Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Bicentennial Blues
1976 · Arista AL 5001 · USA
- Artist
- Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
- Title
- Bicentennial Blues
- Release
- It's Your World
- Year
- 1976
- Label
- Arista # AL 5001
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Soul · Funk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011), born in Chicago, but mainly based in New York, is well-known as a soul and jazz artist with cutting edge political and social spoken-word recordings, particularly on issues to do with the treatment of African-Americans. He often collaborated with Brian Jackson. Several of these spoken-word tracks referenced the Vietnam War - "Comment # 1" (1970), "H20 Gate Blues" (1974), "Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon)" (1975), and "Bicentennial Blues" (1976). He also mentioned the war in the soul tracks "Did You Hear What They Said?" (1972) and "Waiting for the Axe to Fall" (1980).The song "Bicentennial Blues" referred to Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor (1969-1974) and Secretary of State (1973/74), and the various wars in which he took part in the decision making. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Vietnam War. Kissinger remained the Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger, until the 1976 election.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Duo of poet-singer Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) and keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson (b. 1952, Brooklyn, New York); they met and began collaborating at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, around 1969-70, recording together through 1980. [Source: Wikipedia]