Mack Avenue and Strata-East Join Forces
Two independent Jazz labels, Mack Avenue from Detroit and Strata-East from New York, just announced a partnership with the release of “Strata-East: The Legacy Begins”, a digital-only anthology of some of the label’s pivotal recordings. Strata-East was launched in 1970 by trumpet player Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell. Charles, now 82, just played at the Winter Jazz Fest in New York for the Strata-East Rising concert at Le Poisson Rouge. Stanley died in 2020. The label specializes in post-bop and spiritual jazz,but there are all kinds of releases, from piano solo to R&B. The origin of the name goes back to Detroit again by the way. Strata Rercords, also known as “The Sound Of Detroit”, was founded in 1969 by pianist Kenny Cox.
The artist-controlled label, which always addressed social and political themes, released some really heavyweight stuff during the 70s, like “Winter In America” by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, “In Harmony” by Weldon Irvine, “Don’t Look Back” by Harold Vick, “Marchin’ On” by The Heath Brothers, or “Zodiac” by Cecil Payne. The high quality masters of the Strata-East catalog, which will come out on February 21st, mark only the beginning of this partnership. There is much more to come and to be announced, according to Charles Tolliver. The anthology includes classic Strata-East tracks such as “Prince Of Peace” from the 1973 Pharoah Sanders LP “Izipho Zam (My Gifts)” featuring Lonnie Liston Smith and Leon Thomas, “Equipoise”, a solo piano piece by Stanley Cowell recorded in 1973, “Felicité”, a live recording from 1970 by Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, Cecil McBee, and Jimmy Hopps, and “Hopscotch” by saxophonist Charlie Rouse.
