George Russell has been an important and innovative contributor to contemporary jazz ever since he wrote for Dizzy Gillespie's first Carnegie Hall concert in the Forties. He remains a most highly regarded composer, bandleader, and theoretician (the "Lydian" concept) both in the United States and in Europe, where he lived and worked for a number of years. In the Sixties, he formed a unique small group that rather amazingly combined "outside" experimentation and firmly-rooted funk (the personnel included, at times, Eric Dolphy and Don Ellis). The aptly-named Stratusphunk was the first of his four albums for Riverside; in addition to some notable Russell compositions, it features an early work by Carla Bley.

with Al Kiger, Dave Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels, Joe Hunt