For my money, this 1964 ESP album is a minor 60s free-jazz classic. Byron Allen was introduced to ESP by Ornette Coleman, and this, his only recording until a 2nd album appeared 15 years later, is very much in the Ornette trio vein, although not as...

"Albert Ayler's trio with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray is best known for the July 10, 1964, recording of Spiritual Unity, the album that made both Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous when it was released in 1965. A decade after that, in 1975, ESP-Disk' also released, as Prophecy, the first documentation of the group, recorded a month before Spiritual Unity by Canadian poet Paul Haines at a concert at a 91st Street club. These Cellar Café recordings are augmented here beyond the five cuts from the original...

"Michael Snow is a Canadian national treasure, a true Renaissance man. He assembled a stellar group to improvise a sound track for his art film, titled Walking Woman, featuring a silhouette that is rumored to have been inspired by Carla Bley."...

"Albert Ayler's Spirits Rejoice was recorded at Albury Judson Hall (now Cami Hall) on West 57th Street in New York City, by engineer David Hancock . This recording, which was recorded at 30 IPS, rather than the customary 15 IPS to achieve the highest p...

This radio performance, from Hilversum, Holland, November 9, 1964, is the last known recording by Albert's most famous early quartet: Albert Ayler-tenor sax, Don Cherry-cornet, Gary Peacock-bass and Sunny Murray...

Amina Baraka - words, lead vocals
Ras Moshe Burnett - tenor saxophone, flute, percussion
Rocco John Iacovone - curved soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, piano
John Pietaro - musical direction, drums, percussion
Laurie Towers - bass guitar

"Amina Baraka speaks truth and spits fire when she reads her poetry. She is a warm and friendly person, but keeps a metal shovel by her front door in case of trespassers. She is a devoted Communist. She is vast, she contains multitudes. After..

If you read the musican credits at the bottom of this listing, you will see that Barnacled is basically an offshoot of Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores. Every musician bar Michael has been a member of the Eyesores at one time or another...

Michael Bisio – bass
Kirk Knuffke - cornet and soprano cornet
Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello/electronics

“This music is inspired by Robert Henri (June 24, 1865 - July 12, 1929) artist, teacher, writer and an organizer of the group known as The Eight, a loose association of artists who protested the restrictive exhibition practices of the powerful, conservative National Academy of Design.”

"Jazz is the music of pure emotion, and it's the vehicle by which Bisio, Knuffke and Lonberg-Holm

This was the only solo album by the long-serving bassist for Sun Ra and it was also (I believe) the final album on ESP from the 1970s. Really nice, kinda somewhere between proto-kozmigroov, acoustic spacey jazz and free jazz that I've enjoyed for years and I'm glad to see this available again. Recommended.

"Legendary Sun Ra-bassist Ronnie Boykins stepped out on his own for his first and only release as a leader on, "The Will Come, Is Now". He was invited by ESP in 1964 to record his own album, an

Never-before released! With Don Cherry (trumpet), Gato Barbieri (tenor saxophone), Bo Stief (bass), Karl Berger (vibraphone), Aldo Romano (drums). The opening set at the Café Montmartre is presented here.

"Already commercially successful as tune-smiths for teenyboppers, Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot approached Bernard Stollman looking to focus their talents on something more original and unrestrained. Stollman asked, 'What would be your theme?' and...

�Immortal Light is the debut solo album by guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran. Since 2005, Buck has recorded and performed as one half of the alt-folk duo Arborea. To date, Arborea has released five albums, including 2013's ESP-Disk' release Fortress of the Sun.
Buck's music has developed through a decade of playing with Arborea, and the experience of playing blues and folk throughout the 1990s. He also draws inspiration from the deep well of folk and rock of the 1960s (Robbie Basho...

"Guitar tones linger and reverberate with a mystical translucence"-Dusted.

"Curran's music invokes swarming natural forces, looking for the borderline between the real and the sublime and, maybe, the supernatural."-Jesse Jarnow / Relix

"On Buck Curran's second solo album, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, the emphasis switches to acoustic guitar, as compared to his first solo album, Immortal Light. Side A, all solo acoustic instrumentals, seems to have fallen out of a wormhole emanating...

Buck Curran says: "The foundation of this recording is the musical chemistry between Jodi Pedrali and myself. Jodi and I had been playing music together since 2017 and the band we assembled for this session, centered around the idea of having London native Dave Barbarossa play drums with us. Dave Barbarossa (Bow Wow Wow and Adam Ant) was my favorite drummer during my formative years playing guitar in high school. Dave and I first met over a pint in London (in Soho) in April of 2022. We talked about...

There wasn't a hell of a lot going on in music for me in the early 1980's. Even many of the punk bands had died off and in their place were what my wife referred to 'punk disco'. And it was especially grim in terms of what bands were touring around. The one very bright spot on the scene was the pre-Knitting Factory harmolodic/punk funk combination from whence sprang (in alphabetical order, so I am not playing favorites): Curlew, Doctor Nerve, Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society, James Blood....

"Best known for his collaborations with Paul Flaherty, Michael Flower and Thurston Moore as well as a year-and-a-half stint as the drummer for Björk's Volta tour, Chris Corsano is widely considered to be one of the most adaptive drummers of hiS...

"John D. Thomas's band of the 1980s, Serious Business (heard on Serious Business, focused on his fusion and "free funk" compositions played with an electric sound. Extremely Serious Business marked a turning point, a return to a more acoustic setting...

Joe McPhee - tenor saxophone
Louie Belogenis - tenor and soprano saxophones
Joe Morris – bass
Charles Downs – drums

"It is an interesting question how old 'free jazz' is. At some point, even a theme and a plan became optional. In the ESP-Disk' catalog, 'Taneou' on the Giuseppi Logan Quartet's eponymous album sounds like this approach of complete freedom starting from scratch; it was recorded on November 11, 1964. Joe McPhee, in 1967, appeared on Clifford Thornton's album Freedom and.

Bára Gísladóttir - double bass, effects, composition

“Bára Gísladóttir is an Icelandic composer and double bassist based in Copenhagen. She is an active performer and regularly plays her own music, mostly solo or with her long-time collaborator Skúli Sverrisson. Additionally, she is the double bassist of Elja Ensemble. Occasionally, she performs as a soloist with ensembles or orchestras, most recently in her own double bass concert, "Hringla," with the Copenhagen Philharmonic.
Every sound...

Also known as "Burton Greene Quartet".
"Reissue of the 1st Burton Greene album on ESP-Disk, recorded 12/18/65. Featuring Burton Greene (piano, ), Marion Brown (alto saxophone), Henry Grimes (bass), Dave Grant (percussion), Frank Smith (tenor), Tom..

"As one of the most recorded bassists in the ESP-Disk catalog, Henry Grimes made his debut on ESP with Perry Robinson on clarinet, lending his unique Klezmer approach to the New Music. This adventurous album is motivating and inviting to the listener...

"Recorded in Holland on December 21, 1966, Music From Europe was a strong statement of European free jazz from one of its first and strongest leaders. Over the beautifully structured compositional suites are strong blowing and improvising by both the...

"The Rounders first electric outing from '67, and the only one to feature their most cosmos-expanding lineup (including playwright Sam Shephard). This is the sound of speed-shooting hillbillies discovering the secrets of life in the sewers below...

Infamous (that title, baby!), never-before released free-jazz session makes its first appearance here!

"Despite the profound obscurity of Norman Howard’s music, and that of his mate Joe Phillips, it’s crucial as a window not only into...

David Murray - tenor sax
Oliver Lake - flute, soprano & alto sax, flugel horn, talking drum, cowbell
Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet, soprano trumpet, flugel horn, Indian flute
Michael Gregory Jackson - acoustic guitar, vocal, electric guitar, electric mandolin, bamboo flute, timpani, marimba, percussion

"Before his career defining records on Arista/Novus in the 80s and 90s, jazz and fusion guitarist Michael Gregory Jackson recorded his debut for ESP-Disk'. The sessions, recorded in New