Stanley Cowell

Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) 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. 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.

As sideman
With Marion Brown
 * Three for Shepp (Impulse!, 1967)
 * Why Not? (1968)
 * Vista (Impulse!, 1975)

With Larry Coryell
 * Equipoise (Muse, 1985)
 * Toku Do (Muse, 1987)

With Richard Davis
 * Fancy Free (Galaxy, 1977)
 * Way Out West (Muse, 1980) – rec. 1977

With Roy Haynes
 * Thank You Thank You (Galaxy, 1977)
 * Vistalite (Galaxy, 1979) – rec. 1977

With Jimmy Heath
 * Love and Understanding (Muse, 1973)
 * The Time and the Place (Landmark, 1994) – rec. 1977

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 Bobby Hutcherson
 * Patterns (Blue Note, 1968)
 * Now! (Blue Note, 1969)
 * Spiral (Blue Note, 1979) – rec. 1968
 * Medina (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1969

With Art Pepper
 * Art Pepper Today (Galaxy, 1978)
 * Winter Moon (Galaxy, 1980)
 * One September Afternoon (Galaxy, 1980)

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)
 * With Love (Blue Note, 2006)
 * Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2009)

With others
 * Rashied Ali, First Time Out: Live at Slugs 1967 (Survival Records, 2020)
 * Gary Bartz, Another Earth (Milestone, 1969)
 * Sonny Fortune, Long Before Our Mothers Cried (Strata-East, 1974)
 * Stan Getz, The Song Is You (1969)
 * Johnny Griffin, Birds and Ballads (1978)
 * J.J. Johnson, Standards-Live At The Village Vanguard (1988)
 * Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games (1973)
 * James Mtume, Rebirth Cycle (1977)
 * Oliver Nelson, Swiss Suite (Flying Dutchman, 1972) – rec. 1971
 * Jimmy Owens, Headin' Home (A&M/Horizon, 1978)
 * Max Roach, Members, Don't Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968)
 * Charles Sullivan, Genesis (Strata-East, 1974)
 * Buddy Terry, Awareness (Mainstream, 1971)