Disc 1
Styles: Jazz
Year: 2005
Time: 67:52
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 155,7 MB
Art: Full
( 9:22) 1. Drought
( 8:25) 2. Felicite
(17:37) 3. Orientale
( 8:26) 4. Spanning
(10:37) 5. Wilpan's
(13:23) 6. Our Second Father
Disc 2
Styles: Jazz
Year: 2005
Time: 49:36
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 114,1 MB
Art: Full
(12:22) 1. Drought
(10:42) 2. Stretch
( 7:07) 3. Truth
(10:46) 4. Effi
( 8:38) 5. 'Round Midnight
Disc 3
Styles: Jazz
Year: 2005
Time: 75:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 173,4 MB
Art: Full
(13:34) 1. On The Nile
(18:46) 2. Ruthie's Heart
( 8:52) 3. Repetition
( 7:33) 4. Impact
(20:16) 5. Our Second Father
( 6:24) 6. Earl's World
Mosaic gets plenty of accolades for its expansive (and sometimes exhaustive) limited-edition box sets of historic jazz recordings, and deservedly so. Some years after they started their project, president Michael Cuscuna and company got the idea to release smaller, three-disc sets by artists who either weren't as appreciated as they should be, or had recordings that were unavailable and that filled in important eras in their careers. The Mosaic Select series has a tremendous catalog with triple-disc sets by Curtis Amy, John Patton, Carmell Jones, a pair by Andrew Hill, Grachan Moncur, Johnny Mercer, Onzy Matthews, Bobby Hutcherson, Art Pepper, Randy Weston, Johnny Richards, and more. Charles Tolliver's volume in this series is an important one. First of all, these recordings were not owned by Blue Note or any of Capitol's subsidiaries; they are owned by the artist, and originally appeared on Strata East, a label he co-founded with the pianist on these dates, Stanley Cowell. It was a musician's label that recorded some of the greatest jazz music of the 1970s and was well distributed. (Unfortunately, with very few exceptions and a real comment on the record industry here in the U.S. the only way to procure most Strata East recordings on CD these days is from Japan.) Secondly, most of these sides were cut live at Slug's Saloon, a legendary, long gone spot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a space now occupied by the Nuyorican Poet's Café (at least it was put to great use). Slug's was the go-to joint for musicians who were still developing the "new thing" after Coltrane, who played regularly and collaborated with one another. Its audience was hip and sophisticated and deeply interested in what was going on musically in the '70s. Lastly, Tolliver himself went all out to find more of the music recorded on these dates, and there are six selections, roughly a full CD, of completely unreleased music from the Slug's gigs.
Disc one contains both previously released Strata East volumes of Music, Inc and Live at Slug's, recorded during a weekend engagement by the group in 1970 at the height of the club's popularity. The band was a heady one, with Tolliver's trumpet being the only horn, pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Cecil McBee, and drummer Jimmy Hopps. The material was completely exploratory but deeply rooted in latter-day hard bop, freely exploring modal music and the edges. That said, all one needs to do is let track one, "Drought," with its wonderfully Eastern tinge in a minor mode open itself up, with Tolliver's chanting incantory trumpet and Cowell's big chords played a couple notes at a time for full droning effect, and McBee's bowed cello and Hopps' whispering cymbals building up the tension. When it releases, however, it's not a free blowing wail, but a tough hard bop number with edges and wonderfully circular moves, particularly in Cowell's solo which comes first. At 9:20, the band gets to stretch, and indeed they do on every number there are only three cuts on each of the original Slug's volumes. Doesn't matter, this is a taste of what's to come. McBee's "Felicite," which starts as an utterly lovely lilting ballad, follows with languid melody lines by Tolliver before it turns inside out and becomes an intervallic exploration for a few seconds before coming back to that rich melody. Cowell's playing a gorgeous harmonic extrapolation behind Tolliver, Hopps slips in steadily but quietly with brushes, and McBee articulates the changes and rhythmic structure with enough elegance to carry the thing himself, especially as his chords show up in contrast to Cowell's. He begins walking it out and the tune becomes a shimmering finger snapper that comes right out of the blues. Cowell's "Orientale" took up the entirety of side two on the original LP, and clocks in at over seventeen-and-half minutes; it's a breathtaking ride through modal improvisation that never leaves the bop tradition very far behind. His ways of turning chords in on themselves and then whispering out of the picture when Tolliver engages the rhythm section are not only tasteful, but a testament to the structure and dynamics of the tune -- his own solo is one of his finest on record. Volume two closes out this disc, with two tunes by Tolliver and one by McBee, and are all monsters. The heat was turned up on the second evening, and it shows particularly in the smoky Latin tinges in the rhythmic make up of "Spanning," and in the freest thing here, "Our Second Father," dedicated to Coltrane.
Disc two contains five tracks recorded and released on Strata East as Charles Tolliver Music Inc. Live in Tokyo, from a gig in December of 1973 with Tolliver and Cowell backed by the rhythm section of Clifford Barbaro on drums and Clint Houston on bass. While the name value may not be as high, the Tokyo gig kicks from top to bottom, especially the interplay between the trumpeter and pianist, which is symbiotic by this time. The full-tilt post-bop on Tolliver's "Drought" that opens the set is a great example. "Stretch," also by Tolliver, opens with a five minute bass solo that becomes a noirish, strolling blues with killer block chords by Cowell that force the band into full-on swinging mode. The gig ends with an elegant, mid-tempo ballad by Cowell that ramps up with its cross sections of knotty runs and gradual harmonic changes moving from blues to Latin to Eastern modalities and begins in waltz time. Its final number is a radical reading of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" that has to be heard to be believed.
The last disc here, of unreleased music, is split between the Slug's shows and the Tokyo gig. With three tracks each, it's a wild contrast, but nonetheless essential listening for the simple reason that it seems this music was only left off the original albums because there wasn't enough material for a complete Live at Slugs, Vol. 3, or for a triple-LP from the Tokyo sets. The Slugs tunes are wonderfully varied and long; the ballad exploration "Ruthie's Heart," dedicated to Tolliver's mother, is over 18 minutes, and full of long journeys through the world of jazz's lyric history. "On the Nile," which opens the disc, is one of Tolliver's greatest compositions as its melody and long striated modal and rhythmic interlocutions are still ahead of their time. There's a sprinting bop consideration of Neal Hefti's "Repetition" with some beautiful rhythmic invention on Afro-Cuban clave by Hopps. The final three cuts are all Tolliver's, highlighted by an even longer version of "Our Second Father" at over 20 minutes, and "Earl's World," a popping, Afro-Latin, harp bop number penned for Tolliver's brother. (Kenny Dorham would be proud.) The sound on this last disc especially can be a little thin, but it's a tiny complaint in an overwhelmingly brilliant set of recordings, and worth every dime. For anyone who has ever been intimidated by the more outside, adventurous releases on Strata East, these Music, Inc. dates are a prime introduction. For those who have these sets on withering LPs it's time to replace them.~Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/mosaic-select-charles-tolliver-mw0000504618
Mosaic Select 20 Disc 1
Mosaic Select 20 Disc 2
Mosaic Select 20 Disc 3
