Always in Trouble. Jason Weiss

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      A SERIES FROM WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

       Edited by Daniel Cavicchi

      Always in Trouble: An Oral History of ESP-Disk’,the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss

      Forthcoming titles in the series include books by Michael Veal on Wayne Shorter and Harriet Alonso on Yip Harburg. For updates and more information on the series please visit our website www.wesleyan.edu/wespress.

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown CT 06459

      www.wesleyan.edu/wespress © 2012 Jason Weiss All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Katerine B. Kimball Typeset in Minion by Integrated Publishing Solutions

      Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press

      Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum

      requirement for recycled paper.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Weiss, Jason, 1955–

      Always in trouble : an oral history of ESP-Disk’, the most outrageous record label in America / by

      Jason Weiss.

      p. cm. — (Music/interview)

      Includes index.

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7158-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8195-7159-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) —

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7160-1 (ebook)

      1. ESP-Disk’ (Firm) 2. Jazz musicians—United States—Interviews. I. Title.

      ML405.W45 2011

      781.65092’273—dc23 2011046333

      5 4 3 2 1

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       A Note on the Photographers

       Introduction

       I What Got into His Head: Bernard Stollman Founder of the Label

       IN THE GREAT BEFORE

       1. Who, Where, When: Beginnings and Departures

       2. Music and Law: Into the Deep End Fast

       THE RISE AND FALL AND PERSISTENT RESURRECTION OF A CURIOUS RECORD COMPANY

       3. The Initial Years

       4. While It Worked

       5. Decline and Fall

       6. On Individual Artists

       7. About Some Records

       8. A Word or Two on Recording Engineers

       9. Close Encounters in the Music Business

       10. A Short History of Licensing

       11. In the Wilderness

       12. Revival

       II ESP-Disk’ as Lived and Witnessed

       Ishmael Reed

       Gunter Hampel

       John Tchicai

       Paul Thornton

       James Zitro

       Sonny Simmons

       Gary Peacock

       Milford Graves

       Alan Sondheim

       Tom Rapp

       Warren Smith

       Roscoe Mitchell

       Michael Snow

       Marion Brown

       Richard Alderson

       Roswell Rudd

       Montego Joe

       Evan Parker

       Alan Silva

       Giuseppi Logan

       Peter Stampfel

       Burton Greene

       The Coach with the Six Insides: Jean Erdman and Van Dexter

       Leo Feigin

       Erica Pomerance

       Joe Morris

       William Parker

       Ken Vandermark

       Gato Barbieri

       Amiri Baraka

       Michael D. Anderson

       Sal Salgado

       Lindha Kallerdahl

       Sirone

       Sunny Murray

       Marc Albert-Levin

       Jacques Coursil

       Steve Weber

       Steve Stollman

       Index

      Photographs follow pages 77 and 184.

Acknowledgments

      This work began its own circuitous life in mid-July 2008, when Bernard Stollman called me up one day, out of the blue, and asked if I would like to write a book with him about the ESP label. Although I eventually came to understand that I was the one writing the book, he made himself readily available from the start and provided whatever support he could. So, I must first of all thank him for his good humor and patience, as well as his generosity of spirit.

      In my frequent visits to the ESP office, I inevitably found any number of small details, favors, and questions to ask of the incredibly devoted staff, who have each in turn since moved on to new challenges: general manager Tom Abbs, director of promotions Adam Downey and his predecessor Fumi Tomita, and chief financial officer Douglas McGregor (their duties stretched well beyond what the titles indicate). I extend my sincere appreciation to them for their constant cooperation.

      Of course, there would be