V/A - Actions For Free Jazz

Smalltown Superjazzz was a free-jazz subsidiary label to Smalltown Supersound from 2005-2012. The label has been dormant in the years 2012 to 2019, but is now reborn as the AFJ-Series. The AFJ-Series represents a new start - built on the foundation and heritage of the Superjazzz label. AFJ-Series is short for Actions for free jazz. This was the slogan for Smalltown Superjazzz and was borrowed at the time from Don Cherry & Krystzof Penderecki’s The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra track “Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra” from the 1971 album “Actions”. AFJ-Series is a series and a subsidiary label within Smalltown Supersound. 

AFJ-Series is proud to release this compilation which features music from 40 releases, spanning almost 20 years on Smalltown Supersound, Superjazzz and the AFJ-series. The idea with the compilation is to bring the Superjazzz era into the AFJ-Series, but also to leave it behind - and start fresh. A requiem and rebirth combined. The idea came from Mats Gustafsson and was inspired by the famous 1964 ESP Disk sampler, which with its hard edit approach has become a classic in its own right. 

The task of selecting, editing and structuring the material was given to Lasse Marhaug, who has been part of the Smalltown family for more than 20 years. Marhaug spent months plowing through the entire catalogue, and while the main goal was to give a total overview of Smalltown's wide range of releases in the improvised/jazz/free music field, Marhaug's choices and juxtapositions almost plays as a new piece of music.  So here it is - 40 tracks of total freedom. Or the universality in music of improvisation as Derek Bailey called it.

Tracklist:
A1. Thurston Moore & Mats Gustafsson - Hit The Wall 
A2. Evan Parker & Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - The Brewery Tap 
A3. The Thing - Bag It! 
A4. The Thing With Ken Vandermark - Immediate Sound 
A5. Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love - Letter To A Stranger 
A6. Two Bands And A Legend - Two Bands And A Legend 
A7. Peter Brötzmann & Paal Nilssen-Love - Sweet Sweat
A8. Christian Marclay & Mats Gustafsson - Link
A9. Free Fall - The Point In A Line 1
A10. Joe McPhee & Paal Nilssen-Love - Lift Every Voice And Sing 
A11. The Thing (2) & Cato Salsa Experience - Sounds Like A Sandwich 
A12. Peter Brötzmann & Paal Nilssen-Love - Woodcuts 
A13. Offonoff - Slap And Tickle 
A14. Lean Left - Vol 2 
A15. Kieran Hebden / Steve Reid / Mats Gustafsson - Live At The South Bank
A16. Two Bands And A Legend - Two Bands And A Legend 
A17. Diskaholics Anonymous Trio Diskaholics - Anonymous Trio 
A18. Yoshimi & Mats Gustafsson - Words On The Floor 
A19. Free Fall - Amsterdam Funk 
A20. Mats Gustafsson & Paal Nilssen-Love - I Love It When You Snore 
B1. The Thing - Action Jazz 
B2. Peter Brötzmann / Mats Gustafsson / Paal Nilssen-Love - The Fat Is Gone 
B3. The Thing With Otomo Yoshihide - Live In Tokyo 
B4. Original Silence - The First Original Silence 
B5. Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love - Chicago Volume 
B6. Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love - Milwaukee Volume 
B7. The Thing - Mono 1
B8. Free Fall - Gray Scale 
B9. Diskaholics Anonymous Trio - Weapons Of Ass Destruction 
B10 Mats Gustafsson / Sonic Youth With Friends -  Hidros 3 
B11. The Thing - Garage 
B12. The Thing - Live At Blå 
B13. Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet - 3 Nights In Oslo 
B14. The Thing - Now And Forever
B15. The Thing with Jim O'Rourke - Shinjuku Growl 
B16. Paal Nilssen-Love & Håkon Kornstad - Schlinger 
B17. Original Silence - The Second Original Silence 
B18. Aotearoa Snuff Jazz Sextet - Live At The Christchurch Town Hall 
B19. Joe McPhee & Lasse Marhaug - Harmonia Macrocosmica 
B20. Eye & Mats Gustafsson - And Now... 

Format: 12-inch Vinyl LP
Label: Smalltown Supersound - Actions For Free Jazz
Catalog: STSAFJ250LP
Released: 2020
Genre: Jazz / Free Jazz / Improvisation