1 	Blue Soul 	9:38
2 	Emperor March 	13:32
3 	Copasetic 	6:07
4 	Suspicion 	9:59

Alto Saxophone – Jesse Davis
Bass – Buster Williams
Drums – Lenny White
Piano – Keith Brown
Tenor Saxophone – Binker Golding (tracks: 3,4)
Trumpet – Charles Tolliver 

Put out more flags. Connect, the first release from trumpeter Charles Tolliver in over a decade, is a monster. From the Saturday-night goodtime opener "Blue Soul" through to the intense, Spanish tinged, serpentine closer "Suspicion," the album finds Tolliver still at the top of his game in a recording career which began in the mid 1960s. He fronts a US quintet which brings with it the grit and groove of a mid-1960s Blue Note hard-bop band while sounding totally 2020. The lineup is augmented on two of the four tracks by tenor saxophonist Binker Golding, one of the young lions of the new London jazz. It is a killer combination.

Tolliver's earliest appearances on record—on Jackie McLean's It's Time (Blue Note, 1964) and leading his own band on the Leroi Jones-curated live album The New Wave In Jazz (Impulse!, 1966)—positioned him as second-wave hard bop player and composer of exceptional talent. Notable follow-ups included McLean's Action (Blue Note, 1967), Horace Silver's Serenade To A Soul Sister (Blue Note, 1968) and Roy Ayers' Stoned Soul Picnic (Atlantic, 1968). After performing and recording with Gerald Wilson in Los Angeles for a year, Tolliver returned to his New York home-base at the request of Max Roach, with whom he worked for two pushing three years.

Tolliver made an immeasurable contribution to jazz when he co-founded the Strata-East label with pianist Stanley Cowell in 1971. Strata-East released almost sixty albums during the 1970s, when it was the primary platform for the intersection of hard bop and spiritual jazz.

Tolliver is jazz royalty but, despite a string of fine albums on Strata-East, his catalogue is small when compared to those of some of his peers. He chooses his projects with care and his quality control is spot on. So the release of Connect, recorded in London in late 2019, is doubly welcome.

Alto saxophonist Jesse Davis, pianist Keith Brown, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White each get a share of the spotlight. Golding is in fast company but, with three landmark albums under his belt with Binker and Moses, has no need to prove anything to anyone; on both his solos he rises to the occasion with his customary rough-hewn elegance.

Everything, as the title of track one, side two has it, is copasetic. ---Chris May, allaboutjazz.com

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1 Toughin' 	7:24 	
2 Drought 	8:57 	
3 For Love Of What 	9:08 	
4 Impact 	11:14 	
5 In The Trenches 	7:12		download

Personnel:
    Bass – Ugonna Okegwa
    Drums – Ralph Van Duncan
    Piano – Alain Jean-Marie
    Trumpet – Charles Tolliver

Tolliver is joined by a trio of remarkably proficient, European-based musicians on this recording because, as he notes, his usual group experienced transportation problems. After only one rehearsal, Guadaloupean-born Alain Jean Marie(piano), British-born/West Germany-reared Ugonna Okegwo(bass), and American ex-patriate Ralph Van Duncan (drums) were able to play Tolliver's music with exceptional expertise.

Four of Tolliver's distinctive compositions are given extended treatment, allowing each musician to exhibit his improvisational expertise. Once again we have aural evidence of the existence of musicians outside of the USA who can play this music and play it skillfully as their American brothers. Tolliver's bright, well-rounded trumpet sound is front and center here, to remind listeners that the horn can be played with a kind of controlled fury, while at the same time bursting forth with the dynamic lyricism that marked the playing of Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan.

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DISC ONE (A)
01. Drought 9:20 (Charles Tolliver)
02. Felicite 8:23 (Cecil McBee)
03. Orientale 17:36 (Stanley Cowell)
04. Spanning 8:24 (Charles Tolliver)
05. Wilpan's 10:35 (Cecil McBee)
06. Our Second Father (Dedicated to the memory of John Coltrane) 13:20 (Charles Tolliver)

DISC TWO (B)
01. Drought 12:18 (Charles Tolliver)
02. Stretch 10:39 (Charles Tolliver)
03. Truth 7:04 (Charles Tolliver)
04. Effi 10:43 (Stanley Cowell)
05. 'Round Midnight 8:36 (Thelonious Monk)

DISC THREE
(A)
01. On The Nile 13:33 (Charles Tolliver)
02. Ruthie's Heart (Dedicated to my mother) 18:46 (Charles Tolliver)
03. Repetition 8:51 (Neal Hefti)
(B)
04. Impact 7:28 (Charles Tolliver)
05. Our Second Father (Dedicated to the memory of John Coltrane) 20:15 (Charles Tolliver)
06. Earl's World (Dedicated to my brother) (B) 6:24 (Charles Tolliver)

Musicians: 
Charles Tolliver, trumpet; 
Stanley Cowell, piano; 
Cecil McBee, bass; 
Jimmy Hopps, drums.

Recorded live at Slug's Saloon, New York City on May 1, 1970

In the early 1970s, trumpeter Charles Tolliver trafficked compellingly in the overlap between hard-bop and the avant-garde, leading an unconventional big band and an exploratory quartet called Music Inc. He documented both groups on his own self-sustaining label, Strata-East. This limited edition three-disc set, only available from mosaicrecords.com, eschews the big band material for a pair of live quartet engagements previously heard on three Strata-East LPs, now unfortunately out of print. It's a vital document for anyone who admires the crackling mid-to-late-'60s aesthetic of Jackie McLean, with whom Tolliver apprenticed, and Freddie Hubbard, to whom he's reflexively compared.

The set's first disc chronicles an evening at Slugs' Saloon on Manhattan's Lower East Side--May 1, 1970, to be exact. Tolliver is backed by his longtime compatriots Stanley Cowell and Cecil McBee, on piano and bass, respectively; and by the less-familiar drummer Jimmy Hopps. The vibe is intense, especially on Tolliver's gatecrashing opener, "Drought," which alone would justify his inclusion among the era's standout trumpet dramatists. Abstract lyricism prevails as well, most effectively on Cowell's "Orientale." And on "Our Second Father," Tolliver spells out his indebtedness to the modalities--and, one suspects, the stamina--of John Coltrane.

Disc two, originally issued as Music Inc. Live in Tokyo, consists of a concert performance on December 7, 1973, in that city's Yubinchokin Hall. Cowell is the lone holdover here; Clint Houston fulfills bass duties and Clifford Barbaro plays drums. Tolliver begins again with "Drought," although Barbaro seems less comfortable than Hopps with the tune's brisk tempo. The band sounds better on Cowell's waltz "Effi," and on a fervently insistent version of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight." But uneven sound quality, and the relative shortcomings of the rhythm section, slightly mars this date.

Previously unreleased selections from both live recordings comprise the third disc of the set. Perhaps predictably, the three tracks culled from Slugs' are stronger than the three captured in Tokyo: "On the Nile" is a dramatic polyrhythmic waltz; "Ruthie's Heart," a modal churner; and "Repetition," a winning Neal Hefti number arranged with a Latin-bop feel. But the Tokyo recordings are powerful too--especially "Impact," a groove anthem that would later serve as the title track for a brilliant Strata-East big band LP. It's possible that album, too, will get the reissue treatment, as Mosaic cofounder Michael Cuscuna hints in his liner essay. One can only hope so, as Tolliver's music emphatically deserves to be heard. ---Nate Chinen, jazztimes.com

“Musically, the question on the table for Tolliver's generation at the dawn of Strata-East's inception was deciding what parts of bebop tradition remained visible in an age set on fire by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra. As can be heard on this and his other Strata-East releases, Tolliver's Music Inc group proposed clear answers to such questions, with meaty and melodious playing that celebrated the classical virtues of swing, virtuosity and the unbridled expressionism and spontaneity that were the 60's stock-in-trade. Call it a case of eating your cake and immolating it too." -Greg Tate, original CD liner notes

Charles Tolliver emerged in 1965 as a strong and innovative trumpeter and composer. Hard bop was riding strong and welcoming adventurous new voices. After important tenures with Jackie McLean, Gerald Wilson, Max Roach and Andrew Hill, Tolliver formed his own quartet, which he dubbed Music Inc.

A quartet is a demanding setting for a trumpeter, but Tolliver was never at a loss for chops or ideas. He recorded the band live at Slug's in New York in 1970 and at a Tokyo concert in 1973 for his own Strata-East label. These have long since become collectors' items and are now being reissued with 41 minutes of unissued material from Slug's and 34 minutes from Tokyo.

Stanley Cowell is the pianist (and contributing composer) throughout. Cecil McBee and Jimmy Hopps are on the Slug's session while Clint Houston and Clifford Barbaro are on the Japanese concert. With the exception of Neal Hefti's “Repetition" and Monk's “'Round Midnight", the band's book consisted of the exceptional originals by Tolliver, Cowell and McBee.

The musicians in Music, Inc challenged each other but never left the audience behind. This was state-of-the-art hard bop played in all its diversity from harmonically dense mazes to modal open forms to gorgeous ballads. And these men could sustain interest with each other and the listener through sheer creative power.

As the music on this set proves, Tolliver's Music Inc met every challenge and then some. These live recordings from 1970 and '73 embrace hard bop in all its various approaches and epitomize the teamwork that is so essential to any successful jazz performance. And Charles's endurance is absolutely remarkable. --- allaboutjazz.com

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1.Ruthie's Heart (6:12)
2.Brilliant Circles (4:48)
3.Abscretions (6:58)
4.Household Of Saud (6:38)
5.On The Nile (9:48)
6.Departure (5:00)

Charles Tolliver – trumpet
Danny Moore, Larry Greenwich, Virgil Jones, Richard Williams - trumpets
Curtis Fuller, Garnett Brown, John Gordon, Dick Griffin - trombones
Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Brown, Wilbur Brown - reeds
Howard Johnson - tuba & baritone saxophone
Stanley Cowell - piano
Cecil McBee - bass
Jimmy Hopps – drums

Under trumpet virtuoso Charles Tolliver's direction, the Music Inc. quartet would go on to record several challenging live albums— from locales as varied as the famed club Slugs and Yubinchokin Hall in Tokyo—for his and pianist Stanley Cowell's fledgling Strata East label during the '70s, later collected in a Mosaic Select box devoted to the group. This late 1970 studio session was the group and label's debut and features 13 additional winds and horns including Virgil Jones, Danny Moore, Jimmy Heath, Clifford Jordan and Curtis Fuller, the driving modality of the six selections complemented by beautiful arrangements. The disc pits winds and brass against the quartet and the dialogue is a continual pleasure. While Tolliver, Cowell, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Jimmy Hopps are the primary focus, as on the rollicking "Ruthie's Heart," the additional players provide fine accents; there is no question, however, that Tolliver drives the tune along as it races into a solo drenched with liquid fire. On the opposite end of the arrangement spectrum is "Brilliant Circles"; eased in by some bass glissandos from McBee, the tune becomes a study in lush counterpoint, the winds balancing Tolliver's soaring lines in a complex web of small morphing motifs. Dick Griffin's trombone and Howard Johnson's deep baritone saxophone enhance the colors of this multi-hued score. The disc veers comfortably between the soulful and the cerebral, occasional slides, whoops and shouts obviously indebted to New Thing innovations. It is great to have this disc finally available and it makes for a fine supplement to the Mosaic set, especially since two of the quartet tunes in that box—"Ruthie's Heart" and "On the Nile"—make earlier appearances here. This is a fine group engaged in the passionate and thoughtful music of a still underrated musician and composer in Charles Tolliver. ---Marc Medwin, allaboutjazz.com

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A1 	Earl's World 	4:23
A2 	Peace With Myself 	9:37
A3 	Right Now 	5:47
B1 	Household Of Saud 	6:06
B2 	Lil's Paradise 	7:05
B3 	Paper Man 	6:11

Charles Tolliver – trumpet
Gary Bartz – alto saxophone
Herbie Hancock - piano
Ron Carter - bass
Joe Chambers – drums

Trumpeter Charles Tolliver is one of those musicians that frequently gets overlooked by writers and listeners. I think of Tolliver's trumpet playing as smack dab in the middle of Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw; he has wonderful vocabulary in his playing, and a lot of passion(Hubbard), but also a very clean articulation and technique, and also logic in his solos(Shaw). Above all, he is a very musical player, and at times, I liken him to saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who improvises like a composer. And Tolliver is a prolific composer. He is also a pioneer in the music business, if you consider that he and Stanley Cowell were some of the first jazz artists to start their own label in the 70's(Strata East).

Whenever people ask me my top 10 favorite jazz albums, Charles Tolliver's Paper Man is always on that list. I first heard it when I was in college, and I'm still not tired of it. It's one of those magical lineups that is in some ways expected, but in this case, produced something extraordinary. Charles Tolliver is well featured and well recorded on trumpet, and all the compositions are from his pen. The one and only Herbie Hancock plays a piano which, for my ears, sounds almost like an upright at times, and perhaps not a well maintained one. Whatever the case, it's relevant for no more than a split second, because Hancock's playing seems extra inspired throughout the session. The great Ron Carter plays some rhythmic and harmonic ideas that are downright shocking. And the amazing Joe Chambers adds a superbly sensitive rhythmic foundation with his supple drumming. My former employer Gary Bartz appears on three tracks and is in great form as usual. --- jazztruth.blogspot.com

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1. Rejoicin' 			play
2. With Love 
3. Round Midnight 
4. Mournin Variations 
5. Right Now 
6. Suspicion 
7. Hit The Spot

Personnel:
Craig Handy (flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone);
Howard Johnson (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone);
Charles Tolliver (trumpet);
Robert Glasper, Stanley Cowell (piano);
Cecil McBee (upright bass);
Victor Lewis (drums).

With Love, Charles Tolliver's first official Blue Note session as a leader, brings the under-sung trumpeter's career full circle. His recording debut on Jackie McLean's '64 Blue Note classic It's Time, led to fruitful partnerships with many of the era's finest bandleaders, culminating in his formation of the Strata-East label with pianist Stanley Cowell in '71. Tolliver was one of the few artists to lead a progressive big band in the '70s, a fertile decade which is only now getting a critical re-evaluation.

His recent sideman appearance on Time Lines (Blue Note, 2006), pianist Andrew Hill's momentous return to the venerated label, and a recently reissued collection of his '70s Strata-East recordings on Mosaic, helped set the stage for Tolliver's reappearance. Leading a big band once again, he tackles a mix of charts both old and new with infectious enthusiasm.

While the heyday of the classic big bands is long gone, Tolliver demonstrates the raw power and primal force a large ensemble can muster. Eschewing moody atmospherics, aleatory free jazz diversions and nostalgic remembrances, Tolliver's group delivers some of the most impassioned playing in recent memory. Unveiling a series of sophisticated charts that brim with knotty counterpoint and dynamic arrangements, the session is fueled with an irrepressible momentum.

Overflowing with energy, the record is a riotous outburst of soaring trumpets, serpentine saxophones and blustery trombones driven by a fearless rhythm section. Only the title track and a radically re-arranged "Round Midnight" provide a temporary lull in the breakneck pacing.

While there are a number of stellar solo spots from a bevy of notable sidemen, it's Tolliver's dedication to the form that makes the strongest impression. Solos are concise and to the point, with punchy arrangements taking the lead. Tolliver proves his mastery of an idiom many have prematurely written off.

Young up-and-comer Robert Glasper alternates with original band-member Stanley Cowell at the piano. Both dive headlong into the angular rhythms and snappy cadences. Glasper, seemingly inspired by the collective energy, unveils an adventurous side unheard on his recent solo work. Saxophonists Craig Handy, Howard Johnson and Bill Saxton make memorable appearances, but Billy Harper virtually steals the show with a post-Coltrane tenor melt-down on the soulful opus "Mournin' Variations."

While Tolliver's intonation on trumpet has been called into question by some critics, he sets forth with the same degree of passion and intensity that marks his finest work. That spirited dedication to pure expression, despite potential physical limitations, is what makes With Love such a profound listening experience. ---Troy Collins, allaboutjazz.com

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1 Announcement Speaker 4:13
2 In Walked Bud (StC,p-solo) / Announcement Speaker 4:50
3 Blue Monk (StC,p-trio) / Announcement Speaker 4:54
4 Rhythm-A-Ning (MSt,ts-StC,p-trio) / Announcement Speaker 6:06
5 Thelonious / Announcement Speaker 2:58
6 Friday The 13th / Announcement Speaker 8:48
7 Monk's Mood / Announcement Speaker 10:55
8 Little Rootie Tootie / Announcement Speaker 12:35
9 Off Minor / Announcement Speaker 5:49
10 Crepusule With Nellie / Announcement Speaker 6:58
11 Little Rootie Tootie / Announcement Speaker 5:24

Charles Tolliver,tp,arr
Kenyatta Beasley,tp
Jason Jackson,tb
Vincent Chancey,frh
Aaron Johnson,tu
Todd Bashore,as
Marcus Strickland,ts
Howard Johnson,bs
Stanley Cowell,p
Rufus Reid,b
Gene Jackson,dr

2009-February-26
NYC, USA, TownHall

(WNYC-FM)

This fiftieth anniversary celebration of Thelonious Monk’s historic Town Hall concert grew out of a six-week, 18-event series in 2007, “Following Monk,” based at Duke University, just 60 miles from Monk’s hometown, honoring what would have been Monk’s ninetieth birthday (October 10, 2007). The focus was on the Carolina roots of the man and his music, with such musicians as Hank Jones, Charlie Haden, Randy Weston, Barry Harris, Jessica Williams, Henry Butler, and the Kronos Quartet, along with Charles Tolliver and Jason Moran. The Town Hall celebration also grew out of the ongoing Jazz Loft Project at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

One night in late February 1959, Thelonious Monk took a tentet to Town Hall in New York City for a historic concert. No one had heard Monk’s music played by a big band before. The anticipation was great. For several weeks leading up to that event Monk and his collaborator Hall Overton, and then the entire band, toiled away arranging and rehearsing the music in a dilapidated loft building at 821 Sixth Avenue (between 28th and 29th Streets).

Fifty years later, two generations of jazz stars pay homage to Monk at Town Hall. Charles Tolliver and Jason Moran salute the legendary musician by presenting two distinct, evening-length takes on that original concert. Tolliver and his tentet play newly minted note-for-note arrangements of the 1959 show, while Moran and his octet present a newly commissioned mixed-media concert that incorporates never-before-heard recordings and images captured during the rehearsals and arranging sessions by legendary photographer W. Eugene Smith, who lived and worked in the “jazz loft” building. --- cdsporch.org

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1 	Earl's World 	13:10
2 	Impact 	5:33
3 	Compassion 	10:50
4 	Truth 	9:42

Charles Tolliver – trumpet
Nathen Page – guitar
Steve Novosel – bass
Alvin Queen – drums

Recorded November, 1977 in Paris.

Tolliver was set on the road to music by his grandmother who gave him a cornet when he was eight years old. He was raised and educated in New York and also studied at Howard University, Washington DC, majoring in pharmacy. By the time he began playing trumpet as a full-time professional he was already committed to bop. During the 60s he worked extensively with several leading bop musicians of the time including Jackie McLean, with whom he recorded the 1964 Blue Note Records session It’s Time, Art Blakey and Sonny Rollins. He spent the second half of the decade on the west coast playing with Gerald Wilson, in whose band he met Roy Ayers. He recorded with both Wilson and Ayers as leaders and he was a member of the Max Roach Quintet, recording the 1968 Atlantic Records session Members Don’t Get Weary. At the end of the 60s he was a founder member of the cooperative quartet, Music, Inc. Another member of this band was Stanley Cowell with whom Tolliver formed a record company, Strata-East.

Although his business activities were time-consuming, Tolliver continued to play, touring Europe and the far east, and to compose. A melodic yet forceful player with flowing ideas and an endless capacity for invention, Tolliver’s international reputation is not as great as his talent merits. --- Colin Larkin, oldies.com

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