Week

End

Strata-East is your favorite producer’s favorite label. The most skilled of crate diggers, no matter the genre—from the hip-hop scene (Q-Tip, J Dilla, Kendrick Lamar, Madlib) to the dance floor (S’Express, Dez Andrés)—have long been aware of the extensive and pioneering treasure trove that it’s output represents.. Until Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver founded Strata-East in 1970, the idea of a self-managed, cooperative label owned by African-American artists was a utopia. The norm had been for artists to cede their creative autonomy and often also their royalties and rights to a major label. Strata-East turned this relationship on its head, while Cowell and Tolliver became leading lights who helped shape spiritual jazz as managers (with the release of Pharoah Sanders’ Izipho Zam for example) and as musicians alike.

Charles Tolliver is himself a distinguished jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. He is known for his commanding intonation and the power of his playing, which he combines with technical finesse. He gained recognition in the 1960s and worked with renowned jazz musicians such as Max Roach, Roy Haynes, and Andrew Hill. His style is characterized by the power of hard bop, which he translated into (avant-garde) post-bop jazz, making him a key figure in this style. With albums such as Music Inc. and Impact, Tolliver contributed to the popularization of Strata-East. He also released Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson’s Winter in America, which combined jazz, soul, and political commentary—and had a huge impact on the civil rights movement. The label’s cultural influence has not yet been fully explored, which is why we are all the more delighted to have Charles Tolliver join us for a residency at Week-End Fest 2025, to perform and reinterpret the history of the label.