Musa: Ancestral Streams

Musa: Ancestral Streams
Studio album by Stanley Cowell
Released	1974
Recorded	December 10 & 11, 1973 at Minot Studios, White Plains, New York
Genre	Jazz
Length	38:04
Label	Strata-East SES-19743
Producer	Stanley Cowell and Viki McLaughlin
Stanley Cowell chronology
Illusion Suite (1973) Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974) Handscapes 2 (1975)

Musa: Ancestral Streams is a solo piano album by Stanley Cowell recorded in 1973 and first released on the Strata-East label. It features solo acoustic piano primarily but the song 'traveling man' is duet between electric piano (most probably fender rhodes and african thumb piano or kalimba) ^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]

In his review for AllMusic, Jason Ankeny states "Musa Ancestral Streams remains a relative oddity in the pantheon of jazz's black consciousness movement -- a solo piano set of stunning reach and scope, its adherence to intimacy contrasts sharply with the bold, multi-dimensional sensibilities that signify the vast majority of post-Coltrane excursions into spiritual expression, yet the sheer soulfulness and abandon of Stanley Cowell's performance nevertheless vaults the record into the same physical and metaphysical planes".^[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Stanley Cowell

1. "Abscretions" 5:10
2. "Equipoise" - 3:44
3. "Prayer for Peace" - 7:07
4. "Emil Danenberg" - 2:45
5. "Maimoun" - 6:30
6. "Travelin' Man" - 2:56
7. "Departure No. 1" - 5:25
8. "Departure No. 2" - 2:15
9. "Sweet Song" - 3:05

Personnel

• Stanley Cowell - piano, electric piano, kalimba

References

1. Stanley Cowell discography accessed January 5, 2015
2. Ankeny, Jason. Musa Ancestral Streams – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
3. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 52. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.