November 14, 2025:
It's been a busy couple of weeks here as we've focused on upcoming releases for the late fall and winter seasons, while also continuing to navigate the shipping challenges caused by U.S. tariffs. The good news is that we've worked out several major purchases with EU and UK labels that we'll be announcing soon, including opportunities for significant price reductions on some important releases.
I've also spent a great deal of time preparing three upcoming Squid Note Records releases, which I'll share with you in my next blog entry. As a teaser, we'll be introducing a beautiful West Coast duo of acoustic guitar with reeds and accordion; a smoking psychedelic improv trio of sax, drums, and guitar; and a remarkable, wildly energetic solo cello album.
We're still finding our footing on the digital-album side of things — a shift from our long-standing stance of offering physical media only. Even so, our core identity remains rooted in the art objects themselves: beautifully crafted compact discs, vinyl LPs, and cassettes, along with the occasional USB edition or art object paired with download codes. These formats preserve the history and permanence of great music, and that commitment remains central to what we do.
Between Notes and Breath: The World of Sei Migue:
A sad note this week as I learned of the passing of trumpeter Sei Miguel. We've carried his albums since our early days — back in 2006 we picked up his The Tone Gardens CD on the Creative Sources label, featuring Fala Mariam on alto trombone, Rafael Toral on electronics, and César Burago on percussion. A beautiful album rooted in a reductionist approach to improvisation, it drew me in much in the same way that the early minimal works of Jacob Wick, Axel Dörner, Birgit Uehler, or Nate Wooley did. Following his own aesthetic and singular approach to the trumpet, Miguel created a virtual sonic garden — tightly controlled, delicately shaped, and completely compelling.
Moving forward to the present era, one of the standout releases from the recently reborn ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd is Panorama, the trio of cellist Daniel Levin, trombonist Fala Mariam, and Sei Miguel on pocket trumpet. Miguel's long and meaningful collaboration with Fala Mariam connects these recordings, but his influence radiates far more widely across the Lisbon scene. His impact can be heard through his lasting relationships with Abdul Moimeme, André Gonçalves, Armando Pereira, Bruno Parrinha, Bruno Silva, Carlos Santos, César Burago, Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, Hernâni Faustino, Luís Lopes, Miguel Mira, Nuno Torres, Paulo Curado, Pedro Gomes, Pedro Lourenço, Rafael Toral, Raphael Soares, Rodrigo Pinheiro, and Rodrigo Amado — a virtual who's who of Lisbon's experimental improvisers.
Miguel also collaborated with an impressive range of international artists, including the aforementioned Daniel Levin, as well as David Toop, Joe Giardullo, John Butcher, Harvey Sorgen, Evan Parker, and Luís Vicente, to name only a few.
A little history: Born in Paris in 1961 and raised between France, Brazil, and eventually Portugal, Sei Miguel developed a singular approach to the trumpet that would profoundly shape Lisbon's experimental and improvisational music landscape. Though he lived a peripatetic early life, it was in Portugal that his artistic identity took definitive form, becoming one of the country's most quietly influential musicians and thinkers.
Settling in Lisbon in the 1980s, Miguel crafted an aesthetic entirely his own — sparse, distilled, and intensely focused on micro-gesture and ensemble interaction. His sound placed enormous value on structure within improvisation, often reducing material to essential contours that balanced silence, resonance, and tightly controlled timbre. This approach became a cornerstone of the Lisbon scene long before its international visibility; for many musicians in Portugal, Miguel was both a mentor and a philosophical guide.
In the early 2000s his work found an ideal home on Creative Sources, the Lisbon label that documented much of the city's emerging improvisational language. Albums such as The Tone Gardens, No Circus, and Winter Garden revealed the precision and abstraction that defined his music — carefully shaped miniature structures, unexpected spaces, and a compositional sense rare in free improvisation. These recordings introduced a wider audience to the quiet radicalism at the heart of his work.
At the same time, Miguel cultivated a series of ensembles that embodied his evolving concepts: small groups exploring modular forms, larger formations working with timbral counterpoint, and duos that highlighted his uncanny sense of melodic compression. His long-term collaborators — including trombonist Fala Mariam and various members of what became known as the "Sei Miguel Unit" — helped realize a body of music that was at once rigorous and delicately poetic.
Throughout his career, Miguel remained dedicated to the idea that improvisation could be composed "from the inside," with each musician responsible for maintaining the architecture of the piece even as it unfolded. His influence on Portuguese music is impossible to overstate; generations of improvisers cite him as a foundational presence.
Miguel's final years brought renewed international attention, culminating in the ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd release that paired him with American trumpeter Daniel Levine — a dialogue that illuminated just how distinct, refined, and forward-looking his musical vision remained. The album stands as a fitting final document: two trumpeters meeting across histories and aesthetics, with Miguel's voice still unmistakably nestled in the spaces between sound and silence.
Sei Miguel leaves behind an extraordinary body of work and a deep imprint on Portugal's creative music community — a legacy built not on volume or spectacle, but on carefully shaped sound, attentive listening, and an unwavering commitment to artistic clarity.
 Levin, Daniel / Fala Mariam / Sei Miguel: Panorama (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Performing in the liminal space between free improv, jazz & chamber-oriented improvisation, the trio of American cellist Daniel Levin with long-time Portuguese collaborators Sei Miguel on pocket trumpet and Fala Mariam on alto trombone, come together for these authoritative recordings in Lisbon, captured in the studio and at a live performance of solos & duos at Galeria Ze dos Bois.
 Miguel, Sei Unit Core: Road Music (Clean Feed)
Recordings from concerts throughout Portugal between 2016-2021 from pocket trumpeter Sei Miguel's quartet with Fala Mariam on alto trombone, Bruno Silva on electric guitar and Pedro Castello-Lopes on percussion & drums (Pandeiro & Kalengo), uniquely orchestrated works often simplifying larger orchestral concepts, clarifying these warmly embraceable original Miguel compositions.
 Miguel, Sei: The Original Drum (Clean Feed)
Four unique compositions from Portuguese trumpeter Sei Miguel, whose work embraces jazz history while incorporating his own music systems, here each piece varying the size of each grouping with one constant, his frequent sideman, alto trombonist Fala Mariam; plus luminaries including Rodrigo Amado, Ernesto Rodridgues, Helena Espvall, Nuno Torres, Rafel Toral, Paulo Curado, &c.
 O Carro de Fogo de Sei Miguel: Um Um Um, E Nao Ha Forma De Morrer (Shhpuma)
Trumpeter & composer Sei Miguel's second O Carro De Fogo De Sei Migue continues his merging of electric jazz with ea-overtones, in three live recordings with Fala Mariam on trombone & Rings, Nuno Torres on saxophone & Rings, Bruno Silva on electric guitar, Pedro Lourenco on electric bass, Andre Goncalves on organs & ATMOS and Luis Desirat & Raphael Soares on percussion.
 Isotope Ensemble: Uranium (Creative Sources)
Continuing their exploration of isotopes, here focusing on the unstable element Uranium, the Portuguese Isotope Ensemble led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues presents two stunningly detailed concert performances from the 2021 CSFest XV at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, with some of Europe's leading improvisers taking on U92 in both "Electroacoustic" and "Acoustic" properties.
 Miguel, Sei: O Carro De Fogo De Sei Miguel [VINYL] (Clean Feed)
Recording live in the Namouche Studios in Lisbon in 2018, trumpeter Sei Miguel's octet performs a large work translating to "Fire Car", inspired by William Blake's "Jerusalem" (Chariot of Fire), reminding of early 70's Miles/fusion work as organist Andre Goncalves creates an atmospheric backbone over which the band introduces repetition and variation; mysterious and singular.
 RED trio and Celebration Band: Suite 10 Years Anniversary [2 CDs] (NoBusiness)
The Red Trio of pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, bassist Hernâni Faustino and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini mark their 10th anniversary as a trio on this 2-CD set of an outstanding concert in Lisboa, PT, joining forces with the 13-member Celebration Band, whose members include John Butcher, Ernesto Rodrigues, Luis Vicente, Sei Miguel, Rodrigo Amado, Mattias Stahl, Carlos Santos, &c.
 Miguel, Sei : (Five) Stories Untold (Clean Feed)
A collection of "stories untold" with varying line-ups, from a duo with Fala Mariam to a sextet with Mariam, Nuno Torres, Rodrigo Amado, Jose Bruno Parrinha & Paulo Curado, including the participation of other musicians like Carlos Santos, Hernani Faustino, Luis Desirat & Moz Carrapa.
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.
October 31, 2025:
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.
October 28, 2025:
We took a few deep breaths over the last two weeks to catch up on new releases and plan for the next couple of months as we prepare for the holiday season and adjust to the cooler weather here in the Northern Hemisphere. That gave us time to make some updates to our websites and do a little housecleaning in our catalog. We also finalized agreements on three new digital albums on our own Squid Note Records, which I'll write more about soon.
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Irene Schweizer / Rudiger Carl / Johnny Dyani / Han Bennink:
Sylvain Kassap / Steve Swell / Benjamin Duboc / Chad Taylor:
Mats Gustafsson / Ken Vandermark / Tomeka Reid / Chad Taylor:
Elliott Sharp / Scott Fields:
Queen Bee, Mezzacappa and The Bay Area:
Thanos Chrysakis:
Fred Frith / Shelley Burgon:
CHANGES TO blind:
Michel Doneda / Le Quan Ninh / Nuria Andorra:
Rutger Zuydervelt a.k.a. Machinefabriek:
Variable Geometry Orchestra: Lulu Auf Dem Berg (Creative Sources)
Afterfall (Lopes / Giardullo / Miguel / Duboc / Sorgen): Afterfall (Clean Feed)
Miguel, Sei: Esfingico - Suite for a Jazz Combo (Clean Feed)
Variable Geometry Orchestra: Stills (Creative Sources)
