MUSIC INC. LP 1971 CHARLES TOLLIVER, STANLEY COWELL STRATA-EAST SES-1971

$

43

Cover has slight wear for a 40-year-old album, record is near mint and is very clean.  1971.  Strata-East SES-1971. 

This was the first release from Strata-East Records, the label created in 1971 by Music Inc.'s co-leaders, Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell. For the debut, the two lead an advanced, hard bop session of their own compositions arranged for a quartet augmented by a 13-member brass and wind orchestra. The writing has an affinity with McCoy Tyner's modal hard bop from this same period, e.g Tyner's Extensions (Blue Note). Similarly, Cowell's playing shares with Tyner's a powerful technique, effective use of rippling two-handed arpeggios, and an ability to make its presence felt in a large group. Jimmy Hopps (drums) and Cecil McBee (bass) round out the core quartet. Hopps' blend of muscular drive and nuance is akin to Louis Hayes or Freddie Waits. McBee's technical command and slabs of fat, earthy tone are captured wonderfully. The orchestra includes trumpeters Richard Williams and Virgil Jones, reed players Jimmy Heath and Clifford Jordan, and trombonists Garnett Brown and Curtis Fuller. The music moves seamlessly from trio and quartet configurations to full orchestration. The centerpiece is Tolliver's "On the Nile," which evokes a majestic procession of ancient Egyptian nobility sailing the broad Nile, the blue and silver waters sprayed with sunlight. Like one of the pharoah's prized falcons, the pure tone of Tolliver's flugel horn soars overhead buoyed by the orchestra's rich chords. Cowell's "Brilliant Corners" is equal to "On the Nile" in elegance and class, while his "Departure" and "Abscretions" are in a more funky vein. Tolliver's "Ruthie's Heart" alternates stripped-down statements from the quartet with sections of full on punch from the horns. His "Household of Saud" is the most purely hard bop of the six tracks. As the launch release for a new label, this was a bold debut. Tolliver and Cowell were presenting vital new pieces that had a direct lineage with the large-scale works of Ellington, Monk, and Mingus.

In the early '70s, Charles Tolliver was one of the brightest young trumpeters in jazz. He studied at Howard University and then moved to New York in 1964, playing and recording with Jackie McLean. Tolliver was on quite a few excellent advanced hard bop records in the mid-'60s, played with Gerald Wilson's Orchestra in Los Angeles (1966-1967), and was a member of Max Roach's group at the same time (1967-1969) as the compatible Gary Bartz. In 1969, Tolliver formed a quartet called Music Inc. that often featured pianist Stanley Cowell and was on a few occasions expanded to a big band. Tolliver and Cowell founded the Strata East label in 1971, which released many fine records in the 1970s. Although it was an era when there was a serious shortage of talented young trumpeters (prior to the rise of Wynton Marsalis), Tolliver after the mid-'70s maintained a low profile. Charles Tolliver, whose fat tone was influenced by Freddie Hubbard while his ideas display bits of John Coltrane, has recorded as a leader for Impulse (two songs from a 1965 concert), Black Lion, Enja, and Strata East.

An excellent modern, mainstream pianist who is adaptable to many acoustic jazz settings, Stanley Cowell has long been underrated except among knowing musicians. He studied the piano from the time he was four, and Art Tatum made an early impact. After attending Oberlin College Conservatory and the University of Michigan, Cowell (who had played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk while at Oberlin) moved to New York in 1966. He played regularly with Marion Brown (1966-1967), Max Roach (1967-1970), and the Bobby Hutcherson-Harold Land quintet (1968-1971). In the early '70s, Cowell worked in Music Inc. with Charles Tolliver, and they co-founded the label Strata East. He played regularly with the Heath Brothers during 1974-1983, and since 1981 has been a busy jazz educator. Cowell has recorded as a leader for Arista-Freedom (1969), ECM (1972), Strata East, Galaxy, Unisson, DIW, Concord, and SteepleChase.