Jump to content

Strata East


jazzman21

Recommended Posts

Not really a Strata recording...

Just curious Chuck, are you saying that only Tolliver's and Cowell's own recordings are "real" Strata East recordings? (Or, rather, Strata "productions"??)

I know in the past you've discribed the label as essentially being a vehicle for various artists to have released their own recordings/productions -- that there really wasn't a Strata East "roster", as such.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clifford Jordan's "Glass Bead Games" (both LPs on one CD) is my very favorite Strata East recording. They've gotten a whole lot of play over the years. That Brackeen is an Ornette-quartet-inspired recording that I listen to almost as often as I listen to Ornette's Atlantics.

Another Strata East recording that I enjoy is Clifford Jordan's unique and apparently rather rare "In The World". I have a CD-R of a cassette copy of a friend's LP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who all is on that Harold Vick LP??

Never seen the cover of it before either - very cool!! B-)

Don't look back : Virgil Jones (tp,flhrn-1) George Davis (fl,g-2) Kiane Zawadi (euph-1) Harold Vick (sop, ts,fl,b-cl) Joe Bonner (p,el-p,tu,perc) Sam Jones (b) Billy Hart (d) Jimmy Hopps (perc-3

White Plains, N.Y., November 1974

Don't look back (1,2) Strata-East SES-7431

Melody for Bu (&,2) -

Señor Zamora (1,2) -

Stop and cop (3) -

Lucille -

Prayer (hv,jb only) -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really a Strata recording...

Just curious Chuck, are you saying that only Tolliver's and Cowell's own recordings are "real" Strata East recordings? (Or, rather, Strata "productions"??)

I know in the past you've discribed the label as essentially being a vehicle for various artists to have released their own recordings/productions -- that there really wasn't a Strata East "roster", as such.

The Brackeen date, like the rest of the Dolphy Series (and some unissued sessions) was recorded for Frontier Records, a project started by Clifford Jordan in 1968. Clifford's financing evaporated and the label never issued any of the sessions. He later had some of the material issued on Strata East.

Strata East's first issue was the Music Inc. big band date from 1971. Tolliver quickly realized the problems of a small, one issue label and had the idea of expanding the company by offering it as an outlet for other artist's "self produced" sessions. The idea was to have a steady stream of new product and thus more clout with distributors and the ability to leverage better rates from printers, pressing plants, etc. This way he could expand the footprint of his small operation with other peoples money and provide an outlet for other artists at the same time.

Unavoidably, bad feelings ensued.

In the mid '70s I had a meeting with Clifford (in an office Michael Cuscuna shared with Maxine Gregg-Shaw-Gordon) and he offered for sale the entire batch of recordings, both issued and unissued. Unfortunately I could not come up with the bread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everything that I know from the Frontier label was recorded during 1968, 1969, and 1970. Now, sometimes the dates are listed wrong - like Lord listing Rhythm X from 1973 (should be January 26, 1968, I think) - but in Bruyninckx and Lord, Glass Bead Games is dated October 29, 1973. Is this correct? Or should this be just for the session with Cedar Walton and Sam Jones - which seems more likely to me. I am skeptical that both they and Stanley Cowell/Bill Lee were in the same studio on the same day.

Has there ever been comprehensive documentation of the Frontier sessions?

What I know is here:

http://www.JazzDiscography.com/Temp/frontier.htm

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Frontier info

When Clifford played the tapes for me Cuscuna copied (by hand) listings from the tape boxes and added more info from questioning Clifford. Mike then gave me the paper and I am reproducing the contents below.

Wilbur Ware w/Jordan, Cherry, Blackwell

A – 1 Symphony For …… 10.16 bass solo

2 Red Cross 8:21

3 Mod House 5:49

B – 1 Wilbur Ware Tune 7:24

2 A Real Nice Lady 8:35

3 All By Myself 7:43 bass solo

Note: B – 1 has “Superbass” scribbled above title and “? BeWare” below

B – 2 is really Sophisticated Lady

Ed Blackwell

A – 1 Shades of General Lofty 21:10

2 That Moment of Glance 4:50

B – 1 Farid 9:05

2 Eternal Rhythm 13:55

A – 2, B – 1 Blackwell, Ware, Cherry, Lugman Lateef

A- 1, B – 2 Blackwell, Higgins, D. Charles, Roger Blank, Frank Charles

Note: Lugman was Clifford’s spelling – “Tenor man from New Orleans” he said.

Are you familiar with Rabin’s A Discography of Free Jazz? Published by Knudsen in 1969 with a manuscript date of August 1968 noted by Rabin. The newest entry in the book is from September 2, 1968 (!). This Sept entry is a Cherry session from Stockholm with “unknown titles”. He lists the Ware session as Jan ’68 along with the Blackwell, Cherry and Brackeen dates which leads me to believe my info of Blackwell on this session is correct.

In this book, Rabin lists the Cherry session as a quartet – no mention of Maffy.

The tune listing is as you report from Lord, with the following spelling difference:

“Ahmed Mouvafak”.

I did not hear (or see) the Cherry tapes since Clifford said Don didn’t want his session included in the sale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What Strata titles have been released on CD?? (and which haven't??). And by whom and where??

For instance, I've got several on CD from Germany, manufactured by Bellaphon.

And just as many from the U.K., by Charly.

And a couple I have just say "Made in the U.S.A." (but they don't say by whom).

(I've also seen some on-line supposedly from Japan, but I've never seen any up close and personal.)

I've also heard that the Charly did NOT pay royalties to (some?/many?/any?) of the Strata artists. In fact, I've heard this from several unrelated sources over the last few years (both on-line, and off), so I've always assumed it was true. Can anyone confirm this?? Does Charly have a history of this with other labels they've reissued on CD too?? :unsure: / :angry:

Did all the other CD sources for Strata pay royalties?? (I'm assuming yes, unless I hear otherwise.)

Edited by Rooster_Ties
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What Strata titles have been released on CD?? (and which haven't??). And by whom and where??

For instance, I've got several on CD from Germany, manufactured by Bellaphon.

And just as many from the U.K., by Charly.

And a couple I have just say "Made in the U.S.A." (but they don't say by whom).

(I've also seen some on-line supposedly from Japan, but I've never seen any up close and personal.)

I've also heard that the Charly did NOT pay royalties to (some?/many?/any?) of the Strata artists. In fact, I've heard this from several unrelated sources over the last few years (both on-line, and off), so I've always assumed it was true. Can anyone confirm this?? Does Charly have a history of this with other labels they've reissued on CD too?? :unsure: / :angry:

Did all the other CD sources for Strata pay royalties?? (I'm assuming yes, unless I hear otherwise.)

Licensors do not pay royalties to artists - they pay royalties to the source label and that label pays the artists their share.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Licensors do not pay royalties to artists - they pay royalties to the source label and that label pays the artists their share.

So then who's got controling interest in Strata these days?? Tolliver, or Cowell, or both?? (Or someone else?? :unsure: )

Or more specifically, who had it at the time when royalties weren't paid (if that's really the case -- but I'm assuming it was, much as I've heard this).

What's the story here?? icon14.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...