A solo piano set from Strata East mainman Stanley Cowell – but a record that's got enough soul and spirituality to rival a full group recording! Although working alone here, Cowell's touch on the keys is astounding – often flowing and highly rhythmic, with a pulsating sense of energy that makes even the mellower tracks sparkle with soulful imagination. A number of tracks are intimate explorations of themes heard more famously on albums done with Charles Tolliver – but which come alive in a whole new way here in Stanley's solo setting! Most work here is on acoustic piano, but Cowell also picks up the electric keys for the tune "Travelin Man" – done here as an overdubbed "duet", and one of the hippest tunes on the entire record! Other titles include "Abscretions", "Equipoise", "Prayer For Peace", "Departure No 2", "Sweet Song", and "Emil Danenberg". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records ever recorded by pianist Stanley Cowell – a leading light on the legendary Strata East label! The album's one of Cowell's most searching, spiritual sets ever – and one of his few to feature a larger ensemble, working with all the righteous currents of the best Strata East years! The group shifts a bit from track to track, giving things a nice sense of variety – and players include Marion Brown on wooden flute, Jimmy Heath on alto and flute, Nadi Quamar on percussion, and Bill Lee on bass – and the set also features some vocals from Charles Fowlkes and Glenda Barnes. Cowell plays some mbira on the classic "Travelin' Man", a beautifully mellow number done with thumb piano and vocals, almost in a Heath Brothers Strata mode – and other tracks include "Lullabye", "Thank You My People", "Trying To Find A Way", and "The Gehmbhre". LP, Vinyl record album

An essential bit of 70s soul jazz – a real standout in both the catalogs of tenorist Clifford Jordan, and the Stata East label! This is one of those few records where every element is perfect, and all players rise together to a new level of expression – and we'd easily rank this one right up there with John Coltrane's Love Supreme or Pharoah Sanders' Kharma for sheer magnitude of sound and message! Clifford Jordan is at the height of his tenor powers – cutting sharp lines, stretching out his notes, and hitting all these dark edges that had never appeared in his work – and the rest of the group is great too – with Stanley Cowell on piano, Bill Lee on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Higgins is amazing, and gives the set a sort of lyrical freeplay that makes Jordan's hard solos come alive in a magical way – and Cedar Walton also plays piano on a few numbers, pushing things forward with the sense of warmth and imagination that always made him a treat in the 70s! Every cut's a winner, and the set list includes "John Coltrane", "Alias Buster Henry", "Glass Bead Games", "Biskit", and "Bridgework". Great stuff, and a huge amount of music! LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic record on Strata East – and a concept that shouldn't work as well as it does, but which comes off perfectly – thanks to the strength of the players! As you might guess from the title, the group's an all-piano ensemble – one that features hip talents that include Harold Mabern, Sonelius Smith, Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, and Webster Lewis – coming together in ways that have the pianos handling every part of the music – rhythm, melody, and all these great little bits around the edges – all on these long, stretched-out tracks that have lots of room for solo contributions too! The vibe is very Strata East, just all-piano – and titles include "Effi", "Killers", "Precious Lord", "The Almoravids", and "Man Extensions". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic stuff, and a record that was virtually the blueprint for spiritual soul jazz in the 70s! Although Max Roach first rose to fame during the bop years, by the time of this set he'd really stretched out a lot – moving past initial righteous projects in the Civil Rights era, to even more progressive work with a group like this! The players are all youthful geniuses who would go onto shape the sound of 70s jazz tremendously – working here at a point that already shows their brilliance – Gary Bartz on alto, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, and even Andy Bey, who sings vocals on the title track. The overall style is very similar to Bartz's early albums on Milestone, or to some of the Music Inc records on Strata East, which feature Cowell and Tolliver. It's no surprise that Cowell contributed 3 tracks to the set – "Effi", "Equipoise", and "Abstrutions" – and the group also performs a great version of Bartz's "Libra"! LP, Vinyl record album

The most spiritual session we've ever heard from Tenderlonious – a set that we always knew he had in him, given his playing on other folk's albums – yet one that still comes as a great surprise in comparison to some of his other records too! The set features compositions by Wayne Shorter, Stanley Cowell, Charles Tolliver, and Bill Lee – all nods to the generation that Tenderlonious evokes here on alto and flutes, working in a quartet that features Hamish Balfour on piano, Pete Martin on bass, and Tim Carnegie on drums – a group who are lean and work without any other trappings or structures – coming across maybe a bit like some Clifford Jordan quartet session for Strata East. Titles include long takes on "On The Nile", "Infant Eyes", "John Coltrane", "You Know I Care", "Poor Eric", and "Maimoun". LP, Vinyl record album

Spiritual jazz both old and new – a collection that really gets past the obvious sides of the genre, and brings together a range of unusual work from the 70s onward! The tracks here are a great antidote to the well-traveled territory of labels like Impulse or Strata East Records – and are mostly from lesser-known sources that include tiny indies from the 80s, and a few ground breaking imprints from recent years! There's definitely a vibe here that holds strongly in the spirit of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and other innovators from the end of the 60s – but the sound is especially fresh given the obscurity of the tunes. Titles include "For Our Souls" by Doug Hammond, "Amazona" by Francisco Mora Catlett, "The Mystery Of Man" by Sarah Vaughan, "Better Than That" by Nomo, "Gol E Gandom" by Lloyd Miller, "Motherless Child" by Brother Ah, "A Love Supreme" by Dwight Trible, "Why" by Woody Shaw with Carter Jefferson, "Rwanda" by Francis Bebey, "Come Sunday" by Stanley Cowell, and "En El Amanecer Del Tiempo". LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued live performance by the legendary Heath Brothers – and a set that's got the same freewheeling spiritual jazz vibe as their classic album on Strata East! The group's a quartet here, with excellent piano work from Stanley Cowell – who also plays mbira, and might also account for the more open, spacious, spiritual quality of the record – although the Heath Brothers clearly bring a lot to the table too! Jimmy Heath is superb on tenor, soprano, and flute – blowing soulful solos that are as great as on his own 70s albums as a leader – and Albert Tootie Heath mixes in some flute work next to his drums and percussion. Percy plays a bit of baby bass next to his fuller, rounder acoustic – and titles include a great long reading of their classic "Smilin Billy" – plus "One For Juan" and "Watergate Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

An essential bit of 70s soul jazz – a real standout in both the catalogs of tenorist Clifford Jordan, and the Stata East label! This is one of those few records where every element is perfect, and all players rise together to a new level of expression – and we'd easily rank this one right up there with John Coltrane's Love Supreme or Pharoah Sanders' Kharma for sheer magnitude of sound and message! Clifford Jordan is at the height of his tenor powers – cutting sharp lines, stretching out his notes, and hitting all these dark edges that had never appeared in his work – and the rest of the group is great too – with Stanley Cowell on piano, Bill Lee on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Higgins is amazing, and gives the set a sort of lyrical freeplay that makes Jordan's hard solos come alive in a magical way – and Cedar Walton also plays piano on a few numbers, pushing things forward with the sense of warmth and imagination that always made him a treat in the 70s! Every cut's a winner, and the set list includes "John Coltrane", "Alias Buster Henry", "Glass Bead Games", "Biskit", and "Bridgework". Great stuff, and a huge amount of music! LP, Vinyl record album

A classic performance by one of the most groundbreaking soul jazz groups of the 70s! Tolliver's leading his Music Inc ensemble here – an important quartet that featured him on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jimmy Hopps on drums. During their time recording for the Tolliver/Cowell owned label Strata East, the group forged a strident spiritual approach to jazz – one that took all of the experiments of Coltrane, and fused them with a soulful sound that was packed with all of the righteousness of the time. The group's at their finest here – working before a very friendly crowd at the legendary Slugs nightclub in the East Village – and tracks on this first volume include "Drought", "Felicite", and "Orientale", all done in nice long readings! LP, Vinyl record album

A classic performance by one of the most groundbreaking soul jazz groups of the 70s! Tolliver's leading his Music Inc ensemble here – an important quartet that featured him on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jimmy Hopps on drums. During their time recording for the Tolliver/Cowell owned label Strata East, the group forged a strident spiritual approach to jazz – one that took all of the experiments of Coltrane, and fused them with a soulful sound that was packed with all of the righteousness of the time. The group's at their finest here – working before a very friendly crowd at the legendary Slugs nightclub in the East Village – and tracks on this second volume include "Spanning", "Wilpan's", and "Our Second Father", all done in nice long readings!h LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most obscure sessions on Strata East – and an excellent groover that really keeps up the label's soul jazz spirit! Jon Gordon's a lesser-known trombonist from the 70s, but he's working here with an all-star group that includes Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, Roland Alexander on reeds, and Andrew Cyrille on drums – all coming together with a spirit that's quite similar to that of Tolliver's classic Music Inc recordings of the time! The titles are mostly all originals by Gordon, played in a loping, lyrical mode that often bursts out with a free-thinking approach to the solos. Titles include "P&G Incorporated", "No Tricks No Gimmicks", "Activity", "Step By Step", and "Dance Of the Ymas". LP, Vinyl record album

One of a few large group sessions recorded by Charles Tolliver during his years on Strata East – and an amazingly spiritual effort that really brings together the best strands of sounds running through the underground at the time! The format's a bit similar to Tolliver's previous Music Inc big band album for Strata, released 5 years before – with lots of strong lead action from Charles on trumpet, and Stanley Cowell on piano. But this time around, the larger group seems to be more fully integrated into the tunes – there not just to support the soloists, but to rise up with a full, proud sense of majesty that's really amazing. Other players include Cecil McBee and Reggie Workman on basses, Billy Parker and Warren Smith on percussion, Jon Faddis and Jimmy Owens on trumpets, John Gordon and Garnet Brown on trombones, and Charles McPherson, George Coleman, Harold Vick, and Charles Davis on saxes! Titles include great versions of the Tolliver classics "Plight" and "Impact" – plus "Mother Wit", "Lynnsome", and "Grand Max". LP, Vinyl record album

A spiritual jazz classic on the Strata East label – yet a record that's also got a very different approach than most of the rest from the time! The style here is hinted at in the group's name – as the lineup features some key spiritual jazz pianists, all working together in this amazing array of sounds – both melody and rhythm often handled by the keys – in an ensemble that features work from Stanley Cowell, Webster Lewis, Sonelius Smith, Harold Mabern, Ron Burton, Hugh Lawson, and Nat Jones! The group uses pianos to make almost all the sounds – including the rhythms – although there is some percussion at times from Mtume, John Lewis, and Jimmy Hopps – all of whom add in these beautifully subtle touches. The set features all original music, completely wonderful all the way through – with titles that include "Ballad For The Beast From Bali-Bali", "In What Direction Are You Headed", "Barbara Ann", and "Prayer For Peace". LP, Vinyl record album

John Sinclair's got his name on the cover, but the real genius on the record comes from the artists within – a mix of talents from the Detroit underground of the 60s and 70s, and some important visitors too – all stepping out here in a set of live recordings that are issued for the first time ever! The material is wonderful – some of it at the level of the Strata Records efforts of Detroit artists, others as a way of hearing some bigger names in a nicely personal, local setting – maybe a bit like the Left Bank recordings from the Baltimore scene in the late 60s. As usual, Strut have done a wonderful job with the whole package – and titles include "Blackjack" and "Cristo Redentor" by Donald Byrd, "Cheeba" and "Help Me Get Away" by Lyman Woodard, "Water Torture" by Bennie Maupin, "Three Flowers" by Charles Moore, "Bees" by Ron English with Lyman Woodard, "Passion Dance" by Teddy Harris, and "Effi" and "The Promise" by the Detroit Contemporary Four, a group that features a young Stanley Cowell on piano! LP, Vinyl record album

London's Total Refreshment Centre has been one of the world's hippest musical venues in recent years – a fantastic showcase for all the sorts of groundbreaking, genre-busting work that's been happening in the city – as well as host to some equally free-thinking artists from around the globe! There's not set styles here – music moves easily between jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, and some more cosmic styles at times – similar to the energy of the International Anthem label's more inventive projects – one of whom appear on the set. Many of these artists have not gotten the full exposure they're due, either releasing material on small labels or just online – and it's wonderful to have all this material pulled together in such a great statement on the forefront of jazz in the 2020s! Titles include "Closed Circle" by Byron Wallen, "Visions" by Soccer 96 with Kieron Boothe, "Crescent (city swamp dub)" by Jake Long, "Eloquence" by Matters Unknown with Miryam Solomon, "Isa"by Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange with Noah Slee, "Black" by Neu Grafik with Brother Portrait, and a nice reworking of the Stanley Cowell classic "Plight" by Resavoir. LP, Vinyl record album