Bernard Stollman, founder of the iconic NYC indie jazz record label, ESP-Disk, has died at age 85 after a prolonged battle with colon cancer that spread to his spine.
According to Billboard, ESP-Disk, which Stollman started in 1963, was founded on the idea that "the artists alone decide what you will hear on their ESP-Disk," a maxim that was printed on every release.
The artistic freedom that the label allowed appealed to myriad free jazz musicians like C-lite favorites Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Henry Grimes, Paul Bley and Albert Ayler.
The label started with the intent of releasing Esperanto-based music, which contributed to the label's name. At the end of that year, Ayler would record for the label and release the company's second-ever release, Spiritual Unity, which is considered to be a classic.
In an interview spanning his career, Stollman discussed Ayler and Coleman recording at the label:
"These things moved me. I had a broad but limited orientation to all art forms so I didn't look at the music as commerce ...
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