Before being half of the duo Kon & Amir, label manager of Wax Poetics and boss of 180 Proof Records, DJ Amir is first and foremost an accurate record collector and music lover. That’s why, on the occasion of the reissues of Strata pioneering spiritual jazz LP’s at BBE, we asked him to go back, on his story as a digger, but also on the history of the mythical Detroit label.

When did you start digging records?
I started digging seriously for records probably around 81’ or 82’ but I started collecting records way earlyer than that.

What LP’s did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
The LP’s that I started buying when I began my journey into collecting records were Stevie Wonder ‘Innervisions’, Grover Washington Jr. ‘Mister Magic’ and ‘Inner City Blues’, and any James Brown records I could get.
I still listen to all of these records. It’s funny a lot of people think that record collecting is all bout finding and listening to just the rarest records on the planet. This is so not what I am about. I love music (cue in The O’Jays) common and rare!

Do you have a particular style or favourite period?
I guess my favorite period of music is definitely the 60’s and 70’s of music ; everything from jazz to soul to funk to disco. For example, I love not only hard bop jazz but also jazz fusion. Whatever the music genre it has to have some complexity that still keeps the essence of funk from the soul.

Are you still digging, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
I am definitely still digging and collecting vinyl. Although, not as much as I used to because as I have gotten older life and relationships start to become more important then digging all day everyday. However, when I can I am going to record shops more than online. I find that shopping online doesn’t give me the same exciting feeling as actually going to a record shop.

What was your first release on 180 Proof Records?
My first release on 180 Proof Records was the previously unreleased Kenny Cox ‘Clap Clap ! The Joyful Noise.’ This was released at the end of 2012. By the way, Kenny Cox was the owner and founder of Strata Records, Inc.

Kenny Cox
Clap Clap A Joyful Noise

Why did you choose this name: 180 Proof Records?
I chose the name 180 Proof Records because it is kinda of a play on 180 Gram vinyl. I wanted my records to be at the highest sound quality imaginable and the packaging to be impeccable.

What could be your editorial/esthetic line?
My editorial or esthetic line is something I borrowed from Strata which is «All Musics For All Peoples». Basically, the sound that I am trying to bring to the world is for everyone that has a heartbeat.

What could be the label’s leitmotiv?
The leitmotiv that best fits what Strata was all about is their moniker «The Sound of Detroit». They tried to represent the sound of Detroit in the best way possible.

You talk about mission about the rediscovery of Strata Inc.. A heritage mission? Memory? Inheritance?
My mission to rediscover Strata began when I was running Wax Poetics Records. I had contacted Lyman Woodard to reissue his Saturday Night Special album and he lad me to Barbara Cox the owner of Strata. Also I was commissioned around the same time to create an online exhibition for the Scion iQ museum that centered around lost youth culture. I decided to submit something on Strata and I was accepted.
My mission is to bring the history and legacy of Strata to not only the world but also to the Black American community in America that may not know about the legacy of labels/movements like a Strata Records. For example, how Strata was not only a record label but also an artist collective based on the idea of an artist run and controlled label. They also founded the first jazz music program at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in 1970 and started community food based drives in Detroit.
Strata came out of the insurrections as most Detroiters call the riots of 1967 and 1968. This lead to a revolution in art, culture and politics. I definitely feel it is my inheritance and duty to tell the story of Strata !

About Strata Inc label, you had evocated a catalog which includes 30 unreleased masters in addition to the label’s 6 official commercial releases. Will you publish that?
The catalog of Strata I will definitely be publishing once I have gone through all of the masters. It is very expensive to transfer and remaster original reel to reel masters. In addition, it is also has been very difficult researching certain masters and artists because there has been little to no information on the original master tape.

Remember the day you listened to Strata’s first album? What a feeling?
I certainly remember listening to my first Strata record which was the Lyman Woodard Organization ‘Saturday Night Special’ album. At the time I knew about Strata Records but had not heard any of the records. It just so happens that I had a friend who wanted a rare hip hop promo 12” of Common Sense aka Common ‘The Bitch in You.” I traded my Common 12” for a mint copy of the Lyman album. When I first heard the album was blown away by the soulful and funky grittiness of the album. The grooves were so infectious that it instantly became one of my favorite albums.

The Lyman Woodard Corporation
Creative Musicians

Strata is emblematic of a 70’s jazz scene. What were its characteristics? And what differences with nowadays?
While Strata is very emblematic of the 70’s jazz scene there are definitely some differences. For example, not many jazz labels whether independent or commerical were community based artists collectives that focused on the revolutionary nature of art and culture. Not many labels were able to approach colleges and universities to propose starting a jazz music program or open their creative space so that local artists could come to rehearse or perform.
Morever, Strata was dedicated to the upliftment of the Black community of Detroit. As I mentioned before, Detroit suffered through two riots which devasted the city.The first riot is 1967 was caused by the constant harassment and killing of Black people by the Detroit police. This lead to a severe crack down by the National Guard in which several people were killed. Then in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and like many inner city Black communities Detroit erupted. The assassination of Dr. King also birthed the creation of the Black Panthers as well as other political and social movements like Strata.
Nowadays, jazz has become marginalized by mainstream America and has lost a bit of its edge and ability to speak to the youth. There are some examples of those who are trying to ‘push the envelope’ in jazz like Kamasi Washington, Gregory Porter, or Thunder Cat. However, for the most part, jazz does not hold the weight cultural and artistical that it used.

Strata East is best known, and yet Strata was created before. Charles Tolliver even says that this was the exemple which served them. How do you explain this lack of recognition in the official jazz sphere?
I think the lack of recognition of Strata in the official jazz sphere stems from the lack of releases. Unfortunately, they were only able to release 6 albums. Strata East I believe has over 50 releases or more. I know some of the biggest jazz record collectors that either not heard of Strata or do not know the difference between Strata East and Strata.
Furthermore, Strata East was able to do records with the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, the Heath Brothers, and Shirley Scott to name a few. Being able to have such jazz heavyweights record with Strata East definitely helped to cement their legacy as one of the great jazz labels.
Lastly, just being based in New York City also helped Strata East gain access to more funding as well as the artistic talent.

Kenny Cox was at the creation of the label. What were his motives at the time?
As the creator of Strata Records, inc., Kenny Cox was motived to create an artist collective based on self-reliance and pushing forward the art and culture of jazz. I don’t think Kenny saw Strata becoming something with a cult status. Most artist and labels never envision this. They just create from the heart and soul.

Larry Nozero
Impressions Of My Lady

Was there a vision, an objective, a political one?
Again, the vision and objective of Strata was to create a movement based on artist collective based on self-reliance and pushing forward the art and culture of jazz. In addition, I firmly believe Kenny was trying to elevate the Black community of Detroit and America as a whole.

Detroit is a big city on the map of Great Black Music. How do the different scenes that compose it dialogue together? And do you think Strata Inc. is a good example of their eco-system?
The different music scenes in Detroit worked somewhat well together. For instance, many of the artists that recorded with Strata were musicians that played on a lot of Motown records. For example, Larry Nozero actually played the horn on the Marvin Gaye song ‘What’s Going On.’ Also Lyman Woodard was the musical director for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.
Additionally, there was a lot of collaboration between labels like Tribe Records and Strata in Detroit. Both shared the same goal of self-reliance, community uplift and artistic freedom. Labels like Strata are a perfect exemple of the eco-system of the Detroit music scene. Hence, why Strata’s moniker was ‘The Sound of Detroit.’

The young DJs of Detroit still remember these rich hours?
There are some young dj’s in Detroit who remember the legacy of Strata but it is really the older dj’s like Theo Parrish, Moodymann, Juan Aktins, Carl Craig and others that remember Strata legacy the most. Mainly, because people like Moodymann have worked with some of the Strata artists like Norma Jean Bell. I remember when I first met Theo Parrish almost ten years ago and he was surprised that I was the one that reissued the Lyman Woodard ‘Saturday Night Special’ album through Wax Poetics Records. He was excited to talk about how he grew up listening and following Strata as a child.

Why and when did Strata Inc. stop?
Unfortunately, Strata closed its doors in 1976 due to lack of money to continue to run the label. Like most independent labels, when your distributor doesn’t pay you on time or at all it is very hard to keep things running.

Bert Myrick
Scorpio’s Child

Do you have other ideas for reissues, other than Strata Inc.?
I definitely have other ideas of labels that I want to reissue but for now I am keeping that a secret !

There are more and more reissues of old LP’s, and more and more record labels (major or indie) now release their new artists on LP, or EP. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
I do think the reissue market is beginning to reach a bit of saturation but labels like myself that continue to not only release great music but also educate and evelate music will always survive.

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs, artists, unreleased tapes, you were trying to reissue?
The only negative feedback that I have received from some of my releases is that I have made some of them double vinyl. There have been some people complaining that they have to get up to turn over the vinyl too quick and that the high quality that I present my releases is really for the bourgeoisie not the masses. You cannot please everyone!

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
The LP if it ever does exist would the project that Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Tony Williams supposedly recorded. It is also rumored that Jimi had asked Paul McCartney to join them on bass. That would be the ultimate release for me!

Maulawi
Street Rap

Click here to check for Strata Catalog

photo : Maxim François / Vision Fugitive

 

Cofounder of Strata East Records, Stanley Cowell started his career in Detroit, in the sixties, before moving to New York. There, the pianist played with great jazzmen, both from the young generation and the older one like Max Roach with whom he recorded an LP. After the great seventies decade, he decided to teach but never stopped playing and recording. For us, he goes back to his story while he will publish a brand new album in may, focusing on the Civil Rights movement.

 
 

Did you grow up in a musical environment?
Yes. Though my mother often sang around the house, my father played a little violin and piano, and all my sisters took piano lessons for about six years, there were no professional musicians in my immediate family beside me. A niece, Michelle, became a professional lounge singer and entertainer with a local Toledo group called the Murphy’s, who toured the Holiday Inn circuit in the US for several years.

How did the piano come into your life? And the jazz?
My parents seemed to like and listen to as many types as were available in my formative years at home: popular songs, 18th and 19th century European classical, blues, gospel, hymns and other church related music. We always had a good radio, record players, and we had a television set by 1949. They seemed less interested in the favorite music of my teenage years, rhythm and blues, and later, modern jazz.

Which music did you listen to in the 1960s?
I heard the classical piano music my two older sisters and I practiced, our dance music, blues, rhythm ‘n blues and jazz on the juke box at my Dad’s restaurant, the hymns and church musics from various churches in the neighborhood; the good jazz, R & B and blues records that found there way from the restaurant to the house; blues singers like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, Big Bill Broonzy; the growing number R & B groups like Clyde McFatter & the Midnighters, Orioles, Diablos, at night on the radio station WLAC from Nashville, Tennessee. These were the musics of my youth until I discovered bebop and modern jazz at age 13.

Who were your reference pianists?
Art Tatum came to my house once when I was six years old (1947). He was visiting family and friends and encountered my father, who invited him to our house. My father asked Art to play piano for me. Art said that he would like for me to play first. I played a piece from Book 3 of a popular piano study series, John Thompson. Art then played a Rodgers & Hart song, “You Took Advantage of Me.” That was my once and only “live” hearing of Art Tatum. I never wanted to sound like Tatum, but I have had to develop the technical ability to imitate him in certain “homage” performances since the 1980s. But in the 60s, my influences were McCoy Tyner, Cecil Taylor, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, and Phineas Newborn. I liked Andrew Hill, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock, and considered them my peers.

Trio, 1959

Your professional debuts: how was the musical « scene » in Michigan?
I chose to defer New York a while longer for the opportunity to finish my master’s at nearby University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, majoring in piano performance. I attended Michigan starting January of 1965, and again I was immersed in studying piano, practicing and studying classical music by day, but playing jazz by night. The venue for jazz soon became six nights-a-week at The Town Bar, Ann Arbor. I was featured pianist with bassist Ron Brooks’ Trio. Ron Brooks’ previous pianist had been Bob James, who at that time was incorporating a great deal of freedom and experimentation into the trio. That base was the perfect situation to which I contributed, building the trio into a tight nucleus that attracted musicians and audiences from Detroit, Flint, and Lansing, Michigan, as well as Northern Ohio. As the political and social upheaval of the Sixties was being felt and expressed in the music most intensely then, The Town Bar became a hotbed of radical and revolutionary music making, often enjoined by the visiting avant garde artists from the area. Many of the guests who sat-in to play were from The Detroit Artists Workshop, founded by poet and radical thinker John Sinclair and his wife, Leni.
I began to link more and more with musicians of The Detroit Artists Workshop: trumpeter/composer Charles Moore, composer Jim Semark, bassist John Dana, and drummers Ron Johnson and Danny Spencer. We hosted and participated in concerts with the New York and Chicago avant garde: Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman from The Art Ensemble of Chicago, emanating from the American Association of Creative Musicians. Initially, we were barely tolerated by Detroit’s classical bebop-oriented veteran musicians, but given the social climate of frustration among blacks, artists and young people, we and they knew we were a part of the forces of change. We were eventually accepted and joined in our efforts by some of the local professionals like trombonist George Bohanon and pianist Kirk Lightsey.
Ironically, in the midst of the experimentation and rhetoric of radicalism, I achieved my goal, I learned Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations, performed my masters recital consisting of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, Schubert’s Sonata in A, D. 959, Chopin’s F minor Ballade, and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and I received my master’s degree in performance in the spring of 1966. This accomplished, I returned briefly to Toledo before finally moving to Manhattan’s midtown far westside by early August.

Stanley Cowell Trio
“Blues For The Vietcong”
 

Why did you decide to leave for New York?
I came to New York try my skills alongside my musical heroes, Max, Miles, Art Blakey, Mingus, etc.

What did that change in your life? Your career ?
To be hired to play in the bands of my heroes and to travel the world performing became my career and changed my life.

In the 1960s, you were playing with strong leaders: Roland Kirk, Max Roach, Bobby Hutcherson, Marion Brown, Harold Land. What did they explain, transmit or give to you?
They each gave me the opportunity to learn their music and offered me encouragement to discover my musical personality–to play from my heart and soul.

You were associated with the “new thing” scene and nevertheless you published your first record in a classic piano trio formula. Did you separate those two aspects of your career : as a sideman and as a leader?
I had choices as to which style, era, direction, political influence, I might want to pursue as a sideman or as a leader. The « new thing » was about protest and politics for me ; whereas the audiences for which I often played preferred more traditional sounds.

You seem to prefer smaller bands and more particularly the trio. Why? What does that bring to a pianist and composer like you?
It offers a challenge to me to play more interactively with the bassist and drummer ; to debug compositional structures and ideas that could be for bigger ensembles in the future.

During Strata East record sessions, 1970s

You wrote “Travelin man” and played it in 1969 on your first record as a leader. You went on recording and playing quite a few more versions of it. Can it be considered as your anthem? Are you the « travelin man »?
Yes, yes, yes ! The vision for it came in a dream, though.

What about the UK recording ‘Blues For The Viet Cong’? Why were you in Europe at that time and how long did you stay?
I was on tour with Charles Tolliver in the quartet, « Music Inc. » and we stayed for about one month.

How (and when) did you meet Charles Tolliver?
We met at a rehearsal at Max Roach’s house because he was forming a new quintet. We became members of that band in 1967.

Why did you create Strata East together?
We created Strata-East Records to become our
own producers and distributors of our music, and to help other artist-producers control their own musical destinies.

“Effi” from ‘Members, Don’t Git Weary’ (1968)
Written by Stanley Cowell
 

What rôles did each of you have in the label?
Charles became more the person who handled finances, and I became more the expansionist who maintained communications with the growing number of artist-producers who affiliated contractually with SER. We both maintained relations with the media outlets on behalf of the company, and we stressed the idea to the artist-producers that all of us become promotional persons for SER as we toured and performed.

What was the philosophy of this collaborative label?
The concept was that of a condominium. Charles and I created the corporation–in other words, we owned the building. The artist-producers owned their recording(s)–in other words, they owned space in the building. A legal contract agreement was mutually executed by SER and the artist-producers.

During the last twenty years or so, Strata East has become an important reference for the younger génération of Jazz aficionados. How do you explain this late success?
The success was due to hard work by Charles and myself in handling the fabrication and pressing, shipping, getting distribution, radio airplay, and expanding the catalog. SER’s financial arrangement with its artist-producers was revolutionary compared to the traditional record company : 70% of net sales went to the artist-producers. They actually had the power had they been able to come together harmoniously with a development plan.

Would a label like Strata East have more chances of existing today?
Probably.

Do you believe that now, in 2015, Young musicians would have the same difficulties to become known or get signed, or has the internet totally changed the situation?
It seems to me the internet is the music business now for creative music, known as « jazz. » Pop music still operates in the old manner, signing artists and exploiting them via the new media possibilities.

Back then, you formed a team with Charles Tolliver : Music Inc… What was the aesthetic ambition?
The aesthetic ambition was to compose, play and extend the music of our great influences, mentors and innovators, while keeping the distinguishing features of the jazz tradition. Cecil McBee, Charles and I, each contributed music to the Music Inc. repertoire.

After the end of Music Inc, did you continue to see and play with Charles?
I played with Charles occasionally. I wanted to get off the road so I curtailed my touring to teach.

In 2015, you will be in concert with him for the opening night of the Banlieues Bleues festival in Paris. What will be the program, the spirit of the concert?
Powerful rhythmic expression and virtuosity in the style of our collective recordings and performances will be the spirit of this concert.

Both you and Charles Tolliver are somewhat underestimated by the general public, but very well known by musicians. How do you explain this gap?
Jazz and creative, improvised music as a whole has not been a popular music for many years. The sincere, knowledgable jazz fan obviously does know about us, otherwise we would not continue to be invited to record and perform. We have not declined in our skills but have become seasoned, like fine wine.

What about the Piano Handscapes project with Strata-East? Did the idea of 5 pianists playing together come from you?
Pianist, Larry Willis, suggested this idea, and it happened around the same time as other same-instrument collectives began to form in New York.

The whole Superfly Records team loves the tunes where you use the Thumb Piano (“Travellin’ Man” on your solo piano LP, the killer “Smilin’ Billy Suite” on The Heath Brothers album…)! When did you discover the thumb piano? Were you the first to introduce it in jazz records?
My sister, Dolores, gave it to me sometime in the late 1960s. I played it in the Music Inc. band, and entertained myself in hotel rooms as I traveled the world performing. I have used it for encores, on afro-pop and calypso type songs, and with the Heath Brothers accompanying some soft ballads.

You also released ‘Regeneration’, a more soul oriented LP… Why this title?
I was interested in world music and wanted to bring together some of my colleagues who played non-Western instruments, folk music, and jazz.

How did the session take place? And why did you not renew this type of experience with larger bands as opposed your former, smaller bands?
I had the freedom to create and produce what I wanted on Strata-East label but I wanted to improve small ensemble playing with traditional bands, work on my soloing in that context, and bring my composing skills more to the forefront.

In the 1970s you played and recorded a lot. And then suddenly, you stopped recording… What lays behind that choice? What changed?
I made a recording for ECM Records, and made four records for the Galaxy label (Fantasy-Prestige). Then I began teaching in the City University of New York system at Lehman College. I made this decision for the financial security that would allow me to marry and raise a daughter, Sienna. Consequently, I had the option not to take every gigs that was offered. I could avoid the smoky clubs, the lat-night life, and the negatives that life style could produce–health issues, etc.

You chose to teach jazz: what we can do, what we owe and what we are passing on? Is there anything that cannot be taught ?
I have a university master’s degree in music as a classical pianist, studied composition, music history and theory, but studied and learned to play and write jazz on my own. So, I was able to teach music history as well as jazz courses. It takes a person with certain acquired skills to transmit knowledge about any subject. I thought I had that potential, so when I was offered the professorship in 1981, I began learning something important to the transmission of the great arts.
If we have the patience, knowledge and wisdom from experience, we can teach jazz or any type of music or art. We cannot necessarily teach the finer points of creativity, style, sensitivity, compassion, value. But we can point the student(s) in that direction. It is up to their evolution and development of skills that will lead them to be able to personalize their craft.

What look to you take on new generations of jazzmen?
The skill level is high in many areas of the art of jazz. Of course, there are so many many branches and styles in the music today–admixtures, global influences, technology, etc.

Why has your music always found its roots in the blues?
I heard it as a child in my house and through my bedroom wisdom at night from a nightclub across the way. « Race » records were the popular source of music in my community. My father catered to musicians in his restaurant and later at is motel. He brought musicians to our home–including Art Tatum. Yes, blues inflection and form still influence my music, tempered by my other cultural and musical experiences.

Do you believe it is still the cement (unconscious) of the musical community in the US?
I think not as much as it was in the 20th century. There are so many students and performers of jazz who come from diverse cultures. Consequently, blues does not express what they feel, nor does it express what they want to express. All artists may be challenged like never before with the wide array of choices and directions. The question remains : How do I personalize this ?

Sometimes, during your career, you were contemplated for bringing in elements from the other Afro-American or African communities. Have you ever felt like you were making a “diasporic” music?
Perhaps, I will again. Right now, though, I am more interested in live electronic processing of my music as is heard on my recent SteepleChase CD, Welcome To This New World. I must mention that I have created a number of diverse works for orchestra, brass ensembles, woodwind quintet, choir, and electronic music since 1988, which have never been recorded. They are available to listen for free on my Google drive at should anyone be interested: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B2EgAWPq8mJqUHQxWklyR2c1b28/edit

You have just recorded a new record built around the civil rights movement in the USA. Do you think the musicians, through their compositions, are good witnesses of their time ?
Well, we try ! I suppose the real answer to that will not be known for many years.

How did you compose the repertory of this record ? Was it your idea?
The idea came from two sources : The first came when Vision Fugitive producer, Philippe Ghielmetti , met with me in the US in 2005. He proposed a « Juneteenth » solo project for the label he was producing for at that that time ; the second came from a professor very knowledgeable of African American history suggesting that a composition written for the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, announcing the freeing of slaves in the US, would be an interesting project to undertake during my 2007 Rutgers University sabbatical. I did not pursue that idea for several years but began to compose it 2012, for concert band, choir, percussion and electro-acoustic sounds. Of course, the work was too large to be performed or recorded before I retired from the university. However, I was able to make a solo piano reduction of most of the score, titled, « Junteenth Emancipation Suite », and this is what I recorded recently for Philippe, along with a 17-minute improvised « recollection » of the suite and a couple of other pertinent songs.

His next record, on Vision Fugitive

Why did you decide to cover “We Shall Overcome”? What does this song represent for you?
It is the anthem of the civil rights era ! It represents faith, the ideal of non-violence, and solidarity with suffering peoples around the world who are trying to free themselves from oppression. Of course, some times this process can morph into violence. Being a jazz musician known for rearranging songs (obscuring the obvious) in order to present them in a new and creative way, I played the melody as the bass part of the song, reharmonized it, and improvised solos above it.

And you linked it to a gospel… Why the gospel? Is it the voice of speechless people?
The gospel piece was included on the « Juneteenth » CD to suggest and reaffirm the power of faith that played such an important role in the civil rights struggle in the US. Gospel and the spiritual song have been a powerful expression of speechless people/disenfranchised people in the US ever since black Americans applied their musics to the theoretical promises found in the Judeo-Christian religious texts.

 
“Travelin Man”, his classic

At the time of the civil rights movement, you were 20 years old. Were you involved in this fight?
No, not directly. I did not march in the South. But as a black person I felt the anger and frustration, and sympathized with those directly involved in the struggle. Having been born and raised in the North, Toledo, Ohio to be exact, and being in already integrated schools, and not sensing most of the discrimination or bias from white Americans, I led a studious life devoted to music, within a successful and harmonious family, in a predominantly black community. At the age of 19 until 20, I was a student in Austria, far from the civil rights struggle. Upon my return to the US, I became much more aware of the racial divide, discrimination and racism. If you follow the news today with the recent shootings of unarmed black males by police, it may seem that there has been no progress. Be watchful ! Despite having elected a black president, there are racists individuals, anti-black groups, and powerful people that resent the progress of African Americans. And they continue to work to undermine the milestones in economic, legislative and political areas.

Was the jazz community in the front line of the civil rights movement?
Certain ones like Billie Holiday by singing « Strange Fruit », Max Roach, Charles Mingus and Archie Shepp in their famous suites and compositions expressed their indignation with racism and their support of the civil rights movement. They were my influences and mentors toward including a protesting and political bent to some of my works and musical endeavors.

What is the role or the place of a musician in society: the griot? The watchtower? The activist?
I would reply : « all of the above. » We are not just artists, we are citizens of our respective nations, and ultimately, citizens of the world. In our own personal ways, and when necessary, in unity with others, we should add our « fuel » to the cleansing fire against injustice!

On June 19th, 1865 slaves of Texas were the first ones to become “emancipated”, Free ! 150 years later, the anniversary is still officially celebrated. 150 years later, were all the problems settled ?
Obviously not !

Thank you for letting me express somethings regarding my life in music, especially jazz, and my feelings on art, life and injustice. Looking forward to returning to Paris in March with Charles Tolliver and the Strata-East All Stars.

this interview is also published, in a shorter version, in Jazz News.

Since the late 60’s, the native from Connecticut has played an important role in jazz history. After hosting a radio jazz show and writing for ‘Down Beat’ and other music magazines, he started working for record companies : Atlantic, Motown, ABC, Freedom and finally… Blue Note. Since 1984, Michael Cuscuna has been a special consultant, producer and the reissue director of the mythical label… During the same period, he also managed Mosaic Records, the indie company well known for its reissue boxsets of jazz legends.

 
 

Before directing Blue Note, you worked for various labels such as ESP, Muse, or ABC … Is Blue Note the label you dreamed of working for?
There were two labels that I dreamed about working for – Atlantic and Blue Note. I was a staff producer for Atlantic in 1972-74. I was friendly with a lot of jazz musicians and many of them told me about great Blue Note sessions that they played on that had never been released. I started to keep a notebook with all of their memories and tried to contact Blue Note to get into the vaults to see what might be worth releasing. But George Butler was running Blue Note and his interest was not in jazz. The label had changed and was nothing like the old Blue Note. Finally in 1976 I met Charles Lourie who had just joined Blue Note and he was a great jazz fan. He got me into the vaults and I have been working with this material ever since.

What lays behind the identity of Blue Note? What makes the difference, gives it a different edge compared to other Jazz labels? The Pop dimension?
What gave Blue Note the creative edge and made it better and different than most labels is that Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff were interested in keeping jazz pure, BUT ALSO in helping to create a situation in which to make great jazz, they befriended artists, they had planning meetings and rehearsals and tried to encourage musicians to compose and make new music that they would be proud of. The difference was in the care and hard work they put into everything.

Do you think the history of Blue Note can be split in several periods? If so what are they and why?
The different periods of Blue Note are basically defined by the style of music they recorded at the time. The first period is 1939-46 when they recorded boogie woogie, New Orleans jazz and small group swing. The second period is 1947-54 when they discovered modern jazz and made great first sessions by Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, James Moody, Kenny Drew, Wynton Kelly, Lou Donaldson and Horace Silver. 1954-67 is the period when Blue Note discovered its identity through sound (Rudy Van Gelder), design (Reid Miles), photography (Francis Wolff), production (Alfred Lion) and the style of the music (Horace Silver, Art Blakey with the birth of the Jazz Messengers). In this third period, the music grew and changed but it was basically the same creative team and the growing group of great musicians who recorded with the label, moving from soul jazz to hard bop to modal to avant-garde. Alfred Lion left in 1967 and Francis Wolff and Duke Pearson tried to keep the identity of Blue Note going until Frank’s death in 1971. The fourth period is the 70’s when George Butler ran the label. Some older artists like Horace Silver, Bobby Hutcherson and Elvin Jones stayed for a while, but the label’s sound was mainly controlled by the Mizell Brothers and Larry Rosen & Dave Grusin who were turning out successful, commercial albums by Donald Byrd, Earl Klugh and others. The next phase would be from 1985 when Bruce Lundvall restarted Blue Note to 2010 when he retired. In that era, we recorded a variety of music so it is hard to define what we have done. This is a different time.

To try and study the history of Blue Note, its evolution and singular aesthetic may sometimes sound like trying to understand the history of jazz. Why do you think this is?
Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff were jazz fans and they followed the music as it grew and changed. It is natural that people as smart and talented as them would mirror the evolution of the music in what they did. Sometimes they were followers like when they discovered bebop two years after other labels were recording it and sometimes they were the creators of change like when they signed Jimmy Smith before the organ was a jazz instrument and before the popularity of soul jazz.

Why do you think Blue Note succeeded in bringing together so many different artists, from Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor to Lou Donaldson and Lonnie Smith, without losing its originality and unity?
That is the key behind Blue Note. You could go from Ike Quebec to Jackie McLean to Lonnie Smith to Ornette Coleman and what is common about each artist is that they were making their best records for Blue Note. The sound, the packaging, the planning – it all makes each record special in the sense of Blue Note quality. We tried to do that in the 80’s. 80’s and 00’s. But of course we had different engineers, producers, studios and designers so we did not have the consistency that Alfred and Frank had.

What was the essence behind the fascinating Blue Note artwork? What kind of directions were given to the graphics designer to achieve such a harmonious and unique series of design?
This is very interesting. The early Blue Note designers like Paul Bacon and John Hermansader were modern designers and jazz fans. But by the time of the 12” (30 cm) LP, they settled on Reid Miles as their designer. Reid only liked classical music so he never listened to any of the hundreds of Blue Note albums that he designed covers for. And yet, he captured each album perfectly. The reason is that Alfred, who was a very enthusiastic and talkative man, would describe to Reid the spirit and intent of each album and Reid created the ideal design for each one. He also had that rare gift that every album cover looked different from the rest, but together they all looked like Blue Note covers.

There are some musicians that were all about Blue Note in their style but never got a release on the label like Mal Waldron or Charles Tolliver. What criteria did you mainly use to select your artists?
Well, Mal Waldron never recorded for Blue Note in any session, but I understand your question. Charles Tolliver and Woody Shaw were promised contracts with Blue Note but when Alfred sold the label to Liberty Records and didn’t like the way they were doing business, he told Charles and Woody that he didn’t want to sign new artists because he wanted to leave the label himself. Others like James Spaulding are a mystery. I asked James once why he never made a Blue Note album as a leader. He said, « They never asked me. » Well, James is a shy guy and probably he never asked them either! There is no logic to all of this.

Blue Note is by far the most collected and famous jazz label. Are you familiar with all the pressing details (the ear, the R, the deep groove, the flat edge etc …) that make it such a fascinating record series to collect and what is your opinion about it? And how did so many pressing variances occur?
I don’t know all the ins and outs of the collector details for Blue Note. Fred Cohen who runs the Jazz Record Center in New York City published a whole book about it. I am amazed at how collectable original Blue Note pressings and all the attention paid to little details like the label address on the pressings etc. By the way, the ear in the wax that collectors talk about is actually a P for Plastylite, the pressing plant that pressed all the Blue Notes in the 50’s and 60’s.

During the 90’s, Blue Note Japan reissued a number of previously unreleased sessions on LP including material by Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter… Most of these recordings are awesome. Why weren’t they released at the time? Do you plan to release new issues of those recordings for the rest of the world?
Actually, in 1976 I started going into the Blue Note vaults for unissued material. I was amazed at the quality of a lot of it. Some artists like Lee Morgan and Grant Green recorded so frequently (probably because they wanted to earn more money) that the label could never put out everything, but much of what they did not release was every bit as good as what they did release. Both Lee and Grant were very successful so Alfred and Frank probably leaned towards their more commercial sessions to release at the time. Others are a great mystery like Wayne Shorter’s ‘Et Cetera’ or Bobby Hutcherson’s ‘Oblique’. Brilliant sessions. I asked Alfred once about all the unissued material and he didn’t really remember leaving so much good material in the vault. So I started putting these sessions out in the late ‘70s in the US. But the record business was in bad shape at the time and the label lost interest in issuing them. So I talked to King Records in Japan who were distributing Blue Note at the time. They put a lot of them out. Then when Toshiba EMI took over Blue Note we put more out and then started converting everything to CD. I have gotten just about everything out that deserves to be released at least in Japan if not everywhere. In the past few years, Japan has begun to reissue of lot of these and classic Blue Notes on hi-res CDs.

Our favorite recordings on the label belong to what we call the « Dark Jazz » genre, like Duke Pearson’s ‘The Phantom’, Andrew Hill’s ‘Lift With Every Voice’, Bobby Hutcherson’s ‘Oblique’ or Jack Wilson’s ‘Easterly Winds’! These are still largely underrated. Any idea why?
Well, most of the albums that you name are from the late 60’s and early 70’s. This was a bad time for jazz in USA. Underground FM Rock like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were attracting the young white audience and the avant-garde was driving away the middle-aged black audience and jazz was left with very little support. These albums were created and issued during that time and were overlooked. I think that is why history has forgotten them.

Pete La Roca’s ‘Basra’ is one of our favorite LPs on the label. Why did Pete release only one LP for Blue Note?
I don’t know. A lot of guys only made one or two albums for a label during that time. And guys like Pete (in demand drummers and bassists) got a lot more work by playing with different groups than trying to lead their own group. Of course, Pete did make another album for Blue Note 30 years later !!!

75 years is quite an achievement! How do you explain the longevity of the label?
I think the longevity of the label is owed to the great music of the classic Blue Note period (1954-67) that Alfred and Frank recorded and that remains vital and alive today and the fact that Bruce Lundvall, myself and Don Was who followed since the 80’s have never tried to duplicate what they did, but we respect it and try to live up to their legacies in our own way.

The Blue Note identity (the artwork, the quality of recordings, …) is part of the label’s mythology. Do you have any type of strategy to keep the myth alive?
Well, we’ve always kept that legacy alive by issuing the classic Blue Note albums in the best possible sound with original packaging and liner notes to keep the spirit of the original Blue Note alive. That identity does not exist for new Blue Note recordings since 1985 because we have so many different producers, engineers, photographers and designers. We have always tried to keep the quality high, but it doesn’t have an identity like the original Blue Note did.

What could eventually endanger the Blue Note brand?
What would endanger Blue Note would be if the kind of person who only cared about music as a commercial commodity instead of an art were to take over the label. Then bizarre projects like Rod Stewart sings Gershwin or Barry Manilow duets with dead people would destroy the integrity of the label and lose the trust of the fan.

Do you think a label like Blue Note could see the light today? If so, which other label could potentially look like Blue Note today?
Yes, I do. But it would have to be an independent label, not part of large corporation. I think in the 70’s ECM in its own musical style created an independent label with a very strong identity. I think Criss Cross in the 80’s till today is doing very much what Blue Note of the 50’s and 60’s did. And newer labels like Palmetto and ACT are recording pure jazz and forging their own identities.

Are you interested in the current jazz scene?
Yes, I don’t have the time to follow it as much as I would like but there are an amazing amount of talent artists on every instrument. I think the fact that people like Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard give their time to jazz education has really helped too.

Current Blue Note artists like Gregory Porter or Robert Glasper are very promising. Do you think they will be part of the Blue Note legend one day?
Yes I do. We have been very lucky over the past 30 years to record people like Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, John Scofield, Greg Osby, Tim Hagans, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Robert Glasper and Gregory Porter. They are all original and they are here to stay.

Are you enthusiastic about the return of vinyl records? How do you see the future in that respect?
I don’t think the return of vinyl affects the style or quality of music, but it does make us more conscious of upholding great sound quality when producing a record.

We owe you the re-discovery of the Monk quartet with Coltrane. Do you have many more unreleased tapes? Where do you find them?
Well, they come from different places. That one came from Larry Appelbaum at the Library of Congress. Author Lewis Porter found an ad for that concert in a New York newspaper and kept asking Larry to look for it in the Voice Of America radio tapes. A couple of years later, Larry found it by accident !!!! They called me and we made a deal. This was a major find. I doubt we will ever see anything that significant again. I believe most of the next discoveries will come from INA, the BBC, RAI and other European radio and television companies that taped the great American artists in the 60’s.

What would be the Blue Note release of your dreams?
I don’t know how to answer that. Since 1976, I’ve gotten all the great unissued music released. Since 1985, I’ve gotten all of the classic catalog issued on CD in good sound with bonus tracks. I’ve also been able to produce a lot of wonderful artists like Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Don Pullen-George Adams, Joe Lovano, Terence Blanchard and more. I think my dreams have come true.

WHAT DID NEW YORK CITY REPRESENT FOR A YOUNG JAZZMAN? A PLACE TO BE?

When I was ten years old my parents decided to move to New York City from my birthplace of Jacksonville, Florida. Just after arriving, my mother entered me in the famous Apollo Theater “Amateur Hour”. During those, the early fifties, almost all contestants were singers. I was the only instrumentist ! But I placed at the top. The song I played ‘Because Of You’. Also during these years if you placed at the top, your reward was a work experience with the Red Prysock Orchestra.

WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CITY ? YOU LIVED AT FIRST IN HARLEM, THEN IN BROOKLYN: WHAT WERE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THOSE TWO PARTS OF THE CITY?

Of course for a child that age schooling and getting to know the city occupied most of teenage years. Around eleven/twelve, my mother’s brother had a lot of hip LPs which I occupied myself listening to. I had already been doing that since the age of six/seven at home, in Jacksonville. My mother’s father had original 78 rpms Jazz At The Philharmonic presentations of Norman Granz, which I was already “scatting” to. So I knew what was hip and what was ‘has been’ by the age of eight, so amongst those LPs of my uncle I discovered Max Roach and Clifford Brown At Basin Street on EmArcy. I knew immediately that it was just about the hippest thing I’d ever heard and right there I made the decision that this would be my life’s work. So between eleven/twelve until graduation from high school at seventeen years of age, most of my working hours were spent listening to everything.

YOU PLAYED AS A SIDEMAN, AND FURTHER AS A LEADER, DURING THE SIXTIES… WHAT WERE YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES? JACKIE MCLEAN? MAX ROACH? DIZZY?

My main influence, until I found Clifford Brown, was Charlie Shavers at that point. New York’s Harlem where I grew up was a sort of paradise. From my house located on 137street & eight avenue, I was in walking distance of two main jam session spots : Count Basie’s bar and a place called Brankers. It was at those two places that musicians young and old came on Monday nights to be heard in the hope of getting in and being accepted into the scene. I didn’t participate yet, just listened. I went away to Washington, between eighteen and twenty one, but I decided in 1963 to return home because I felt I was ready to participate. My family had moved to Brooklyn and there was a club in that part of town named Blue Coronet where many soon-to-be major figures were playing. I too jammed there and one night I met a fella named Jim Harrison who had started his own Jackie McLean Fan Club. He told me that maybe Jackie McLean was looking for a new trumpeter and that I should go see him. He gave me his contact, and I went to meet him. The rest is history ! Without having barely, if at all, heard what he sounded like, Jackie put me on his next recording for Blue Note : It’s Time. That changed my life forever.

YOU WERE (WITH WOODY SHAW) ONE OF THE CATS ON TRUMPET… HOW COULD YOU EXPLAIN THE FACT RECORD COMPANIES DIDN’T OFFER TO YOU A GOOD DEAL?

For the next couple of years, I performed and recorded with Jackie. He was my mentor into the scene. It was also during this period that Alfred Lions sold his masterpiece, Blue Note Records, to Transamerica Corp/United Artist. Both myself and Woody Shaw had been placed on significant Blue Note recordings but for some reason Alfred Lions would not give us a record session of our own, which had been up to that point what usually happened with young lions trumpeters brought in by established stars within the label, and that is you would be given your own recording as leader. It would take Woody Shaw nearly five more years before he got his chance with Columbia, curtailing Dexter Gordon.

IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES, WHAT WAS THE PLACE OF JAZZ IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS? WAS IT HARDER AND HARDER FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS LIKE YOU?

One cannot be certain, but the last A&R guy of the original Blue Note label, Duke Pearson – himself trumpeter as well as pianist by the way – before Alfred Lions sold the company, perhaps didn’t push for us to record as leaders, as the A&R before him, Ike Quebec, did for Freddie Hubbard. Speaking of Freddie Hubbard, I first met him when he had just arrived to New York. I was seventeen, he was twenty one. Since that moment we were friends and confidants until his death.

THAT WAS WHY YOU DECIDED TO CREATE STRATA EAST?

With respect to recording contracts, it is as much about who in the business, A&R, managers, agents, record label execs, etc. will champion your cause and more often it is those elements more than your artistry which gets you there. As mentioned Woody Shaw, as good as he was, had to wait until the mid seventies before being championed. I decided in 1970 to just go ahead and get involved with the whole process; being a musician artist, composing, arranging, and issuing my recordings with a company I would create. I had already in 1969 made my first LP as a leader for Alan Bates while he was still an executive at Polydor in London, “The Ringer”, featuring my first quartet which included Stanley Cowell.

COULD YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PARTNERSHIP WITH STANLEY COWELL ? HOW LONG YOU HAVE KNOWN HIM FOR? WAS HE A KIND OF ALTER EGO? HOW DID YOU WORK TOGETHER?

Stanley Cowell and I met for the first time at the first rehearsal to start the new Max Roach quintet in 1967. From That moment until now we became close friends and confidents. Three years later we decided to record a big band and shop it to the labels that existed at the time, including the major indies. We didn’t find interest, so right then and there I decided we do the whole “9 yards” ourselves. There was not yet the thought of a record label, just get this recording “Music Inc & Big Band” into the market.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS NAME STRATA EAST? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

To make a long story short, researching everything about how the industry companies did it, we went about the business of record (LP) in manufacturing of distribution. We didn’t have a name for the label yet, but Stanley knew some musician colleagues in Detroit, Michigan – The Contemporary Jazz Quintet, Kenny Cox/Charles Moore – who had already started a musician-owned music production company named Strata. We decided to call our operations Strata East, meaning the eastern side of the USA for Strata. We were completely separate companies but ideologically linked : “musician owned”. Strata East was born.

WAS IT A KIND OF COOPERATIVE ? ALTERNATIVE? AND DID YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU SIGNED?

Back to making a long story shorter : the jazz radio disc-jokeys at a radio station at the time WLIB started playing the LP and we slowly started getting small orders from “Mom & Pops” one-stop distributors, and we also distributed through another musician run company JCOA headed by Carla Bley and Mike Mantler which lasted for several years. Other musicians, some known, some unknown, began asking how we did it and could they join. I decided there would be no artist under contract. The artist would have to produce his own product just as Stanley and I had. We, Strata East, would serve as their conduit to the market place with 70/80 payback to them. IT WAS A GOOD DEAL… Some people thought it was a crazy idea… The traditional thought being that if you start a record label – and you want to make money – you put an artist under contractual control. I and Stanley decided that since out of necessity we had financed our LP which launched the label, we not only owned the masters but if we let others join so too would they own their masters since the requirement to join was them having already financed their recording thus become the major recipient of the proceeds. The result of this idea didn’t really become apparent until we issued Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America”.

SCOTT-HERON, CLIFFORD JORDAN, CECIL MC BEE, HEATH BROTHERS… WHAT WAS THE LINK BETWEEN ALL THESE MUSICIANS?  WAS THERE A SORT OF ARTISTIC DIRECTION? ESTHAETIC LINE?

Prior to Gil Scott-Heron’s product, the artist who really contributed much to the Strata East formula was Clifford Jordan who in essence had already busied himself with producing at least four products which he was to bring to the label. Then many of our colleagues joined : like you mentioned, the bass player Cecil McBee, the brotherhood Heath –Jimmy, Percy and Tootie –, Bill Lee, Spike’s father, the Monk’s saxophonist Charlie Rouse, Billy Harper and many others…

YOUR EXPOSURE CHANGED AFTER THE SUCESS OF WINTER IN AMERICA. HOW MANY RECORDS DID YOU PUT OUT ON STRATA EAST IN THE END?

With the success of Scott-Heron, the “major recipient” idea quickly caught until at one point we were carrying fifty titles through 1982. From the inception of Strata East in 1971 until 1982 I kept things going while still performing both with the quartet and occasionally with large ensembles. I kept the label going by leasing to many companies throughout Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. By doing so the LPs always found their way back to America and into the retail store that were alive in those hey days, I.C., Tower, HMV, etc.

MOST OF US ARE FASCINATED BY THE STRATA EAST RECORD LABEL. THERE IS ONE PARTICULAR RECORD FROM THAT CATALOGUE THAT HAS REMAINED MYSTERIOUS TO US. IT’S JOHN GORDON’S “EROTICA SUITE” FROM 1978. CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT THIS RECORD?

John Gordon & I became colleagues in a loft we shared around the corner from the storied 89 East Broadway loft both of which were a vital part of the mid-sixties loft jazz scene melting pot for new modern be-bop players and new avant garde players. Some years after Stanley & I got the label going John decided to join and the result was his “Erotica Suite” (and before that “Step By Step” published in 1976) which we also performed on. It is still a recording I very much enjoy. Sadly John passed away some years ago.

GENERALLY SPEAKING WHY ARE SOME OF THE STRATA EAST RECORDS SO RARE? I THINK ABOUT BILLY PARKER’S FOURTH WORLD, SHAMEK FARRAH, MBOOM PERCUSSIONS…

Generally speaking many of the Strata East recordings are rare now because they were one-off recordings by the artist who afterwards disappeared from the scene never to return. Billy Parker (Fourth World) and Shamek Farah by example. In the case of MBoom the anticipated release on Strata East never materialized because the participants decided to release it elsewhere. Mboom was a collective group essentially all leaders of it.

WERE COPIES DESTROYED OR WAS THERE JUST NO ENOUGH BELIEF IN THEIR COMMERCIAL SUCCESS AT THAT TIME?

Any LP copies of commercially released Strata East recordings were never destroyed. At the end of a deal with any particular artist that artist was given their masters and any LPs that may have been left in stock to sell for themselves. No deal was ever made with any artist based on whether or not it would be a commercial success. It was made because the artist wanted and needed to have a product commercially issued and came to us to help them accomplish that. Obviously some were more successful than others.

BY THE WAY, YOU STILL LISTEN TO YOUR OLD RECORDS? ON LP?

Rarely do I listen to my own vintage LPs because I don’t want to damage them with the needle. I do from time to time listen to them on CD issues.

AND WHAT WAS HAPPENING AT THE END OF THE SEVENTIES? WHY DID THE STRATA EAST ADVENTURE FADE AWAY? YOU DISAPPEARED DURING THE EIGHTIES BUT YOUR NAME AND THE STRATA EAST LABEL WERE STILL WELL KNOWN BY MUSIC LOVERS…

After 1982, I decided to rest things for a while. Strata East never ceased ! As long as I am alive it lives. The cult thing about the label started to happen long before the demise of the LP because I operated very quietly, no fanfare. So people were always wondering what happened to Strata East. Well, it wasn’t the traditional record operation although it facially had the look of an up and running operation. In 1989 I retooled the masters of myself and Stanley and a few other original colleagues of the label, and reissued some twenty five recordings of the catalogue on CD. Those CDs found their way to the market exactly as I had done before, by leasing overseas and they found their way back to the USA stores. Younger musicians and entrepreneurs who have taken a look at the Strata East model are now issuing their recordings with that model in mind. You own your own master and you should be the “major recipient”.

(c) Jimmy Katz

BACK TO THE EIGHTIES. IT WAS A NEW AGE OF JAZZ : WYNTON MARSALIS, AND YOUNG TRADITIONNAL CATS ; HOW DID YOU LOOK AT THIS PHENOMENA? A KIND OF COME-BACK TO THE PAST? A FAKE IDEA?

With respect to a new age of jazz unless newer musicians have assimilated the original giants, what is called new age means nothing. And one can hear that in a lot of them. I’m not unhappy with the state of things however for there are a few of us still “taking no prisoners” on the bandstand keeping things honest. The superiority of the originals still reigns supreme.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU PLAYED IN JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER END OF OCTOBER 2011 FOR A TRIBUTE TO COLTRANE’S AFRICA BRASS…

The Africa Brass thing is an idea of Reggie Workman. The original scores by Eric Dolphy were long ago lost. I resurrected them from the grooves of the LPs and created additional choir to it. This was presented like that at Lincoln Center.

DO YOU THINK, AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS, THE HOLY GHOST OF COLTRANE STILL HAUNTING ALL THE JAZZ?

You know, John Coltrane still is and will always be the last definitive model for this music, far superior to the brand new generations. And I have always been on the disciples to carry that enduring message.

YOU CAME BACK AFTER TWENTY FIVE YEARS IN FRONT OF JAZZ ON BLUE NOTE RECORDS, THE LABEL WHERE YOU BEGAN TO RECORD IN SIXTIES… HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THIS LOOP? AND WHAT DID IT CHANGE AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS?

Lastly, I did the recent Blue Note to prove a point. A major record operation if it so chooses – that is, follow the wishes of its president – can make any recording FLY. Not even Bruce Lundvall (former boss) could save the original intent of Blue Note once EMI was monopolized by Terra Firma.

YOU ARE CELEBRATING YOUR FIFTIETH CAREER ANNIVERSARY IN 2014. WHAT STAGE PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE?

For the coming 2014 celebration of my fiftieth year I will perform on stage as I began my career with the small combo format, quartet and sometimes quintet. It is where I have always lived no matter my occasional run with the big band format. First I will be introducing my new combo featuring a great relatively new guitarist Bruce Edwards, a great new young pianist Theo Hill, a great new young bassist Devin Starks, and the great seasoned former Herbie Hancock drummer Gene Jackson.

FOR THIS ANNIVERSARY, WOULD NOT IT BE THE OPPORTUNITY ALSO TO PUBLISH A BOXSET OF YOUR ACTIVITY ON STRATA EAST? FOR INSTANCE ON MOSAIC?

Mosaic and Strata East have released two 3CDsets of me which one could say is like a boxset together : Mosaic Select 20 which is a combination of “Live at Slugs Vol. I & II” and “Live in Tokyo”, and Mosaic Select 37 which is a combination of three recordings – the 1970 recording which launched Strata East, “Music Inc & Big Band” (See here TV Show jazz session in Paris 1971), the 1975 big band recording “Impact”, and a 1979 recording made with the NDR radio jazz orchestra. We’ll see what else we collaborate on for the near future.

COULD WE IMAGINE A TOUR IN DUET WITH STANLEY COWELL?

At some point during the year perhaps my colleague Stanley will join me to reprise the quartet Music Inc.

DID NEW YORK CHANGE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?

New York indeed has changed since I debuted in 1964. For one thing only a handful (if that) of the original modern jazz innovators and the generation before me are still alive. New players like when I came along could rub shoulders with those giants every night because there were so many of them playing the New York club scene. You could hear and see them live, meet them, and maybe get a chance to perform with them if they liked what you were doing. The scenario for that has changed.