One of the finest jazz trumpeters around today who began his career during the 1960s Blue Note period is Charles Tolliver. If you're familiar with Jackie McLean's It's Time (1965), Action Action Action (1967) and Jackknife (1975), then you know the blistering sound of Tolliver's horn. His career as an album leader began in 1968 with Paper Man (Freedom), followed in '69 by The Ringer, also on Freedom. [Photo above of Charles Tolliver courtesy of Charles Tolliver]
But his finest albums were recorded for Strata-East, a label he co-founded in 1970 with Stanley Cowell, and it's is still around today (go here). Strata-East recorded a range of excellent albums by top artists in the '70s, including Clifford Jordan, M'Boom, Cecil Payne, Sonny Fortune, Shirley Scott, Harold Vick and others. Gil Scott-Heron's The Bottle (1974) was perhaps Strata-East's biggest hit.
Two of Tolliver's most ambitious Strata-East albums were two fronting big bands. For these albums, he composed, arranged, soloed and conducted, which is a remarkable on any score but particularly so given the superb quality of the recordings and size of the bands.
The first was Music Inc., recorded in November 1970. The band featured Charles Tolliver, Richard Williams, Virgil Jones, Larry Greenwich and Danny Moore (tp); Garnett Brown, Curtis Fuller, John Gordon and Dick Griffin (tb); Jimmy Heath and Bobby Brown (as,fl); Clifford Jordan and Wilbur Brown (ts,fl); Howard Johnson (bar,tu); Stanley Cowell (p); Cecil McBee (b) and Jimmy Hopps (d). Most of the solos were by Tolliver and Cowell, and they are exceptional.
The tracks are Ruthie's Heart, Brilliant Circles, Abscretions, Household of Saud, On the Nile and Departure.
The second Music Inc. big-band album by Tolliver was Impact, recorded in January 1975. The band included Charles Tolliver (tp,flhrn,arr,comp,cond); Jon Faddis, Richard Williams, Jimmy Owens, Larry Greenwich and Virgil Jones (tp); Garnett Brown, John Gordon and Kiane Zawadi (tb); Jack Jeffers (b-tb); Charles McPherson (as); James Spaulding (as,sop,pic,fl); George Coleman (ts); Harold Vick (ts,sop,fl); Charles Davis (bar); Stanley Cowell (p); Cecil McBee (b on track 1), Reggie Workman (b on track 2) and Clint Houston (b on track 3); Clifford Barbaro (d); Warren Smith (perc on track 4,chimes on track 5); Billy Parker (perc on track 1); Big Black (cga track 1); plus strings: Gayle Dixon, Noel daCosta, Winston Collymore and Noel Pointer (vln); Ashley Richardson and Julius Miller (viola), and Akua Dixon and Edith Wint Porter (cello).
Completely out of sight. The tracks are Impact, Mother Wit, Grand Max, Plight, Lynnsome and Mournin' Variations.
It's hard to understand why these albums aren't better known and celebrated today. During the 1970s, so much great jazz pioneered by black artists was recorded by micro labels. Mainstream labels with massive marketing budgets and powerful distribution pipelines had abandoned jazz for disco, soul and rock. This shift was unfortunate for artists like Tolliver, who had so much to say. But if there's a bright side now, the music recorded on Strata-East (and Black Jazz, for that matter) was pure and uncompromised by commercial producers hungry for hits. Strata-East was art-focused and the music was spiritually significant. [Photo above of Charles Tolliver by Raymond Ross Archives/CTSImages]
More than 40 years later, the music speaks for itself. Like all great art, the jazz on these albums has held up well and will remind you of the 1970s, when jazz controlled by black artists took took chances and flourished. [Photo above of Charles Tolliver]
JazzWax tracks: You can listen to Music Inc. (Strata-East) and Impact (Strata-East) for free at the Strata-East site here. You'll find both albums on this Mosaic set here.
JazzWax clips: Here's the complete Music Inc....
And here's the complete Impact...
