New Arrivals

All Available Titles Newest: Sound American books on sale Otic Records sealed / deadstock LPs Cooper-Moore self-released CD-Rs + Triptych Myth CD William Parker books Updated articles on Earl Freeman, Rev. Charlie Jackson, & Henry Simmons, Jr. An uptick in activity on the 50 Miles of Elbow Room youtube channel + some one-off offerings, as new or lightly used as described, Nov. 2024: * 50 Miles of Elbow Room: issue #2 book, 112 pages; featured artists: Hamid Drake, Rev. Charlie Jackson, Louis Moholo, Otha Turner & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band (RL Boyce, Jessie "Chip" Daniels, Andre Evans, Abron Jackson, Bernice Turner Pratcher), June Tyson, & Robert Pete Williams. Contributors: Lynn Abbott, Yancey Allison, Daniel Carter, Fitz Gitler, Steven Joerg, Adam Lore, Clare O'Dea, William Parker, Phil Schaap, Dave Shuford, Thierry Trombert. Published in 2002. Light storage wear. $10 * Rev. Pearly Brown: You're Gonna Need that Pure Religion CD (Arhoolie); one small scuff on CD, played fine for me. $8 * Ranie Burnette: Coal Black Mattie / Hungry Spell 7" (High Water). Great record from this north Mississippi hill country blues musician often cited as an influence on RL Burnside & others. Thin paper picture sleeve shows some wrinkles/age, mainly to the corners & edge/seam where the sleeve was glued on the back. Vinyl is clean & plays well. $15 (sold) * Gerald Cleaver: 22 / 23 CD-R (Positive Elevation / 577); unplayed; some indentation to the digipak interior due to the snug fit of the resealable plastic sleeve: $8 (bandcamp) * Arthur Doyle's Free Jazz Soul Orchestra: Bushman Yoga CD (Ruby Red Editora); Portugese issue, rather scarce in the US, light wear all around: $15 * Guitar Nubbit: New Orleans / I’ve Got the Blues 7" (Bluestown). The blue vinyl is tricky to grade but looks pretty clean; a mark near the start on the New Orleans side played through without incident for me. $12 (sold) * The Hammons Family: The Traditions of a West Virginia Family & Their Friends 2CD (Rounder); both CDs show light marks & played fine for me. Includes 120-page booklet insert. Slipcase shows some shelf wear & tears, particularly along the bottom: $20 * William Hooker: Earth's Orbit 2LP (NoBusiness); both LPs & gatefold cover all quite clean. Hand-numbered edition of 500 copies, this is #77. $15 (sold) * The Pyramids: Birth/Speed Merging; King of Kings; and Lalibela LPs. 2009 pressings on Ikef, all played but quite clean all around. $20 each LP or $50 for all 3 albums. (all 3 LPs sold) * Dr. Ross: The Sensational Harmonica Boss 3x7” (Jazzman / Jukebox Jam Series). "Historic Unissued Sun [Records] Masters": Cat Squirrel, My Bebop Gal, Left Job Boogie, Taylor Mae, Turkey Leg Woman, & Polly Put Your Kettle On. Picture sleeve shows slight wear, mostly to the top front edge, in the neighborhood of VG+. 45s have seen few plays & are clean. Liner notes by Liam Large. Hand-numbered edition of 500 copies, this is #203. $25 * Dave Sewelson: More Music for a Free World CD (bandcamp) & Smooth Free Jazz CD (bandcamp) (both sealed, on Mahakala Music). $6 each or both for $10 * Various Artists: Tennessee Legends LP (Southland). Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis, Gus Cannon, & Will Shade, Charlie Burse, & Jennie Mae Clayton of the Memphis Jug Band, recorded by George Mitchell in 1962. 1985 pressing. Cover still in shrink, tiny bit of wear to a couple corners, very light sleeve wear on the vinyl. $20 (sold)
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price	Dwight Andrews Mmotia: The Little People Otic Records LP $20
Engaging & open music from Dwight Andrews (soprano & alto sax; bass & contrabass clarinet; alto flute; Indian wood flute; percussion), Nana Vasconcelos (percussion, flex-tone, corpo, voice, bottles, beads, atumpan), & Nat Adderley (piano). Sealed original pressing, shows some mild storage wear / rubbing. Hear it on YouTube.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Cooper-Moore Solo Piano #2 no label / private release CD-R $10/autographed
Remarkable & restless solo piano, a studio recording from 2012. "Cluster Blue," the expanded barrelhouse inspired by the style of his old family friend Mr. Gene Quickley, always grabs ears. No jewel case, as issued. 22 tracks; 55 minutes. Hear Track 1 aka Cluster Blue, Track 10, Track 12, & Track 21. Self-produced by C-M in conjunction with him being awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by Arts for Art / the Vision Festival.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Cooper-Moore Deep in the Neighborhood of History and Influence no label / private release CD-R $5/standard or $10/autographed
Live solo piano recording c.1999 in Guelph, Canada. Remastered from the original, long out of print Hopscotch pressing. “The ultimate underground jazz document, this is a lo-fi, live solo-piano lecture-concert bursting with personality. Cooper-Moore puts standup-routine eulogies, rants and preambles around a variety of moods, including hailstone-abrasive improvisations, Ellingtonian chords, boogie-woogie, & ballads. His irrepressibility is hard to resist.” - Ben Ratliff, NY Times. No jewel case, as issued. Hear All of a Sudden, A Float, & Waltz. Originally released on Hopscotch, this version was self-produced by C-M in conjunction with him being awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by Arts for Art / the Vision Festival.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Cooper-Moore Looking Back One no label / private release CD-R $5/standard or $10/autographed
First retrospective of home & other recordings by Cooper-Moore includes the mammoth mouth bow drone of “Black Strap Sweet,” mesmerizing “Banjo Arba Minch Garden,” a beautiful spiritual in “Steal Away,” several vocal pieces, & more. Intimate glimpses of a fearless creative artist at work. No jewel case, as issued. 16 songs; 40 minutes. Hear Black Strap Sweet, Steal Away, & Banjo - Arba Minch Garden. Self-produced by C-M in conjunction with him being awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by Arts for Art / the Vision Festival.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Cooper-Moore Looking Back Two no label / private release CD-R $5/standard or $10/autographed
This 2nd retrospective of home & other recordings by Cooper-Moore features diddley-bow jump blues & laments, a few solo piano pieces, a discombobulating synth piece dedicated to William Parker, and a few flute & bass duos with Clayton Thomas. No jewel case, as issued. 11 songs; 40 minutes. Hear Afro American Fragment, Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, & Clayton & Me #4. Self-produced by C-M in conjunction with him being awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by Arts for Art / the Vision Festival.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Earl Freeman Poems and Drawings (2nd edition) 50 Miles of Elbow Room & WRY Press book $20
Dug up a couple copies of this collection, which has been out of print for a while now. 50 Miles of Elbow Room and WRY Press are extremely pleased to present a collection of recovered, fugitive works from the enigmatic musician, composer, artist, and writer, Earl Freeman (March 11, 1931 - July 25, 1994). Born in Oakland, California, over the course of his life he traveled widely and forged significant associations in the wave of U.S. free jazz musicians who relocated to France in the late 1960s. He played & recorded in both the United States and Europe with many significant contributors to the 1960s & ‘70s creative underground; Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, Clifford Thornton, Kenneth Terroade, Noah Howard, Claude Delcloo, Arthur Jones, Selwyn Lissack, Gong, Brigitte Fontaine, Frank Wright, Alan Silva, Billy Bang, William Parker, Sonny Simmons, and Daniel Carter, amongst many others. His otherworldly approach to electric bass is heard to especially strong effect with The Freestyle Band, whose privately-pressed LP is a singular dispatch from the NYC free jazz scene of the 1980s. Though primarily making his mark as a bassist, we believe he may have self-published collections of his intricate ink drawings and unusual, enigmatic poems (an advertisement we discovered in an issue of the black poetry journal Kitabu Cha Jua from 1975 would suggest so), but as of this time and after years of looking we have not discovered any extant copies. The pieces gathered here are taken from a small handful of manuscripts & drawings sent to friends, primarily while he was living in New York City and San Francisco over the course of the last two decades of his life. The poems hint at the peripatetic life of an avant-garde jazz musician, with an underlying sense of unease permeating many of them. His consistently idiosyncratic use of dashes and unusual punctuation give them the appearance of scores to song & music on the page. Indeed, many of these poems seem to sing at a strange frequency, and place Freeman’s work in a continuum with other avant-garde Black Arts Poetry Movement poets such as Lloyd Addison and N.H. Pritchard. His exquisitely worked drawings range from a portrait of Civil Rights icon George Jackson, to abstracted landscapes that chart the movement of air, to a nearly apocalyptic looking depiction of Paris. Second edition of 150 copies in a new, larger 6x9 wire-spiral-bound format, printed on super heavy duty Mohawk Superfine paper, 18 pages. For an in-depth look at what we’ve learned of Freeman’s life & story thus far, please see the lengthy series of interviews and recollections co-editor Adam Lore has collected at http://50milesofelbowroom.com/articles/500-earl-freeman.html ***** Read about it at Aquarium Drunkard ***** "Radically departing from cliched ideas of 'jazz poetry,' Freeman's poems are gothic and surreal, combining out-of-context anecdotal fragments, non-sequiturs, and rule-breaking punctuation - piled-up dashes and equals signs, commas breaking into the middle of words. ... Poems and Drawings is a fascinating contribution to our sense of the multi-disciplinary undercurrents of the jazz avant garde." -Pierre Crepon & David Grundy, The New York City Jazz Record, March 2021. See the full review.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	The Freestyle Band s/t NoBusiness Records CD $10
Expanded reissue of this classic of the NYC free jazz underground, complete with two previously unissued tracks totaling over 20 minutes (!) & in-depth liner notes by Ed Hazell. Earl Freeman's bubbly electric bass & the steady patter of Philip Spigner's percolating hand drums create an ominously undulating backdrop upon which Henry P. Warner's clarinets (both b-flat and alto) flutter & fly. “Playing with Earl and Henry was like flying in formation…we took turns flying out front…we would rotate positions…we were dreaming in harmony.” -Philip Spigner, March 4, 2016. Hear a couple clips: The Roach Approach & Pelican. Full write-up on the Freestyle Band artist page. Earl Freeman: bass guitar, piano Henry Warner: b-flat clarinet, alto clarinet Philip Spigner: hand drums
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Alan Glover Birth Omolade Music DVD $16
"Artistically inspired by Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou, Alan Glover’s film Birth (1974) surrealistically depicts the onset of cultural/political consciousness in a young African-American adult. "This film was the direct result of Glover’s political activism, starting with the second March on Washington in 1968 & the Poor People’s Campaign/Resurrection City. The latter demonstration was to be headlined by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until he was tragically assassinated before the march occurred. Alan Glover covered the march as an independent photographer with his older brother, Doug. The following year, Alan & Doug went to Jackson, Mississippi, under the auspices of the Poor People’s Corporation (PPC), as volunteer workers. Alan was a photographic consultant & 16mm motion film cameraman. "It was a harrowing & sobering cultural experience for the politically naive 21-year-old Glover. Back in New York City, Alan & Doug joined the 1969 protest against construction of the Harlem State Office Building (now the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building), dubbed 'Reclamation Site #1' by the state. This was taking place while Columbia University was also at odds with the Harlem community regarding its plans to build an elite gymnasium on property it owned in the neighborhood. "It was through the conflict with Columbia that Alan, Doug, & their crew wrestled a 16mm camera & recorder rig as part of Columbia’s outreach effort to assuage the offended Harlemites. "Not only did the crew — which included Arthur Omar Owens, Birth’s starring actor — negotiate for the film equipment, but they also bargained with Columbia personnel to act the parts of the racial antagonists in the film." -Omolade. DVD includes original film (29 min.), alternative director’s commentary, & a historical discussion panel (43 min.). Written & directed by Alan Glover. Starring A. Omar Owens, Earl Thomas, Barbara Barnes, Dick Leonard, Ayo Fenner, Stan Diamond, & Ademola Olugebefola. Photography by Alan Glover & Karma Stanley. See a couple clips, including one of Glover & his group performing at Kimako (Baraka's) Casbah in Harlem:
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Alan Glover The Juice Quartet Archives, Volumes 1, 2, 3 Omolade Music 3CD $30
"A broad compilation of Firehouse recordings & live performances of (saxophonist) Alan 'Juice' Glover’s Juice Quartet from 1971 to 1981. The Juice Quartet for many years consisted of pianist & musical director Kasa Allah (Stanley Wiley), bassist William Parker, & drummer Abu Kali. Together they explored the gambit of musical expression & style from mainstream straight-ahead to avant-garde & avant-avant-garde. The group toured the New York loft jazz scene of the '70s. The Juice Quartet also did an 18-month stint with the United States Federal government’s C.E.T.A. Arts Program, under the auspices of the Theatre for the Forgotten, performing for shut-ins at hospitals, prisons & nursing homes; & accompanied three plays the theatre produced, for which the musicians collectively composed. The Quartet also toured with the theatre as 'The Juice Quartet Concert Series.' "This three-volume set is a collection of cassette recordings of the Juice Quartet. Most of the cassettes were recorded by Bill 'Segun' Edelen using an early portable tape recorder with a built-in microphone. They have been digitally remastered for this series. Throughout these recordings, the pianist is Kasa Allah Mubarak aka Stanley Wiley. The bassist is either William Parker or Richard Williams. On most tracks, the drummer is Abu Kali. When the congas of Juma Sultan are heard, the drummer is Ali Abuwi. Only on the performance of 'Of Things Green' is the drummer Mitchell Bechet featured." -Omolade Music. Hear a few clips: The Froth, In a Nutshell, & A Man Within the Land Without.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Reverend Charlie Jackson Wrapped Up in Jesus / Lord You're So Good Jackson Records 45rpm 7" $50
Original copies of this very scarce 45, privately pressed by Rev. Charlie Jackson on his own Jackson Records imprint in the 1970s. Rev. Charlie Jackson played an especially potent brand of raw, bluesy gospel. Born in 1932 just outside of McComb, Mississippi, he took up the electric guitar as a young man and started out playing the blues. Soon afterwards, he gave up the blues to serve the Lord. He developed a powerful, instantly recognizable style and often played on church programs with the legendary Rev. Utah Smith. He subsequently recorded a string of incredible and legendary 45s for Booker Records out of New Orleans. After the Booker material went out-of-print, Rev. Jackson took matters into his own hands and started his own private press label, Jackson Records, in the late ‘70s. This 45 is Jackson 101 and it features a re-recording of “Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus,” one of his most popular numbers that had been previously released on Booker, backed by the previously unrecorded “Lord You’re So Good,” a deep and measured ballad. This version of “Wrapped Up…” has not been reissued. Since Rev. Jackson sold these records exclusively at church services, they never entered the marketplace and therefore didn’t receive any other distribution. Each side plays with relatively low but steady background crackle as well as the occasional pop which decreases in frequency a bit as the side progresses, probably reflection on the quality of the pressing. Generally speaking, these are quite clean copies, but expect some minor wear on the label & vinyl. Hear clips of Wrapped Up in Jesus & Lord You're So Good. Limited to one per customer.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Reverend Charlie Jackson Wrapped Up in Jesus / Lord You're So Good Booker Records 45rpm 7" $10
Officially licensed reissue of Rev. Charlie Jackson’s first 45. All his original singles are in high demand, this one especially so: 2 hot, classic sides. Edition of 500.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Reverend Charlie Jackson God's Got It: The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles CaseQuarter CD $10
2018 remastered reissue with 2 extra tracks, one of which (a duo with Bro. Ike Gordon) has not been previously reissued anywhere. Rev. Charlie Jackson played deep, raw, bluesy gospel. Born in 1932 just outside of McComb, Mississippi, he took up the electric guitar as a young man and started out playing the blues. Soon afterwards, he gave up the blues to serve the Lord. He developed a highly potent style and often played on church programs with the legendary Rev. Utah Smith. He subsequently recorded a string of incredible and legendary 45s for Booker Records out of New Orleans. After his classic recordings for Booker went out-of-print, Rev. Jackson took matters into his own hands and started his own private press label, Jackson Records, in the late '70s. This disc collects almost all of his commercially-issued material, and it's some of my all-time favorite music. I've listened to these songs hundreds of times and they still move me deeply. If this sort of thing sounds as if it would be to your taste, I can't recommend it highly enough. Hear several tracks of this newly remastered version over at Bandcamp. See too the Rev. Charlie Jackson retrospective.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Bobby Naughton Nauxtagram Otic Records LP $20
Bobby Naughton (vibraharp), James Emery (acoustic & electric guitars), Cleve Pozar (percussion & marimba), & Wes Brown (bass). Lively '79 session, with something of a Cleve Solo Percussion vibe on the Naughton/Pozar duo track, Duality. Sealed original pressing, shows some mild storage wear / discoloration. Hear it on YouTube.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Bobby Naughton Solo Vibraphone Otic Records LP $15
Lovely live set recorded in Italy on July 3, 1979. Hear some of Biotic. More clips are available over here. Sealed original pressing, shows some mild storage wear / discoloration.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Bobby Naughton / (Wadada) Leo Smith / Perry Robinson The Haunt Otic Records LP $50
"The Haunt, a 1976 trio recording led by vibraphone player Bobby Naughton with Leo Smith (before the trumpet player appended Wadada to his name) & clarinetist Perry Robinson...with a focus on harmonic interaction. Robinson’s distinctive clarinet playing suffused with an abstract, structuralist sense of melody & swooping lissome phrasing has never quite gotten the attention it deserves. Smith, at this point, was honing & documenting his thoughts about ‘new world music’ in writings & recordings on his Kabell label & this highly personal refinement toward the placement of sound in silence provided the perfect balance to Naughton & Robinson. "The recording kicks off with the title tune with each of the musicians placing motivic, freely melodic kernels with congruent, countervailing trajectories. The balance of the timbres of clarinet, trumpet, & vibes proves particularly effective in Naughton’s open sound-forms. Each of the members imparts complementary shadings to the overarching ensemble sound while standing out within the collective. While it is great to hear Robinson & Smith in this context, Naughton’s harmonic sensibility & deft attack are a particular standout. The leader’s four other originals provide provocative structures for interaction, from spirited, darting angularities to spare, resonant abstract lyricism. In each, all three seize on the core materials, digging in while keeping an astute ear to the fundamental group balance of the pieces. Particular standouts are the spiky 'Slant,' which gets two readings, as well as the free sonorities of 'Ordette' which flows organically from group statements to solo sections with ruminative poise." -Michael Rosenstein, Point of Departure. Sealed 1977 pressing, shows some mild storage wear / discoloration. Hear it on bandcamp.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Voices in the First Person Centering book, 120 pages $20
"Voices in the First Person is a book about the art of living and the daily ritual of creation as seen through the eyes of four visual artists: Lois Eby, Anne Humanfeld, Jo-Wood Brown, & Marilyn Sontag. Through their impressionistic words we get a glimpse of the process and the journey; from impulse to dream to fruition, they tell us about why they love art and continue to make it." -William Parker. A beautifully presented book, offset printed with many full-color images, published in 2014 on Parker's Centering imprint, featuring: Lois Eby: Eby's art draws from several strands of influence, including Asian ink painting, Zen ink painting in particular, African American improvised music, & the exploration of abstraction in Western art since Cezanne & Kandinsky. WP: "I was first introduced to her work in 1986 through a series of drawings she did for a book called From Down to the Village; these drawings both changed and saved my life. In her world, the little things become big things and life's preciousness is always echoing, moving into a stillness that is epic in its subtlety. Later I was introduced to her paintings, which are full of broad strokes and bright colors." See loiseby.com Anne Humanfeld: Humanfeld works in a variety of media: oil & acrylic on canvas, felt & other fabrics, etching, monoprint, & woodcut. She also creates recombinations of found imagery, often with elements of drawing & painting. She has lectured & been a visiting artist at institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Art, Williams College, & UC Berkeley. WP: "There is grandness to the art of Anne Humanfeld; her work is full of images and figures that take us to another world - a world that is full of adventure and wondrous tales or legends, a world filled with characters & symbols that you want to know more about." See annehumanfeld.com Jo Wood-Brown: Wood-Brown is a multimedia artist based in NYC who has exhibited widely as a painter & an installation artist in galleries & site-specific locations throughout the US & Europe. She is the founder of Artist Exchange International. WP: "Jo Wood-Brown has devoted her life to the song of seeing and transforming images. In her work I see the unveiling of many layers of site language. The images all speak in their way, and Jo is not afraid to let them be. Her work achieves the perfect balance of knowing enough to follow the voice, listening to it without putting words in its mouth." See jowoodbrown.com Marilyn Sontag (1936-2018): Sontag combined a wide range of materials with painting to create layered, multifaceted pieces. She often integrated sharp geometric lines with organic shapes & striking color. She taught studio art at Baruch College & was coordinator & curatorial supervisor of exhibitions at Synagogue for the Arts Gallery Space. WP: "She was able to capture the soul of each color on the canvas, almost as if a flower were to dip itself in paint then dance over the canvas. ... This happens in whatever media she works in: small collages, linoleum cuts, cloth, or cardboard - it all sings, in a very musical way."
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Voices in the First Person, Vol. 2 Centering book, 144 pages $25
William Parker wears many hats, including: musician, improviser, composer, organizer, writer, publisher, educator, advocate, & historian. One of his roots is from the deep in the tradition of self-determination & documentation. In his liner notes to Mayor of Punkville by the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, Parker writes of majority of musicians who "will most likely not be remembered in this history books" & his intent to "document the contributors to the spiritual equilibrium." His initiatives in this area have taken many forms. One of the most substantial is Conversations, collections of his in-depth discussions with musicians & artists from both his immediate & extended communities. To date, RogueArt has published four of these anthologies, a total of 120+ interviews & over 2,000 pages. Parker also produces Voices in the First Person on his Centering imprint. These books devote full chapters the spotlighted artists, which usually include wide-ranging discussions about their lives & art, samples of the artists’ works, & personal photographs. Volume 2, published in 2023 in an offset-printed edition of 500, offers chapters about: Alan "Juice" Glover: Born in the Bronx, NY, Glover's artistic life has been one of social activism & expression in a variety of art forms. His early work as a filmmaker during the civil rights movement dealt with powerful themes of cultural & political consciousness. During the 1970s, Glover turned his attention to music, performing extensively with his ensemble The Juice Quartet. In Manhattan's East Village he founded the Firehouse Theater, a community arts center & important early influence on the movement later known as loft jazz. His music retains the same dedication to social commentary, often embedding these themes directly into the structure of his compositions, performances, & liner notes. His chapter in Voices includes two of his essays: "Political, Social Activism" & "Spirituality & Theology: A View from the Cleft." WP: "I met Alan in 1973 and began training in advanced music rooted in the tradition of being oneself. Alan is a multidimensional renaissance person, improviser, composer, inventor, photographer, and filmmaker who has moved through several phases of creativity...He continues to explore the many manifestations of enlightenment." See also his chapter in the first volume of Conversations as well as the CDs & DVDs on his Omolade Music imprint. Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson: Born in Oklahoma City, Nelson is a composer & improvisor whose primary instrument is the trumpet. His significant early studies include with Iannis Xenakis, John Eaton, & Gunther Schuller. He has composed works for music theatre, orchestra, choirs, chamber music, & free-improvisation ensembles that have been performed in North and South America, Europe, & Japan. He has lived in Biel, Switzerland, since 1994. His most recent book, Words by Memory and Other Words, was published in 2019. See also his chapter in the first volume of Conversations & this video of J-KN & WP performing in Tompkins Square Park c.1989. WP: "Jalalu was born with a special gift: the ability to hear his dreams. And translate them into Sound, words, and images...Wherever he is, the joy of music follows...Dancing into the horizon, constantly interacting with beautiful worlds of Sound and silence. Jalalu is unique in his vision of creativity." See his website. Born in Newark, NJ, trombonist/composer Steve Swell has been highly active in the NYC music community since 1975. He has toured and recorded with mainstream artists such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich, as well as more contemporary artists that include Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, & William Parker. He has over 50 CDs as a leader or co-leader & is a featured artist on more than 125 other releases. He runs workshops around the world and is a teaching artist in the NYC public school system, focusing on special needs children. See also his chapter in Conversations II: Dialogues and Monologues. WP: "In this book, he shares another side of himself; we get a glimpse of his poetry, visual art, and musical composition. He has been consistently productive…soaring above America's anti-artist environment to allow beautiful things to flow through him." See www.steveswell.com Christopher Collins (1936-2022) was a professor of English at New York University. He authored many books & was a prolific creator of artworks that engage with a wide array of materials & approaches. His chapter is comprised entirely of his art, including writings (prose & poetry), paintings, carvings, drawings, woodcuts, & masks. WP: "Christopher was a human being who loved nature. On its terms. He acknowledged the majesty of trees, streams, and back roads. He knew how to bring out and show the beauty of simple things...Poet and philosopher visual artist, he danced to his inner song living on the edge for eighty-five years as a reluctant divine." Voices in the First Person, Vol. 2 is dedicated to him.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker The Mayor of Punkville Centering book, 42 pages $10
"A word is a sound. On paper it is an image that is both Black and white and in color at the same time. The Mayor of Punkville is a tone poem about the future of yesterday. It speaks about the salvation of humanity through music." -William Parker. Storage find of this scarce book by William Parker. Text written in 1999, self-published on WP's Centering imprint in a small edition circa perhaps 2011 or so.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker When You Smile the Big Orange Mountain Cries Centering book, 24 pages $10
In Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker, WP tells author Cisco Bradley that Little Huey, the guiding inspiration for his Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, represented "going back to childhood, back to the Bronx, back to the housing projects." Little Huey "wants to be a poet because all he has is a pen and paper. He begins to retell what he’s seen, whether through music, film, ideas, or just what he sees looking out the project windows." When You Smile The Big Orange Mountain Cries presents 52 poems by Little Huey, 1967-1970. New June 2024 reprint, a saddle-stitched chapbook, 24 pages on 100# satin, published in an edition of 50 on Parker's Centering imprint. Just a modest number of copies here.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Conversations Rogue Art book, 455 pages, plus CD $ out-of-stock
William Parker has long taken an active role in the presentation of his own art (self-produced records/CDs, concerts, festivals, publications) and that of others. That initiative continues with this major work, an anthology of musician-to-musician interviews in the lineage of Arthur Taylor’s seminal Notes and Tones. Approximately 12 years in the making, Conversationshas hallmarks of being a very personal project, spotlighting many musicians who are largely unknown to even avid fans of the music but very much a part of its secret history. On a personal note, it was an honor to first publish a version of the Louis Moholo interview found in Conversations in 50 Miles of Elbow Room issue #2 and to do the initial transcriptions for the majority of these interviews. “During the last 10 years, William Parker interviewed 32 of his friends and colleagues, musicians and artists. In addition to the 32 interviews, edited by Ed Hazell, the book contains photographs by Jacques Bisceglia and a CD with excerpts of the interviews and great William Parker bass solos.” – RogueArt Interviewees: Fred Anderson, Billy Bang, Han Bennink, Jacques Bisceglia, Dave Burrell, Roy Campbell, Cooper-Moore, Wilbert de Joode, John Edwards, Ge Gan-Ru, Charles Gayle, Alan Glover a.k.a. Juice, Milford Graves, Clyde Kerr, Joelle Leandre, Frank Lowe, Nicole Mitchell, Louis Moholo, Joe Morris, Sunny Murray, Sainkho Namtchylak, Jalalu Kalvert Nelson, Patricia Nicholson, Carl Lombard a.k.a. Pelikan, Walter Perkins, Richard Rodriguez, Paul Rogers, Alan Silva, Warren Smith, Oluyemi Thomas, Henry P. Warner, & Mark Whitecage
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Conversations II: Dialogues and Monologues Rogue Art book, 500 pages, plus CD $35
The 2nd heavy tome of William Parker's vital documentation of his fellow creative improvisors. 32 interviews, a 68 minute CD of duos of WP & Kidd Jordan as well as interview excerpts, photos by Jacques Bisceglia, and artwork by Jeff Schlanger. Interviewees & contributors: Muhammad Ali, Marshall Allen, Tim Berne, Nathan Breedlove, Rob Brown, Daniel Carter, Bill Cole, Jerome Cooper, Andrew Cyrille, On Ka'a Davis, Ernest Dawkins, Mark Dresser, Douglas Ewart, Giuseppi Logan, Henry Grimes, Mark Helias, William Hooker, Kidd Jordan, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Jackson Krall, Yusef Lateef, Helene Lebarriere, Sabir Mateen, Thollem McDonas, Jemeel Moondoc, Butch Morris, Fred Moten, Roswell Rudd, Jeff Schlanger, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Swell, & David S. Ware
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Conversations III Rogue Art book, 715 pages $35
Third collection of interviews conducted by William Parker, vital documentation of many creative improvisors who are rarely covered in such depth. 33 conversations here, with photos by Jacques Bisceglia & art by Jeff Schlanger. Interviewees: Joshua Abrams, Pheeroan Aklaff, Hamiet Bluiett, Karen Borca, Connie Crothers, Steve Dalachinsky, Marty Ehrlich, Ken Filiano, Dick Griffin, Craig Harris, Klaas Hekmann, Gerry Hemingway, Jason Kao Hwang, Oliver Lake, Ingrid Laubrock, Bill Lowe, Tony Malaby, Joe McPhee, David Mott, Bern Nix, Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid, Michele Rosewoman, Lee Mixashawn Rozie, Dave Sewelson, Matthew Shipp, Jim Staley, Jen Shyu, Craig Taborn, Toshi Tsuchitori, Fay Victor, Greg Ward, & Andrea Wolper
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	William Parker Conversations IV Rogue Art book, 474 pages $35
New 2023 volume, featuring interviews with Coen Aalberts, Ahmed Abdullah, Patricia Ali, Newman Taylor Baker, Lewis Barnes, Michael Bisio, Peter Brotzmann, Taylor Ho Bynum, Ellen Christi, Gerald Cleaver, Leena Conquest, Anthony Davis, Joel Futterman, Watson Jennison, Darius Jones, George Lewis, James Brandon Lewis, Ava Mendoza, Grachan Moncur III, Tatsuya Nakatani, Evan Parker, Zeena Parkins, J.D. Parran, Mario Pavone, Tom Rainey, Jean Carla Rodea, Lisa Sokolov, Juma Sultan, & Bobby Zankel. With art by Jeff Schlanger & several photos.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Cleve Pozar Let's Try It Again no label / private release CD $7
Restocked; reduced price. Scarce & quite fine self-released CD by the late, great, & missed percussionist Cleve Pozar c.1999. From Pozar’s liner notes: “The rhythms on this CD are performed on bata, the sacred drums of Santeria, a Cuban religion that combines Yoruba beliefs from West Africa with Roman Catholicism. Let’s Try it Again combines bata rhythms of the gods - unedited - with Orisha, jazz, pop, and folk songs arranged for trombones. … Because the bata are played in a religious context and because I am using the rhythms and songs of Ocha, I went to Ifa before I began this project. Divination by Babalawo Ifa Miwa gave me permission - and told me not to stop until I was finished. This is Obatala’s CD. I have been helped by all the Orisha, but especially by Los Guerreros, Ochun, Yemaya, and San Lazaro.” Pozar always wholeheartedly & obsessively pursued his individual, wide-ranging vision, whether it is playing be-bop, free, Latin music, bata, electronic percussion, funk, or early ragtime pieces by artists such as George Hamilton Green. This disc is another document of that sincere, free spirit. Hear Naima & Footprints. See also this interview with Pozar regarding his classic Cleve Solo Percussion album.
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 21 - The Change Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
“The 127-page book was designed by Remake Design (who also created the now iconic Donald Judd: Writings book) and features words by or about Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Ornette Coleman, Nicole Kaack, Bradford Bailey, G. Lucas Crane, Jennie Gottschalk, Ambrose Akinmusire, Mats Gustafsson, Peter Margasak, Terry Riley, Kim Brandt, John Cage, Josh Sinton, Edgard Varése, Marc Hannaford, John Zorn, Matthew Mehlan, Million Tongues Festival, Alex Mincek, Lester St. Louis, and Steve Lehman. "Each book is thoughtfully designed and printed in Belgium on quality paper with a lay-flat binding. Beyond being simply a journal issue suitable for the periodicals section of your library, these are artfully designed and rigorously constructed books meant to sit aside your favorite novels. Printed using offset lithography in a special Pantone color throughout. Bound with the highest quality thread-sewn binding, using cold glue and Otabind™, so the book lies open and stays completely flat, and will last for a lifetime. Printed on Holmen paper, an excellent Swedish stock. Printed by die Keure, one of the finest book printers in the world, in a limited edition of 500.” - Sound American
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 22 - The Lee Hyla Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
"Featuring remembrances and appreciations of the deeply missed composer by Stephen Drury, Rhonda Rider, David Rakowski, Bryan Hayslett, Chris Fisher-Lochheed, Eliza Brown, Scott Wheeler, and Ben Hjertmann. As well as articles by or with Jerome Harris, Charissa Noble, Rick Moody, Sam Amidon, Colin Stetson, Claire Chase, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels. Also photos from Katherine Desjardins and exquisite corpse from Shawn Jaeger! "Printed using offset lithography in a special Pantone color throughout. Bound with the highest quality thread-sewn binding, using cold glue and Otabind™, so the book lies open and stays completely flat, and will last for a lifetime. Printed on Holmen paper, an excellent Swedish stock. Printed by die Keure, one of the finest book printers in the world, in a limited edition of 500." - Sound American
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 23 - The Alien Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
"The Alien Issue features writing on the alien and alienation by Sarah Hennies, Franklin Bruno, inti figgis-vizueta and James May on listening to ourselves and each other, Marc Hannaford, Nicole Kaack in conversation with with Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Charmaine Lee and id m theft able on building a home, Matana Roberts, Jacob Wick, Wendy Eisenberg, Chris Pitsiokos and Ben Young on WKCR and Triple Point Records, a contribution to our 2019 exquisite corpse series by Lester St. Louis, and more! The print edition includes very special full color reproduction of Charles Gaines's Librettos. "Printed using offset lithography in a special Pantone color throughout. Bound with the highest quality thread-sewn binding, using cold glue and Otabind™, so the book lies open and stays completely flat, and will last for a lifetime. Printed on Holmen paper, an excellent Swedish stock. Printed by die Keure, one of the finest book printers in the world, in a limited edition of 500." - Sound American
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 27 - The Life Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
"Sound American Publications announces its 27th issue, THE LIFE ISSUE, a reflection upon the smallness—and largeness—of living amidst a tumultuous, globally-shared moment. The Life Issue contributors include claire rousay, who writes about the many cuts accumulated while learning something new; pedal steel superhero Susan Alcorn recounts a battle with injury; composer Jack Langdon offers Sound American’s second fiction offering, a story of how the pandemic affects a fictional musician, presenter, and listener; composer Lea Bertucci interviews improvising vocalist Audrey Chen about identity, commitment to music, and motherhood; bass clarinetist Katie Porter lets us in on a quarantine’s worth of deep-questioning and the looping beauty of banality. "Sound American’s ongoing series, 'Sites of Formation,' celebrates the piano, featuring writing by pianists Pat Thomas (on Ahmed Abdul-Malik) and Cory Smythe (on Henri Pousseur), as well as Dr. Douglas Rust on the Elliott Carter Piano Sonata and Sound American’s editor, Nate Wooley on the Vangelis’s keyboard-heavy soundtrack to Chariots of Fire. This issue also includes writing by saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos on NYC guerilla concerts during lockdown and a roundtable discussion from members of the Catalytic Sound collective—Ken Vandermark, Luke Stewart, and Bonnie Jones led by Brock Stuessi—on their work to create a streaming platform as an alternative to Spotify. "This issue’s Exquisite Corpse is an elegant, nostalgic site-specific work by composer, flutist, vocalist Ka Baird. The Life Issue also features a world-premiere, sixteen-page set of drawings with introduction by Lebanese-born, Berlin-based artist Mazen Kerbaj. The drawings feature his intimate, aching, everyday trek through multiple shutdowns. "As we move on from a generation-defining year-and-a-half, The Life Issue allows some of the artists we love to speak intimately as people: people who happen to make art. Without requiring responses to the great traumas of the last eighteen months, the issues allows them to reaffirm their everyday humanity through the small injuries and victories, the days of nothing happening, and the ways that they try to fit in as small parts of a huge world. A unique issue of Sound American, it reaffirms the journal’s mission of making music for everyone in new and unexpected ways. Edition of 500.” -Sound American
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 28 - The Mapping Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
"Sound American Publications is pleased to announce the release of SA28: The Mapping Issue, guest-curated by Kyla-Rose Smith of Found Sound Nation. This issue presents the ideas of musicians and composers whose work is vital and whose voices should be more widely known outside of their native countries. SA28 begins with a conversation between curator Smith and SA’s Editor-in-chief, Nate Wooley. It then turns to vocalist Eva Salina Primack, who discusses motherhood, rural living, and the influence of Serbian singer Vida Pavlović. The London-based jazz phenom Shabaka Hutchings describes his journey with the shakuhachi, and Ghanaian pop-singer, Poetra Asantewa uses a damaged knee as a metaphor for collaboration as a necessary “joint.” South African artist Umlilo takes a deep dive into the healing power of making their most recent record, and the Indonesian singer and composer Peni Candra Rini talks about tradition and loss with Found Sound Nation’s co-artistic director, Elena Moon Park. The issue also features two legends of Latin American music: Cergio Prudencio—Bolivian founder of the Orchestra of Experimental Native Instruments (OEIN)—who looks at the “experimental” and “new” through anti-colonial lens, and Jocy de Oliveira—the legendary Brazilian composer and experimentalist—speaking with a new generation of Brazilian electronic musicians in the form of techno-wizard, Marcioz. "SA28’s Sites of Formation articles feature American icons new and old. Chicago trumpeter Ben Lamar Gay offers a meditation on Louis Armstrong’s 'West End Blues,' and West-Coast composer/bagpiper Matthew Welch gives an appreciation of Lou Harrison. Detroit-based percussionist and artist Ben Hall writes about his experiences as a student of Milford Graves and Bill Dixon and Peter Margasak reviews Yarn/Wire’s revolutionary Currents series. The issue finishes with the most recent installment in a long-running conversation between Wooley and legendary composer Annea Lockwood. This issue’s Exquisite Corpse is a unique and personal call-to-attention by composer Jules Gimbrone. "Many of the names in SA28: The Mapping Issue will be new to our audience, giving readers the opportunity to not only discover new music and sound, but allowing them to access ways of thinking, ways of making, and ways of being that they may not have considered before. This is an issue to open eyes, ears, and hearts. Edition of 500." - Sound American
	Artist: Title: Publisher: Format: Price:	Sound American No. 30 - The Thirtieth Issue Sound American book $10 (reduced)
"Landmark events should be celebrated, even when they lead us to the edge of a lacuna, when they denote the first moments of, what will hopefully be a short, silence. SA30 · The Thirtieth Issue is such an event. In the last ten years, Sound American has grown naturally from its humble roots as a DIY online publication. And it has done so while remaining small and intimate—with no advertising or outside economic influence—and with an ear toward the words of musicians and the passions of listeners like you. "Now is the time to take a break, however. For many reasons, economic as well as philosophical and personal, SA cannot continue. This will be the journal's last issue. I prefer to think of it as the end of an edition, with the hope that a wave of resources allows for a new beginning, but for now, it is a moment to celebrate the past thirty issues, the over-half-a-million words on music that Sound American has leveled on the world, and the warm and inviting community that has built itself around the journal in the past decade. "SA30 is a celebration of work: how we do it, why we do it, and the doubts and triumphs we experience as our work allows us to blunder toward some fuzzy creative resolution. To that end, the issue consists of interviews between artists from different milieus—all with a connection to the music that SA has championed over the years—and SA editor Nate Wooley about their working lives. Poet Eileen Myles, pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz, painter Albert Oehlen, and dancer/organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker share the issue's space with composer Nico Muhly, iconoclastic sound artist Ellen Fullman, and improvising bassist Brandon Lopez in talking about the personal ups and downs of living as an artist in America. Percussionist and composer Lesley Mok contributes a conceptually stunning standalone composition for our final Exquisite Corpse." - Sound American. Already sold out at the source.
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Triptych Myth s/t Hopscotch CD $5/standard or $10/autographed by Cooper-Moore
“Free jazz can be a knotty foreign language to learn, especially without any prior jazz context. Which is why the self-titled debut from Triptych Myth was such an Aha! moment for me in late 2003. … Triptych Myth -- the trio of Cooper-Moore (piano), Tom Abbs (bass), & Chad Taylor (drums) -- opened my ears. You can almost hear the directions unfold before your ears throughout the disc, which mixes hard, left-hook swingers with reflective improvisations. Right from the outset, opening cut 'Stem Cell' pounds a hard line that devolves before your ears and somehow finds its way back to the melody.” - Lars Gotrich, NPR, A Blog Supreme. Hear Stem Cell, Nautilus, & Susan. Cooper-Moore: piano Tom Abbs: bass Chad Taylor: drums (hear too their 2nd & final album, The Beautiful, & this 2005 concert at Roulette)
	Artist: Title: Label: Format: Price:	Abdul Wadud By Myself Gotta Groove LP $28
Long-awaited reissue of this classic LP, includes digital download. In a 1980 interview, Wadud stated: "My approach, as I outlined in the liner notes of my solo album [By Myself], is to approach the instrument in its totality. I don’t believe in boundaries, I don’t believe in the cello being necessarily limited to being an accompanying instrument, or a rhythm instrument, or a so-called 'lead' instrument. The cello can be anything that I want it to be. If I want it to be a drum, it can be a drum. There are times when I use it as such. When I want it to be a horn, it can be a horn." See also Hank Shteamer's recent story in the NY Times. Hear Oasis.