Jazz Minute: Strata East Records
Just Added (Free)
•
1m 55s
In the latest Jazz Minute, we explore the legacy of Strata-East Records, the groundbreaking artist-run label founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell. Created at a time when support for jazz musicians was dwindling, Strata-East became a pioneering artist-owned platform that gave musicians complete creative control over their work. Throughout the 1970s, the label released more than 50 albums, including landmark recordings by Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, Clifford Jordan, Billy Harper, Pharoah Sanders, and many others.
The label also helped bring Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's Winter in America to a wider audience, including the classic track “The Bottle,” while championing visionary projects such as “Handscapes” by The Piano Choir and George Russell’s “Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature”. Today, Strata-East remains a powerful symbol of artistic independence. Through Mack Avenue's acclaimed reissue series, the label's groundbreaking recordings are finding new audiences and continuing to inspire musicians around the world.
Up Next in Just Added (Free)
-
Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Cen...
For this historic concert, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis returned for his final Bay Area appearance with the greatest large group in jazz, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, before he steps down as director after the 2026-27 Season.
A 2011 NEA Jazz Master and arguably the most famous jazz musici...
-
Jazz Takes w/ Kiefer
Kiefer
At SFJAZZ as part of our full-venue activation with the SMARTBOMB arts collective in January 2026, keyboardist, composer, and producer Kiefer offers his thoughts on AI music, his favorite production tools, the state of music education, the influence of J Dilla, and more.
ABOUT KIEFER:
...
-
Jazz Takes w/ Emmet Cohen
While at SFJAZZ to honor the work of Miles Davis and John Coltrane for their centennials in 2026, pianist and composer Emmet Cohen gives us his unvarnished takes on subjects including institutional jazz education versus learning on the bandstand, young jazz audiences, his favorite Miles and Coltr...
