Charlie Rouse - Two Is One
The album brings a definite groove that is full of energy and of a quality expected from such a legendary artist and record label.
Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam
This is music that challenges the entire hegemony of the western tradition, rejecting the primacy of melody over rhythm, foreground over background, individual over group/soloist or leader over the ensemble. And once you’ve realised that, the entire history of jazz can be listened to anew. From now on, everybody is out front. And maybe they always were.
Charlie Rouse - Two Is One
In common with the other new Strata-East reissues by Mack Avenue, ‘Two Is One’ looks and sounds absolutely superb.
Strata-East Reissues
This carefully chosen first tranche of an extensive reissue programme neatly covers all of these bases.
Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam
A transcendent masterpiece epitomising the late saxophonist's quest for enlightenment through his horn […]. Awesome”
Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam
A spiritual jazz touchstone for the ages
Music Inc – Live at Slugs’ Volume I & II
At a time when acoustic jazz may have been losing ground to electric instruments and fusion, Music Inc remained steadfast with one foot in the tradition and the other firmly in the present yet looking ahead.
Stanley Cowell – Musa: Ancestral Streams
Mastered from the original analogue tapes on 180-gram vinyl, this is a beautifully packaged release of what must be considered a masterpiece in Stanley Cowell’s discography. A welcome reissue that deserves to be widely heard and appreciated.
Stanley Cowell – Musa: Ancestral Streams
The Mack Avenue’s acquisition of the rights to the legendary artists’ label Strata-East has already resulted in some fabulous recordings becoming available once again, on high quality vinyl as well as via digital files, compact disc and streaming. [...] But even so, nothing quite prepares you for Stanley Cowell’s ‘Ancestral Streams’, a 1973 studio recording of solo piano, credited to Musa. It’s hard to know where to begin, because ‘Ancestral Steams’ is a masterpiece, not only of solo piano, but of Cowell’s own distinguished yet surely undervalued career.