Charles Tolliver has lived his share of jazz history. As a fiery young sideman with Jackie McLean and Max Roach in the 1960s, he joined a lineage of exalted post-bop trumpeters, more than holding his own. But Tolliver also set a model of self-determination in the ‘70s, with a DIY record label called Strata-East.
I first discovered Tolliver’s music in my teens, and earlier this year I realized that 2020 marks Strata-East’s 50th anniversary. So in February, not long after I arrived in the New York area, I arranged an interview with Tolliver. In this third episode of Jazz United, you’ll hear portions of that interview as well as a conversation with my cohost, Nate Chinen.
We were especially interested in considering Strata-East as a groundbreaking case study. With a mission to record and release music themselves — sidestepping the delays and other hassles of a traditional industry pipeline — Tolliver and his label cofounder, pianist Stanley Cowell, made a significant mark.
Likeminded artists, including Roach, saxophonist Clifford Jordan and percussionist and vocalist Mtume, brought their projects to Strata-East. The incisive soul poet Gil Scott-Heron released a landmark album on the label, Winter in America, that yielded a hit single called “The Bottle.” (It reached No. 15 on Billboard’s Top R&B Singles chart.)
And when Nate told me that Gearbox Records would be issuing an all-new Charles Tolliver album this summer, I was ecstatic. We’ll also discuss that album — Connect, which releases on July 31 — and hear a portion of its lead single, “Blue Soul.” And we’ll talk about how Tolliver’s early example of self-determination takes on even greater significance during the coronavirus pandemic, as artists are compelled to handle their own production and promotion.
Jazz United is produced by Sarah Kerson.
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Music in This Episode:
- “Drought,” by Charles Tolliver
- “The Awakening,” by Keyon Harrold
- “The Bottle,” by Gil Scott-Heron
- “Blue Soul,” by Charles Tolliver
