Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This fascinating and enjoyable reissue from 1974 presents Charles Rouse, longtime saxophonist with Thelonious Monk’s final quartet, applying his urbane musical intelligence to the funky rhythms that then dominated African-American R&B and pop. Modal harmonies are also in the mix, as is Afro-futurism and trace elements of free jazz. For five sumptuous tracks, Rouse weaves his twisty lines, soulful riffs and feather-light sustains into a lattice of funky bass lines, sharp backbeats and snare drum chatter.The set opens with Rouse spinning beguiling melodies over the relaxed summery groove of “Bitchin’” and continues with the urgent pulse of “Hopscotch”, the first of three tracks underpinned by bassist Stanley Clarke. “In a Funky Way” hits the rhythmic spot and Clarke returns for the edgier “Two Is One” with its complex time signature, cello harmonies, and insistent bass line. Rouse switches to bass clarinet for the theme of the meditational “In His Presence Searching”, written by drummer David Lee, and the album’s final track.Bassist Clarke and percussionist Airto Moreira are well-known, and Lee, whose sideman gigs included Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Ayers, was working with Sonny Rollins at the time. Otherwise, the expertly crafted grooves, licks and solos are by relative unknowns. Cellist Calo Scott is a strong presence throughout and George Davis, one of two guitarists, wrote two tracks.Rouse left Monk in 1970 and was trying to distance himself from the pianist’s legacy and strike his own path. The musician-owned Strata-East label, founded in 1971, was a perfect match. The label gave full artistic control, including choice of studio and sound engineer, to the musicians it recorded and, for nearly a decade, captured New York’s jazz modernism absorbing the revolutionary African-American music of the previous decade. Long an underground presence, Strata-East’s recordings remain a seminal influence on today’s spiritual jazz.That joyous and still uplifting music is now being released on vinyl and CD through Mack Avenue. The series recently launched with the highly recommended 33-track digital-only compilation Strata-East: The Legacy Begins.★★★★☆‘Two Is One’ is released by Strata-East
