NOW JAZZ NOW 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80

[Rabshakeh]

Hard to see why they released this now. 

These kinds of lists were once essential. I spent hours over that Thurston Moore list back in the day, awkward jive slang aside. But that was a long time ago, and with the likes of RYM and Discogs that information is now available to anyone who is interested. 

[clifford_thornton]

Discogs and RYM won't be around forever! Also, the verbiage is entertaining.

[T.D.]

I like the list from a (latecomer and relative newbie in the field) listener's perspective.

Being somewhat of an old fart, I find the writing somewhat cringe-inducing. IMO pretentious to a degree and a certain amount of collector's "flexing" as I think someone put it above. Granted that's just my taste, and the enthusiasm is definitely a plus.

[JSngry]

So...the list stops in 1980. Does that mean that somebody who uses this book to drive their primary "discovering" is going to be only a quarter-century behind the times?

[T.D.]

True. But more like almost half a century at present.

An older/superannuated list seems much "safer". From both writing and "discovering" points of view. 😁

[felser]

Well, that was a (to me, THE, ymmv) golden era for that music.  Someone else can write the sequels for 1980-2000 and 2000-2020 if they want.

[JSngry]

Would you read them if they did?

[Chuck Nessa]

10 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Would you read them if they did?

I would.

[T.D.]

12 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I would.

+1

[Rabshakeh]

I would. It's a real bugbear of mine that no one maps out any of this music past 1982. That goes for non-avantgarde jazz too.

One nice thing about that list is the FIG record. That was and is a good clique of musicians who still don't get enough love. 

[colinmce]

Well it just so happens that I felt inspired to put together a list of what the next 20 years could look like. I tried to keep with the spirit of the original list, and used only vinyl or cassette releases that came out between 1981-2001:

Brötzman/Miller/Moholo	Opened … But Hardly Touched	FMP	1981
Wally Shoup & Ross Rabin	Scree-Run Waltz	Too Sound	1981
Tristan Honsinger/Steve Beresford/Toshinori Kondo/David Toop	Imitation of Life	Y	1981
Glenn Spearman	Night After Night	Musa-Physics	1981
Billy Bang	Changing Seasons	Bellows	1981
Keizo Inoue	In Moers '81	Trio	1981
Christoph Anders/Heiner Goebbels/Alfred Harth/Paul Lovens/Rolf Riehm/Annemarie Roelofs	Es Herrscht Uhu Im Land	Japo	1981
Pierre Favre/Léon Francoli/Michel Portal	Arrivederci Le Chouartse	Hat Hut	1981
Horace Tapscott Sextet	Dial 'B' For Barbara	Nimbus West	1981
Donald Ayler	In Florence 1981 Vol. 1/Vol. 2/Vol. 3	Frame	1981
Richard Dunbar	Clear-Eyed Vision	Jahari	1981
Toyozumi Unit	The Masterpiece	Alm-Uranoia	1981
Burton Greene & Alan Silva	The Ongoing Strings	Hat Hut	1981
Joe McPhee	Oleo	Hat MUSICS	1982
Paul Flaherty/Froc Flipetti/Bill Wallach	Trinity Symphony	-	1982
Han Bennink	Tempo Comodo	Data	1982
Alan Silva Celestrial Communications Orchestra	Desert Mirage	IACP	1982
Bill Dixon	November 1981	Soul Note	1982
Anthony Braxton & Richard Tietlbaum	Open Aspects '82	Hat Art	1982
Akira Sakata Trio	Dance	Enja	1982
Air	80° Below 82	Antilles	1982
Steve Lacy Feat. Bobby Few & Denis Charles	The Flame	Soul Note	1982
Jemeel Moondoc Quartet Muntu	The Athens Concert	Praxis	1982
Doug Hammond	Spaces	Idbib	1982
SME + SMO	In Concert	Sweet Folk and Country	1982
Bert Wilson & Rebirth	Kaleidoscopic Visions	Au Roar	1982
Charles Tyler Quartet	Definite Volume 1	Storyville	1982
John Carter Octet	Dauwhe	Black Saint	1982
Günter Christmann/Torsten Muller/LaDonna Smith/Davey Williams	White Earth Streak	Trans Museq	1983
Globe Unity Orchestra	Intergalactic Blow	Japo	1983
Peter Kowald/Wadada Leo Smith/Günter Sommer	If You Want The Kernels You Have To Break The Shells	FMP	1983
Improvisational Arts Quintet	No Compromise! New New Orleans Music	Prescription	1983
Barbara Donald & Unity	The Past and Tomorrows	Cadence	1983
Cecil Taylor Unit	Nicaragua: No Parasan - Willisau 83 Live	Nica	1983
Masahiko Togashi/Lauren Newton/Peter Kowald	Contrast	Paddle Wheel	1983
Jack Wright & Marv Frank	Free Life, Singing	Spring Garden Music	1983
Jon Rose/Luc Houtkamp/Leo Cuypers/Jan den Boer	Dutch Trumpet Music	Fringe Benefit Records	1983
Paul Rutherford Trio	Bracknell '83	Ogun	1983
Peter Kowald/Maarten Altena	Two Making A Triangle	FMP	1983
Gunter Hampel All Stars	Jubilation	Birth	1983
London Jazz Composers Orchestra	Stringer	FMP	1983
Marion Brown	79118 Live	DIW	1983
Hal Russell/Mars Williams	Eftsoons	Nessa	1984
Freestyle Band	Freestyle Band	Adeyeme Productions Unlimited	1984
Sun Ra Arkestra	Nuclear War	Y	1984
XPact	Frogman's View	Uhlkang	1984
Joel Futterman/Jimmy Lyons/Richard Davis/Robert Adkins	Inneraction	JDF Music	1984
William Hooker	Brighter Lights	Reality Concept Units	1984
Keshavan Maslak with Charles Moffett	Blaster Master	Black Saint	1984
Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett	Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett	AMIGA	1984
Jackson Krall & The Secret Music Society	Untitled	Stork Music	1984
Rich Corpolongo & Joe Daley	Sonic Blast	Coda	1984
Detail	Okhela « To Make A Fire »	Affinity	1984
ICP Orchestra	Extension Red White & Blue	Instant Composer's Pool	1984
Gianluigi Trovesi & Andrea Centazzo	Shock!!	Ictus	1984
Marilyn Crispell	Live In Berlin	Black Saint	1984
Phil Wachsmann	Writing In Water	Bead	1985
Danny Davis	Atmosphere	Fool	1985
Eddie Prévost Quartet	Continuum	Matchless	1985
Takehisa Kosugi/Takahisa Kazamaki	円盤 (Live At The すとれんじ ふるぅっ)	Fool	1985
Volapyk	Volapyk	Dragon	1985
Evan Parker/George Lewis/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton	Hook, Drift, and Shuffle	Incus	1985
Griot Galaxy	Opus Krampus	Sound Aspects	1985
Tristan Honsinger	Picnic	Data	1985
Marco Eneidi/William Parker/Denis Charles	Vermont Spring 1986	Boticelli	1986
Evan Parker	The Snake Decides	Incus	1986
Ganelin Trio	Ttaango... In Nickelsdorf	Leo	1986
David Murray	Recording NYC, 1986	DIW	1986
The Milo Fine Free Jazz Ensemble	Get Down! Shove It! It's Tango Time!	Shih Shih Wu Ai	1986
Butch Morris	Current Trends In Racism In Modern America (A Work In Progress)	Sound Aspects	1986
JoJo Takayanagi & John Zorn	Experimental Performance With John Zorn	Mobys Record	1986
Company	Trios	Incus	1986
Akemi Kuniyoshi-Kuhn/Marcio Mattos/Eddie Prévost	Handscapes	Leo	1986
The Blue Notes	Blue Notes For Johnny	Ogun	1987
Masayuki Takayanagi	Action Direct	Alm-Uranoia	1987
Roscoe Mitchell Quartet	The Flow of Things	Black Saint	1987
Quintet Moderne	Ikkunan Takana = Behind The Window	Bead	1987
Russell/Durrant/Butcher	Conceits	Acta	1987
Other Dimensions In Music	Other Dimensions In Music	Silkheart	1987
Borbetomagus & Voice Crack	Fish That Sparkling Bubble	Agaric/Uhlkang Produktion	1988
David S. Ware	Passage To Music	Silkheart	1988
Irène Schweizer/Maggie Nichols/George Lewis/Joëlle Léandre/Günter Sommer	The Storming of the Winter Palace	Intakt	1988
Jerome Cooper Quintet	Outer and Interactions	About Time	1988
Phil Minton	The Berlin Station	FMP	1988
Charles Gayle Trio	Homeless	Silkheart	1989
Johannes Bauer/Annick Nozati/Fred Van Hove	Johannes Bauer Annick Nozati Fred Van Hove	AMIGA	1989
Daunik Lazro/Lê Quan Ninh/Michel Doneda	Concert Public	VanD'Oeuvre	1989
Various	Sounds - Contemporary Swedish Improvised Music	Blue Tower	1990
Floros Floridis/Vincent Chancey/Peter Kowald/Louis Moholo	Human Aspect	Om	1990
Sonny Simmons	Global Jungle	-	1990
Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra	Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra	ECM	1990
Gush & Sven-Åke Johansson	Tjo Och Tjim	Dragon	1990
Schlippenbach Quartett	Das Hoe Lied	Po Torch	1991
Peter Brötzmann/Shoji Hano	Funny Rat	EGG	1992
Hession/Wilkinson/Fell	Foom! Foom!	Bruce's Fingers	1992
Bill Cole/Warren Smith/Joe Daley	Untempered Trio	Shadrack	1992
In Actu	Music & Painting	Po Torch	1993
Matthew Shipp Duo with William Parker	"Summertime"	Yak'u'za	1995
TEST	Ahead!	Jazz Ramwong	1998
Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble	Plays The African Love Call	Esoteric Yod	2001

[felser]

Quick count, I think I own six of those, compared to 46 on the first list, FWIW.

As for not mapping out post-1982 non avant-garde jazz, that may reflect the stultifying effect that Wynton Marsalis & Co.  had on record labels and producers.  Compare 80-90's BN to 60's BN for even the same artists who recorded for them in both eras (the prime example being those McCoy Tyner solo and duo albums in the later era).

[Holy Ghost]

On 1/23/2026 at 10:47 AM, felser said:

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.

Yeah, quick rehearsal of my collection, I have about half of these. The other half I don't have, I'd be open to listening to...at a reasonable price. 

[clifford_thornton]

Looks like I have 101.5 (part of the Dolphy Acetate on Other Aspects) of the records listed in the book, plus a couple more as downloads. I sold a few that are on the list as well. 

Also, it looks like around 84 of Colin's list (need to catch up!) are filed. I tried to get the Zorn/Takayanagi duo from Dusty Groove once, cheap IIRC, but someone beat me to it. Maybe that was Colin!

The reason given that the original book cut off in 1980 is that they didn't want to end up closely tied, personally, to any of the records included. 

I'd definitely read a good follow-up book covering 1980-now.

Edited 1 hour ago by clifford_thornton

[colinmce]

I added this list to Discogs for easier consumption:

https://www.discogs.com/lists/NOW-JAZZ-NOW-Addendum-Global-Free-Jazz-Free-Improvisation-1981-2001/1663074

& that certainly wasn't me grabbing that LP! if only!

[clifford_thornton]

22 minutes ago, colinmce said:

& that certainly wasn't me grabbing that LP! if only!

yeah, it had to be at least 10 years ago, probably more... $40 or so for that record was a steal, even then.