★Esp-Disk
Cave Rock
2013 reissue; originally released in 1969. Also known as Orgasm, this 1969 album has long been hailed as an underground classic. Included in Spin's 2013 list "The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s." Finally available again on vinyl in an ESP-Disk' 50th Anniversary Remaster version. "Two frustrated pop songwriters and the mysterious seven-person 'Connecticut Tribe' hole up in an Upper West Side studio and yell and moan and convulse until they discover a place more primordial than hardcore. …
Explosions
**2020 restock, nice price** Probably the first recording (1965!) of improvised jazz combined with electronic music, as well as playing inside the piano and other new music techniques. Bob James (piano); Barre Philips (bass); Robert Pozar (percussion). Also including Bob Ashley and Gordon Mumma (electronic tape collage). The recording is made of an assembly of estranging electronic sound effects, trite sports commentaries, and the music of a beautifully improvising jazz trio. Bob James has, thro…
Bells
Reissue on 180-gram opaque white vinyl. Originally released in 1965. The transitional "Bells" was just under 20 minutes, released originally as one side of a clear vinyl LP with the other side empty of music. It was recorded at a May 1, 1965, Town Hall concert of ESP artists, displaying Albert Ayler's new group, which added Albert's brother Donald and Charles Tyler. The denser sound of "Bells" shows Ayler moving towards the bigger sonic statement made on Spirits Rejoice (ESPDISK 1020CD/LP), h…
Closer
When Oscar Peterson moved from Montréal to New York in 1949, then-17-year-old Paul Bley took over Peterson's residency at the Alberta Lounge on Peterson's recommendation; in his 20s, Bley played with Charlie Parker. Bley incorporated maverick pianist Lennie Tristano's approach to improvisation and collaborated with Charles Mingus, and in 1958 in Los Angeles famously put together a band with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins. His move into free improvisation in the gro…
Prophecy
ESP-Disk present a reissue of Albert Ayler's Prophecy, originally released in 1975. Recorded in concert at the Cellar Cafe, NYC, June 14, 1964. Three weeks before this trio recorded ESP-Disk's first jazz album, the epochal Spiritual Unity (ESPDISK 1002CD/LP), it was captured "live" by Canadian poet Paul Haines, who also recorded the New York Eye and Ear Control soundtrack (ESPDISK 1016CD/LP). This is one of the most influential groups in jazz history, a coming together of like-minded innovators …
Lie, The Love and Terror Cult
ESP-Disk present a reissue of Charles Manson's Sings, originally released as Lie: The Love and Terror Cult in 1970. Charles Manson visited New York City in the early '60s with his guitar and his songs in a vain search for recognition. Later, he had better luck in Beverly Hills, where famous musicians let him use their studio to produce this album. He has vocal backup from the women of the "family". During a stay in a San Francisco prison, he met a fellow inmate and gave him the album to rel…
In The Beginning 1963-1964
2012 release. This four-CD set documents the first recordings of the iconic tenor saxophonist, prior to his well-known association with John Coltrane. Beginning with two previously unreleased sessions withOrnette Coleman alumni Don Cherry and Paul Bley, followed byPharoah's debut date as a leader for ESP-Disk', and concluding with the first issue ever of the complete December 30 and 31, 1964, concerts with Sun Ra at Judson Hall, Sanders's only known recordings with the Arkestra. The set also inc…
Iron Path
All-star quartet Last Exit garnered its reputation with a string of unrelentingly forceful concert recordings in which it pushed the energy style of free jazz to its limits. When the group went into the studio, though, a very different sort of album emerged -- very different not only from all their other output, but even from anything else ever heard from anyone at that time. Because of that, when it was released in 1988, some fans and critics didn't know what to make of it. This was, in a way, …
Look Up
2012 release. Born in Buffalo in 1939, Charles Gayle had hit New York City by the early '70s. He almost made his mark with an album on ESP-Disk' in 1974, but the label shut down before it came out. When he next recorded in 1988, he had been homeless for a while, sheltering in an empty Brooklyn storefront. The Knitting Factory gigs and concurrent CDs from Swedish imprint Silkheart, the Knit's own house label, the Italian label Black Saint, and a particularly well-received-in-Europe album on FMP, …
Blues For Albert Ayler
2012 release. ESP-Disk is now releasing Frank Wright's tribute concert to tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler titled Blues For Albert Ayler in a 6 part suite. This high energy performance was recorded live at Rashied Ali's club 'Ali's Alley' on July 17th, 1974. This is the Right Reverend Frank Wright, live and raw, in his element, with a most impressive band. Frank Wright plays tenor sax and bass clarinet, with an electrifying performance from guitarist James 'Blood' Ulmer, bassistBenny Wilson and dr…
The Loweski
This track is the unreleased beginning portion of this 1973 Frank Loweconcert that was released as Black Beings. This incredible performance is filled with the fire and drive Frank Lowe was projecting on his tenor sax in 1973. This extended track titled "The Lowesky" is set in a five part suite form. Each performer is allowed ample time to express his individual contributions to this phenomenal group. The Band: Frank Lowe-tenor sax, Joseph Jarman-soprano, Raymond Lee Cheng (The Wizard)-violin, W…
College Tour Vol.1: The Complete Nothing Is...
In 1966 Bernard Stollman sent Sun Ra and his Arkestra, along with audio engineer David B. Jones on a tour of five New York Colleges. When they returned, just 39 minutes of music was chosen to be released as the original ESP 1045 "Nothing Is...". 44 years later, after extensive research, producer and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson has pieced together the missing parts of the infamous New York College Tour. Recorded on May 18th 1966 at St. Lawrence University in Potsdam, NY, this illuminatin…
Sun Ra Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold
In 1964, Sun Ra asked the young tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders to join him, while Arkestra mainstay John Gilmore was busy working with Paul Bley, Andrew Hill and Art Blakey. Before the recording's original release in 1976, Sun Ra stated: 'It should be very interesting to the world to show what the pre-Coltrane Pharoah Sanders was like.' Also appearing on Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold is the little-heard flautist, Black Harold(Harold Murray), who takes the lead on the track “The Voi…
Live in 1965
A rousing live album from the Holy Modal Roundersfeaturing songs spanning their careers on both the ESP and Prestige labels. Digitally remastered Booklet with essay by John Kruth. Peter Stampfel(banjo, fiddle, violin, arranger, vocals, electric fiddle); Steve Weber (guitar, arranger, vocals). First live recording, recorded at Chess Mate, in Detroit, 1965. Digitally remastered. Booklet with essay byJohn Kruth.
Live At Cafe Montmartre 1966 Volume Two
"Don Cherry, more than any other artist in the jazz of his era, pioneered the music's internationalist nature that has now come to be commonly accepted as an integral part of its character. The individuality of Cherry's contribution to the history of jazz has often been unfairly obscured by his admittedly important association with the music ofOrnette Coleman. While the (pocket) trumpeter's position as Coleman's front line partner in the altoist's first revolutionary quartet was indeed a major o…
Gold
Lindha Kallerdahl studied jazz at renowned Swedish schools Skurup and Birka from 1993-1996. Situated in Stockholm, she was exposed to free music at a young age, and has participated in collaborations with Mats Gustavsson, David Stackenäs, Raymond Strid, Mattias Windemo, andFredrik Ljungkvist. In Summer 2000, Kallerdahl made a spectacular project with Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustavsson, and dancer Lotta Melin. In 2001, she was awarded the prestigious Jazz in Sweden Prize, which resulted in the critica…
Recital
Originally released in 1961. Peruvian singer Yma Sumac glided effortlessly from contralto to coloratura, her voice covering a range of no less than four octaves -- skeptics even suspected studio trickery! Her early repertoire included popular music and jazz pieces, but by this 1961 concert, she was devoting herself to the goal of making known the music of her homeland and neighboring countries. This is the first time ESP-Disk has released this concert on vinyl. To fit it on a single LP, the orch…
The Heliocentric Worlds Vol.3
Heliocentric Worlds Volume 3 is the continuation of the Heliocentric Worlds Volume 2 session, recorded the same day and with the same personnel, that has been lost for nearly 40 years. Recently, the tapes were discovered, digitally remastered, and are now available for the first time. Totally-unreleased studio material -- continuation of the session hailed as a "...masterpiece of free jazz."Sun Ra (piano, tuned bongos, clavioline); Marshall Allen (alto sax, pic, flute); Pat Patrick (bar sax);Wal…
Concert for the Comet Kohoutek
Recorded on December 22, 1973 in New York City at the famous Town Hall, this eclectic ESPDisk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigates its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers. Compared to the original pressing, this re-issue is digitally remastered by Joe Phillips and includes brie…
Clarity
Before his career defining records on Arista/Novus in the 80s and 90s, jazz and fusion guitaristMichael Gregory Jackson recorded his debut for ESP-Disk'. The sessions, recorded in New York, Connecticut and Los Angeles in the summer of 1976 are wildly meditative and personify the seventies laid-back vibe. A trio of soft, lilting melodies set the mood; David Murray on tenor sax, Oliver Lake on flute, and the album's leader, Michael Gregory Jackson on acoustic guitar. The unfolding stream of ideas …