The sound of Strata Records reimagined by Jazzanova on new album
In what has to be one of the most highly anticipated releases of 2022, Berlin’s groundbreaking collective Jazzanova reimagine essential material from the now-legendary and short-lived 70s era Detroit label Strata Records. In association with DJ Amir (aka Amir Abdullah) and 180 Proof Records, who have been officially reissuing material from the label’s vaults for almost a decade, this superb new album will be released on BBE.
This fascinating project came together after Amir recruited Jazzanova, which is a combination of DJs, record collectors, and musicians (founded back in 1995), to re-create selections from the catalog, feeling that their passion and knowledge for this music would carry over into the new recordings. That inkling couldn’t have been more on point, with the 11-track recording successfully capturing the spirit of the original material while pushing the music forward.
Taking on some of the label’s most notable material like Lyman Woodard Organization’s “Saturday Night Special” and “Creative Musicians”, Kenny Cox’s “Lost My Love”, Sam Sanders “Face at My Window”, Malauwi’s “Root in 7/4 Plus” and others, Jazzanova are able to breath new life into these soulful jazz-funk classics by incorporating elements of Afrobeat, Latin grooves, broken beat, and electronic influences into the music. This is definitely not a covers album, with each track taking on a new life of it’s own due to the adventurous approach that the German group decided to take with the music.
Incredible from start to finish, this is a brilliant new project that does a remarkable job of bringing together groundbreaking Strata recordings from the past with some of the most forward-thinking musicians and minds of today.
‘Strata Records: The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined By Jazzanova‘ is officially released on April 22, 2022.
Jazzanova — ‘Strata Records: The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined By Jazzanova’
(BBE)
- Introduction & Lost My Love
- Creative Musicians
- Joy Road
- Face at My Window
- Root in 7-4 Plus
- Inside Ourselves
- Beyond the Dream
- Saturday Night Special
- Orotunds
- Scorpio’s Child
- Loser