Freedonia Music releases five new CDs

The St. Louis-based label Freedonia Music, which specializes in free jazz and improvisation, has just added five new CD titles to its catalog. The new releases are:

* Autonomous Oblast from The James Marshall Human Arts Ensemble, which originally was recorded in 1975 and has been digitally remastered from the original studio tapes. The CD (pictured) is described as "big band old school free-blown' free jazz. Featuring rare performances by Maurice Malik King, James Marshall, Luther Thomas, Thurman Thomas, Jim Miller, Carl Arzinia Richards, Papa Glen Wright, and others."

* Esfoma, a 1984 set of solo improvisations by pianist Greg Mills, also digitally remastered.

* Dave Stone Solo, featuring newly recorded improvisations from Stone on tenor, soprano and baritone saxes and alto, soprano and bass clarinets.

* Kokopilau, from poet Michael Castro and multi-reedman J.D. Parran, described as "a ceremony of the ancient future celebrating a 30 year collaboration...Retelling mythic tales of life, death & rebirth with voice, tenor sax, indigenous hand crafted instruments and postmodern techniques."

* Endless Root, a 1996 live recording of performance poetry with music, from Michael Castro and multi-instrumentalist Joe Catalano.

The label, which is headed by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Jay Zelenka, also has a revamped Web site with a new look, improved functionality and more information about the various products and artists. Listeners can hear numerous short excerpts from each CD on the home page, and download full length MP3s of selected tunes. All Freedonia Music releases are available from the site for $10 each, which includes shipping in the USA and Canada.