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Brian Jackson

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

About Me


This profile was edited with Tower Codes
HEAR GIL SCOTT-HERON and BRIAN JACKSON LIVE!!
RECORDED AUGUST 20, 1977
AT NEW YORK'S LEGENDARY BOTTOM LINE
ALMOST TWO HOURS OF LIVE MUSIC!!!
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 with Ladybug Mecca on her release, "Trip the Light Fantastic" while touring with Digable Planets as guest artist through 2006; Radio Free Brooklyn's Pete Miser, whose 2005 release "Camouflage is Relative" had Brian peppering the cut, 'Table Scraps,' poet/singer-songwriter Masauko of South Africa's Blk Sonshine (Brian also appears on his upcoming release), as well as with other lyrically gifted new artists 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".

'FEELIN U' (BARCELONA w FAST 3):
'THE BOTTLE' (PARIS AT LE RESERVOIR):

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/25/2005
Band Website: brianjackson.net
Influences: Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Sly and the Family Stone, Hugh Masekela, Nina Simone, Ivan Lins, Herbie Mann, Roy Ayers, Marvin Gaye, Pharoah Saunders, Moses Taiwa Molelekwa, Lonnie Liston Smith, Bob Marley, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Smith, Rogers and Hammerstein, Burt Bacharach, Earth, Wind and Fire, Johnny Guitar Watson, George Duke, Charles Lloyd, Paul Jackson, Mike Clark, Minnie Riperton, Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Metallica, Tom Barney, Freddie Hubbard, Jerry Jemmott, Public Enemy, Salif Keita, Digable Planets, Bill Withers, Marcus Miller, Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Bernard Purdie, Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Wynton Kelly, Sam Most, Yusef Lateef, Eric Dolphy, Richard Davis, Jimmy Cobb, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Mingus, Stevie Wonder, Max Roach, Jaki Byard, Count Basie, Sun Ra, Robert Johnson, Familyman Barrett, Carlton Barrett, Earl Lindo, Onaje Alan Gumbs, Carlos Garnett, Barnett Williams, Donald Byrd, Allan Barnes, Johnny Malone, Siggie Dillard, Curtis Mayfield, Robert Mitchell, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, Dave Garrett, Mtume, Lonnie Liston Smith, Donald Smith, Gary Bartz, Andy Bey, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Teddy Riley, Prince, and I'm hearing new things all the time that inform and influence me, even if I don't know their names. Whoever you don't know on this list, do yourself a favor and check them out!
Sounds Like: While I can clearly hear the influences in my music, few others do, and insist that I have my own sound.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson LIVE!

Finally!!!! It's here:For those of you who are interested, Wolfgang's Vault is featuring a 1977 Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson concert recorded at New York's legendary Bottom Line club.The nearly t...
Posted by Brian Jackson on Thu, 17 May 2007 05:15:00 PST

this is really long, but if you feel like it, read at your leisure. it explains a lot!

just got an email from a brother who saw a vid of me speaking before the Austin, TX branch of the NAACP in December of 2003.i read it again, and knew that i had to post it here, so here it is:I cant e...
Posted by Brian Jackson on Thu, 10 Aug 2006 06:23:00 PST

helluva year

it's been a good year for music and me. i started by doing a one-month tour with digable planets in june, appeared with them at lollapalooza in july, and am going to do some dates in the pacific north...
Posted by Brian Jackson on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 01:24:00 PST