Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson (born November 8, 1942)[2] is an American soul/R&Bsinger, songwriter, and arranger.[3] His singing style is as a belter. Jackson best known for the song "But It's Alright", which he co-wrote with Pierre Tubbs. The song was released in 1966 and then re-released in 1969, to chart success on both occasions. The liner notes to his 1967 album, J.J. Jackson, on Calla Records, stated that he weighed 285 pounds.[4][5]
History
Jackson was born in Bronx, New York.[6] Described as "one of the most interesting obscure figures of '60s soul",[7] Jackson, then based in New York,[6][8] started out as a songwriter and arranger. His first songwriting credit, at the age of sixteen, was "The Lord Will Understand (And Say 'Well Done')", being the B-side to "Got A Date With An Angel", a 1957 single by Billy Williams. Jackson co-wrote the song with G. Douglas and M. Brent.[9] The song was banned by the BBC for "religious overtones".[10]
Jackson's first single was "Shy Guy", backed with "Time", on Crescent Records and distributed by Fantasy Records, in 1963.[11] Both songs were written by Jackson.[12]
Jackson was later a songwriter and arranger for "Brother" Jack McDuff, Jimmy Witherspoon, and the Shangri-Las, among others.[13] His songwriting credits include Mary Wells' "My Mind's Made Up"[14] and "I've Come to One Conclusion" by Inez and Charlie Foxx,[15][8] both co-written with fellow soul singer Sidney Barnes. Barnes and Jackson became a freelance songwriting team in 1964, at a time when Jackson was known as both a pianist and a songwriter. Barnes had previously been a lead writer, producer and talent scout for the recently opened New York office of Motown Records and Jobete Music.[16] Barnes and Jackson wrote songs for several R & B solo artists of the period, including Sandra Phillips and Billy Prophet, formerly of The Jive Five. Barnes and Jackson also wrote for The Soul Sisters,[17] and became staff writers at Sue Records, one of the few black-owned record labels based in New York at the time.[16]
Barnes and Jackson were soon thereafter signed to exclusive contracts with Red Bird Records and Trio Music Publishing, owned by Leiber and Stoller.[16] "It's Easier to Cry", by the Shangri-Las and released on Red Bird Records, was co-written by Jackson, Joe De Angelis and Robert Steinberg. The latter song was the B-side to the Shangri-Las' 1964 hit single "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"[18]
By 1965, Barnes had emerged as a solo performer, recording songs written by Barnes and Jackson, including "I Hurt On The Other Side",[19] and "I Don't Know Why".[16]
Jackson is best known for the soul hit "But It's Alright" co-written with Pierre Tubbs and which, after its 1966 release as the B-side of the single "Boogaloo Baby", became one of the best known dance music tunes of the decade,[20] reaching No. 22 on the Billboard chart.[3] The single was recorded in the United Kingdom, being one of the first R & B hit singles to have been recorded in England.[21] The song featured some of Britain's top jazz musicians of the day, including Terry Smith on guitar, Dick Morrissey on tenor sax and John Marshall on drums,[13] and who would later form the backing band for Jackson's second and third albums. The album on which "But It's Alright" was first featured, released by Calla Records, was recorded in New York, with the exception of "But It's Alright".[4] Jackson also co-wrote, with Pierre Tubbs and Sidney Barnes, the Pretty Things' 1966 hit single, "Come See Me."[22][7] Other versions of "But It's Alright" and "Come See Me" were recorded by Jackson in England,[13] with a band credited as The Jeeps, being a band configuration of Pierre Tubbs[23] and originally released on Strike Records. Strike Records was also the release label in England of Jackson's first album.[24] Brother Jack McDuff, with David "Fathead" Newman, covered "But It's Alright", as an instrumental version, on their 1967 album Double Barrelled Soul. The song was also released as a single.[25] The song was also covered in 1967 by Eddie Floyd and included on Floyd's Knock on Wood album.
In 1967, Jackson was signed to Loma Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records, prior to the label being absorbed by Warner Bros. in 1968. Jackson released a series of singles on Loma and Warner Bros. between 1967 and 1969. During this period, Jackson co-wrote much of his material with Windsor King, who had worked with Jackson from the time that Jackson was recording with Calla Records.[26] King also co-produced Jackson's material. Jackson also released singles that were co-written and co-produced by Jerry Ragovoy.
In 1969, Warner Bros. Records, which had acquired the catalogue of Calla Records,[3] re-released "But It's Alright". The single peaked at No. 45 on Billboard when it re-entered the chart on March 29, 1969. A Spanish version of the song was also released in 1969.[27] Later that year, Warner Bros. also re-released "Four Walls (Three Windows and Two Doors)", which had originally been released in 1967, as the B-side to "That Ain't Right", written by Cherry Foster and Walter Jessup.[28] "That Ain't Right" had originally been released in 1967 as the B-side to "I Dig Girls".[29] "But It's Alright" and "Four Walls" were then released on one single as "Back to Back Hits".[30]
In 1969, Warner Bros. released The Great J.J. Jackson, which contained four songs from Jackson's Calla Records debut, plus eight others.[31] Later that year, Jackson signed with Congress Records, a subsidiary of Kapp Records, releasing his third album, The Greatest Little Soul Band in the Land, in late 1969. This album reunited Jackson with the English musicians who had contributed to the success of "But It's Alright", in 1966, in particular Dick Morrissey and Terry Smith. For his fourth album, Jackson formed J.J. Jackson's Dilemma, releasing an eponymous album on Perception Records in 1970, recorded in 1969.[32] With some of the same musicians who had been members of J.J. Jackson's Dilemma, Jackson released his fifth and final album (and fourth solo album) ...and proud of it! in 1970, on Perception Records.[33]
Jackson became a permanent resident of England in 1969.[34] That same year, Jackson was the subject of a private publication by artist Nancy Reiner, The Adventures of JJ or How The Greatest Little Soul Band In The Land Jes Grooved and Grooved and Grooved.[35] Reiner was the artist whose sketch of Jimi Hendrix became the cover of The Cry of Love. She had previously created the cover art for albums by Brother Jack McDuff and Jimmy Witherspoon.
Jackson's longtime producer, commencing with his recordings at Calla Records and continuing across subsequent labels, was Lew Futterman. Futterman was also a producer of recordings by Jack McDuff and Jimmy Witherspoon, as well as recordings by the British band If.
In 1975, Jackson released the single "Let Me Try Again", under the Magna-Glide label. The label was owned by Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz, who had previously been associated with bubblegum music.[36] The single was unique for Jackson, in that long-time producer Lew Futterman was not involved, and Jackson did not contribute to writing the single. The song was written and produced by Robert (Bobby) Flax and Lanny Lambert.[37]
Despite Jackson's own lack of recorded output, "But It's Alright" continued to be covered by other artists. In 1981, Australian band Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons covered the song, which was released as a single from their Step Lively album.[41][42] In 1994, the song was covered by Huey Lewis and the News and included on the album Four Chords & Several Years Ago. The Lewis 1994 cover was also released as a single, including both studio and live versions of the song.[43]
In 2009, The Great J.J. Jackson was re-released, on CD, by Collector's Choice. The re-release included as additional tracks the remaining songs from Jackson's first album on Calla Records that had not been included in the original release of The Great J.J. Jackson. Thus, Jackson's entire first album plus some of his singles released by Loma Records and Warner Bros. Records were included on one album,[31] though a number of Jackson's singles were never included on albums.
In 2017, Jackson was included among the performers in Rock and Roll Reunion, produced by TVS Television[46]
There is often confusion between Jerome Louis Jackson, known as J. J. Jackson, and Leo Robinson,[47] who moved to Brazil and later changed his name to J. J. Jackson, at times adding "do Brasil" to his stage name.[48][49]
^Jackson's weight was part of his image during the 1960s. For example, in the Liner notes to J.J. Jackson, he is described as follows: "He's fat (285 lbs.), happy-go-lucky and totally lacking the kind of ego that stars are supposed to need."
^Contained on the album Mockingbird - Phase 1: The Complete Sue Recordings (Connoisseur Collection, 2001); Discogs. Retrieved 2017-08-02. One of the few songs recorded by the duo that was not written by Charlie Foxx or Inez and Charlie Foxx.
^Such as "Think About The Good Times" (1965), also produced by Barnes and Jackson, where Jackson is also credited as the arranger: 45cat.com. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
^ abParticulars of "But It's Alright"/"Four Walls"; Discogs. Retrieved 2017-08-23. Jackson is credited as the arranger and conductor of both songs. The single identifies "But It's Alright" as having been released in the spring of 1969, while "Four Walls" is identified as having been released in the summer of 1969.
^For this album, Morrissey and Smith were joined by sax player Dave Quincy in backing Jackson. As a result of this association, Morrissey, Smith and Quincy decided to further work together, becoming the founding members of the progressive jazz-rock band If, in 1969.
^Musicians on the album included keyboardist Chris Parren, later of Midnight Flyer and The Strawbs and trombonist John Bennett, who had been a founding member of Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Both co-wrote much of the material on the album.
^ abParticulars of "Let Me Try Again"/"When Love Meets Love"; Discogs. Retrieved 2017-09-05. "When Love Meets Love" is credited to "J.J. Jackson's Funky Butt Band". The single was released on Magna-Glide Records in the United States and on London Records in the United Kingdom.
^Particulars of Rock & Roll Legends Live!; Allmusic. Retrieved 2017-09-01. The dates and locations of the live recordings are not particularized. Of the sixteen tracks, Jackson sang "It's Alright", while the majority of the album was composed of performances by Lou Christie and Chris Montez, who both had five songs on the album.
^Unsourced comments of an unidentified Wikipedia contributor, who adds: "I found this out when I went to a J. J. Jackson (do Brasil) concert in Londrina, taking an original 45 of 'But It's Alright' for him to sign. He rapidly said: 'That's J. J. Jackson from the US. I'm J. J. Jackson do Brasil'."
^Particulars of "Down, But Not Out"; 45cat. Retrieved 2017-08-09. Jackson is credited as the arranger of the A and B sides. He co-wrote "Down, But Not Out" with Windsor King, who also co-produced the single with Lew Futterman. The B-side, "Why Does It Take So Long?" was co-written by Al Stewart, Peter Paul and Billy Meshel.
^Particulars of "Too Late"/"You Do It Cause You Wanna"; Discogs. Retrieved 2017-09-07. Another single co-produced by Ragovoy, Futterman and King, and where Ragovoy co-wrore, with Jackson and King, "You Do It Cause You Wanna".
