Kenneth Mallory Bookseller, ABAA

NY: ESP Disk, [1967]. [20]pp in stapled wraps, illustrated throughout in black and white. Slight tanning, else a near fine example. Twenty page trade catalog from the legendary record label ESP Disk covering releases up to number 1060 [Steve Lacy (Compatible Stereo). At times a visual manifesto of the label's philosophy as much a catalog, best summed up by a double page spread of an ink hand print outlined with the words "We Mass Produce Art Objects That When Properly Manipulated Make Innovational Sounds to Be Dug. Composer -Performer Sounds are well rounded by us for the U.S. Send Them. If They Send Us We'll send You." Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, starting with the release of Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity, ESP became the most important exponent of the burgeoning free jazz music scene of the time releasing records by such future greats as Sun Ra, Frank Wright, and Sunny Murray among others. Along with free jazz, the label also produced music by Ed Sanders' band the Fugs, the Lower East Side folk of the Holy Modal Rounders and the primitive proto-noise of the Godz. While never much of a commercial success for the musicians, the label's philosophy of "The artists alone decide what you will hear on their ESP-Disk" led to the creation of a musical output that to this day wields a heavy influence. Item #34597

Price: $300.00