Book description
In 1964, Bernard Stollman launched the independent record label
ESP-Disk' in New York City to document the free jazz movement there. A
bare-bones enterprise, ESP was in the right place at the right time,
producing albums by artists like Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, and Sun
Ra, as well as folk-rock bands like the Fugs and Pearls Before Swine.
But the label quickly ran into difficulties and, due to the politically
subversive nature of some productions and sloppy business practices, it
folded in 1974. Always in Trouble tells the story of ESP-Disk' through a
multitude of voices--first Stollman's, as he recounts the improbable
life of the label, and then the voices of many of the artists involved.
"Weiss wonderfully describes the role of ESP in the birth of the
free jazz movement and points to the necessity of record label owners
(such as Stollman) who translate their passion for music into new
musical forms. An absorbing account that will interest any music
fan."--Dave Szatmary, Library Journal JASON WEISS is a freelance
writer, editor, and translator. His books include Steve Lacy:
Conversations and Back in No Time: The Brion Gysin Reader. Weiss lives
in Brooklyn, New York.
