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.
Strata-East Records Inc. SES19743 – 25LP
Stanley Cowell (piano, electric piano, African thumb piano)
Recorded 10th & 11th December 1973
After recording his Illusion Suite with bassist Stanley Clarke and Jimmy Hopps on drums in November 1972, this album of solo piano from Stanley Cowell could so easily have found itself part of the solo recordings for ECM, continuing the story that the imprint had begun with solo piano albums from Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley.
Albeit a decidedly different approach by Cowell, the music would surely have fitted in with Manfred Eicher’s concept in building a distinctive body of work for solos piano it was not to be. Instead, the album was released on the fledgling label Strata-East co-run with trumpeter Charles Tolliver.
Long regarded as a seminal album in Cowell’s discography, it is not as widely appreciated and acknowledged as the work of Corea, Bley and Jarrett and that is something that hopefully will be redressed by this timely reissue of this wonderful music.
Standing alone, as much of the finest music does, Cowell brings a passion and commitment to this project that yields one of the finest solo piano albums ever recorded. Not adverse to revisiting his own previously recorded compositions, Musa features compositions written by the pianist between 1958 and 1972, he brings to them a fresh interpretation that often reveals a depth hitherto unheard.
Indeed, from his Illusion Suite recording Cowell’s offers fresh readings of ‘Emil Danenberg’ in a pared down and dramatic recital and beautifully expansive and melodic ‘Maimon’ that is developed over an ostinato played by the left hand.
This careful melodic development in the compositions and subsequent improvisation is paramount to the individuality of not just each of the pieces but also of Cowell’s playing. Bebop influences are fleeting, although Cowell has expressed his admiration for both Bud Powell and Phineas Newborn, and the music for the most part seems to float free of any stylistic constraints.
Cowell’s penchant for rhythm and melody shine through on the opening ‘Abscretions’ which its great rhythmic feel and use of recurring motifs through which the piece develops, and this device is also effectively deployed in a passionate, forceful and declamatory ‘Prayer for Peace’. Cowell’s more refelective side comes across in the lovely ‘Equipoise’ that he had previously recorded with Max Roach on the drummer’s 1968 album Members, Don’t Git Weary.
If Cowell was at pains to avoid any direct stylistic reference points, he would acknowledge two giants of jazz piano in Cecil Taylor in the forward looking ‘Departure No.2’ and just prior to that a dedication as it were to Art Tatum in ‘Departure No. 1’. This is a glorious piece in which Cowell’s debt to Tatum (who was a family friend of Cowell’s parents) is clear for all to hear in a composition that appears to simultaneously look back at the history of the music while clearly defining the moment in time in which it was being recorded.
The album also features two compositions from Cowell’s album Blues for the Viet Cong. The first of these is ‘Travellin’ Man’ that differs from the rest of the Musa in featuring Cowell on electric piano and kalimba (African thumb piano). An interesting idea, that in the context of solo acoustic piano album merely serves as a pleasant interlude; but it is the closing ‘Sweet Song’, a deeply lyrical piece that has a haunting and lonely beauty all its own that makes a lasting impression.
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.
