August 6, 2026:
In Memoriam - Stephen Zampino
Almost as soon as I returned from vacation — and, in some ways, while I was still away — I left again for Connecticut to say farewell to my older brother. This blog entry is dedicated to my older and only brother, Stephen Zampino, who passed away on August 4 after a seven-month battle with lymphoma.
My brother was warm, caring, and wonderfully silly, with a sense of humor that brought joy (and some rolling eyes) to everyone around him. He touched so many lives and leaves behind a lasting influence on all who knew him. He worked as a librarian at The Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut, primarily with children and young adults. A gifted storyteller, Stephen delighted generations of children with his lively, animated readings. His knowledge of children's and young-adult literature led to appointments to several national American Library Association committees. He served on the ALA's Notable Children's Videos Committee and was later selected as one of nine librarians nationwide to serve on the 2013 Robert F. Sibert Medal Committee, which chose the year's most distinguished informational book for children. He also served on the 2020 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Committee and the 2022 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Committee.
Rest in Peace Stevie, you were always there for me.
I hope the above explains why this blog entry is light on information, as was last week's. Our time at Squidco has been spent catching up with new releases and with the reporting, accounting and payments involved in running a store like ours. Even so, we have brought in some exceptionally strong albums over the past two weeks, with more exciting releases on the horizon. As I am often asked, my personal selections from the next two weeks follow this text.
We will also release the latest digital album on Squid Note Records this Friday, alongside our weekly mailing list: The Stateless Trio's In the Sunrise of Some Other World, featuring Rick Countryman on alto flute, Steve Hirsh on drums and Richard Allan Bates on electric bass and effects. It is unusual and rewarding to hear Countryman away from his customary alto saxophone, while Hirsh is well known for his work with the Mahakala label, which he helps lead. Bates is a frequent collaborator with Countryman and can be heard on a number of FMR releases. Please support these artists by purchasing the album, an excellent example of spontaneous improvisation created across international distances.
Finally, we continue to struggle with the new de minimis rules throughout Europe, and the EU countries themselves appear to be struggling with their implementation. We feel the loss of many European customers deeply. This is the second major wave of international cultural interference created by taxation and customs requirements, following the introduction of IOSS and new VAT rules in 2021.
It is frustrating to see the collection of taxes and duties impose costs that can rival or exceed the price of the albums themselves, obstructing the exchange of music across borders. Part of the rationale behind Squid Note Records is to continue our mission of bringing adventurous music to listeners through both import and export, but our hearts remain with physical media. It is a pity when administrative systems built around commerce remain indifferent to the cultural value of art.
 The Stateless Trio: In the Sunrise of Some Other World (Squid Note Records)
Developed through remote, spontaneously layered exchanges between the Philippines, Malaysia, and Minnesota, Rick Countryman's alto flute, replacing his customary alto saxophone, joins Richard Allan Bates' electric bass and effects and Steve Hirsh's reflective drumming in an organically connected improvisation of spacious textures, subtle rhythmic tension, and lyrical interaction.
 Tilbury, John: At Home [4 CDs] (Another Timbre)
Spanning home recordings from 2018 to 2026 with selected archival material, this four-CD set closes John Tilbury's recording career through piano, clavichord, organ and voice, joined by Keith Rowe, Klaus Filip and six pianists in music ranging from Elizabethan songbooks and contemporary compositions to quiet improvisation and reflection.
 Potter, Chris (feat Bill Frisell): Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition Records)
Chris Potter's suite draws on abolitionist John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry to examine conviction, sacrifice and America's unresolved conflicts, with Bill Frisell's grainy guitar joined by Burniss Travis, Nate Smith, Sara Caswell, Rane Moore and Zekkereya El-magharbel in an American-rooted sound of blues, folk melody, spacious orchestration and rhythmic drive, balancing historical gravity with vivid ensemble color.
 Byard, Jaki: The Classic 1960s Albums [4 CDs] (Enlightenment)
Collecting eight Jaki Byard albums from 1960-67, this 4-CD set follows the pianist and occasional alto saxophonist through his extraordinary synthesis of ragtime, stride, swing, bop and free jazz, joined across varied sessions by Booker Ervin, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Joe Farrell, Richard Williams, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Alan Dawson and others in music of encyclopedic reach, sharp humor and restless invention.
 Lewis, James Brandon Quartet (Lewis / Ortiz / Jones / Taylor): Omni (Intakt)
Advancing James Brandon Lewis' "Molecular Systematic Music" into what he describes as a kind of twelve-tone gospel, this sixth quartet album joins his commanding tenor saxophone and compositions with Aruan Ortiz's incisive piano, Brad Jones' grounded bass and Chad Taylor's responsive drumming in spiritually charged music shaped by rigorous structure, lyrical force and deeply interactive ensemble dialogue.
 OM (Leimgruber / Doran / Burri / Hemingway / Buck): Sudpol (Intakt)
Continuing OM's fusion of rock energy and free improvisation after the death of founding drummer Fredy Studer, soprano saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, guitarist Christy Doran and bassist Bobby Burri are joined by percussionists Gerry Hemingway and Tony Buck for a live set of dense electroacoustic interplay, surging rhythmic force and open-ended collective invention, carrying the group's "ElectroAcoustiCore" language into a new era.
 Mnemonist Orchestra: Mnemonist Orchestra (Klanggalerie)
Reissuing the 1979 debut from the Colorado collective that evolved through Mnemonists into Biota, four extended improvisations place Hugh Ragin, William Sharp, John Herdt and a large ensemble amid brass, reeds, prepared piano, electric instruments, voices, found percussion and tapes mixed live into volatile intersections of free jazz, musique concrète, sound poetry and industrial texture.
 Rabbit Rabbit Radio (Carla Kihlstedt / Matthias Bossi): Volume 4: The Animal I Am (Klanggalerie)
Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi's Rabbit Rabbit Radio return for their 4th volume of music poised between art rock, folk, chamber music, industrial texture and improvisation, joined by Jeremy Flower and Jon Evans as voice, strings, drums, electronics, guitars and bass shape finely crafted pieces on the border between popular music and art song, balancing experimental detail with direct emotional impact.
 Fujii, Satoko Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (Libra)
Satoko Fujii conducts her 14-piece Orchestra Kobe through a four-part work composed during the pandemic as an optimistic vision of shared humanity, joining layered reeds and brass with Takumi Seino's volatile guitar, Keishiro Saito's bass and dual drummers Yoshikazu Isaki and Hiromasa Sadaoka in a sweeping progression from stately melody and intimate subgroups to dissonant mass, fiery improvisation and a jubilant final theme.
 Tres Hongos (Wick / Riordan / Rosaly): More Chips (Relative Pitch)
Reuniting fourteen years after their first album, trumpeter Jacob Wick, pianist Marc Riordan and drummer Frank Rosaly revive Tres Hongos for eight live improvisations of fractured piano gestures, searching brass lines and continually reorganized percussion, moving through spacious suspensions, playful melodic exchanges and dense eruptions with the sharp reflexes and volatile rapport of a long-established trio.
 Parker, Evan / John Zorn: Those Landings (Tzadik)
Longtime friends and saxophone innovators Evan Parker on soprano and John Zorn on alto meet for their first dedicated studio collaboration, layering circular-breathed lines, multiphonics, whispers, cries and volatile gestures into five spacious works that treat the reeds as sources of breath, texture and atmosphere, balancing intimate beauty with finely controlled turbulence.
 Bruce, Lenny: Comedy & Controversy: The Original Albums 1958-61 [2 CDs] (Acrobat)
Collecting most of Lenny Bruce's first four Fantasy albums from 1958-61, this 2-CD set captures the comedian's freewheeling blend of satire, social criticism, and taboo-breaking language as he targets religion, politics, show business, sexuality, and American hypocrisy, documenting the fearless improv style that reshaped stand-up comedy and made his obscenity battles a landmark in the history of free expression.
Squidco Publishing Roundup:
You can view our latest fully cataloged albums in the Recently Section.
You can also browse new titles as they enter our Just In Stock Section — meaning we physically have the album and can ship it, though we may still be updating additional information about the release.
To see restocks of previously listed titles, visit our Recently Restocked page.
And if you're interested in a future release, you can ask us to notify you by email via our Upcoming Releases page — no obligation necessary.
July 28, 2026:
Just a quick note to say that I'm back on the job, and just posted our first update in over a week. We'll have a regular mailing list this week, and a number of incredible albums have arrived so take a good look at our Recently Section and Just In Stock Section,
July 16, 2026:
There will be no serious update to the blog this week, as I prepare to take a much-needed week's vacation and leave Carl in charge of the staff. The first half of 2026 has already been exceptionally busy, bringing new shipping challenges shaped by serious global events, along with the unexpected complexities of launching and distributing a digital label in the modern age. It has added considerably to our workload, but it has also produced some wonderful results, and I am more than ready for a week away. Before I go, I thought I would share the albums I have loaded up for the trip. All were released in 2026, and together they offer a wide-ranging cross-section of styles, moods, and energies - the perfect opportunity to spend some focused time with a great group of recordings!
 Zorn, John (w/ Julian Lage / Gavin Riley): Seven Sonnets (Tzadik)
John Zorn continues his lyrical acoustic guitar writing with a Shakespeare-inspired book of seven intimate compositions for Julian Lage and Gyan Riley, whose long collaboration as interpreters of Zorn's music brings warmth, precision and conversational clarity to pieces that draw on early music, minimalism, contemporary classical forms, folk, jazz and soundtrack-like atmosphere.
 Zorn, John / John Medeski Trio: The Bagatelles Vol. 8 (Tzadik)
A fierce interpretation of John Zorn's Bagatelles by the organ trio of John Medeski with guitarist David Fiuczynski and drummer Grant Calvin Weston, this release channels funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock into explosive, high-energy performances, transforming Zorn's concise compositions into a dynamic, groove-driven and sonically adventurous set.
 Remergency (Hirsh / Hollenberg / Sewelson): Wave Benders (Squid Note Records)
Drummer Steve Hirsh, guitarist Matt Hollenberg, and baritone saxophonist Dave Sewelson forge a volatile trio language that blends avant-rock intensity, free-jazz elasticity, and raw electric blues impulses, channeling tightly focused improvisations where ferocious energy, abrupt shifts, and deep mutual trust drive the music beyond genre boundaries into a space that feels both unruly and sharply intentional.
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Matthew Wright (Jerberg / Ensemble Klang / Spheric Totemic):
Thanos Chrysakis:
Tyshawn Sorey:
Kenny Wheeler Sextet:
Double Helix Quartet (Jackson Jr. / Ali / Harris / Ra):
Marty Ehrlich / Julius Hemphill:
Pierre Favre:
Steve Swell / Ellen Christi:
Ava Mendoza / Dave Sewelson:
Szilard Mezei Octet:
Grimes, Henry / Marzette Watts (w/ Robinson / Lancaster / Sharrock / Thornton / Berger / Moses &c): The Call (ALAY)
Armaroli, Sergio Quintet (w/ Sharp / Piccolo / Edwards / Sanders): Follow A Very Heavy Person, First Visit (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Ullmann, Gebhard / Uwe Oberg / Joe Fonda / Dieter Ulrich: New Conference Call (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
