SOUL TRANSLATION: A SPIRITUAL SUITE by DONALD ALEXANDER STRACHAN AND THE FREEDOM ENSEMBLE

Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound are releasing “Soul Translation: A Spiritual Suite" a superb lost USA deep jazz independent private-press album originally self-published by Donald Alexander Strachan and the Freedom Ensemble on Triad Music Concepts in 1975. Check!This great soulful/spiritual jazz album was the only album that Strachan released and consequently has become a rarity! It is a must for fans of Tribe, Strata-East and other conscious jazz from the 1970s and features in Gilles Peterson/Soul Jazz Records' Freedom, Rhythm and Sound book. Donald Alexander Strachan is composer, conductor, guitarist, vocalist and more leading a large 11-piece line-up that includes Jay Hoggard on vibes. Composer/writer/filmmaker Strachan studied in New York City in the 1970s with composer/saxophonist Sam Rivers and Ghanaian Drum-master Abraham Adzenyah as well as avant-garde guitarist/composer Bruce Johnson all of who helped shape his unique sound. In the 1980s Strachan was a short spell writing music for artists on Def Jam Record before entering into the collaborative world of cinema by composing musical scores and has been involved in cinema ever since both musically, as a scriptwriter and director. Donald Alexander Strachan and the Freedom Ensemble’s “Soul Translation: A Spiritual Suite" is a unique product of Strachan’s multicultural and African-American heritage and aesthetic - polyrhythmically complex and spiritually intense.