Burning Ambulance Launches Label With New Jazz Comp Eyes Shut, Ears Open
Burning Ambulance, founded in 2010 by artist I.A. Freeman and journalist Philip Freeman — who also happens to be a Stereogum contributor and writes our monthly jazz column — started out as a small print on demand zine. Then it was a website. Then there was a podcast. And now, a decade later, it’s becoming a label: Burning Ambulance Music.
Burning Ambulance Music will release its first official CDs next year. But to launch things now, BA is putting out Eyes Shut, Ears Open: A Burning Ambulance Compilation, a digital-only collection featuring exclusive unreleased tracks from contemporary jazz artists like Mats Gustafsson, Aaron Parks, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, Melissa Aldana, Whit Dickey and Matthew Shipp, Ivo Perelman andd Nate Wooley, Melvin Gibbs, Dead Neanderthals, and more.
A few of the tracks are streaming, but to hear the whole thing, you’ll have to shell out $10. Most of that will go to raise funds for the label’s future releases, but 25% of the proceeds will be donated to the Jazz Foundation Of America’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund, which provides housing assistance, medical care, and financial assistance to musicians. Check out the comp below.