Stanley Cowell


Stanley Cowell was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label.

Early life

Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interested in jazz after seeing Art Tatum, at the age of six, playing You Took Advantage of Me at his parents' house. Tatum was a family friend.
After high school, Cowell studied classical piano with Emil Danenberg at Oberlin Conservatory of Music He included "Emil Danenberg" in his 1973 suite "Musa: Ancestral Dreams". During his time at Oberlin, he played with jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk, which proved to be formative. He went on to receive a graduate degree in classical piano from the University of Michigan. He moved to New York in the mid-1960s.

Later life and career

Cowell played with Marion Brown, Max Roach, Bobby Hutcherson, Clifford Jordan, Harold Land, Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. Cowell played with trumpeter Charles Moore and others in the Detroit Artist's Workshop Jazz Ensemble in 1965–66.
In 1971, Cowell co-founded the record label Strata-East with trumpeter Charles Tolliver. The label would become one of the most successful Black-led, independent labels of its day.
During the late 1980s, Cowell was part of a regular quartet led by J.J. Johnson. Cowell taught in the Music Department of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
On December 17, 2020, Cowell died at Bayhealth Hospital in Dover, Delaware, from hypovolemic shock. He was 79 years old.

Discography

As a member

The Heath BrothersMarchin' On Passing Thru In Motion Live at the Public Theater Expressions of Life Brotherly Love
  • ''Brothers and Others''

As sideman

With Marion BrownThree for Shepp Why Not? Vista
With Larry CoryellEquipoise Toku Do
With Richard DavisFancy Free Way Out West – rec. 1977
With Roy HaynesThank You Thank You Vistalite
With Jimmy HeathLove and Understanding The Time and the Place
With Bobby HutchersonNow! Spiral Patterns Medina
With Art PepperArt Pepper Today Winter Moon One September Afternoon
With Charles TolliverThe Ringer Live at Slugs' Music Inc. Impact Live in Tokyo Impact With Love Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note
With others