Among the many phases jazz has gone through in its long and fascinating history, one of the most fascinating to explore is undoubtedly the one that shaped the philosophy of the so-called "Black Revolution". In the early 1960s, the language used to carry out that message came to be identified with what was dubbed the New Thing, the free jazz revolt.

During the era of Malcolm X's demands and Martin Luther King's peaceful marches, the great music of figures like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Max Roach, and collectives such as the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) took shape.

When the Seventies arrived, the expressive language of this jazz partly shifted direction: drawing closer to more popular musical forms such as funk and soul, it renewed itself entirely, pumping fresh vital energy into the bodies and minds of Black America.

One label in particular allowed that strain of jazz rooted in Afrocentric spirituality to express its ideas: it was called Strata-East Records.

Founded in 1971 by pianist Stanley Cowell and trumpeter Charles Tolliver, it had a system that let artists oversee their own work at every stage of production, giving them full responsibility over the final product.

Over the course of the Seventies it left more than fifty albums to history, including some true gems, becoming an important vehicle for carrying forward the ideals typical of Sixties underground counterculture; an essential milestone in the history of jazz and of Black American music as a whole.

Our intention, then, is to look back at his story, following a path through what were his most significant and artistically valuable recordings.

Charles Tolliver – Music Inc. (1971)

Bass – Cecil McBee

Drums – Jimmy Hopps

Flute – Bobby Brown, Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath, Wilbur Brown

Piano – Stanley Cowell

Trombone – Curtis Fuller, Dick Griffin, Garnett Brown, John Gordon

Trumpet – Charles Tolliver, Danny Moore, Larry Greenwich, Richard Williams, Virgil Jones

Tuba, Baritone Saxophone – Howard Johnson

The typical Strata-East mood takes shape in this debut work by the label's founder, Charles Tolliver. The hallmark here is orchestral jazz, breathing shaded atmospheres of soul and funk, at times even blaxploitation (just listen to "Abscretions"). The typical black-power ethnicity is, in a few passages, slightly muted, but there's no doubt the groove of this big band pulls in the right direction. This is where it all begins.

Mtume Umoja Ensemble – Alkebu-Lan Land Of The Blacks (Live At The East) (1972)

Bass – Buster Williams

Conga, Horn – Mtume

Drums – Billy Hart, Ndugu

Piano – Stanley Cowell

Alto, Soprano Saxophone – Gary Bartz

Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Carlos Garnett

Violin – Leroy Jenkins

Vocals – Andy Bey, Eddie Micheaux, Joe Lee Wilson, Wueusi Kuumba, Yusef Iman

On "Alkebu-Lan", live recorded in New York in August '71, it's the sound of the deepest Africa coming to the fore. In the shamanic invocations of Bey, Wilson and Micheaux's voices lies the ancestral force of nomadic African tribal rites. Particularly evocative is "No Words", a track from the second LP, where they improvise vocally using cries, warbles, grunts, scat phrases and rhythmic shrieks, masterfully accompanied by Stanley Cowell's drowsy, melodic piano. What comes out of it is one of the most intellectual strands of African-American music of that period.

JuJu – A Message From Mozambique (1973)

Tenor and Soprano Saxophone, Shekere, Vocals – Plunky Nikabinde

Vibraphone, Flute, Vocals – Lon Moshe

Piano, Shekere, Vocals – Al-Hammel

Bass, Flute, Vocals – Ken Shabala

Percussion, Shekere, Vocals – Jalango Ngoma

Drums, Conga, Vocals – Babatunde

The word JuJu, in the archaic language of West Africa, refers to the supernatural power attributed to certain objects believed to be magical. Marked by a distinctly Coltrane-esque mood, this record rages between modal harmonic structures and tribal dances whose atmospheres are indeed magical, as if they held their own JuJu.

We move from the free-jazz frenzy of "Home" or "Make Your Own Revolution Now" to the festive chants of "Nairobi", for a jazz of incredible spirituality and religiosity.

Cecil McBee – Mutima (1974)

Bass – Cecil McBee

Congas – Lawrence Killian

Drums – Allen Nelson, Jimmy Hopps

Flute – Art Webb

Percussion – Jaboli Billy Hart, Michael Carvin

Piano – Onaje Allen Gumbs

Alto Saxophone – Allen Braufman

Tenor, Soprano Saxophone – George Adams

Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Tex Allen

Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater

Mutima, meaning "heart" — if we want to take it in a figurative sense, we could call it the ideal center of the spirit and culture of Black Africa. McBee's music lays bare its essence. Perhaps the finest record in the entire Strata-East catalogue, though that's a purely subjective judgment.

A new message of cultural freedom, conveyed through compositions like "From Within", where Cecil plays two double basses simultaneously: eleven minutes of sonic introspection, in which the instrument's full potential is laid out in its entirety.

If you don't have much time on your hands but want to get a sense of what spirituality in jazz was like in the first half of the Seventies, you absolutely must listen to this track: you won't regret it.

Shamek Farrah – First Impressions (1974)

Alto Saxophone – Shamek Farrah

Bass – Milton Suggs

Trumpet – Norman Person

Piano – Kasa Mu-Barak Allah, Sonelius Smith

Drums – Clay Herndon, Ron Warwell

Conga – Calvert "Bo" Satter-White

Percussion – Kenny Harper

The debut album by New Yorker Shamek Farrah proudly oozes that spirituality so typical of the most radical jazz of the early Seventies (Pharaoah Sanders, Art Ensemble of Chicago).

With his approach, he manages to refine his own musical language through a rhythmic sensibility that makes the sound increasingly compelling as it unfolds: "Umoja Suite" – where pianist Sonelius Smith's percussive style further heightens the cadences – is a fine example of this. The absolute gem, however, remains the title track: essentially a kind of nu jazz ante-litteram.

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Winter In America (1974)

Bass – Danny Bowens

Drums – Bob Adams

Electric and Acoustic Piano, Vocals – Brian Jackson

Electric Piano, Vocals – Gil Scott-Heron

The third collaboration between pianist Brian Jackson and soul poet Gil Scott-Heron gives rise to a velvety, soft record that wraps around us thanks to one of the warmest voices of that era. A forerunner of a way of delivering lyrics that would later become typical of the first wave of American rap, on this record Heron brings to life the most creative episodes of that style ("H2Ogatew Blues"), while also knowing exactly when to unleash a funkier instinct ("The Bottle", which, for the record, was Strata-East's best-selling single) or even go full free-soul ("Peace Go With You Brother").

It was, among other things, the first work that finally brought this label a bit of recognition.

Heath Brothers – Marchin' On (1976)

Bass – Percy Heath

Drums – Albert Heath

Flute, Soprano and Tenor Saxophone – Jimmy Heath

Piano, Kalimba – Stanley Cowell

The full power of this record is contained in "Watergate Blues": it opens with Percy Heath's double bass, which marks out every note in solitary fashion; it's an unusual structure, because the other instruments only join in later, while the melodic line (improvised on the spot) stays in the bassist's hands, giving this blues all the naturalness and instinctiveness of the Strata-East project. By contrast, the compositional precision of "Smilin' Billy Suite" builds a new kind of spiritual jazz: music that comes from the heart, and nothing more.

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