Mingus/Strata/Detroit -- NPR

[Mark Stryker]

The new MIngus set has been getting media traction. My take emphasizes the unique and largely unknown Detroit story of the Strata Corporation that brought Mingus to the city in the first place. In my forthcoming book, "Jazz From Detroit," I go deep on Strata and other self-determination efforts in Detroit in the '60s and '70s, including Tribe, Detroit Artists Workshop and Detroit Creative Musicians Association.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/09/666123401/mingus-jazz-in-detroit-catches-a-giant-at-a-moment-full-of-possibility?live=1

[Rooster_Ties]

Look forward to that book!!  Especially the coverage of the 60's and 70's -- time periods often given shorter shrift in some books (or that was certainly the case 20 years ago, anyway, but maybe less-so now)  When is the book coming out?  I'll most definitely want one!

[Mark Stryker]

1 minute ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Look forward to that book!!  Especially the coverage of the 60's and 70's -- time periods often given shorter shrift in some books (or that was certainly the case 20 years ago, anyway, but maybe less-so now)  When is the book coming out?  I'll most definitely want one!

Thanks for the enthusiasm. Publication is slated for Aug. 1, 2019. University of Michigan Press. 

[JSngry]

"gathering string" - nice phrase, haven't knowingly heard it before.

are you up for preorder on amazon yet?

[felser]

I will also want the book.  Strata and Tribe released some really interesting work in the 70's.  

[mjazzg]

I'll be buying this if it makes it over here at a not too mad cost   

[Mark Stryker]

Thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm. No Amazon pre-order yet but I'll everyone know when we get there.I actually do have a cover image but it's in PDF form right now and too big to post here. When I get that figured out, I'll drop it in -- I love the photo image and type style 

 

[Jason Bivins]

Super cool, Mark! I'll look forward to reading it too.

Been digging this Mingus set a lot. Pullen, holy smokes.

[Niko]

I found this 2013 article about both the reissue label and Strata pretty interesting... played some of these planned but unreleased Strata albums on Spotify yesterday (Ron English, Sam Sanders) and really liked them... surprised that this program didn't get more discussion here until now... 

 

 

[sidewinder]

Niko - thanks for that, didn’t realise the Cox was on Spotify. Checking it out right now.

Interested in the book as well !

Edited November 10, 2018 by sidewinder

[Justin V]

On 11/10/2018 at 0:17 PM, Niko said:

I found this 2013 article about both the reissue label and Strata pretty interesting... played some of these planned but unreleased Strata albums on Spotify yesterday (Ron English, Sam Sanders) and really liked them... surprised that this program didn't get more discussion here until now... 

 

 

A Kenn Cox reissue is certainly a joyful noise deserving of applause.  I once caught the small-group part of a Kenn Cox tribute at the Detroit Jazz Festival.  It was something to hear Contemporary Jazz Quintet bassist Ron Brooks, still in excellent form, revisiting classic CJQ material.  Cox's duo album with Donald Walden is also great.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Justin V

[Al in NYC]

Mark, thank you, you have just jogged a memory loose for me!  I've been wracking my brains for years trying to remember where I saw Mingus as a teenager.  I mentioned it to my father before he died, because I remember it was he that took me and my mother to see Mingus (my dad loved a lot of his work), but even he couldn't remember where it was in Detroit.  He even suggested that we may both be mis-remembering it, and that it may have been in New York.  All we were sure of is that it was winter, and cold, and that it was a wild show.  But Strata on Selden it definitely was, because once I saw it mentioned I remembered that it was right around the corner from Zakoor Novelties, which was where dad would take my sister and I to buy all sorts of cheap fun stuff.

I'm pretty certain it wasn't that Tuesday show though, because that would have been a school night for me.  I do remember that Mingus was increasingly unhappy with his side men through the evening, including Roy Brooks (who was the only one of them I thought I remembered, so thank you for confirming).  To the point where he scowled at them and told them all to lay out while he played a very extended bass solo.  I do remember just loving it though, and playing the grooves off of my dad's Mingus records for the next year or so.

As someone who remembers that era in Detroit jazz, and came of age right at the tail end of it (I even spent part of my 18th birthday at Cobb's listening to Sam Sanders and Visions), I can't tell you how much I look forward to your book and your perspective on the now almost forgotten blossoming of creative jazz that happened during that era in Detroit.

 

[Mark Stryker]

On 11/14/2018 at 0:30 AM, Al in NYC said:

Mark, thank you, you have just jogged a memory loose for me!  I've been wracking my brains for years trying to remember where I saw Mingus as a teenager.  I mentioned it to my father before he died, because I remember it was he that took me and my mother to see Mingus (my dad loved a lot of his work), but even he couldn't remember where it was in Detroit.  He even suggested that we may both be mis-remembering it, and that it may have been in New York.  All we were sure of is that it was winter, and cold, and that it was a wild show.  But Strata on Selden it definitely was, because once I saw it mentioned I remembered that it was right around the corner from Zakoor Novelties, which was where dad would take my sister and I to buy all sorts of cheap fun stuff.

I'm pretty certain it wasn't that Tuesday show though, because that would have been a school night for me.  I do remember that Mingus was increasingly unhappy with his side men through the evening, including Roy Brooks (who was the only one of them I thought I remembered, so thank you for confirming).  To the point where he scowled at them and told them all to lay out while he played a very extended bass solo.  I do remember just loving it though, and playing the grooves off of my dad's Mingus records for the next year or so.

As someone who remembers that era in Detroit jazz, and came of age right at the tail end of it (I even spent part of my 18th birthday at Cobb's listening to Sam Sanders and Visions), I can't tell you how much I look forward to your book and your perspective on the now almost forgotten blossoming of creative jazz that happened during that era in Detroit.

 

Thanks for sharing these wonderful memories. BTW. the old Cobb's Corner space is as we speak being refurbished and will reopen next year under the same name. New owners say it will be jazz club. Do you ever make it back out here? Do you mind if I copy this post and share it on my Facebook page?

Edited November 15, 2018 by Mark Stryker

[Al in NYC]

Mark, please go ahead and copy my post.  I used to spend several weeks a year in Detroit, but almost all of my family is deceased or gone from the Detroit area now.  We still own property in Ontario on Lake Erie though, so I do get around the area a bit during the summer.  I'm almost always there over Labor Day weekend, so I make a point of trying to attend several shows at the jazz festival.  Nice to hear about Cobb's. I spent quite a bit of time there, and even more around that neighborhood, back during my teens and early 20s. I remember the end of the Bob Cobb era and mostly remember the Henry Normile era. That neighborhood is certainly quite a different place these days.

[Lazaro Vega]

Bought the box set and am digging in. 

[jazzmusicdepot]

Jazz In Detroit / Strat Concert Gallery / 46 Selden

I have one set left from my offer. $25.00 free shipping in the USA. If you want it email me. tommysjazz@gmail.com

[medjuck]

It's worth getting just for the "alternate" Celia.   The rest is  good too  (though I don't think anyone wants to hear the announcements/interview more than once).