Heart & Center - Michael Gregory Jackson (1979) (1LP Vinyl) - Very Good Plus (VG+)

Condition: Used

Media Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)

Sleeve Condition: Very Good (VG) (Corner cut, edge wear)

Heart & Center by Michael Gregory Jackson.

Michael Gregory Jackson's "Heart & Center" is a record that lives at the crossroads of jazz, blues, and something harder to name, a place where a guitarist and singer with a genuinely restless imagination lays out his vision across eight tracks. From the opening "Lovin' You" through the closing "Catalyst To Perception," this is music that refuses to sit still, moving between grooves, textures, and moods with the confidence of an artist working entirely on his own terms.

Jackson himself is the gravitational center here, credited with guitar, voice, percussion, and synthesizer, and serving as producer. That multiplicity tells you plenty about how the record was conceived. This is not a session leader simply calling tunes; it is a composer shaping a full sonic environment, from the rhythmic undercurrents to the vocal lines that thread through pieces like "We're Connected Now" and "We Will Always Know."

The band assembled around him is a serious one. Pheeroan Aklaff brings the drums, an adventurous and deeply musical presence, while Jerome Harris anchors things on electric bass. Barry Harwood adds keyboards, filling out the harmonic canvas and giving Jackson's writing room to breathe. Together they form a rhythmic and textural foundation flexible enough to handle the record's shifts, from the forward momentum of "Risin' Up" to the more searching corners of "Of A Highly Questionable Nature."

The horns lift the whole thing into another register. Marty Ehrlich on reeds and Baikida Carroll on trumpet are exactly the kind of players who thrive in this territory, capable of tight ensemble writing and open, expressive soloing in equal measure. Their contributions give the title track "Heart & Center" its emotional weight, and they sharpen the edges elsewhere without ever crowding Jackson's guitar and voice out of the frame.

Sonically, this pressing carries real pedigree. David Baker handled the engineering, Bob Ludwig mastered the record, and Bill Kipper cut the lacquer, a chain of names that jazz and blues collectors recognize as a mark of care in how the sound was captured and transferred to vinyl. The Anthony Barboza photography rounds out the package with a visual sensibility that matches the music's blend of intimacy and ambition.

For listeners drawn to music that bridges the acoustic warmth of jazz with the pulse and directness of blues and beyond, "Heart & Center" is a rewarding find. It rewards close listening, revealing new interplay between guitar, horns, keyboards, and rhythm section on each pass, and it stands as a distinctive statement from an artist who has never been content to color inside the lines.

Pressing Details:
Track Listing:
A1. Lovin' You
A2. Falling Rock
A3. Risin' Up
A4. Heart & Center
B1. We're Connected Now
B2. Of A Highly Questionable Nature
B3. We Will Always Know
B4. Catalyst To Perception

Credits:
Pheeroan Aklaff - Drums
Jerome Harris - Electric Bass
David Baker - Engineer
Michael Gregory Jackson - Guitar, Voice, Percussion, Synthesizer
Barry Harwood - Keyboards
Bill Kipper - Lacquer Cut By
Bob Ludwig - Mastered By
Anthony Barboza - Photography By
Michael Gregory Jackson - Producer
Marty Ehrlich - Reeds
Baikida Carroll - Trumpet

Artist: Michael Gregory Jackson

Format: 1LP

Genre: Jazz

Label: Arista Novus

Catalog Number: AN 3015

Release Year: 1979

Country: United States