Customer Reviews

But It's Alright

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Saw J.J.Jackson around 1970 in Doncaster, great. I already have this on Vinyl and needed the CD version. Great Album, has But It's Alright and the Sam Cooke perennial, Change Gonna Come. Worth it just for these but I have always liked I dig Girls and the other tracks.

I have always loved "But It's Alright" by J.J. Jackson, so I was hoping that this CD would have more songs with the same sound. However, I was rather disappointed. The songs were not up to my expectations as far as the beat and sound.

If you like your Soul/R&B music delivered in a belting style, then you'll love Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson, who was born in the Bronx, New York on April 8, 1941. He began his career in music as an arranger for Jazzman Brother Jack McDuff (Down In The Valley, A Change Is Gonna Come, What'd I Say? among others) and Blues artist Jimmy Witherspoon, as well as a songwriter, contributing material to such as The Shangri-Las, Mary Wells, Inez Foxx, and British band Pretty Things, who had a U.K./Australian hit with a cover of his composition Come See Me (I'm Your Man) - see track 7.

When he turned to performing he did so with tiny Calla Records of New York, launched in 1965 by Nate McCalla, a "connected" type who, at one time, was a bodyguard for Morris Levy, owner of Roulette Records, and who was found in 1980 - just a few years after the demise of his label - with a bullet in the back of his head!

With Calla, J.J. recorded a handful of singles and one album - this one - which came out originally as Calla LP C1101 in late 1966. Culled from that album were the hit singles But It's Alright, a solid # 4 R&B/# 22 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in October 1966 on Calla 119 b/w Boogaloo Baby, and I Dig Girls, a # 19 R&B/# 83 Hot 100 in late 1966/early 1967 on Calla 125 b/w That Ain't Right.

In the spring of 1967, neither side of Till Love Goes Out Of Style/Seems Like I've Been Here Before (Calla 130) went anywhere, but later in June, Four Walls (Three Windows And Two Doors) made it to # 17 R&B and # 123 Hot 100 Bubble Under on Calla 133 b/w Here We Go Again. None were part of this album.

In 1969/70, Warner Brothers re-released some of his cuts in their "Back-To-Back" series and in June 1969, But It's Alright charted again at # 45 Hot 100 on Warner 7276 b/w the instrumental Ain't Too Proud To Beg (see track 10) by his backing band, often referred to as "The Greatest Little Soul Band In The Land." At various times, this consisted of Dick Morrissey and Dave Quincy on tenor sax, Stu Hamer, George Jones and Roy Edwards on trumpet, Terry Smith on guitar, Rico Rodriguez and John Bennet on trombone, Jeff McCarthy and Larry Steele on bass, Ronnie Stephenson, John Stanley Marshall, Jeff Whittaker (conga drums), Bill Eyden, Terry Jenkins, and Ian Hague on drums, and Brian Henderson and Chris Barren on organ/keyboard.

A mix of these musicians would also accompany him on the 1969 Congress LP CD-7000 "The Greatest Little Soul band In The Land" which contained Tobacco Road, Tenement Halls, Something for My People, In the Same Old Way, A Change Is Gonna Come, Fat, Black And Together, Win Lose Or Draw, That's Woman Loving Her Man, In the Same Old Way, as well as the 1970 Perception 3 LP "Dilemma" which contained Indian Thing, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, Let The Sunshine In, Help Me Get To My Grits, Who Knows, Go Find Yourself A Woman, No Sad Songs.

While this Collectables release is welcome - the sound quality is, however, uneven here and there - what we need is a multi-track anthology with both sides of all his singles plus selective cuts from his albums.