Survival Records is an independent record label that focuses on

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

. It was founded in 1972 by American drummer

Rashied Ali Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009), was an American free jazz and Avant-garde jazz, avant-garde drummer who was best known for performing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Biography Earl ...

History

Ali co-founded Survival with saxophonist

Frank Lowe Frank Lowe (June 24, 1943 – September 19, 2003) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone at the age of 12. As an adult he moved to San Francisco, where h ...

in 1972, after experiencing frustration with being unable to secure a release with a major record label. Survival's inaugural release was ''

Duo Exchange ''Duo Exchange'' is an album by drummer Rashied Ali and saxophonist Frank Lowe. It was probably recorded in September 1972 at the studio of Marzette Watts in New York City, and was issued by Ali's Survival Records in 1973 as the label's inaugural ...

'', an Ali / Lowe duet recorded in the fall of 1972 and issued in 1973. Lowe's involvement with the label ceased following the release of the album, but Survival went on to issue a total of ten albums prior to Ali's death in 2009, along with CD reissues of original Survival LPs, released in conjunction with Michael Dorf's Knit Classics label. In 2020, Survival was revived, thanks to the efforts of Ali's family. That year saw the release of two recordings remastered from the drummer's massive recorded archive: ''Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions'', an expanded version of the original 1973 release, and '' First Time Out: Live at Slugs 1967'', a live album featuring an early incarnation of Ali's Quintet. The family plans to continue expanding the Survival catalogue with the addition of "further treasures."

References

{{Authority control 1972 establishments in New York City American jazz record labels Free jazz Record labels based in New York (state) Record labels established in 1972