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Strata-East
Strata-East Records is an American record company and label specialising in jazz founded in 1971 by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell with the release of their first recording ''Music Inc.'' The label released over 50 albums in the 1970s. Many of the label's releases are now hailed as prime examples of 1970s post-bop, spiritual jazz, and afro-jazz. Gil Scott-Heron recorded his 1974 album ''Winter in America'' with Brian Jackson for Strata-East. "The Bottle" featured on the album, was a popular single. This album stands as one of the label's best-known recordings. Clifford Jordan and Bill Lee, father of Spike Lee, were involved in many releases. Discography SES Series SECD Series *SECD 9001 (Bellaphon 660-51-004) - Charles Tolliver Music Inc & Orchestra - ''Impact'', recorded January 17, 1975, released on CD 1990. *SECD 9002 (Bellaphon 660-51-002) - John Hicks - ''Hells Bells'', Recorded May 21, 1975, released on CD 1990. *SECD 9003 (Bellaphon 660-51-001) - Charles Tolliv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Cowell
Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label. Early life Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interested in jazz after seeing Art Tatum at the age of six. Tatum was a family friend. After high school, Cowell studied at Oberlin College and received a graduate degree in classical piano from the University of Michigan. During his time at college, he played with jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk, which proved to be formative for the pianist. He moved to New York in the mid-1960s. Later life and career Cowell played with Marion Brown, Max Roach, Bobby Hutcherson, Clifford Jordan, Harold Land, Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. Cowell played with trumpeter Charles Moore and others in the Detroit Artist's Workshop Jazz Ensemble in 1965–66. In 1971, Cowell co-founded the record label Strata-East with trumpeter Charles Tolliver. The label woul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter In America
''Winter in America'' is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on ''Winter in America'' deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s. The album serves as Scott-Heron and Jackson's debut release for Strata-East, following a dispute with their former label and departure. It proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, ''Winter in America'' featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single "The Bottle", it obtained considerably larger commercia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver (born 1942) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records. Biography Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1942 and moved with his family to New York City when he was 10. During his childhood, his grandmother gave him his first horn, a cornet he had coveted. Tolliver attended Howard University in the early 1960s as a pharmacy major, when he decided to pursue music as a career and return home to New York City. He came to prominence in 1964, playing and recording on Jackie McLean's Blue Note albums. In 1971, Tolliver and Stanley Cowell founded Strata-East Records, and Tolliver released many albums and collaborations on Strata-East. Following a long hiatus, he reemerged in the late 2000s, releasing two albums arranged for big band, ''With Love'' and ''Emperor March''. ''With Love'' was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. He would later describe his experience: "There was so much going on wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren Smith (jazz Musician)
Warren Smith (born May 14, 1934) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist, known as a contributor to Max Roach's M'boom ensemble and leader of the Composer's Workshop Ensemble ( Strata-East). Biography Smith was born May 14, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois, to a musical family. His father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle and Jimmie Noone, and his mother was a harpist and pianist. At the age of four, Smith studied clarinet with his father. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957, then received a master's degree in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music in 1958. He found work in Broadway pit bands in 1958, and also played with Gil Evans that year. In 1961, he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble. In the 1960s, Smith accompanied Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Lloyd Price, and Nat King Cole; he worked with Sam Rivers from 1964–1976 and with Gil Evans again from 1968 to 1976. In 1969, he played with Janis Joplin and in 1971 with King Curtis a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, and Kenny Dorham, among others. He was part of the Charles Mingus Sextet, with Eric Dolphy, during its 1964 European tour. Jordan toured Africa with Randy Weston, and performed in Paris while living in Belgium. In later years, he led his own groups, performed with Cedar Walton's quartet Eastern Rebellion, and led a big band. Jordan was married to Shirley Jordan, a designer and former owner of Clothing Manufacturing Corporation in New York. He later married Sandy Jordan (née Williams), a graphic artist and Honorary Founders Board member of the Jazz Foundation of America. Death Jordan died of lung cancer at the age of 61 in New York City. Disc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In The World
''In the World'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1969 and released on the Strata-East label in 1972. The album was rereleased on CD as part of ''The Complete Clifford Jordan Strata-East Sessions'' by Mosaic Records in 2013. accessed April 8, 2014 Reception The review by Ken Dryden stated: "Whether at the helm of a record date or as a sideman, Clifford Jordan was known for giving his all. These studio recordings were originally made for Strata East, a label known for its adventurous spirit".Dryden, K[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Lee (musician)
William James Edwards Lee III (born July 23, 1928) is an American musician. He is the father of Spike Lee and Joie Lee. He has composed original music for many of his son's films, including ''She's Gotta Have It'' (1986), ''School Daze'' (1988), ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989) and ''Mo' Better Blues'' (1990). Lee was involved in many releases from the Strata-East jazz record label, including directing the 1980 album ''The New York Bass Violin Choir''. Personal life Lee was born in Snow Hill, Alabama, the son of Alberta Grace (Edwards), a concert pianist, and Arnold Wadsworth Lee, a musician. In 1951, he graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He married his college sweetheart who was enrolled at a neighboring college, Jacqueline (Jackie) Shelton, a 1954 Spelman College graduate. With his first wife, Jackie, he had four children; film director Spike Lee (born 1957), still photographer David Lee (born 1961), actress Joie Lee (born 1962), and filmmaker Cinqué Lee (b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handscapes
''Handscapes'' is a double live album by The Piano Choir featuring Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, and Sonelius Smith recorded in 1973 and first released on the Strata-East label. Reception At the time of release Ebony reviewer Phyl Garland said "One needn't be a "piano freak" to appreciate a truly new recording. First of all imagine seven gifted and talented pianists sitting down to seven grand pianos (with electric piano, organ, harpsichord, a few tambourines for spice) and proceeding to tear up these instruments - musically, that is. ...the torrrent of sound springing from their 70 fingers is so powerful and majestic as to be unlike anything one has ever heard."Garland, P.Ebony magazine review June 1973 In his review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos simply states "Brilliant". Track listing ''Side A:'' # "Jaboobie's March" (Hugh Lawson) - 13:40 # " Straight, No Chaser" (Thelonious Monk) - 6:00 # " Precious Lord" (Thomas A. Dor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Mtume
James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working with Miles Davis between 1971 and 1975. Mtume's R&B group, also called Mtume, is best known for the 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit", which has been repeatedly sampled. Mtume the band also had a top-five R&B hit with the single "You, Me, and He". Life and career Mtume was born James Forman on January 3, 1946, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, and was raised by his mother, Bertha Forman, and his stepfather, a Philadelphia local jazz pianist, James "Hen Gates" Forman. He grew up in a musical environment with jazz musicians frequenting his parents' house. He learned to play piano and percussion; however, from his teenage years he was pursuing athletics as a swimmer, having achieved the title of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Live At Slugs'
''Live at Slugs is a live album by American jazz trumpeter-composer Charles Tolliver and his quarter Music Inc. It was recorded in 1970 and released by Strata-East Records as two volumes in 1972. Reception The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars stating "The music straddles the boundary between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde and rewards repeated listenings".Yanow, S.Allmusic Reviewaccessed October 28, 2014 Track listing ''All compositions by Charles Tolliver except as indicated'' ''Volume I'' # "Drought" - 9:04 # "Felicite" (Cecil McBee) - 8:05 # "Orientale" (Stanley Cowell) - 17:32 ''Volume II'' # "Spanning" - 8:30 # "Wilpan's" (McBee) -10:37 # "Our Second Father (Dedicated to the Memory of John Coltrane)" - 13:26 Personnel *Charles Tolliver - trumpet *Stanley Cowell - piano *Cecil McBee - bass *Jimmy Hopps - drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Mabern
Harold Mabern Jr. (March 20, 1936 – September 17, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields.Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. p. 425. Oxford University Press. He is described in ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'' as "one of the great post-bop pianists". Early life Mabern was born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 20, 1936. He initially started learning drums before switching to learning piano. He had access to a piano from his teens, after his father, who worked in a lumber yard, saved to buy him one. Mabern learned by watching and emulating pianists Charles Thomas and Phineas Newborn Jr. Mabern attended Douglass High School,. before transferring to Manassas High School;Johnson, David Brent (March 18, 2011"A Few Miles from Memphis: Harold Mabern, the Early Years" Indiana Public Media. he played with saxophonists Frank Strozier, George Coleman and trumpeter Booker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson (musician), Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul music, soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".Onstage at the Black Wax Club in Washington, D.C. in 1982, Scott-Heron cited Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes, Sterling Allen Brown, Sterling Brown, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay as among those who had "taken the blues as a poetry form" in the 1920s and "fine-tuned it" into a "remarkable art form".Gil Scott-Heron in a live performance in 1982 wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
