ASIAN IMPROV RECORDS

Asian Improv Records (AIRecords) is record label project managed by Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) to support experimental music and Asian & Asian American artists.​ More than a label, AIRecords is a cultural archive of Asian and Asian American artists active in the creative music communities in Chicago and beyond. AIRMW oversees the project to continue supporting underrepresented artists and  musical experimentation. 
 

​AIRecords was founded in 1987 by Bay Area musician-activists Jon Jang and Francis Wong as a vehicle for Asian American composers, performers and their collaborators to release music to the public during the emergence of the Asian American Consciousness Movement. 

Beginning with Jang’s landmark LP recording The Ballad or the Bullet? and in quick succession Glenn Horiuchi’s three LP releases Next Step (1998), Issei Spirit (1988), and Manzanar Voices (1989); the label catalog has grown to over 100 titles.