh Steinmetz Nu! Patty Waters College Tour Barney Wilen Zodiac Don Cherry Where Is Brooklyn? Gato Barbieri In Search of the Mystery Steve Lacy The Forest and the Zoo Alexander Von Schlippenbach Globe Unity Charles Tyler Eastern Man Alone Clifford Thornton New Art Ensemble Freedom & Unity Han Bennink & Willem Breuker New Acoustic Swing Duo Lester Bowie Numbers 1 & 2 Peter Brötzmann Octet Machine Gun The Jazz Composer's Orchestra The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Han Bennink/Misha Mengelberg/John Tchicai Instant Composer's Pool Spontaneous Music Ensemble Karyobin Marzette Watts The Marzette Watts Ensemble Black Unity Trio Al-Fatihah Marion Brown Le Temps Fou Dave Burrell Echo Togashi Masahiko Quartet We Now Create: Music For Strings, Winds, and Percussions Joe McPhee Quartet Underground Railroad Michel Portal Our Meanings and Our Feelings Sonny Sharrock Black Woman Archie Shepp Blasé Alan Shorter Orgasm Horace Tapscott Quintet The Giant Is Awakened John Tchicai & Cadentia Nova Danica Afrodisiaca Yosuke Yamashita Trio Dancing GL Unit Orangatang! Jimmy Lyons Other Afternoons Friendship Next of Kin Facets of the Universe Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble Heliopolis Ric Colbeck Quartet The Sun Is Coming Up Full Moon Ensemble Crowded With Loneliness Jan Garbarek Quartet Afric Pepperbird Masayuki Takayanagi/Kaoru Abe 解体的交感 Kaitai Teki Kōkan Tony Oxley 4 Compositions For Sextet Evan Parker/Derek Bailey/Han Bennink Topography of the Lungs Mario Schiano Trio If Not Ecstatic We Refund Edward Vesala Trio Nana Abdul Hannan The Third World Art Ensemble of Chicago Phase One Anthony Braxton For Alto Alan Silva and the Celestrial Communications Orchestra Seasons Masahiko Togashi & Mototeru Takagi Isolation Masahiko Sato Trio In Berlin - Penetration London Jazz Composer's Orchestra Ode Julius Hemphill Dogon A.D. Noah Howard The Black Ark The J.R. Mitchell/Byard Lancaster Experience Live At Manchester College Evan Parker & Paul Lytton Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones) Peter Kowald Quintet Peter Kowald Quintet Kaoru Abe 1972 Winter Frank Wright Quartet Church Number Nine Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe Duo Exchange Black Artists Group In Paris, Aries 1973 Rudiger Carl King Alcohol (New Version) Emergency Homage To Peace Dewey Redman The Ear of the Behearer Ray Russell Secret Asylum Alexander Von Schlippenbach Trio Pakistani Pomade Cecil Taylor Unit Akisakila The Phil Musra Group Creator Spaces Howard Riley Synopsis Jeanne Lee Conspiracy Mount Everest Trio Waves For Albert Ayler Toshiyuki Tsuchitori & Mototeru Takagi Origination Schweizer/Carl/Moholo Messer Milford Graves Babi Ensemble Muntu First Feeding Percussive Unity Only Change Is Unchanging - Percussive Unity Live Arthur Doyle Plus 4 Alabama Feeling Louis Moholo Octet Spirits Rejoice! David S. Ware From Silence To Music Polly Bradfield Solo Violin Improvisations Andrew Cyrille/Jeanne Lee/Jimmy Lyons Nuba Feminist Improvising Group Feminist Improvising Group Borbetomagus Borbetomagus Lokomotiv Konkret Lokomotiv Konkret LaDonna Smith & Davey Williams Direct Waves Vario II Vario II John Zorn Pool Quote
felser Posted 31 minutes ago Report Posted 31 minutes ago Thanks for this! Quick count, I believe I own 46 of them plus burns of the Lasha and Colbert, which I would buy legit CD's/downloads of in a heartbeat. Lots of room to debate the selections, of course, but there are some wonderful recordings on there. Quote
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