Stanley Cowell
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label, noted for such compositions as "Travelin' Man" (1974) and "Smiling Billy Suite Pt.II " (1975).
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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. Tatum was a family friend.
After high school, Cowell studied at Oberlin College and the University of Michigan. During his time at college he played with jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk, which proved to be formative for the pianist. 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.
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.
Discography
As leader
- 1969: Blues for the Viet Cong (also released as Travellin' Man on Black Lion Records)
- 1969: Brilliant Circles
- 1973: Illusion Suite
- 1974: Handscapes with The Piano Choir
- 1974: Musa: Ancestral Streams
- 1974: Handscapes 2 with The Piano Choir
- 1975: Regeneration
- 1977: Waiting for the Moment
- 1978: Talkin' 'Bout Love
- 1978: Equipoise
- 1981: New World
- 1989: Sienna
- 1993: Angel Eyes
- 1994: Departure 2
- 1994: Games
- 1995: Setup
- 1995: Bright Passion
- 1995: Mandara Blossoms
- 1995: Live
- 1997: Hear Me One
- 2012: It's Time
- 2013: Welcome to This New World
- 1987: We Three
- 1990: Close to You Alone
- Other labels
- 1985: Live at Cafe Des Copains (Unisson)
- 1989: Back to the Beautiful (Concord Jazz)
- 1990: Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 5 (Concord Jazz)
- 1999: Dancers in Love (Venus)
As sideman
With Gary Bartz
- Another Earth (Milestone, 1969)
With Marion Brown
- Why Not? (1966)
- Three for Shepp (Impulse!, 1966)
- Vista (Impulse!, 1975)
With Richard Davis
- Way Out West (Muse, 1977 [1980])
- Fancy Free (Galaxy)
With Sonny Fortune
- Long Before Our Mothers Cried (Strata-East, 1974)
With Jimmy Heath
- Love and Understanding (Muse, 1973)
- The Time and the Place (Landmark, 1974 [1994])
With The Heath Brothers
- Marchin' On (1975)
- Passing Thru (1978)
- In Motion (1979)
- Live at the Public Theater (1980)
- Expressions of Life (1980)
- Brotherly Love (1982)
- Brothers and Others (1984)
With Stan Getz
- The Song Is You (1969)
With Johnny Griffin
- Birds and Ballads (1978)
With Bobby Hutcherson
With J.J. Johnson
With Clifford Jordan
- Glass Bead Games (1973)
With Art Pepper
- Art Pepper Today (1978)
- Winter Moon (1980)
- One September Afternoon (1980)
With Max Roach
- Members, Don't Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968)
With Charles Sullivan
- Genesis (Strata-East, 1974)
With Charles Tolliver
- The Ringer (Polydor, 1969)
- Live at Slugs' (Strata-East, 1970)
- Music Inc. (Strata-East, 1971)
- Impact (Enja, 1972)
- Live in Tokyo (Strata-East, 1973)
- Impact (Strata-East, 1975)