For better or worse, Brian Jackson’s name will be forever tied to his symbiotic collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron. Mostly for better, because the two produced some of the most powerful and iconic music of the ’70s, including “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Johannesburg,” and “The Bottle.” But the thing is, that halcyon time lasted only about 10 years before they parted ways in 1980. Scott-Heron went on to make more music, little of it as influential or powerful as his work with Jackson, and he died in 2011, a tragic figure beset by substance abuse. His story has been told and retold many times since.
But what about Jackson’s story? Since his split with Scott-Heron, he’s never stopped playing and creating. Yet few talk about his contribution to the Scott-Heron legacy, or about the career he’s built in his own right as a keyboardist and composer. It’s as if the warm and upbeat Jackson,
