Evan Parker, soprano and tenor saxophones;
Alex von Schlippenbach, piano;
Paul Lovens, percussion. Hero of nine fingers (24.31), Bowed stiffly and went free (19.22).
Evan Parker, soprano and tenor saxophones;
Barry Guy, bass;
Paul Lytton, percussion. In exultation (20.37), Not backwards, as in doubt (09.25),
The echoing border zones (09.24) All recorded at Dingwalls, London on 10 April 1994 at a concert organised by the LMC.

Solo piano, recorded in London, 1991.
"Kuryokhin's reputation as the enfant terrible of the Russian avantgarde may have deffered some listeners from checking his work. This CD should change that. Behind its ungainly title lurks his most accessible music to date, a frothy concoction of wit, whimsy and flashing virtuoso power delivered at time with madcap elan". Graham Lock. THE JAZZ MAGAZINE.

The recording of this concert in Frankfurt documents a historic reunion of the Ganelin Trio. The last time the Trio played together was in October 1987, 15 years ago almost to the day. The verdict of the ecstatic crowd, which arrived for the concert from many parts of Europe, was that the Trio played as if this 15-year gap did not exist. They are still ahead of the time, they are still as original and unique as they were 15 years ago, if only they are even greater musicians than before.

This truly strange phenomenon of a band was put together after legendary saxophonist John Tchicai made a phone call to guitarist Giancarlo Nicholai before a gig and asked him to sit in because his own band couldn't make it through the snow. The set worked out so well that the two other members of Nicholai's regular trio, drummer Uelli Müller and bassist Thomas Durst, were added for a live recording date. The result is a session ripe with free-flowing enthusiasm and energy. Given its informality, it's amazing how well-rehearsed the band sounds, especially on the more structured tunes -- which happen to be Tchicai compositions -- "Mushi Miyake" and "Nu Skal du Komme." Alto and guitar trade lines and alternate fragments of the melodic themes. Nicholai sculpts rich chord progressions that eke out the harmonic shadow from which Tchicai begins his polytonal ascent. Either ballad or bombast, it makes no difference, there is a sensibility and multi-layered textualism inherent in each of these selections. There is also a great empathy between Nicholai and Tchicai; each understands and has reverence for melodic invention and the ballad without being ensnared or enslaved by them. Swing erupts from silence and shuddering quiet pours forth from improvisatory ferocity, as on "Puppetboy" and "Puppetdreams," by Nicholai. Nicholai is, like Brad Shepik, a breath of fresh air on the guitar. He is unbound by sonic or stylistic conventions even though he plays the electric guitar. His effects pedals fit the music and never overshadow it. It can be said that, like his American counterpart, he is indeed inventing a new language for the electric guitar that can be adapted to virtually any medium. Here, styles are all muddled as Tchicai leads the way through Italian folk song, bebop, free jazz, rock, asian modalities, Danish folk music, and even African polyrhythmic tonalities, underscored by the sheer punchiness and adaptability of the rhythm section. This is a solid date and features one of Tchicai's best performances in the last 20 years. It is a title that should not be ignored in the vast reaches of Leo's catalog or in the jazz canon at large. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

A pretty incredible recording by a quartet of Russian improvisors living way out in the boondocks -- in the Ural mountains, one thousand miles away from Moscow, in Ekatarinburg, the place where czar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918. The band's nationality and manner of performance naturally bring to mind the more famous Ganelin Trio, the Soviet Union's best-known contribution to Free Jazz. AMA certainly has much in common with Ganelin. Their music is an amalgam of various strands of contemporary classical forms, indigenous folk musics, and jazz. Pianist Anatoly Tlisov's playing is all scraggy atonality with an unmistakable streak of romanticism at its core.
Alexander Brykin manages to use the electric bass in a way that's wholly appropriate within the mostly acoustic context. Saxophonist/clarinetist Vladislav Talabuyev is a free expressionist with chops and taste, and the mostly unobtrusive drummer Valery Zhilin embroiders the pulse-free performances in a sensitive and creative way. The group dynamic is exceptional. Perhaps because of their &outsider& perspective, AMA's music has the effect of being wholly uncontrived. Unstructured free improv is old news, yet AMA manages to transcend many of the genre's limitations by virtue of a fresh outlook.
AMA Jazz，A quartet based in Ural, Russia (3,000 miles from Moscow), AMA Jazz (Association of Musicians of Avant-Garde) consists of Vladislav Talabuyev on saxophones and clarinet, pianist Anatoly Tilsov, electric bassist Alexander Brykin, drummer Valery Zhilin. Their music (much of it not influenced by American jazz) is quite original and has thus far been ed only on a 1995 Leo Lab CD.