What is "the unlikely story of jazz on the Arista label"?

[medjuck]

Just got the new Mosaic catalogue and noticed that the headline for the Braxton box is "The Birth of a Record Label" and that in the body of the article they mention the "unlikely story of jazz on the Arista label". But if this is discussed in the booklet for the box I missed it. (Which is possible-- I only skimmed the notes which I didn't much care for.)

Is there an interesting story about Arista and jazz beyond the fact that they signed Braxton? I have a vague memory of there being a sub label dedicated to

avant-garde jazz which didn't seem to me like Clive Davis's cup of tea.

Edited December 2, 2009 by medjuck

[brownie]

Arista page on Wikipedia.

[Joe Bip]

Braxton seemed to have quite a favorable contract in terms of how much of his work Arista was releasing, but it seems a little unclear just how fully they financed and supported some of these recordings. I was recently reading that, referring to For Four Orchestras, executive producer Steve Backer had stated, "I can't think of another instance where a black musician, coming from the jazz tradition, has been allowed that kind of liberty, where that kind of money and that kind of energy have gone into a project with such limited commercial appeal." But Braxton himself said he had to front a lot of the money himself in order to do the project because Arista wouldn't take on the whole risk. "I spent so much money, and I owe so much that I came to Italy to escape my creditors and get as far away from them as possible" (Jazz on Record: A History).

I haven't yet read the Mosaic booklet, so apologies if I'm duplicating anything said therein.

[colinmce]

Not much in the booklet about his debt but he has spoken about this before, namely in Lock's Forces In Motion.

[Chuck Nessa]

I think the debt was in creating all orchestral parts.