Over the last 20 or so years we have witnessed an explosion in music-related books, this one being a most welcome addition that fills a hole in that ever-growing library. Born out of necessity and a love of the music and the records, the aim of this book is to offer a guide to a selection of independent labels and their releases of free jazz and improvisation between 1965 and 1985, with 1965 being the year when ESP-Disk' started out as the first independent label dedicated to the music covered in this book, and 1985 being the year that the CD slowly started to take over as the main sound carrier. However, Rune Grammofon has stretched the frames a little bit on a few occasions. As explained in the book, they have also chosen to leave out certain labels that have released important records by highly influential musicians within the field of this book, such as Impulse!, Blue Note and Atlantic. This is because they consider them as major labels that have a wide variety of releases in their catalogs and are also well documented in a number of other publications. It's also important for them to underline that this is a personal, subjective take on the subject, rather than an encyclopedic one. Sixty labels are presented, each with an introduction and a discography, either complete or by the author's personal choice. There are also 64 sleeve illustrations, including some extremely rare ones, as well as forewords by Swedish sax player and composer Mats Gustafsson and Rune Grammofon's founder Rune Kristoffersen. Finally, there is a conversation between Kristoffersen and music writer Rob Young. Author Johannes Rød is working freelance as an art historian and conservator and has written several books on visual art. He has also been an avid record collector since the late '60s and most of the sleeve illustrations are from his own collection. 128 pages housed in a Geltex cover. Design and layout by Kim Hiorthøy.
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