Inescapable Progression: 10 Jazz Labels You Need To Know In 2021

Another independent, musician-run label to support this year, Pyroclastic Records is run by the exquisite pianist Kris Davis. Her teeming duet album with Craig Taborn, Octopus(opens in a new tab), is a highlight of their catalog.

Pyroclastic also just put out Junk Magic’s Compass Confusion(opens in a new tab), one of the most jarring and fascinating crossovers into electronic music this sphere has seen in years.

Davis founded Pyroclastic to holistic ends. “I launched Pyroclastic Records in hopes that I could grow a modest label to support a whole community within the creative music scene,” she wrote on the label website. She wanted her artists to own their own masters and not take a financial hit to create.

“I knew I needed to develop a new model, so I created a nonprofit to support the work of the label,” she wrote. As a result, “We’ve been steadily growing, releasing 5 [to] 6 albums per year.”

Right now, their Bandcamp offers over a dozen selections by top-shelf artists like pianists Angelica Sanchez and Marilyn Crispell and trumpeter Nate Wooley. Whatever Pyroclastic has in store next, be advised not to sleep on it.