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Widely
regarded as one of the early architects of the neo-soul era,
Brian Jackson's enduring sound
is capturing the hearts and souls of yet another generation.
Today, Brian is not only a respected jazz artist but also
a frequent collaborator with emerging artists who carry on
the Tradition of inspiring and informing the masses through
conscious music.
The Tradition started in 1970
when the Brooklyn-born producer, composer, and musician Jackson
began writing songs with another prodigy, 20-year-old Lincoln
University classmate and poet Gil
Scott- Heron.
Jackson remembers his first encounter with Gil, "He
had this way with words and I thought to myself, 'People have
to hear this stuff.' What I had to offer was the music
and I figured if we can take his words and make this tribal
knowledge rhythmic and musical, we can draw people to hear
it."
Their partnership produced some of the most fiercely poignant,
politically charged, and significantly soulful albums of the
seventies. Pieces of a Man,
Free Will, Winter in America, First
Minute of a New Day, From South Africa to South Carolina,
Bridges, Secrets and 1980
are coveted by collectors and conscious-minded music fans
alike. Tracks like The Bottle,
Johannesburg, It's Your World, Angel Dust, Willing, and 95
South (All the Places We've Been), while highly relevant
back-in-the-day, have taken on heightened new relevance today
by serving as an inspirational and musical Rosetta stone for
the neo-soul movement.
Having produced ten top-selling albums with Gil, Brian decided
to continue evolving his musical talents in the eighties by
collaborating with Kool and the Gang,
Phyllis Hyman, George Benson, Gwen Guthrie, and Roy
Ayers. In 1988, Brian co-produced Will
Downing's self-titled and UK gold-selling debut album.
Brian welcomed the turning of a century with his long overdue
first solo album, gotta play.
"No one could have told me when I was recording my first
album, Pieces of a Man (with Gil Scott-Heron), that
it would be the 21st century before I recorded a solo album.
But this collection of music represents my offerings
of new friendship, fresh perspective, and a new life."
With his rekindled spirit to continue the Tradition and reach
a new generation, Jackson, for his next album, is collaborating
with new voices and translating their lyrical visions into
powerful neo-soul musical statements. For his next
new-day-making-change album, Jackson is soulfully aligning, along with visionary producer Kentyah Fraser, with master craftspersons like M1 and stic.man (Dead Prez),
Boots Riley (The Coup), Ron Carter and Airto Moreira (Miles Davis), Killah Priest (Wu-Tang Clan), Chuck D (Public Enemy), Bill Summers, Dudley Perkins, Eddie Henderson, Mike Clark (Herbie Hancock), Georgia Muldrow, DJ Goo and other gifted wayseers whom he encounters - and embraces - worldwide.
Asked about his motives, Brian reflects, "This
music isn't mine and the minute I start trying to own it,
it's all over. It's my responsibility to pass on what I've
learned. That's living the Tradition." |
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