Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, he began producing concerts in the Amherst area, and Eremite evolved from those events. The label name came from an alternate title to the Thelonious Monk tune "Reflections": "Portrait of an Eremite". The label's logo, designed by Savage Pencil, is an image of a robed Joe McPhee playing soprano saxophone. Eremite organized a concert series in Western Massachusetts that ran through 2008 and produced roughly 100 concerts, including five Fire in the Valley festivals. From 1998 to 2018, Eremite managed a touring organization that arranged hundreds of concerts across North America for its artists.
Eremite Records' early activities emphasized music by first and second generation musicians working in the American and international free jazz traditions, including drummers Denis Charles, Sunny Murray, and Juma Sultan, saxophonists Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, Kidd Jordan, Sabir Mateen, and Jemeel Moondoc, trumpeter Raphe Malik, and bassists Alan Silva and William Parker. Starting in 2002, Eremite collaborated with Peter Brötzmann to revive Brötzmann's personal imprint Brö Records. After relocating from Western Massachusetts in 2009, Eremite began collaborating with a younger generation of musicians, including multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams and guitarist Jeff Parker. In 2021, Ehlers began working with the Black Editions Group, Los Angeles, on Black Editions Archive, an imprint focused on previously unreleased works by Milford Graves.
Eremite releases have appeared in many best-of-year lists, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Wire, Rolling Stone, DownBeat, Jazz Times, and Aquarium Drunkard.
Concerning his involvement with Eremite, Sunny Murray stated the following: "This music has not established many real connoisseurs, men with quality and taste, so we get a lot of meatheads that are in control of the business... When a guy comes up, we're suspicious... we've... dealt with so many Frankensteins that we want to make sure this guy is not a Frankenstein... Michael's not a Frankenstein—Michael Ehlers, Eremite Records—he'll take a chance. And that's what made this business work, guys that took chances."
Releases MTE-01 Jemeel Moondoc - Tri-P-Let MTE-02 Ellery Eskelin & Andrea Parkins - Green Bermudas MTE-03 Gregg Bendian - Interzone MTE-04 Assif Tsahar - Shekina MTE-05 Raphe Malik - The Short Form MTE-06 Christopher Cauley - FINland MTE-07 Tom Bruno & Sabir Mateen - Getting Away with Murder MTE-08 Jemeel Moondoc - Fire in the Valley MTE-09 Denis Charles - Captain of the Deep MTE-10 Trio Hurricane - Live at Fire in the Valley MTE-11 Sabir Mateen - Divine Mad Love MTE-12 William Parker - Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace MTE-13 Raphe Malik - ConSequences MTE-14 Sunny Murray with Sabir Mateen - We Are Not at the Opera MTE-15 Glenn Spearman - First and Last MTE-16 Malcolm Goldstein - Live at Fire in the Valley MTE-17 Alan Silva & William Parker - A Hero's Welcome: Pieces for Rare Occasions MTE-18 Peter Brötzmann Die Like a Dog Quartet - From Valley to Valley MTE-19 Noah Howard - Patterns/Message To South Africa MTE-20 Jemeel Moondoc & William Parker - New World Pygmies MTE-21 Test - Live/Test MTE-22 Tom Bruno - White Boy Blues MTE-23/24 Fred Anderson Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, William Parker - 2 Days in April MTE-25 Marco Eneidi, William Parker, Donald Robinson - Cherry Box MTE-26 Alan Silva & The Sound Visions Orchestra - Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra MTE-27 Alan Silva & Oluyemi Thomas - Transmissions MTE-28 Jemeel Moondoc - Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys MTE-29 Jemeel Moondoc and the Jus Grew Orchestra - Spirit House MTE-30/31 Jemeel Moondoc & William Parker with Hamid Drake - New World Pygmies vol. 2 MTE-32/33 William Parker Clarinet Trio - Bob's Pink Cadillac MTE-34 Raphe Malik - Companions MTE-35 Hamid Drake & Sabir Mateen - Brothers Together MTE-36 William Parker & The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra - Raincoat in the River MTE-37/38 Peter Brötzmann, Hamid Drake, William Parker - Never Too Late But Always Too Early MTE-39/40/41/42 Alan Silva - H.Con.Res.57/Treasure Box MTE-43 Jemeel Moondoc with Denis Charles - We Don't MTE-44 Marshall Allen, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, Alan Silva - The All-Star Game MTE-45 Sunny Murray - Perles Noires vol. 1 MTE-46 Sunny Murray - Perles Noires vol. 2 MTE-47/48 Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, William Parker - Blue Winter MTE-49 John Blum - John Blum Astrogeny Quartet MTE-50 Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble - Drum Dance to the Motherland MTE-51 Sunny Murray - Big Chief MTE-52 Solidarity Unit, Inc. - Red, Black & Green MTE-53 Joshua Abrams - Natural Information (LP) MTE-54/55/56 Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society - Father of Origin MTE-57 Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society/Joshua Abrams - AMS dub MTE-58 Joshua Abrams - Represencing (LP) MTE-59/60 Test - Always Coming From the Love Side MTE-61 Joshua Abrams - Natural Information (Deluxe CD) MTE-62 Joshua Abrams - Represencing (Deluxe CD) MTE-63/64 Joshua Abrams - Magnetoception MTE-65 Jeff Parker - Slight Freedom MTE-67 Joshua Abrams - Music for Life Itself & The Interrupters MTE-68 Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society - Simultonality MTE-69 The Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble - Drum Dance to the Motherland MTE-70/71 Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society - Mandatory Reality (LP) MTE-71/72 Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society - Mandatory Reality (CD) MTE-73 David Blue - Stories MTE-74/75 Natural Information Society with Evan Parker - descension (Out of Our Constrictions) MTE-76/77 Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy MTE-78/79 Natural Information Society - Since Time Is Gravity
References
External links Official site