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Shaun Williams's avatar

Mr. King! Another great journey, thank you. Appreciate you turning me on to the bass solo on Scorpio. Killer!

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Tyler King's avatar

Thanks, Brother. Good to hear from you.

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Lee Rice Epstein's avatar

Aw yeah, this is fantastic! Detroit’s got such a rich and somehow still unwritten history. Love the handwritten playbills.

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Tyler King's avatar

I don't claim to be an expert on the Detroit sound, but I felt compelled to dig into it just a little as a starting point for myself and others to dig deeper. Thanks for walking with us, Lee.

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RJ Spangler's avatar

Hey, this is great! I knew Lyman pretty well! We played lots of gigs together when he joined my band, the Sun Messengers. He was with us for several years. I loved him.

My uncle Bud Spangler played drums in the expanded version of the CJQ and he was in the Tribe, making him, as far as I know, the only cat to be in both collectives.

Bud engineered and/or produced every album on the Strata label and was VERY involved with the Strata Concert Gallery.

John Sinclair was a lifelong mentor/friend. We recorded two albums together.

Leonard King is a living Detroit treasure and we are co-collaborators on projects to this day.

Again, thanks for giving Detroit some love.

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Tyler King's avatar

This is fantastic information, RJ. I intend to dig deeper into the Detroit tributary of that Big River called Jazz and these are good places to start, as I try to learn more about it. There is so much rich Jazz history in and around the Motor City and so very little reported. Thanks for riding with us.

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Tyler King's avatar

Indeed we do travel the spaceways....

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Steve Baca's avatar

F Bill - Jonny Don here! This article brought me back to sitting in your room listening to vinyls and talking music! Well done!

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Tyler King's avatar

Nice to hear from you Jonny Don. It's been many moons since then. Thanks for taking me back, brother.

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Fred Hill's avatar

Excellent did not know this history- only familiar with John Sinclair and Marcus Belgrave & the name of Kenny Cox, is it correct to say that Strata provided the inspiration for Strata East ? Must share, also here is link to 180 proof on Bandcamp who are reissuing albums: https://180proofrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dj-amir-presents-strata-recordsthe-sound-of-detroit-volume-1

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Tyler King's avatar

Yes, that is correct. During the early 1970s, while Stanley Cowell was working at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (where he earned a master’s degree), he went to nearby Detroit for some shows at the Strata coffee house. Impressed and inspired by the operation, and particularly the idea of an independent artist-run label, he got together with his friend Charles Tolliver when he returned to NYC and in 1971 organized Strata-East.

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Fred Hill's avatar

Should have said link to 180 proof on band camp who have issued a compilation in association with Barely Breaking Even music who are reissuing albums: https://bbemusic.com/artist/strata

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