ESP-Disk' News

ESP Live @ The Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe)

ESP News — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:51:45 +0000

520 Dakalb Avenue (Near Bedford Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11205
G Train to Bedford/Nostrand

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

8:30 pm
Blaise Siwula & Bern Nix

Blaise Siwula - alto / tenor sax
Bern Nix - guitar

9:30 pm
Alan Sondheim

Alan Sondheim – electric oud, electric saz
Azure Carter – vocals
Myk Freedman – lap steel

ESP L I V E at the Bowery

ESP News — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:21:04 +0000

FEBRUARY 16th, 2010

$10 admission
full ESP-Disk’ catalog will be available along w/ several other used and new LPs from our new record store!

10pm
Ed Askew + Steve Gunn

Ed Askew – voice
Steve Gunn – guitar and Martin tiple

It may be that Ed Askew’s time has finally come. His 1968 ESP Disk album, “Ask the Unicorn,” is now hailed as landmark of outsider psych-folk, and the songs he continues to write and record retain the outsider virtues of honesty, sincerity, and personal vision.

11pm
Rush – Peck – SiegelSteve Rush – keyboards, toys
Chris Peck – electronics
Aaron Siegel – percussion

The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery New York, NY 10012
Between Houston and Bleecker F train to 2nd Ave or 6 train to Bleecker

ESP LIVE: Steve Gunn, John Truscinski & Tom Carter

ESP News — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:04:11 +0000

On Tuesday, February 2nd, ESP continues its monthly concert series at the Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe). Tonight’s edition features accomplished guitarist Steve Gunn playing with drummer John Truscinski, as well as the psyche-drone guitarist Tom Carter.

“Gunn creates quite a zoned landscape rife with the silhouettes of his influences, all the while enriched by his keen sense of controlled, humming feedback”
- P. Somniferum

Tuesday, February 2nd

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ the Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe)

$5 Cover

8:30 pm
Steve Gunn & John Truscinski Duo
Steve Gunn – acoustic and electric guitars
John Truscinski – drums

9:30 pm
Tom Carter- solo electric guitar

The Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe)
520 Dekalb Ave., Brooklyn New York 11205
G train to Bedford/Nostrand

“Carter’s a sonic explorer, when he strikes a chord it washes over you like a boiling Pacific wave teeming with lively detail.”
- Joris Heemskerk

The entire ESP-Disk’ catalog will be available for sale along with several used and new LPs from the new ESP-Disk’ Record Store.

Steve Gunn

Steve Gunn’s prodigous talent for fusing traditional american song structures with a raga influence is almost criminally unheralded. Gunn’s songcraft is so strong and his playing style so effortlessly beautiful that folks should be shouting his name from every tall building and mountaintop. Without any doubt… [His latest album] Boerum Palace is a staggering accomplishment and is certainly Gunn’s most assured and confident work to date.

Native Philadelphian Gunn has been a stalwart of the american experimental scene for closing in on a decade. He is known by many for his contributions as one half of the core duo behind GHQ (with Marcia Bassett) as well as for his many other affiliations with underground luminaries such as Tom Carter, the Magik Markers and Marc Orleans. Gunn has slowly cultivated his own solo work alongside his other obligations and involvements. after a few early CDR and cassette releases under the moniker “moongang,” Gunn gravitated towards performing and releasing music in his own name, culminating in the exceptional Sundowner (Digitalis Industries, 2008). Sundowner was, to that point, the most potent burst of Gunn’s songwriting abilities and remarkable playing abilities.
Read an interview with Steve via Foxy Digitalis

Steve Gunn and John Truscinski Duo

John and Steve have played together over a span of years in various formations and projects. This duo strips it all down and pays homage to some of the masters from generations before. Steve’s improvisational mix of blues-raga guitar and John’s fluid style drumming melds together, rolling out the door towards the stratosphere.

Tom Carter

Born barely south of the Mason-Dixon line, and just in time for the Summer of Love, Tom Carter led a decidedly non-hippy existence being shuffled around various farm and mining towns in Maryland and Ohio by his newspaperman father, before finally making his way to Texas in 1985, just in time to watch all the good hardcore bands die. Already obsessed with American pre-punk and British post-punk, Carter dove into the lysergically spiked musical waters of Texas with both feet, augmenting rudimentary guitar skills with unreliable instruments, cranky analog electronics, and disintegrating practice amps. Over the ensuing decades, he managed to forge his evolving ideas of complete tonal immersion (and the quest for the perfect fuzz tone) into a layered sonic toolkit of rough beauty and unrefined proficiency.

Best known for his work with acclaimed psych-drone iconoclasts Charalambides, which he co-founded with Christina Carter in 1991, he has branched out into other collaborations since 2001, playing and recording with long-term projects Zaika (with Marcia Bassett) and Badgerlore (with Rob Fisk, Ben Chasny, Liz Harris, and Peter Swanson), as well as in frequent collaborations with Bay Area sound artist Robert Horton. Other fellow travelers have included Christian Kiefer, Tetuzi Akiyama, Thurston Moore, Shawn David McMillen, Dredd Foole, Loren Connors, Pip Proud, Inca Ore, Jandek, Bardo Pond, and Matt Valentine, among many others.

Most recently, Carter has focused on his solo performances and recordings, touring constantly from 2007-2008, and finally settling in New York City in early 2009. His solo work covers a vast territory, but latter-day sightings show him to be concentrating on looped guitar drones of immensely-stacked grit and beauty, with heaps of psychedelic melodic content missing from the repertoires of many noise and drone bands.
Visit Tom Carter’s Wholly-Other

ESP-Disk’ Live at the Bowery Poetry Club

ESP News — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:24:14 +0000

Tuesday, January 19th

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Bowery Poetry Club

10pm
Flaherty-Corsano-Carter
Paul Flaherty – alto and tenor sax
Chris Corsano – drums
Daniel Carter - woodwinds and trumpet

11pm

Joe Morris Trio (ESP 4056)
Joe Morris – guitar
Steve Lantner – piano
Luther Gray – drums

Featuring Ugly Duckling Press poets Eugene Ostashevsky & Elizabeth Reddin before the sets

The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery New York, NY 10012
Between Houston and Bleecker
F train to 2nd Ave or 6 train to Bleecker

About Flaherty-Corsano Duo

Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano deliver duo-fire improv. For over a decade, their high-energy sax (Flaherty) and drums (Corsano) freeform improvisations have garnered international attention and earned them praise such as the following from Dusted Magazine’s Charlie Wilmoth: “More than thirty years after the death of Albert Ayler, Flaherty and Corsano’s music is the most compelling evidence I’ve heard in some time that music like this still needs to be played.”

Since 1998, Flaherty & Corsano have covered much ground in the U.S. and Europe, playing live as a duo as well as in collaborations with other musicians enamored with the freedom principle. They’ve thrown down with fistfuls of modern music’s most burnin’ proponents: Tony Conrad, John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Joe McPhee, C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core), Greg Kelley, Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke, Matt Heyner, Christina Carter & Heather Leigh Murray (Scorces), Steve Baczkowski (Buffalo, NY’s unsung baritone hero) and plenty of others.

And when not found in larger group settings, the duo’s focus is the heightened empathy the pair has developed over the years of tours and recordings. Or, as Chad Oliveiri of the Rochester City Paper writes, “Together, this duo is more than capable of sheer transcendence.”

See www.cor-sano.com for tour dates, mp3s, discographies, past shows, photos, etc.

“[Corsano is] the most original drummer playing in New York.” (The Village Voice)

“Saxophonist Paul Flaherty encapsulates the history of outlaw free improvising in New England in every schlup and spit of his horn.” – David Keenan (The Wire, The Scottish Sunday Herald)

About Joe Morris

Joe Morris is one of the rare ones. A player who sets up great challenges for himself, and proceeds to meet them head on with resounding success. He plays the guitar like no one else; for comparative description, it’s actually easier to refer to a horn player like Jimmy Lyons or Eric Dolphy than any other guitarist in the history of the instrument’s existence. To be honest, the fretboard leaps unleashed to actualize the phrasing in his music often times seem superhuman.

For the last 30 years and over the course of well over 30 albums recorded since the early 80’s, Morris has been creating a body of work that stands and walks with giants. It is his first-hand awareness of music’s ability to transform a listener’s mental state outside of the here and now, that has driven him to reach levels of virtuosity and a breadth of expression on guitar which are presently unsurpassed. The silk in the web he weaves is of the absolute finest grade. The web of music itself however, it’s intricacies and continually revealing patterns, prompts true awe.

In early 2001, Morris picked up the acoustic bass and began playing this instrument as well (see second line of first paragraph above). In 2002, he revived his Riti label, and proceeded to issue a stunning series of limited edition albums featuring his most recent group work on both guitar and bass.

“One of the most profound improvisors at work in the U.S.” – Will Montgomery (The Wire)

About the Poets

ESP-Disk’ Live at the Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe)

ESP News — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:37:59 +0000

Tuesday, January 5th

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8pm
Chris Forsyth solo guitar
9pm
Totem> (ESP 4046)
Bruce Eisenbeil – guitar
Tom Blancarte – bass
Andrew Drury – drums

The Jazz Lounge (Sucre Cafe)
520 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn New York 11205
G train to Bedford/Nostrand

Press for Chris Forsyth:
“It’s enough to signal Forsyth’s arrival as an erudite and farsighted guitar stylist, mapping a path that’s hip and scholarly in equal measure.”
- Daniel Spicer, The Wire Magazine

“A destructible charm teetering on violence and elegance” – Eric Weddle (Family Vineyard), Signal to Noise Magazine
“This is the best solo guitar record since Donald Miller’s A Little Treatise on Morals. Keep your eyes on this guy.” - David Keenan, The Wire Magazine

Press for Bruce Eisenbeil & Totem>:
“Killer on every level.” - Foxy Digitalis “This guitarist often sounds as if he’s disassembling the instrument. He isn’t; he’s breaking down preconceived notions of harmony, melody, rhythm, and sound itself – and the effort can be as exhilarating as the results.” – Francis Davis, Village Voice

“About as revolutionary as music can actually get.” - The Wire

“One of the most unique jazz guitarists to emerge in decades.” – Harvey Pekar, JazzTimes

ESP-Disk’ LIVE at the Bowery Poetry Club

ESP News — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:35:38 +0000

ESP-Disk’ LIVE continues into 2010 with Sonny Simmons, GUNNAR (w/ Anders Nilsson), Totem> and Chris Forsyth

ESP will finish out the year with a bang on Tuesday, December 15th at the Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery New York, NY), with saxophone great Sonny Simmons performing at 10pm followed by the experimental rock maverick Anders Nilsson and his group GUNNAR at 11pm. On Tuesday, January 5th at the Jazz Lounge’ (520 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn NY) we will feature the noise inspired guitar stylings of Chris Forsyth at 8pm followed by the power trio Totem> (ESP 4046) at 9pm.

Tuesday, December 15th

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Bowery Poetry Club

10pm
Sonny Simmons Quartet
Roy Campbell Jr. – trumpets
Chad Taylor – drums
Tom Abbs – bass

11pm

GUNNAR
Anders Nilsson – guitar
Reid Taylor – bass
Madhu Siddappa – drums

The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery New York, NY 10012
Between Houston and Bleecker
F train to 2nd Ave or 6 train to Bleecker

Press for Sonny Simmons:
“Altoist Sonny Simmons made a strong impression in the 1960s as one of the most promising avant-garde players who recorded with Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy. By the mid-’70s Simmons largely dropped out of music and the altoist was forgotten for nearly 20 years. In 1994, Sonny Simmons (who had apparently played on the streets and been scuffling) suddenly re-emerged in peak form and as adventurous as ever, recording a brilliant trio album (Ancient Ritual) for Qwest/Warner Bros. that earned him long overdue recognition and launched the beginning of his second career.” – Scott Yanow

Press for Roy Campbell:
“Roy Campbell, Jr. [is] an inventive trumpeter whose playing has a stream-of-consciousness logic and an unassumingly rich and confident sound.”
- Gary Giddins, The Village Voice

Press for Anders Nilsson:
“Swedish Sultry Swagger” - Thurston Moore

“Nilsson’s shimmering axe evokes a dimensional warp.” -Signal to Noise

“Nilsson has a very personal style and a tone unlike any American jazz player I can think of.” -All About Jazz

About Sonny Simmons

Though not a die-hard avant-gardist (like Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Lyons, other alto sax luminaries from the same generation, he sticks in his own provocative way to the tradition), he was then a leading figure of the Free Jazz scene in NYC with his wife Barbara Donald, cutting legendary records for ESP in 1966, Staying On The Watch and Music From The Spheres. Back in California, he made an acclaimed appearance at the Jazz Symposyum in Berkeley (1969). He became an underground hero with the likes of Bert Wilson, James Zitro, Smiley Winters and producer James Bronson Jr. The period also provided landmark records for Arhoolie (Manhattan Egos) and Contemporary (Firebirds, Rumasuma, Burning Spirits), which met international response. Then – nothing. Sonny Simmons suffered a spectacular eclipse during the 70’s and the 80’s. With the West Coast no longer providing work, family and personal problems, his career collapsed. He ended up in the streets. Playing kept him alive and he managed to maintain working groups throughout most of this “lost periode”, producing hours of incredible music (which are still to be released : check out the rare documented traces of this activity, Backwoods Suite, Global Jungle and the solo tour-de-force, Jewels, to make sure his musical powers remained untouched).
Accordingly, his come-back had to be spectacular, too. He began to build a local reputation again. Word-of-mouth, helping souls and hard work made the rest : by the time he went to Europe (1994), he had an album on Warner, Ancient Ritual. Actually, the title he had first choosen says it all : Reincarnation. He made a strong impression in festivals (Montreal, Moers, Willisau, Helsinki…), on record (American Jungle, Warner, Judgement Day, CIMP), appeared at the Irridium, at the Knitting Factory. But somehow, he felt he had to bring forth something different. After a period of lesser activity (while living in France, he kept on touring, notably with Oliver Lake and Sunny Murray, but didn’t record), he re-emerged in 2000 with richer, brilliant concepts.

With his alter-ego Michael Marcus, he founded the Cosmosamatics, a group with which he enjoys the greatest of achievements. Hugely popular in Europe, where they tour frequently, they have recorded eight albums (most notably for Boxholder, Soul Note and Not Two), building one of the most distinctive sound nowadays. Besides, he led varied projects of his own, ranging from a classy quintet date for Marge, Mixolydis, to a mammoth sextet with Anthony Braxton and another group, the Renegade Society, both resurrecting the “ol’ free jazz” feel. Many gems pave his new way : two other solo tapestres (Out Into The Andromeda, Fourth Dimension), a magical evocation of the powers of eastern musical idioms (Tales Of The Ancient East), an up-to-date association with noise wizzard Jeff Shurdut (The Future Is Ancient), and an atmospheric masterpiece full of strings, scorching alto lines and sunsets (The Traveller). The latter association with Jazzaway records proved very fruitful, since four lush records surfaced since 2006, I’ll See You When You Get There, Live At Haugesund, Last Man Standing and Atomic Symphony (a massive symphonic works featuring 75 musicians!). – His current projects as of 2009 include of course the Cosmosamatics, a duet with Bobby Few (True Wind) that was featured at the Vision Fest in June 2008, The Triangular Force (in association with Gildas Scouarnec and Jean-Luc Roumier) which regularly tours France, regular appearances in the UK with Tight Meat and Charlie C., and Freenology (with Guy Bettini, Paul Lovens and Clayton Thomas), featured in 2008 and 2009 at the Uncool Festival.

About Anders Nilsson

“What kind of music do you play?” Now, they don’t have my category of music up as an option here yet, I like to call it Nordic Blues. I play guitar in FULMINATE TRIO: a guitartrio that through original pieces of music of various compositional/improvisational designs evoke sonic poltergeists and other intense forces w. Michael Evans-drums, electronics, various instruments & Ken Filiano-bass + electronics. ANDERS NILSSON’S AORTA (my Swedish band – we play my compositions and/or make it up on the spot), FAY VICTOR ENSEMBLE (original works where lyrics and vocal/instrumental flights are interwoven) GUNNAR: 30-somethings guitartrio making sludgy sounds, with mouths open on ocassion w. Reid Taylor-el.bass, Madhu Siddappa-drums), IN THE OZONE: freedom with one of a kind-drummer Tom Bruno & bassist Matt Heyner, UNDER SATAN’S SUN, JÖTNAR, MANAPE, as well as in other constellations that my blog and gig list will keep you abreast of. I also enjoy doing SOLO guitar performances and recordings.

ESP-Disk’ Holiday Bundles

ESP News — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:09:02 +0000

For the completist on your gift list, check out these great release packages.

Complete 2009 New Release Package

Free digital downloads included

ESP 4052 Flow Trio – Rejuvenation
ESP 4053 Naked Future – Gigantomachia
ESP 4055 Talibam! – Boogie in the Breeze Blocks
ESP 4056 Joe Morris – Colorfield

$39.99

Complete 2009 Vinyl Package

Free digital downloads included

ESP 1002 Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity
ESP 1010 Albert Ayler – Bells
ESP 1014 Sun Ra – Heliocentric Worlds, Volume One
ESP 1017 Sun Ra – Heliocentric Worlds, Volume Two
ESP 1054 Pearls Before Swine – One Nation Underground
ESP 1055 Patty Waters – College Tour

$110.99

Complete 2009 Reissue Pack

Free digital downloads included

ESP 1025 Patty Waters – Sings
ESP 1027 Timothy Leary – Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
ESP 1029 Charles Tyler – Charles Tyler Ensemble
ESP 1049 Gato Barbieri – In Search of the Mystery
ESP 1067 Har-You Percussion Group – Songs From the Ghetto Youth
ESP 1099 Erica Pomerance – You Used to Think
ESP 2001 Cromagnon – Cave Rock
ESP 3007 Revolutionary Ensemble – Vietnam
ESP 3026 Ronnie Boykins – The Will Come, Is Now
ESP 4051 Don Cherry – Live at Cafe Monmartre, Volume III
ESP 4054 Sun Ra – Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold

$110.99

New Signed Vinyl Auctions

ESP News — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:07:00 +0000

ESP founder Bernard Stollman has signed these limited edition vinyl releases. They make a great stocking stuffer!

Auctions ending Dec 10, 2009 12:35 PST

ESP 1002 Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

ESP 1010 Albert Ayler – Bells
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

ESP 1014 Sun Ra – Helio 1
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

ESP 1017 Sun Ra – Helio 2
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

ESP 1054 Pearls Before Swine
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

ESP 1055 Patty Waters – College Tour
# 3/1000 Signed: Link to Auction

Auctions start at $35. Good Luck!

ESP-Disk’ LIVE

ESP News — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:07:44 +0000

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Jazz Cafe’

Tuesday, December 1st

8pm – George Steeltoe Ensemble
9pm – decibel.
The Jazz Cafe (Sucre Cafe)
520 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn New York 11205
G train to Bedford/Nostrand

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Bowery Poetry Club

Tuesday, December 15th

Sets at 10 & 11pm
Sonny Simmons Quartet
w/ Roy Campbell Jr., Chad Taylor, Tom Abbs

The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery New York, NY 10012
Between Houston and Bleecker
F train to 2nd Ave or 6 train to Bleecker

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Jazz Cafe’

Tuesday, January 5th

8pm – Chris Forsyth – solo guitar
9pm – Totem> DUO – Bruce Eisenbeil & Andrew Drury ESP 4046

The Jazz Cafe (Sucre Cafe)
520 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn New York 11205
G train to Bedford/Nostrand

ESP-Disk’ Live at the Jazz Cafe (Sucre Cafe)

ESP News — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:07 +0000

L I V E S H O W S

On Tuesday December 1st, ESP-Disk’ will continue it’s LIVE music series at the Jazz Cafe’ (520 Dekalb Avenue) in Brooklyn. At 8pm, the dynamic improv super group, The George Steeltoe Ensemble, (featuring members of Totem>) will perform followed at 9pm by the anti-folk duo, decibel., featuring the vocal and guitar stylings of Josh Weinstein.

ESP-Disk’ LIVE @ The Jazz Cafe (Sucre Cafe)
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
5$ Suggested Donation
The venue is BYOB and offers great coffee and snacks

8pm
The George Steeltoe Ensemble

In 1999 the George Steeltoe Ensemble developed out of weekly improvisational sessions at the Lexington, KY home of Brian Osborne. The group originally performed mostly as a quartet with Jeff Chapple, Jay Dunbar, Lathan Hardy and Brian Osborne. It has since taken many shapes, performing throughout the US and participating actively in New York’s free music community since 2001. Currently the Ensemble’s line-up includes Brian Osborne on drums, Lathan Hardy on sax, Michael Barker on electronics, and Tom Blancarte on bass. Andrew Barker, Ed Bear, Daniel Carter, Ed Chang, Peter Evans, Tamio Shiraishi, and Blaise Siwula are a few of the artists to have performed with the group over the past ten years.

In 2006 George Steeltoe Ensemble released their first recording titled Church of Yuh, which Blastitude dubbed “refreshingly nasty garbage jazz all the way, maybe even a new kind of fire music”. The group’s sound made WIRE imagine “the Art Ensemble of Chicago jamming with Jackie-O Motherfucker”. Preferring live performance over recordings; the group’s only other release is a 3″ on Primecuts, which documents the group, eight strong, on a day off during their 2007 Spring Tour.

Recordings:
“Comtrails Over Carolina” 3″ cdr on Primecuts
“Church of Yuh” 12″ LP on Heat Retention Records

Reviews
FREENOISE Reviews the LP
Blastitude Reviews the LP
WIRE reviews the LP
Touching Extremes reviews the LP
Echoplex live review

9pm
decibel.

Josh Weinstein: extremities

Woody Moseley: backbone

myspace.com/decibelofficial

decibel. is both the bitter and the sweet, combining acoustic guitar and drums with distortions and megaphones; a beautiful grit.
Press: ” Although only a pair, Josh Weinstein (vocals/guitar/effects) and Woody Moseley (drums) produced the resonance of five. Weinstein’s standout vocals and darkly melodic acoustic guitar channeled the soulful and gritty sides of blues and grunge while Moseley’s elaborate and shifting rhythms kept listeners on their toes and sustained decibel.’s transfixing unpredictability. . . . Decibel.’s delivery of raw emotion through an authentic but atypical style will surely place the duet in the noteworthy when the band performs at CMJ and beyond.” - The Deli NYC

“[decibel.'s] voice is full, resonant, and breathes eroticism. Decibel’s lyrical style describes situations which are so vivid, one can almost see, hear and taste his experiences . . . [their] musical style encompasses the human attribution of pain and transcends it into a work of art. This is what artistic expression is all about.” - Indieguitarists.com

@ The Jazz Cafe (Sucre Cafe)
(520 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn New York 11205)
G train to Bedford/Nostrand

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