Country of origin U.S. Official website www.espdisk.com Founded 1965 | Location Brooklyn, New York Founder Bernard Stollman | |
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Genre Free jazz, free improvisation, folk rock, underground rock Artists Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, The Fugs, Paul Bley Albums Spiritual Unity, The Heliocentric Worlds of, New York Eye and Ear Control, Nothing Is, The Fugs First Album | ||
My esp disk vinyl collection 1960 s underground free jazz folk rock avant garde
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.
Contents
- My esp disk vinyl collection 1960 s underground free jazz folk rock avant garde
- Albert ayler spiritual unity 01 ghosts first variation
- References
Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, starting with its second release (Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity), ESP became the most important exponent of what is commonly referred to as free jazz. ESP also released recordings by uncommercial underground rock acts including the Fugs, The Godz and Pearls Before Swine. Though it suspended releasing records in the 1970s, several new releases by iconic and cutting edge artists have been released by the label, and it still exists with nearly its entire catalog available.
Bernard Stollman faced allegations of not paying royalties to the artists that were signed to ESP-Disk. Tom Rapp of the band Pearls Before Swine claimed that "We never got any money from ESP. Never, not even like a hundred dollars or something. My real sense is that he [Stollman] was abducted by aliens, and when he was probed it erased his memory of where all the money was". Peter Stampfel of the band Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs claimed that Stollman told him that "the contract says that all rights belong to me. You have no royalties ever, ever, ever. The publishing is mine. You don't own the songs anymore. We don't owe you anything". Members of The Fugs have also stated claims that they received an unfavourable record contract. Ed Sanders said that "our royalty rate was less than 3%, one of the lower percentages in the history of western civilization". 801 Magazine, which featured an interview with Stollman in 2008, said that Stollman claimed that "he paid all the recording costs and gave the musicians small advances", and that "he never made any money from the music".
Other artists who have recorded for this label include Ornette Coleman (the "Town Hall Concert"), Pharoah Sanders (who made his recording debut on ESP), Sun Ra, Ronnie Boykins, Marion Brown, Sonny Simmons, Paul Bley, Ran Blake, and Perry Robinson.
The label's catalog has been licensed frequently to other record labels since the 1970s. Stollman later resumed direct responsibility for reissues and for recruiting new emerging artists.