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You can now listen to interviews from French radio show Taran's Free Jazz Hour: click here to listen to Joel Futterman's interview or click here for Ike Levin's interview.


Charles Lester Music is an independent recording label dedicated to the documentation and dissemination of music composed entirely "in the moment." We are committed to strengthening and expanding the uncompromised and uninhibited expression of purely improvised music without concern for the dictates and whims of commercialism. Our music captures, represents, and celebrates the truthfulness inherent to the creative process of collectively improvised music. We desire to enrich the listener's experience, while affirming the courage, determination, and the transcendent expressiveness of the musicians.

All of our music is always recorded on a single take, and never edited or altered so that it fully expresses the genuineness and sincerity of the musicians' creative self expression. We strive for the highest quality of sound replication, but are more concerned with capturing the energy and emotion of the recording session or performance. The musicians who create this music do not bring a predetermined structure or set of ideas to what they create together. Rather, they rely on their ears, their hearts and intuition to sketch and guide each composition.

Our hope is that our music will contribute to breaking down preconceptions and conventional notions about the nature of music, actively engage listeners, and expand the concept of what contemporary music can become.

All of our CDs are described on the "CD" page together with various published reviews they have received. The "Listen" page provides samples of tracks from each CD. Our "Buy" page will direct you to different internet sites where our CDs can be purchased, as well as other interesting music sites.

Keep checking back for new releases.

Peace