During an era when jazz artists were plugging in and getting into rock formations, the label Strata-East (founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver)fought the current by releasing albums by artists who were dedicated to acoustic yet adventurous mainstream/post bop jazz. They are eventually going to release one by one a hefty sum from their catalogue, but for now, we get an anthology that should whet your appetite.
These twenty one songs by various artists reveal that there was a healthy dose of jazz in the 70s-90s for those not succumbing to the fusioned times. Tenor saxist Billy Harper (still alive and well, BTW) is rich in toned on “Sir Galahad” while post bopper saxist Clifford Jordon blows sophistication on ‘John Coltrane”. Tolliver himself is featured on a series of live sessions, blisteringly lyrical on “Drought” and “ Ruthie’s Heart” while pianist Stanley Crowell glows on “Hopscotch” and joins the Heath Brothers for a bopping “Smiling Billy Suite”. Mainstream pianist John Hicks is in excellent form on “My One and Only Love” and bari saxist Cecil Payne glows on “Martin Luther King Jr I Know Love”.
This was the music that got me hooked on jazz in the 1970s, and neither one of us has let go of the other.