‘New look at an old label’ is a formula with a fairly long history. In the past two decades the likes of Verve and Blue Note (many times over) have been give the remix treatment by several prominent figures, mostly from hip-hop and electronica, with varying degrees of success. Now comes Strata-East, the iconic Detroit label that carved out a glorious chapter in independent jazz in the 1970s with a catalogue of gems by the likes of Stanley Cowell, Charles Tolliver and Clifford Jordan among many others. Berlin-based Jazzanova, who emerged as prominent producers and remixers in the 2000s, ‘re-imagine’ some of the label’s goodies though they have opted for lesser-known artists such as Kenny Cox, Sam Sanders and Lyman Woodard. In fact, rather than transform original tapes through modern audio software they are essentially covering songs with a house band drawn from players they have regularly worked with over the years.

Interestingly, the resulting sound is very steeped in Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson circa Winter In America (a key Strata-East release), especially given the moody richness of vocalist Sean Haefell. The results are not unappealing.

The terse, fraught funk of ‘Creative Musicians’ is a notable highlight, and also the pulsating Motown backbeat of ‘Inside Ourselves’ injects just the right energy into a sultry theme.

Very well recorded and mixed, the music has proficiency and polish, which is to be expected, given Jazzanova’s track record. That also means a question mark remains on just how good this project could have been had they managed to throw an all-consuming curveball into proceedings and capture some of the more abstract energy that the likes of Tolliver brought to Strata. A reimagining of the reimagining, perhaps with tunes like ‘Plight’ on board, might well be worth a punt.