Walter Jackson
Walter Jackson was '60s Chicago soul at its sweetest and, occasionally, most mainstream. In the mid-'60s, he had a brace of solid R&B hits -- "Suddenly I'm All Alone," "It's an Uphill Climb (To the Bottom)," "Speak Her Name," "Welcome Home," "A Corner in the Sun" -- without ever rising higher than the lower reaches of the Top 100. Recording for the OKeh stable, which was home to the top Chi-Town soul talent, he benefited for a time from the production services of local masters Carl Davis and Curtis Mayfield, who handled the Impressions, Major Lance, Gene Chandler, and others. His sides employed similar punchy brass and strings, but in a smoother, more urbane fashion; Jackson was also comfortable with occasional outings into pure supper-club pop with nary a trace of R&B.
Jackson had already recorded for Columbia (and unsuccessfully auditioned for Motown) when OKeh A&R director Davis saw him at a Detroit piano bar in 1962. Stricken with polio as a young boy, Jackson had never let his disability get in the way of his musical ambitions, performing on crutches. Impressed with his commanding voice, Carl Davis thought of Walter as a Nat King Cole type of singer, and procured material for Jackson from Mayfield, Van McCoy, Chip Taylor, and other top-notch songwriters.
Despite the obvious pop crossover potential of Jackson's recordings, he remained obscure to white listeners. During the latter part of his stay with OKeh, he was reassigned from Davis' stable to producer Ted Cooper. Jackson had a few hits with Cooper, but there was little success after the late '60s, although he recorded for a few more labels before dying of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1983.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
Discografia
13 album • Ordinato per Bestseller
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Welcome Home: The Many Moods of Walter Jackson
R&B - Pubblicato da Columbia - Legacy il 2 ott 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tell Me Where It Hurts
Soul - Pubblicato da Westside il 5 dic 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Welcome Home / The Okeh Years
R&B - Pubblicato da Epic - Associated - Legacy il 4 giu 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Speak Her Name (Expanded)
R&B - Pubblicato da Epic - Legacy il 27 mar 1967
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait Of Walter Jackson
Soul - Pubblicato da Westside il 5 dic 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Want to Come Back as a Song
Soul - Pubblicato da Crimson il 1 gen 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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