Parent company Palm Pictures Distributor(s) Bandcamp Defunct 1997 | Status Inactive Date founded 1989 | |
Genre World music, avant-garde jazz, field recordings Founders Bill Laswell, Chris Blackwell Albums Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), Ask the Ages, Too Much Sugar for a Dime, Ekstasis, Hallucination Engine | ||
Axiom was a record label founded by musician Bill Laswell in 1989, with the support of Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records. Axiom was an independent subdivision of Blackwell's Island Records, with Laswell being afforded a budget for a certain number of albums each year of his own choosing. The freedom Blackwell gave Laswell gave rise to albums and field recordings that probably would not have been made by a larger label.
In 1989, Chris Blackwell sold Island Records to Polygram, which, in 2000, became a subsidiary of the Universal Music Group, with Blackwell staying on as CEO. In 1997, Blackwell resigned from PolyGram after struggling with what he saw as restrictive oversight of his management. Axiom was (at that moment) shuttered as well, with most of the catalog falling out of print since then. When Blackwell started up his new venture, Palm Pictures, Laswell and the Axiom imprint were once again reactivated. Palm since scaled back its involvement in the recorded-music field, effectively making Axiom dormant once again.
Under Island's aegis, Axiom released Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages and Henry Threadgill's Too Much Sugar for a Dime, as well as records by Laswell projects such as Praxis and Material. A series of world music titles were also released by Axiom, including Simon Shaheen's tribute to Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Shankar's Soul Searcher and pristine field recordings of Gnawa musicians in Morocco, Mandinka & Fulani Music in the Gambia and the famed Master Musicians of Jajouka in the Rif Mountains of Morocco. The major-label backing that Blackwell gave allowed Laswell to trek to these far out regions with modern equipment and make what are arguably the most pristine recordings of this ancient music.
After moving to Palm Pictures, Axiom released only a handful of albums, notably by Material and the group Tabla Beat Science, which included Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, Bill Laswell, Karsh Kale, and others.