THE CONTEMPORARY QUINTET Location

KEY SELLING POINTS

• The Contemporary Jazz Quintet was led by Kenny Cox and included saxophonist Leon Henderson, Charles Moore, bassist Ron Brooks, and drummer Danny Spencer • Listen to: Tao (1973, Strata Records)

DESCRIPTION ARTIST: The Contemporary Jazz Quintet The Contemporary Jazz Quintet, or CJQ, can be seen as the cornerstone TITLE: Location of the entire Strata enterprise. Led by Kenny Cox, the Quintet featured CATALOG: L-OEP1006 saxophonist Leon Henderson (brother of saxophone legend Joe LABEL: One Eighty Proof Henderson), future Strata mainstays Charles Moore and bassist Ron GENRE: Jazz Brooks, and drummer Danny Spencer. In the late ’60s, the CJQ cut two BARCODE: 659123098212 records in quick succession for Blue Note, Introducing Kenny Cox and FORMAT: LP Multidirection, both triumphs for ’s progressive jazz community. HOME MARKET: N/A But these records were not necessarily triumphs for Blue Note, the RELEASE: 3/2/2018 label growing nervous about the group’s growing disregard for musical LIST PRICE: $19.98 / CR boundaries. CASE QTY: 20 “I’ve always surmised that Strata grew out of the CJQ’s disappointing TRACKLISTING experience with and the general hopelessness of the surviving jazz scene,” reflects John Sinclair. 1. Bang! 2. Tao These sentiments initiated a new era for the CJQ. They went on to release their own records, and even break the logistical shackles of the 3. Noh Word Quintet, featuring nine players on their Strata Records debut, Location. In 4. Nguzo Saba (Struggle) order for the CJQ to be successful, Detroit needed an infrastructure that 5. Inner Beckoning could sustain and support an experimental jazz scene.

“They needed a place [to play], because what they were doing—original music—was a little esoteric for a mainstream audience at that time,” says Sinclair.

As a result, they established their first cooperative space in 1970—a gallery/coffee shop on Michigan Avenue—where people of all ages could come and see a rising crop of local musicians, as well as national jazz visionaries like Archie Shepp.

- Amir Abdullah 2018

PROUDLY DISTRIBUTED BY FAT BEATS DISTRIBUTION | 8920 ETON AVE. CANOGA PARK, CA 91304 | DISTRIBUTION.FATBEATS.COM