For a label that only lasted a little over five years and notched only twenty albums’ worth of catalogue in its initial run, Black Jazz Records carved a significant niche in the jazz world. Ahead of the label’s 50th anniversary reunion with Doug and Jean Carn, Nate Patrin takes a look at 10 crucial records from the influential imprint. When Los Angeles-born, Oakland-based pianist-turned-producer Gene Russell co-founded Black Jazz in 1971, the 39-year-old journeyman was just two years removed from a small-trio release on Decca that landed squarely in the lighthearted, pop-friendly, ‘Up-Up And Away’ and ‘Born Free’-covering world of cocktail-bar jazz. But with the turn-of-the-seventies emergence of revolutionary developments from electric Miles to the spiritual directions of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane – and all sorts of funky mutations in Russell’s soul-jazz wheelhouse, to boot – the tight-knit collection of artists he assembled took full advantage of all the possibilities that lay ahead for jazz in the young decade. As a cultural statement, Black Jazz was both resounding and necessary: Russell’s involvement made it the first black-owned jazz label in 50 years, and its focus on promoting a wealth and breadth of black-originated jazz expression promoted an independent […]

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