In 2021, crate digger extraordinaire Amir Abdullah -- aka DJ Amir of Kon & Amir -- was licensed to catalog Detroit's Strata Records label. The Motor City company founded by pianist and composer Kenny Cox in 1969, focused on criminally under-noticed homegrown talent; it issued less than ten albums and some singles before shuttering in 1975. In partnership with U.K. label and distributor BBE, Amir began remastering and re-releasing individual Strata titles in seminal vinyl editions. In 2021, that partnership presented an ...
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In 2021, crate digger extraordinaire Amir Abdullah -- aka DJ Amir of Kon & Amir -- was licensed to catalog Detroit's Strata Records label. The Motor City company founded by pianist and composer Kenny Cox in 1969, focused on criminally under-noticed homegrown talent; it issued less than ten albums and some singles before shuttering in 1975. In partnership with U.K. label and distributor BBE, Amir began remastering and re-releasing individual Strata titles in seminal vinyl editions. In 2021, that partnership presented an introduction to the label's offerings on the double-length Strata Records: The Sound of Detroit, Vol. 1, offering Amir's handpicked selection of 23 tunes. For this set he enlisted Jazzanova, the German future dance music collective of musicians, collectors, and DJs to reimagine a dozen selections from the catalog. They were the perfect choice. A fluid group of collaborators, they are world-class musicians comfortable playing in most genres. They perform this material with reverent sensitivity to sources with canny instinct and forward thinking, recontextualizing the music in contemporary directions.After a brief spoken word intro by Amir, Cox's "Lost My Love" is rendered smooth, funky, and propulsive thanks to double-timed beats and a lithe, funky bassline framing dreamy electric guitar, Mellotron, Rhodes piano, and a sweet, baritone vocal by Indiana native Sean Haefeli. Lyman Woodard's "Creative Musicians" is supercharged with Afrobeat horns, drums, and guitars, Rhodes piano, and a driving bassline that paint them in funk and space age soul under Haefeli's Gil Scott-Heron-esque vocal. That goes double for their read of Woodard's classic "Saturday Night Special." It wrangles and rolls with a nasty electric piano vamp, handclaps, and rimshot cymbals and snare. The intricate entwining of bass, Mellotron, winds, and spaced-out electric guitar add a psychedelic soul dimension à la Norman Whitfield to the proceedings. The synth and loop layers in the final two minutes cement its direct lineage with Detroit techno. Maulawi's "Root in 7-4 Plus," clocks in at ten minutes. Its intro, a spiritual soul ballad, offers Haefeli crooning amid flutes and Mellotron before the rhythm section, Rhodes piano, and wiry electric guitar usher in a spacy, tripped-out vamp that recalls Miles Davis' "It's About That Time." Larry Nozero's "Inside Ourselves" was originally recorded by his band Sphere in 1974. West African-style drumming engages guitar, bass, and Rhodes piano before the horn section lopes in. Shifting rhythmic pulses frame the jam in funk as the horns swagger along a line swaying between post-bop, '70s cop soundtracks, and Afrobeat. It also boasts fine solos from trumpet and trombone.Throughout, the band's approach is flawless. Its enthusiastic incorporations of modern production never lose sight of the grooves and aesthetic beauty in the originals. If anything, they underscore their context and reveal them as visionary compositions. Strata Records: The Sound of Detroit -- Reimagined by Jazzanova creates an impressive template for reframing the hybrid sounds that permeate the adventurous dance music and contemporary jazz scenes today. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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Add this copy of Strata Records-the Sound of Detroit-Reimagined By to cart. $32.80, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2022 by Bbe Music.
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