Winter in America
Encyclopedia
Winter in America is a studio album
by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron
and musician Brian Jackson, released in May 1974 on Strata-East Records
. Recording sessions for the album took place during September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland
. It contains introspective and socially conscious lyrics by Scott-Heron that reflect on African-American culture at the time of the album's conception. While Jackson's piano-based arrangements are rooted in jazz
and the blues, their stripped-down production for the album resulted in a reliance on more traditional African and R&B sounds.
The album serves as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's debut release for Strata-East Records, following a dispute with their former label and departure. It proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, Winter in America featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single "The Bottle
", it obtained considerably larger commercial success than Scott-Heron's and Jackson's previous work. The album debuted at number six on Billboard
s Top Jazz Albums chart and ultimately sold over 300,000 copies in the United States.
While it was critically overlooked upon its release, Winter in America earned retrospective acclaim from several writers and music critics as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's greatest work
together. Along with its critical recognition, it has been noted by several critics for its influence on derivative music forms such as neo soul
and hip hop music
, as many artists of the genres have been influenced by Scott-Heron's and Jackson's lyrical and musical approach on the album. On March 10, 1998, Winter in America was reissued on compact disc for the first time in the United States through Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia Records.
, Gil Scott-Heron signed with the New York City
jazz-based Strata-East label in early 1973, accompanied by jazz keyboardist and songwriter Brian Jackson, with whom he had worked with on his previous studio albums, Pieces of a Man
(1971) and Free Will
(1972). While some sources allege this may have been over financial or creative differences, Scott-Heron maintains the switch was due to producer Bob Thiele
's unwillingness to give Jackson co-billing. By the time of their move to Strata-East, Scott-Heron and Jackson had achieved underground notice among R&B and soul music
listeners, particularly for the political and social nature of their music's themes, as well as Scott-Heron's emphasis on African-American culture and social plight in his compositions. Their musical fusion
of jazz, blues, soul and spoken word
styles helped them earn some notice among less-mainstream black music listeners at the time.
Significant social circumstances and musical events preceded Scott-Heron's and Jackson's signing with Strata-East. After the decline of popularity in traditional jazz forms and the civil rights struggle, which had sought racial equality during the late 1950s and 1960s, black pride
and Afrocentric
sentiment by many black Americans emerged. During 1970 to 1974, the Black Panthers organization had been neutralized and pan-Africanism
came into vogue. Following the free jazz and avant-garde breakthroughs of Ornette Coleman
and John Coltrane
, a creative stasis among most jazz musicians set in during the decade that led to an eclecticism
where no style or conception of jazz maintained a zeitgeist
among players. However, jazz fusion
had gained mainstream notice for its stylistic adoption of rock and funk music, despite being the subject of controversy in jazz purist
circles. Highlighted by the works of such artists as Roy Ayers
, Herbie Hancock
and Donald Byrd
, jazz-funk
also emerged in response to the growing popularity of funk, leading to a trend of funk rhythms among jazz musicians formerly of the hard bop tradition as an attempt to reconnect with their African-American audience. This factored into the popularity of Scott-Heron's and Jackson's work in the black underground scene, with the former obtaining a reputation as a "street poet", while his work with Jackson served as an early recording of jazz poetry
.
-oriented themes and independently produce a more conceptual album
than his previous work had envisioned. Scott-Heron's and Jackson's search for more creative control over their recordings prompted them to sign with Strata-East Records. Established in 1971 by jazz musicians Charles Tolliver
and Stanley Cowell
, in response to major record companies' lack of interest in their recordings, the Strata-East label had become known for signing artists who recorded with diverse styles of jazz music with themes of social consciousness and black nationalism
, as well as "minimal but eye-grabbing graphic design" for its releases. The label had also been known for carrying out the management concept of "condominium", originally conceived and penned by Cowell, which presented artists with the authority and responsibility over their recorded material independently, as well as the ability to assign the master tapes over to the label for distribution. This allowed artists signed to Strata-East a greater amount of control over their recordings than major labels at the time had offered. Music journalist Kevin Moist later wrote of the label's "condominium" concept, stating "The idea was to try and develop an independent cultural space outside of the mainstream that could function self-sufficiently and be genuinely participatory for its members. The goal was to live in an engaged way where art, society, spirituality, and politics could all come together holistically in an integrated existence. That (sub)cultural renewal is embodied in the kind of music midwifed by Strata-East." The label's philosophy for artist management and recording ethic worked to the advantage of artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. Scott-Heron and Jackson were able to release more aesthetically personalized recordings for Strata-East than most mainstream labels would allow.
Jackson had suggested the location for the recording sessions and the small studio located just outside of Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland
. The sessions took place in September and October 1973 at Silver Spring's D&B Sound Studios. According to Gil Scott-Heron, the studio's main room was so small that when the two musicians recorded, Jackson was forced out next to the cooler, playing flute in the studio's hallway while Scott-Heron sang in the main room. On the other hand, Scott-Heron also noted that he felt comfortable in the small recording studio. He was also satisfied with Jose Williams being recruited as the recording engineer for the album. Williams assisted Scott-Heron and Jackson, who were credited for production under the title Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.
, with production, while he also engineered the album's recordings entirely himself. The sessions for the album served as the first production credit for Scott-Heron, Jackson, and Jose Williams. As the third unofficial collaboration between Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, the recording sessions for Winter in America featured more of Jackson's input than in the previous work with Scott-Heron. Jackson later revisited his musical experience with Scott-Heron in an interview for All About Jazz
, stating "He had this way with words and I thought to myself, 'People have to hear this stuff'. What I had to offer was the music and I figured if we can take his words and make this tribal knowledge rhythmic and musical, we can draw people to hear it."
The recording sessions for Winter in America featured a small supporting line-up, consisting only of drummer Bob Adams and bassist Danny Bowens. Adams and Bowens, who studied with Scott-Heron at Lincoln University
, arrived from the Pennsylvania-based college on the last day of recording on October 15, 1973. While Adams and Bowens contributed on a few cuts, Scott-Heron and Jackson were primarily responsible for the majority of vocals, songwriting and instrumentation, as well as the limited quality in production for which they were assisted by recording engineer Jose Williams. The September 4 and 5 sessions featured only Jackson and Scott-Heron playing and recording. The limited personnel during the recording sessions, however, allowed the two musicians to rely mostly on traditional African and R&B sounds and influences, while also allowing for more creative and artistic control of the project. The circumstance of a limited production later affected the album's critical reception, as its sound quality was greatly affected by the production as well. In contrast to Scott-Heron's and Jackson's Flying Dutchman recordings and their following Arista material, the sessions for the album lacked the other recordings' quality of production, which was more polished, slick and concise than that of Winter in America. Also missing from Scott-Heron's previous recordings and what would be featured on his work for Arista was the greater number of a supporting cast of musicians and production members. Along with the circumstances of personnel and setting which influenced the recording process and the resulting tracks, Brian Jackson's input also greatly affected the album's development. With a greater, cohesive input by Jackson than featured on Scott-Heron's previous LPs, more than half of the album's material was co-written and produced by Jackson. His input also helped solidify his partnership with Scott-Heron, leading to further records together before their split in 1978.
, but was later changed to Winter in America by Scott-Heron. Both the title and the song "Supernatural Corner" were left off the album, as the name would not be understandable to people who have not seen the house to which the title was alluding to. According to Gil Scott-Heron, the original title referred to what appeared to him to be a haunted house
in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
, in which Scott-Heron and Jackson moved into prior to recording in 1973. The cover artwork features a collage-type painting with oriental graphic designs and a small figure version of whom appears to be Brian Jackson. It was created by Eugene Coles, a friend and colleague of Jackson's and Scott-Heron's from the historically black college Morgan State University
. Supernatural Corner by Coles was used as the album's cover art, as Scott-Heron had originally commissioned Coles to design the collage. The revised title of Winter in America was intended to represent Scott-Heron's use of the season of winter as a metaphor and concept of his view of the issues facing society
during his time. The title was also meant to represent the urban sociological themes featured on the album, which had surfaced on most of Scott-Heron's previous work. Scott-Heron referred to the title as the "overall atmosphere of the album", as well as the metaphor for the overall theme of the album. Winter was conceived amid social, economic and political issues in the United States during the early 1970s, including stagflation
, the 1973 oil crisis
that had great effect during the winter, the 1973 stock market crash, the Watergate scandal, and urban decay. He further elaborated on the social concept of winter and Afrocentricism, as it relates to living during times such as these and how the title reflects on the time itself, in the original LP liner notes:
In a February 2009 interview with Jalylah Burrell of Vibe magazine, Gil Scott-Heron discussed the album's concept and title, as well as the social and political atmosphere at the time of Winter in Americas recording. In retrospect, he stated "We felt as though we had come across something that people did not understand or did not recognize but that's the season that we were going into, not for three months but for an extended period of time. A lot of the folks who represented summer and spring and fall had been killed and assassinated. The only season left is winter. ...Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King
and John Kennedy
, those were folks who represented spring and summer, and they killed them. So we wanted to do an album about where we were. And we weren't trying to depress people, hell, they were living it, they already knew but we were trying to describe it and were certainly not alone... we felt as though a part of it was the folks in charge of the political structure. They were snowmen..."
Similar to his studio debut album Pieces of a Man, Winter in America has Scott-Heron exercising his baritone
and deep tenor
-singing abilities with some spoken-word elements. The album served as a move in to more conventional song structures, in contrast to the Scott-Heron's debut live album, A New Black Poet - Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970), which was composed entirely of spoken-word poetry, and the rapping
style of his previous album Free Will. According to music writer Karl Keely, Pieces of a Man and Winter in America exhibit further departure by Scott-Heron from his prominent "angry and militant poet" persona. BBC Online writer Daryl Easlea wrote that it "captures Scott Heron at a turning point, largely leaving his heavier raps behind in favour of a floating ambience, with his poetry and song being illuminated by Jackson's superb instrumentation". In addition, the album features more themes of social commentary, Afrocentrism
and balladry than Pieces of a Man. Winter in America features a more stripped-down production and melancholy mood along with songs that exceeded four minutes, as opposed to Free Will, which was criticized for its brevity and time constraints.
In traditional fashion of Scott-Heron's music, the album's sound is rooted in the blues and jazz
, which he combined with his spoken word soul
-style. The mellow blend of musical styles on Winter was referred to by Scott-Heron as "bluesology, the science of how things feel." Scott-Heron's and Jackson's compositions for Winter in America incorporate elements of African music
, heavy percussion, and chant
s. They also incorporate scene-setting, spoken word intros and mystical interludes, which were influenced by the free jazz
stylings of artists such as Pharaoh Sanders and Abdullah Ibrahim
. Jackson wrote arrangements that tended to be more straight-ahead material, incorporating classic jazz bridge
s in his compositions. Scott-Heron, as the main lyricist and vocalist, exhibited more pop
sensibilities with his compositions and created indelible hook
s that were influenced by the contemporary black music of the time. In the process of combining their distinct approaches to composing, Scott-Heron and Jackson produced a multicultural, diffused sound that evoked the afrobeat
and world music
style of artists such as Fela Kuti
during the African music scene's popularity.
hope juxtaposed to the social problems present during the early 1970s, specifically in the black community and inner city
. Also a prominent theme in Scott-Heron's lyrics is people's faith in their culture in a bleak, impoverished environment. The album features Scott-Heron's examination of maintaining one's cultural roots in an environment that can pressure change. He discusses cultural disillusionment in the spoken word intro and first verse of the opening track, and the importance of home in the nostalgic, upbeat "Back Home".
Scott-Heron's claim for peace to follow his fellow "brother" has been noted by writers as sarcastic. Other themes present on the album include love, fatherhood, freedom, alcoholism and political scandal. The themes of social disillusionment and the human condition featured on the album are also depicted on the Winter collage, representing the grim, sullen images of poverty
, decay
, and death in generally urban areas and ghetto
s. Created by artist and Scott-Heron associate Peggy Harris, the collage was featured on the original LP's inner sleeve and in the liner booklet of Winter in Americas CD reissue.
The album's style and themes are exemplified by the bookending track
"Peace Go with You, Brother", with Scott-Heron's bluesy, jazzy vocals and Afrocentric lyrics accompanied by Jackson's soulful piano arrangements. It features a dreamy, moody soundscape, produced by Jackson's Rhodes electric piano
, which evokes the In a Silent Way
-era jazz of Miles Davis
. "Peace Go with You, Brother" has Scott-Heron criticizing the selfishness of certain members of his generation, as well as people for forgetting their common humanity. The song continues to examine the significance of a person's cultural roots, regardless of where they prove to blossom. "Rivers of My Fathers
" is the album's longest track and features drummer Bob Adams' swing-style drum rim shots and pianist Jackson’s wide, blocky chord
s, play in a blue-influenced style. Scott-Heron uses the water motif, a common metaphor in African-American culture, to evoke feelings of home and freedom and represent faith, amid the frustrations of a modern black man. As the opening verse and chorus suggest, "Looking for a way out of this confusion/I'm looking for a sign, carry me home/Let me lay down by a stream and let me be miles from everything/Rivers of my fathers, could you carry me home." The narrator beseeches the "river" to deliver him home, which is revealed at the last seconds of the song as Scott-Heron silently whispers "Africa
". "Rivers of My Fathers" has been cited by critics as one of the album's best recordings, and has earned comparison to the novel Song of Solomon
, as both works contain themes relating to the significance of ancestry and culture.
The melancholy, nostalgic love song "A Very Precious Time" contains an uplifting timbre
of Jackson's flute with joyful singing by Scott-Heron. While his lyrics depict a requiem to innocence and first love, the song's general message explores the concept of nostalgia as a means to remain in the present, despite the loss of hope or faith that can be brought on by the struggle of the present as opposed to the past. The tempo of the album is picked up by the opening vamp of "Back Home", which contains the concept of family and its positive values. Jackson contributed with flute harmonies on "The Bottle
", a commentary on alcohol abuse
with a Caribbean beat, which became a popular song played at parties
at the time. French music critic Pierre Jean-Critin calls it "an epic song [...] whose infectious groove can still set dance floors alight over thirty years later." The song's dance and popular music sensibilities and social message engendered its appeal to listeners following its release as a single. Scott-Heron later said of the single's success and style, "Pop music doesn't necessarily have to be shit." "The Bottle" also addresses problems of drug addiction, abortion
, and incarceration
, and features Scott-Heron on keyboards. His high tempo vocals and rhythmic delivery show similarity to later hip hop music, while the lyrics uses alcohol, or "the bottle", as a metaphor for ghetto life and alcoholism's long-term effects on its victims. Despite its grim observations on the plight of alcoholics, "The Bottle" became a concert favorite and one of Scott-Heron's most popular songs.
The album's tempo is slowed down by the soulful, low-tempo tracks "Song for Bobby Smith" and "Your Daddy Loves You", the latter an introspective ballad and ode to Scott-Heron's daughter Gia Louise. During the October 15, 1973 session, drummer Bob Adams and bassist Danny Bowens contributed to the tracks "Peace Go with You", "Rivers of My Fathers", "Back Home", and "The Bottle". Adams, however, was disappointed that "H²Ogate Blues" was to be left off the album. The song originally served as an opening monologue concerning the Watergate incident
used by Scott-Heron at his concerts, and it contains proto-rap and talking blues
elements, in which rhythmic speech or near-speech is accompanied by a free melody
and strict rhythm
. The studio version, which was recorded during the album's sessions, was not intended to be for the album prior to Adams' objection, as Scott-Heron said that "nobody outside of Washington seemed to know what the hell I was talking about." Scott-Heron later revisited the experience in the liner notes of the album's 1998 reissue. On Adams' opinion of "H²Ogate Blues", he wrote that "His reply was that even if people didn’t understand the politics it’s still funny as hell." On the recording, Scott-Heron stated:
The resulting track features sharp criticism by Scott-Heron of then-president of the United States Richard Nixon
and his vice-president Spiro Agnew
, among other politicians involved in the scandal; the Watergate incident had yet to reach its historical conclusion when the song was recorded. The final chorus line of "H²Ogate Blues" directly references Nixon and the scandal: "And there are those who swear that've seen King Richard/Beneath that cesspool–Watergate". Scott-Heron introduces the song with a short speech discussing the blues and referencing current events: "But lately we had Frank Rizzo
with the 'Lie Detector Blues'/We done had the United States government talkin bout the 'Energy Crisis Blues'". Its lyrics move from humor to critical diatribes of political corruption and social issues. Its wordplay and performance are reminiscent of another anti-Nixon song, Stevie Wonder
's "You Haven't Done Nothin'
" (1974). The album concludes with a reprisal of the opening track. Music writer Karl Keely said of its significance, "The return of the refrain from 'Peace Go with You Brother' adds a sense of wholeness to end the record, an idea that the album has travelled through Gil Scott-Heron's worries, fears, pleasures, hopes, and finally, his pronounced disliking of Richard Nixon, before returning to the opening statement, in the hopes that the record may have made that selfish brother think more about his world and those in it, instead of moving along in a self-imposed bubble."
The title track, which was not featured on the original LP, was recorded after the album's release at the suggestion of Peggy Harris, the artist who designed the Winter collage for the inner sleeve of the LP. Initially, Scott-Heron and Jackson meant for Winter in America to lack a title track, which contrasted their previous label's trend of having their work include title tracks. The album title's purpose meant only to describe the general theme of Winter in Americas songs. According to Scott-Heron, a title track "separates from the rest of the lyrics, better, or worse or different." The studio version of "Winter in America" was released on his following album, The First Minute of a New Day
(1975), while a live version, recorded in 1982 at Washington, D.C.'s Black Wax Club, was included on the 1998 CD reissue of Winter in America. The song features Scott-Heron's poetic references and lyrics that portray America in a dystopian state where "democracy is rag-time on the corner", "the forest is buried beneath the highway", "robins are perched in barren treetops", and, in conclusion, "no one is fighting because no one knows what to say."
release in May 1974, the album had a short supply and distribution due to the Strata-East label's independent distribution policy of their artists' releases. Consequently, Winter in America became considered by many fans to be the great "lost" Gil Scott-Heron album, before a proper reissue on compact disc thirty years following its original issue. The album served as the first of their collaborations to have Jackson receive co-billing for a release. Unlike Scott-Heron's previous albums, Winter in America experienced some commercial success with the help of promotional resources in the form of underground music deejay
s and club promoters, in spite of the album's limited distribution. While it did not chart on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums
chart, the album charted on the Top Jazz Albums chart and peaked at number six. Winter in America entered the Top Jazz Albums on June 29, 1974 and remained there for 40 weeks, until March 29, 1975. According to a 1990 Los Angeles Times
article on Scott-Heron, the album ended up selling more than 300,000 copies.
Winter in Americas only single release, "The Bottle", soon became an underground
and cult
hit following its issue. Despite its underground reputation, the song became one of Scott-Heron's most successful singles, as it reached the number 15 spot on the R&B Singles Chart. According to an article on Scott-Heron for a November 1974 issue of Billboard
, the success of the single "has made his most recent album, 'Winter in America', a national best-seller and heralds his wide-ranging appeal." The success of "The Bottle" also helped lead to Jackson's and Scott-Heron's following recording contract with Arista Records
, which had been established in late 1974, the label at which they would enjoy further success and a larger amount of commercial notice. Upon signing them, music industry executive Clive Davis
of Arista said of Scott-Heron in an interview with Rolling Stone
magazine, "Not only is he an excellent poet, musician and performer—three qualities I look for that are rarely combined—but he's a leader of social thought." In addition to gaining favorable opinions from record executives at Arista, the underground music scene, in which Scott-Heron earned the majority of his fan base, embraced Winter in America favorably, which further expanded Scott-Heron's legacy as a socially aware and conscious artist.
originally gave the album a C+ rating and was unfavorable of Scott-Heron's more melodic approach in contrast to his spoken word work. In a 1975 article for The Village Voice
, he called the album's title track "an evocation of our despondency that is as flawless as it is ambitious". Houston Press
writer Paul J. MacArthur expressed a mixed response towards its production quality and called Winter in America the "most dated" of the Scott-Heron reissues. Uncut
s Barney Hoskyns
praised the album, calling it an "introspective seasonal offering from black poet-singer and collaborating pianist". He also lauded its critical content and called it "a masterwork of ghetto melancholia and stark political gravitas". Ron Wynn of Allmusic wrote of Scott-Heron's performance, in that he was "at his most righteous and provocative on this album", while acknowledging Jackson's contributions as well. Los Angeles Times
writer Mike Boehm viewed that its title track "sounded a sad death-knell for '60s hopes of transforming change", while calling it a "wonderful mood piece, capturing what it's like to feel oppressed in your soul by outer-world events that seem out of control". BBC Online's Daryl Easlea called the album "an affecting work" and wrote that its title track "should be played as standard on all modern history courses as a snapshot of the stilted hopes and aspirations in the post Watergate and Vietnam War mid 70s America". The Washington Post
s Richard Harrington gave Winter in America a favorable review upon its reissue and cited "The Bottle" and "H²Ogate Blues" as "classic Scott-Heron works".
Dream magazine columnist Kevin Moist stated that the album "further jazzified his mixture of street poetry, soulful spirit, political commitment, and Black cultural expression." He also noted the history of the Strata-East label, and summed up Winter in Americas significance, stating "Radically charged but musically mostly stark and low-key, melodic and soulful as hell, sometimes full band flow while at others just voice and piano, all hanging tight under a melancholy cloud of belatedness [...] Thematically, the album reaches back even further than its predecessors in drawing on Black cultural energy as a source of power for facing down the coming political/cultural Ice Age
in America. But Scott-Heron was never a one-dimensional ranter, and his pen is as double-edged here as it ever was, slicing into the growing self-destructiveness and sell-out/buy-in
tendencies that were fragmenting the Black community, as incisively as it stabs at the jowls of evil in the White House
. As badass as it is understated, and really hasn’t dated just a little bit." The Observer
called the album a "jazz fusion pillar stone, with a social conscience to boot". Music writer Karl Keely praised Scott-Heron's vocal maturity from his previous work, and noted Jackson's influence for improving and expanding the music's melodic content. Keely commented that it demonstrates "the evolution of Scott-Heron from politicised poet to soulful singer". Music historian Piero Scaruffi
dubbed the album Scott-Heron's "first musical statement." Since its initial reception, Winter in America has been regarded by music writers and critics as Scott-Heron's most cohesive and artistic work, and also a highlight of Brian Jackson's recording career.
and The Last Poets
. "The Bottle" was covered by latin soul
musician Joe Bataan
for his album Afrofilipino (1975). Recordings featured on the album, along with other Scott-Heron/Jackson compositions, were sampled
by hip hop artists, including "The Bottle" on the Jungle Brothers
' "Black Is Black". This further expanded Scott-Heron's legacy as one of the progenitors of hip hop. The diverse sound and mellow instrumentation featured on the album, referred to by Scott-Heron as bluesology, later served as an inspirational tool for neo soul
artists in the 1990s and helped solidify Scott-Heron's and Jackson's legacy in the genre. On Jackson's legacy, All About Jazz
described him as "one of the early architects of the neo-soul", while citing his early work with Scott-Heron as "an inspirational and musical Rosetta stone
for the neo-soul movement". Pierre Jean-Critin of the French music magazine Vibrations wrote of Scott-Heron and the album, stating "As an artist who conceives his albums as newspapers and similar testimonies, Gil Scott-Heron is one of America's finest observers and commentators of social reality as well as being one of the most creative and influential figures in African-American music, and this landmark album announced his arrival."
The album also marked the transition of Scott-Heron from beat poet to singer-songwriter with a full-scale band. He further developed this melodic approach with his following work with Brian Jackson, The First Minute of a New Day
(1975) and From South Africa to South Carolina
(1976). While the album did not have a direct impact on the black music scene at the time, it proved to become one of the Strata-East label's most successful LP releases, in terms of sales and appeal to their target audience
. While serving as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's only album for the independent label, Winter in America helped Strata-East Records achieve considerable notability among other New York City distributors of soul and jazz music during the 1970s, while the latter genre had been viewed by many jazz purists to be in a period of creative confusion and decline. In describing the label and its issued musical works, Dream magazine's Kevin Moist stated "The diversity and experimentation of the music, plus the great quality of many of those experiments, make it seem like more like a creative golden age in which the dominant idea was new ideas mixing and blending cultural styles and artistic genres or pushing existing styles into new extremes." According to Nick Dedina of Rhapsody
, Winter in America had impact elsewhere, stating "this deeply felt (and sometimes deeply funky) album helped break the pioneer of protest jazz-soul and rap to the general public with hit single 'The Bottle'".
The album was re-released with previously unreleased bonus material by Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia label in 1998, following a reissue project headed by Scott-Heron after he had received ownership of his 1970s recordings. The record's significance and influence in music has led to much retrospective favor of it among music writers and critics, as shown in Winters rankings in several "best of" publication polls. Winter in America was ranked number 67 on New Nation
s June 2004 list of The Top 100 Black Albums. The album was also listed in the music reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
(2006). "The Bottle" was later ranked number 92 on NME
magazine's list of The Top 150 Singles of All-Time and was included in Q
magazine's 1010 Songs You Must Own! publication. The title track was included on music writer Bruce Pollock's 2005 list of The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000, and it was ranked number 82 on Blow Ups list of 100 Songs to Remember.
(North America) – Winter in America
U.S. Billboard Music Charts (North America) – "The Bottle"
for nearly twenty five years in the United States until 1998, when Scott-Heron acquired ownership of his recordings, with the exception of his material for the Flying Dutchman label. Afterwards, he initiated a reissue project through his own Rumal-Gia label, which had obtained a distribution deal with TVT Records
. The compact disc reissue contains bonus tracks, including the live version of the title track, and the original and new liner notes written by Gil Scott-Heron. Prior to this, a German release of Winter in America was issued in 1992 as was a remastered LP in 1996. However, they did not include these features. Other remasters were also released in Europe, as listed below.
of songs from Winter in America is adapted from TheBreaks.com.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
and musician Brian Jackson, released in May 1974 on Strata-East Records
Strata-East Records
Strata-East Records is an American record label specialising in jazz which was founded in 1971 by Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver.Gil Scott-Heron recorded his 1974 album Winter in America with Brian Jackson for Strata-East. "The Bottle" featured on the album, was a popular single...
. Recording sessions for the album took place during September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
. It contains introspective and socially conscious lyrics by Scott-Heron that reflect on African-American culture at the time of the album's conception. While Jackson's piano-based arrangements are rooted in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and the blues, their stripped-down production for the album resulted in a reliance on more traditional African and R&B sounds.
The album serves as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's debut release for Strata-East Records, following a dispute with their former label and departure. It proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, Winter in America featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single "The Bottle
The Bottle
"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by...
", it obtained considerably larger commercial success than Scott-Heron's and Jackson's previous work. The album debuted at number six on Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
s Top Jazz Albums chart and ultimately sold over 300,000 copies in the United States.
While it was critically overlooked upon its release, Winter in America earned retrospective acclaim from several writers and music critics as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's greatest work
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
together. Along with its critical recognition, it has been noted by several critics for its influence on derivative music forms such as neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
and hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, as many artists of the genres have been influenced by Scott-Heron's and Jackson's lyrical and musical approach on the album. On March 10, 1998, Winter in America was reissued on compact disc for the first time in the United States through Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia Records.
Conception
After leaving his former label Flying Dutchman RecordsFlying Dutchman Records
Flying Dutchman Records was a jazz record label which was owned by veteran music industry executive, producer and songwriter Bob Thiele. Initially distributed by Atlantic Records, it was later distributed by RCA Records which took over the label in 1976...
, Gil Scott-Heron signed with the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
jazz-based Strata-East label in early 1973, accompanied by jazz keyboardist and songwriter Brian Jackson, with whom he had worked with on his previous studio albums, Pieces of a Man
Pieces of a Man
-Samples:New Life *"Feelin' Good" by Nina SimoneHow Ya Livin*"Show Me" by Glenn JonesLove Is Love*"Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" by Nina Simone*"Happy Birthday Maggie" by Hans ZimmerThe Pay Back...
(1971) and Free Will
Free Will (album)
2001 compact disc reissue bonus tracks.-Personnel:Musicians* Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, piano, guitar* Horace Ott - conductor, arranger* Brian Jackson - acoustic piano, electric piano, vocals* Gerald Jemmott - bass* Pretty Purdie - drums...
(1972). While some sources allege this may have been over financial or creative differences, Scott-Heron maintains the switch was due to producer Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
's unwillingness to give Jackson co-billing. By the time of their move to Strata-East, Scott-Heron and Jackson had achieved underground notice among R&B and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
listeners, particularly for the political and social nature of their music's themes, as well as Scott-Heron's emphasis on African-American culture and social plight in his compositions. Their musical fusion
Fusion (music)
A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...
of jazz, blues, soul and spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
styles helped them earn some notice among less-mainstream black music listeners at the time.
Significant social circumstances and musical events preceded Scott-Heron's and Jackson's signing with Strata-East. After the decline of popularity in traditional jazz forms and the civil rights struggle, which had sought racial equality during the late 1950s and 1960s, black pride
Black pride
Black pride is a slogan indicating pride in being black. Related movements include black nationalism and Afrocentrism.The slogan has been used in the United States by African Americans to celebrate heritage and personal pride. The black pride movement is closely linked with the developments of the...
and Afrocentric
Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States, dedicated to the history of Black people a response to global racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions by revisiting this history with an African cultural and ideological center...
sentiment by many black Americans emerged. During 1970 to 1974, the Black Panthers organization had been neutralized and pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community". Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity...
came into vogue. Following the free jazz and avant-garde breakthroughs of Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, a creative stasis among most jazz musicians set in during the decade that led to an eclecticism
Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
where no style or conception of jazz maintained a zeitgeist
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
among players. However, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
had gained mainstream notice for its stylistic adoption of rock and funk music, despite being the subject of controversy in jazz purist
Purist
A purist is one who desires that an item remains true to its essence and free from adulterating or diluting influences. The term may be used in almost any field, and can be applied either to the self or to others. Use of the term may be either pejorative or complimentary, depending on the context...
circles. Highlighted by the works of such artists as Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
and Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, jazz-funk
Jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat , electrified sounds, and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers...
also emerged in response to the growing popularity of funk, leading to a trend of funk rhythms among jazz musicians formerly of the hard bop tradition as an attempt to reconnect with their African-American audience. This factored into the popularity of Scott-Heron's and Jackson's work in the black underground scene, with the former obtaining a reputation as a "street poet", while his work with Jackson served as an early recording of jazz poetry
Jazz poetry
Jazz poetry is poetry that "demonstrates jazz-like rhythm or the feel of improvisation". During the 1920s, several poets began to eschew the conventions of rhythm and style; among these were Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and E. E. Cummings...
.
Record label
Scott-Heron had looked to expand on his socially conscious, pro blackBlack Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
-oriented themes and independently produce a more conceptual album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
than his previous work had envisioned. Scott-Heron's and Jackson's search for more creative control over their recordings prompted them to sign with Strata-East Records. Established in 1971 by jazz musicians Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where, as a child, he received his first trumpet as a gift from his grandmother. He attended Howard University in the early 1960s as a pharmacy student, when he decided to pursue music as a...
and Stanley Cowell
Stanley Cowell
Stanley Cowell is an American jazz pianist and founder of the Strata-East Records label. He played with Roland Kirk while studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and later with Marion Brown, Max Roach, Bobby Hutcherson, Clifford Jordan, Harold Land, Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz...
, in response to major record companies' lack of interest in their recordings, the Strata-East label had become known for signing artists who recorded with diverse styles of jazz music with themes of social consciousness and black nationalism
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
, as well as "minimal but eye-grabbing graphic design" for its releases. The label had also been known for carrying out the management concept of "condominium", originally conceived and penned by Cowell, which presented artists with the authority and responsibility over their recorded material independently, as well as the ability to assign the master tapes over to the label for distribution. This allowed artists signed to Strata-East a greater amount of control over their recordings than major labels at the time had offered. Music journalist Kevin Moist later wrote of the label's "condominium" concept, stating "The idea was to try and develop an independent cultural space outside of the mainstream that could function self-sufficiently and be genuinely participatory for its members. The goal was to live in an engaged way where art, society, spirituality, and politics could all come together holistically in an integrated existence. That (sub)cultural renewal is embodied in the kind of music midwifed by Strata-East." The label's philosophy for artist management and recording ethic worked to the advantage of artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. Scott-Heron and Jackson were able to release more aesthetically personalized recordings for Strata-East than most mainstream labels would allow.
Recording
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
. The sessions took place in September and October 1973 at Silver Spring's D&B Sound Studios. According to Gil Scott-Heron, the studio's main room was so small that when the two musicians recorded, Jackson was forced out next to the cooler, playing flute in the studio's hallway while Scott-Heron sang in the main room. On the other hand, Scott-Heron also noted that he felt comfortable in the small recording studio. He was also satisfied with Jose Williams being recruited as the recording engineer for the album. Williams assisted Scott-Heron and Jackson, who were credited for production under the title Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.
Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.
Perpis-Fall Music, Inc. or Perpis-Fall Music is a pseudonym and production credit for the musical partnership of:*Gil Scott-Heron, a soul poet/musician and hip hop pioneer, and*Brian Jackson, a keyboardist and neo soul pioneer...
, with production, while he also engineered the album's recordings entirely himself. The sessions for the album served as the first production credit for Scott-Heron, Jackson, and Jose Williams. As the third unofficial collaboration between Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, the recording sessions for Winter in America featured more of Jackson's input than in the previous work with Scott-Heron. Jackson later revisited his musical experience with Scott-Heron in an interview for All About Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
, stating "He had this way with words and I thought to myself, 'People have to hear this stuff'. What I had to offer was the music and I figured if we can take his words and make this tribal knowledge rhythmic and musical, we can draw people to hear it."
The recording sessions for Winter in America featured a small supporting line-up, consisting only of drummer Bob Adams and bassist Danny Bowens. Adams and Bowens, who studied with Scott-Heron at Lincoln University
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Lincoln University is the United States' first degree-granting historically black university. It is located near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university also hosts a Center for Graduate Studies in the City of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides...
, arrived from the Pennsylvania-based college on the last day of recording on October 15, 1973. While Adams and Bowens contributed on a few cuts, Scott-Heron and Jackson were primarily responsible for the majority of vocals, songwriting and instrumentation, as well as the limited quality in production for which they were assisted by recording engineer Jose Williams. The September 4 and 5 sessions featured only Jackson and Scott-Heron playing and recording. The limited personnel during the recording sessions, however, allowed the two musicians to rely mostly on traditional African and R&B sounds and influences, while also allowing for more creative and artistic control of the project. The circumstance of a limited production later affected the album's critical reception, as its sound quality was greatly affected by the production as well. In contrast to Scott-Heron's and Jackson's Flying Dutchman recordings and their following Arista material, the sessions for the album lacked the other recordings' quality of production, which was more polished, slick and concise than that of Winter in America. Also missing from Scott-Heron's previous recordings and what would be featured on his work for Arista was the greater number of a supporting cast of musicians and production members. Along with the circumstances of personnel and setting which influenced the recording process and the resulting tracks, Brian Jackson's input also greatly affected the album's development. With a greater, cohesive input by Jackson than featured on Scott-Heron's previous LPs, more than half of the album's material was co-written and produced by Jackson. His input also helped solidify his partnership with Scott-Heron, leading to further records together before their split in 1978.
Title significance
The original name of the album was intended to be Supernatural Corner, named after the cover artCover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
, but was later changed to Winter in America by Scott-Heron. Both the title and the song "Supernatural Corner" were left off the album, as the name would not be understandable to people who have not seen the house to which the title was alluding to. According to Gil Scott-Heron, the original title referred to what appeared to him to be a haunted house
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, in which Scott-Heron and Jackson moved into prior to recording in 1973. The cover artwork features a collage-type painting with oriental graphic designs and a small figure version of whom appears to be Brian Jackson. It was created by Eugene Coles, a friend and colleague of Jackson's and Scott-Heron's from the historically black college Morgan State University
Morgan State University
Morgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
. Supernatural Corner by Coles was used as the album's cover art, as Scott-Heron had originally commissioned Coles to design the collage. The revised title of Winter in America was intended to represent Scott-Heron's use of the season of winter as a metaphor and concept of his view of the issues facing society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
during his time. The title was also meant to represent the urban sociological themes featured on the album, which had surfaced on most of Scott-Heron's previous work. Scott-Heron referred to the title as the "overall atmosphere of the album", as well as the metaphor for the overall theme of the album. Winter was conceived amid social, economic and political issues in the United States during the early 1970s, including stagflation
Stagflation
In economics, stagflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high and the economic growth rate slows down and unemployment remains steadily high...
, the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
that had great effect during the winter, the 1973 stock market crash, the Watergate scandal, and urban decay. He further elaborated on the social concept of winter and Afrocentricism, as it relates to living during times such as these and how the title reflects on the time itself, in the original LP liner notes:
In a February 2009 interview with Jalylah Burrell of Vibe magazine, Gil Scott-Heron discussed the album's concept and title, as well as the social and political atmosphere at the time of Winter in Americas recording. In retrospect, he stated "We felt as though we had come across something that people did not understand or did not recognize but that's the season that we were going into, not for three months but for an extended period of time. A lot of the folks who represented summer and spring and fall had been killed and assassinated. The only season left is winter. ...Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
and John Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, those were folks who represented spring and summer, and they killed them. So we wanted to do an album about where we were. And we weren't trying to depress people, hell, they were living it, they already knew but we were trying to describe it and were certainly not alone... we felt as though a part of it was the folks in charge of the political structure. They were snowmen..."
Musical style
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
and deep tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
-singing abilities with some spoken-word elements. The album served as a move in to more conventional song structures, in contrast to the Scott-Heron's debut live album, A New Black Poet - Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970), which was composed entirely of spoken-word poetry, and the rapping
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
style of his previous album Free Will. According to music writer Karl Keely, Pieces of a Man and Winter in America exhibit further departure by Scott-Heron from his prominent "angry and militant poet" persona. BBC Online writer Daryl Easlea wrote that it "captures Scott Heron at a turning point, largely leaving his heavier raps behind in favour of a floating ambience, with his poetry and song being illuminated by Jackson's superb instrumentation". In addition, the album features more themes of social commentary, Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States, dedicated to the history of Black people a response to global racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions by revisiting this history with an African cultural and ideological center...
and balladry than Pieces of a Man. Winter in America features a more stripped-down production and melancholy mood along with songs that exceeded four minutes, as opposed to Free Will, which was criticized for its brevity and time constraints.
In traditional fashion of Scott-Heron's music, the album's sound is rooted in the blues and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, which he combined with his spoken word soul
Spoken word soul
Spoken Word Soul is a contemporary, eclectic blend of Poetry, Jazz-funk, Electronica or acoustic Country soul music elements that originated in the African-American community. The style is largely considered to be an underground offshoot of the Neo Soul movement from the 1990s and became very...
-style. The mellow blend of musical styles on Winter was referred to by Scott-Heron as "bluesology, the science of how things feel." Scott-Heron's and Jackson's compositions for Winter in America incorporate elements of African music
Music of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
, heavy percussion, and chant
Chant
Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...
s. They also incorporate scene-setting, spoken word intros and mystical interludes, which were influenced by the free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
stylings of artists such as Pharaoh Sanders and Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim , born Adolph Johannes Brand, 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, and formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer...
. Jackson wrote arrangements that tended to be more straight-ahead material, incorporating classic jazz bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
s in his compositions. Scott-Heron, as the main lyricist and vocalist, exhibited more pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
sensibilities with his compositions and created indelible hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
s that were influenced by the contemporary black music of the time. In the process of combining their distinct approaches to composing, Scott-Heron and Jackson produced a multicultural, diffused sound that evoked the afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...
and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
style of artists such as Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
during the African music scene's popularity.
Lyrical themes
Winter in America conveys themes of nostalgicNostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
hope juxtaposed to the social problems present during the early 1970s, specifically in the black community and inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
. Also a prominent theme in Scott-Heron's lyrics is people's faith in their culture in a bleak, impoverished environment. The album features Scott-Heron's examination of maintaining one's cultural roots in an environment that can pressure change. He discusses cultural disillusionment in the spoken word intro and first verse of the opening track, and the importance of home in the nostalgic, upbeat "Back Home".
Scott-Heron's claim for peace to follow his fellow "brother" has been noted by writers as sarcastic. Other themes present on the album include love, fatherhood, freedom, alcoholism and political scandal. The themes of social disillusionment and the human condition featured on the album are also depicted on the Winter collage, representing the grim, sullen images of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
, and death in generally urban areas and ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s. Created by artist and Scott-Heron associate Peggy Harris, the collage was featured on the original LP's inner sleeve and in the liner booklet of Winter in Americas CD reissue.
Content
The album's style and themes are exemplified by the bookending track
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
"Peace Go with You, Brother", with Scott-Heron's bluesy, jazzy vocals and Afrocentric lyrics accompanied by Jackson's soulful piano arrangements. It features a dreamy, moody soundscape, produced by Jackson's Rhodes electric piano
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
, which evokes the In a Silent Way
In a Silent Way
In a Silent Way is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released July 30, 1969 on Columbia Records. Produced by Teo Macero, the album was recorded in one session date on February 18, 1969 at CBS 30th Street Studio B in New York City. Incorporating elements of classical sonata form,...
-era jazz of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
. "Peace Go with You, Brother" has Scott-Heron criticizing the selfishness of certain members of his generation, as well as people for forgetting their common humanity. The song continues to examine the significance of a person's cultural roots, regardless of where they prove to blossom. "Rivers of My Fathers
Rivers of My Fathers
"Rivers of My Fathers" is a song by American soul musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson. It was written and composed by Scott-Heron and Jackson for their first collaborative album, Winter in America...
" is the album's longest track and features drummer Bob Adams' swing-style drum rim shots and pianist Jackson’s wide, blocky chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s, play in a blue-influenced style. Scott-Heron uses the water motif, a common metaphor in African-American culture, to evoke feelings of home and freedom and represent faith, amid the frustrations of a modern black man. As the opening verse and chorus suggest, "Looking for a way out of this confusion/I'm looking for a sign, carry me home/Let me lay down by a stream and let me be miles from everything/Rivers of my fathers, could you carry me home." The narrator beseeches the "river" to deliver him home, which is revealed at the last seconds of the song as Scott-Heron silently whispers "Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
". "Rivers of My Fathers" has been cited by critics as one of the album's best recordings, and has earned comparison to the novel Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon (novel)
Song of Solomon is a 1977 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It follows the life of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, an African-American male living in Michigan, from birth to adulthood....
, as both works contain themes relating to the significance of ancestry and culture.
The melancholy, nostalgic love song "A Very Precious Time" contains an uplifting timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
of Jackson's flute with joyful singing by Scott-Heron. While his lyrics depict a requiem to innocence and first love, the song's general message explores the concept of nostalgia as a means to remain in the present, despite the loss of hope or faith that can be brought on by the struggle of the present as opposed to the past. The tempo of the album is picked up by the opening vamp of "Back Home", which contains the concept of family and its positive values. Jackson contributed with flute harmonies on "The Bottle
The Bottle
"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by...
", a commentary on alcohol abuse
Alcohol abuse
Alcohol abuse, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing the recurring use of alcoholic beverages despite negative consequences. Alcohol abuse eventually progresses to alcoholism, a condition in which an individual becomes dependent on alcoholic beverages in order to avoid...
with a Caribbean beat, which became a popular song played at parties
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
at the time. French music critic Pierre Jean-Critin calls it "an epic song [...] whose infectious groove can still set dance floors alight over thirty years later." The song's dance and popular music sensibilities and social message engendered its appeal to listeners following its release as a single. Scott-Heron later said of the single's success and style, "Pop music doesn't necessarily have to be shit." "The Bottle" also addresses problems of drug addiction, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and incarceration
Incarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
, and features Scott-Heron on keyboards. His high tempo vocals and rhythmic delivery show similarity to later hip hop music, while the lyrics uses alcohol, or "the bottle", as a metaphor for ghetto life and alcoholism's long-term effects on its victims. Despite its grim observations on the plight of alcoholics, "The Bottle" became a concert favorite and one of Scott-Heron's most popular songs.
The album's tempo is slowed down by the soulful, low-tempo tracks "Song for Bobby Smith" and "Your Daddy Loves You", the latter an introspective ballad and ode to Scott-Heron's daughter Gia Louise. During the October 15, 1973 session, drummer Bob Adams and bassist Danny Bowens contributed to the tracks "Peace Go with You", "Rivers of My Fathers", "Back Home", and "The Bottle". Adams, however, was disappointed that "H²Ogate Blues" was to be left off the album. The song originally served as an opening monologue concerning the Watergate incident
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
used by Scott-Heron at his concerts, and it contains proto-rap and talking blues
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
elements, in which rhythmic speech or near-speech is accompanied by a free melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and strict rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
. The studio version, which was recorded during the album's sessions, was not intended to be for the album prior to Adams' objection, as Scott-Heron said that "nobody outside of Washington seemed to know what the hell I was talking about." Scott-Heron later revisited the experience in the liner notes of the album's 1998 reissue. On Adams' opinion of "H²Ogate Blues", he wrote that "His reply was that even if people didn’t understand the politics it’s still funny as hell." On the recording, Scott-Heron stated:
The resulting track features sharp criticism by Scott-Heron of then-president of the United States Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and his vice-president Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
, among other politicians involved in the scandal; the Watergate incident had yet to reach its historical conclusion when the song was recorded. The final chorus line of "H²Ogate Blues" directly references Nixon and the scandal: "And there are those who swear that've seen King Richard/Beneath that cesspool–Watergate". Scott-Heron introduces the song with a short speech discussing the blues and referencing current events: "But lately we had Frank Rizzo
Frank Rizzo
Francis Lazarro "Frank" Rizzo, Sr. was an American police officer and politician. He served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from January 1972 to January 1980; he was Police Commissioner for four years prior to that.-Police Commissioner:Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police...
with the 'Lie Detector Blues'/We done had the United States government talkin bout the 'Energy Crisis Blues'". Its lyrics move from humor to critical diatribes of political corruption and social issues. Its wordplay and performance are reminiscent of another anti-Nixon song, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's "You Haven't Done Nothin'
You Haven't Done Nothin'
"You Haven't Done Nothin" is a 1974 funk single by Stevie Wonder featuring background vocals from The Jackson 5, taken from the album Fulfillingness' First Finale. The politically aware song became Wonder's fourth number-one pop hit, his tenth number one soul hit, and was one of his angriest...
" (1974). The album concludes with a reprisal of the opening track. Music writer Karl Keely said of its significance, "The return of the refrain from 'Peace Go with You Brother' adds a sense of wholeness to end the record, an idea that the album has travelled through Gil Scott-Heron's worries, fears, pleasures, hopes, and finally, his pronounced disliking of Richard Nixon, before returning to the opening statement, in the hopes that the record may have made that selfish brother think more about his world and those in it, instead of moving along in a self-imposed bubble."
The title track, which was not featured on the original LP, was recorded after the album's release at the suggestion of Peggy Harris, the artist who designed the Winter collage for the inner sleeve of the LP. Initially, Scott-Heron and Jackson meant for Winter in America to lack a title track, which contrasted their previous label's trend of having their work include title tracks. The album title's purpose meant only to describe the general theme of Winter in Americas songs. According to Scott-Heron, a title track "separates from the rest of the lyrics, better, or worse or different." The studio version of "Winter in America" was released on his following album, The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's...
(1975), while a live version, recorded in 1982 at Washington, D.C.'s Black Wax Club, was included on the 1998 CD reissue of Winter in America. The song features Scott-Heron's poetic references and lyrics that portray America in a dystopian state where "democracy is rag-time on the corner", "the forest is buried beneath the highway", "robins are perched in barren treetops", and, in conclusion, "no one is fighting because no one knows what to say."
Commercial performance
Upon its original stereo LPLP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
release in May 1974, the album had a short supply and distribution due to the Strata-East label's independent distribution policy of their artists' releases. Consequently, Winter in America became considered by many fans to be the great "lost" Gil Scott-Heron album, before a proper reissue on compact disc thirty years following its original issue. The album served as the first of their collaborations to have Jackson receive co-billing for a release. Unlike Scott-Heron's previous albums, Winter in America experienced some commercial success with the help of promotional resources in the form of underground music deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
s and club promoters, in spite of the album's limited distribution. While it did not chart on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, the album charted on the Top Jazz Albums chart and peaked at number six. Winter in America entered the Top Jazz Albums on June 29, 1974 and remained there for 40 weeks, until March 29, 1975. According to a 1990 Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article on Scott-Heron, the album ended up selling more than 300,000 copies.
Winter in Americas only single release, "The Bottle", soon became an underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
and cult
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
hit following its issue. Despite its underground reputation, the song became one of Scott-Heron's most successful singles, as it reached the number 15 spot on the R&B Singles Chart. According to an article on Scott-Heron for a November 1974 issue of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, the success of the single "has made his most recent album, 'Winter in America', a national best-seller and heralds his wide-ranging appeal." The success of "The Bottle" also helped lead to Jackson's and Scott-Heron's following recording contract with Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
, which had been established in late 1974, the label at which they would enjoy further success and a larger amount of commercial notice. Upon signing them, music industry executive Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...
of Arista said of Scott-Heron in an interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine, "Not only is he an excellent poet, musician and performer—three qualities I look for that are rarely combined—but he's a leader of social thought." In addition to gaining favorable opinions from record executives at Arista, the underground music scene, in which Scott-Heron earned the majority of his fan base, embraced Winter in America favorably, which further expanded Scott-Heron's legacy as a socially aware and conscious artist.
Critical response
Despite not receiving as much notice as Pieces of a Man, Winter in America earned retrospective praise from music critics and became recognized as one of Scott-Heron's best albums. Music critic Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
originally gave the album a C+ rating and was unfavorable of Scott-Heron's more melodic approach in contrast to his spoken word work. In a 1975 article for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, he called the album's title track "an evocation of our despondency that is as flawless as it is ambitious". Houston Press
Houston Press
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....
writer Paul J. MacArthur expressed a mixed response towards its production quality and called Winter in America the "most dated" of the Scott-Heron reissues. Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
s Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns is a British music critic and editor of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages.Hoskyns graduated from Oxford with a First Class degree in English. He began writing about music for Melody Maker and New Musical Express, quitting his job as staff writer at NME to research...
praised the album, calling it an "introspective seasonal offering from black poet-singer and collaborating pianist". He also lauded its critical content and called it "a masterwork of ghetto melancholia and stark political gravitas". Ron Wynn of Allmusic wrote of Scott-Heron's performance, in that he was "at his most righteous and provocative on this album", while acknowledging Jackson's contributions as well. Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Mike Boehm viewed that its title track "sounded a sad death-knell for '60s hopes of transforming change", while calling it a "wonderful mood piece, capturing what it's like to feel oppressed in your soul by outer-world events that seem out of control". BBC Online's Daryl Easlea called the album "an affecting work" and wrote that its title track "should be played as standard on all modern history courses as a snapshot of the stilted hopes and aspirations in the post Watergate and Vietnam War mid 70s America". The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
s Richard Harrington gave Winter in America a favorable review upon its reissue and cited "The Bottle" and "H²Ogate Blues" as "classic Scott-Heron works".
Dream magazine columnist Kevin Moist stated that the album "further jazzified his mixture of street poetry, soulful spirit, political commitment, and Black cultural expression." He also noted the history of the Strata-East label, and summed up Winter in Americas significance, stating "Radically charged but musically mostly stark and low-key, melodic and soulful as hell, sometimes full band flow while at others just voice and piano, all hanging tight under a melancholy cloud of belatedness [...] Thematically, the album reaches back even further than its predecessors in drawing on Black cultural energy as a source of power for facing down the coming political/cultural Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
in America. But Scott-Heron was never a one-dimensional ranter, and his pen is as double-edged here as it ever was, slicing into the growing self-destructiveness and sell-out/buy-in
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
tendencies that were fragmenting the Black community, as incisively as it stabs at the jowls of evil in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. As badass as it is understated, and really hasn’t dated just a little bit." The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
called the album a "jazz fusion pillar stone, with a social conscience to boot". Music writer Karl Keely praised Scott-Heron's vocal maturity from his previous work, and noted Jackson's influence for improving and expanding the music's melodic content. Keely commented that it demonstrates "the evolution of Scott-Heron from politicised poet to soulful singer". Music historian Piero Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi received a degree in Mathematics in 1982 from University of Turin, where he did work on the General Theory of Relativity. For a number of years he was the head of the Artificial Intelligence Center at Olivetti, based in Cupertino, California. He has been a visiting scholar at...
dubbed the album Scott-Heron's "first musical statement." Since its initial reception, Winter in America has been regarded by music writers and critics as Scott-Heron's most cohesive and artistic work, and also a highlight of Brian Jackson's recording career.
Legacy and influence
Winter in America has been recognized by music writers as one of the prominent examples of early rap, along with the early work of The Watts ProphetsThe Watts Prophets
The Watts Prophets are a group of musicians and poets from Watts, Los Angeles, California. Like their contemporaries, The Last Poets, the group combined elements of jazz music and spoken word performance, making the trio one that is often seen as a forerunner of contemporary hip hop music...
and The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
. "The Bottle" was covered by latin soul
Latin soul
Latin soul was a short lived musical genre movement which developed in the 60's in New York City. It consisted of a blend of Cuban mambo with elements of Latin Jazz and Soul music. Although short-lived, the genre had a great influence on the growing Salsa movement which would dominate the New York...
musician Joe Bataan
Joe Bataan
Joe Bataan is a Filipino-African American Latin R&B musician from New York.- Early life and career :...
for his album Afrofilipino (1975). Recordings featured on the album, along with other Scott-Heron/Jackson compositions, were sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
by hip hop artists, including "The Bottle" on the Jungle Brothers
Jungle Brothers
The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
' "Black Is Black". This further expanded Scott-Heron's legacy as one of the progenitors of hip hop. The diverse sound and mellow instrumentation featured on the album, referred to by Scott-Heron as bluesology, later served as an inspirational tool for neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
artists in the 1990s and helped solidify Scott-Heron's and Jackson's legacy in the genre. On Jackson's legacy, All About Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
described him as "one of the early architects of the neo-soul", while citing his early work with Scott-Heron as "an inspirational and musical Rosetta stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
for the neo-soul movement". Pierre Jean-Critin of the French music magazine Vibrations wrote of Scott-Heron and the album, stating "As an artist who conceives his albums as newspapers and similar testimonies, Gil Scott-Heron is one of America's finest observers and commentators of social reality as well as being one of the most creative and influential figures in African-American music, and this landmark album announced his arrival."
The album also marked the transition of Scott-Heron from beat poet to singer-songwriter with a full-scale band. He further developed this melodic approach with his following work with Brian Jackson, The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's...
(1975) and From South Africa to South Carolina
From South Africa to South Carolina
From South Africa to South Carolina is an album by Jazz vocalist and spoken-word poet Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, released in 1976 on Arista Records.-Track listing:Side one# "Johannesburg" 4:52# "A Toast To The People" 5:47...
(1976). While the album did not have a direct impact on the black music scene at the time, it proved to become one of the Strata-East label's most successful LP releases, in terms of sales and appeal to their target audience
Target audience
In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed .....
. While serving as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's only album for the independent label, Winter in America helped Strata-East Records achieve considerable notability among other New York City distributors of soul and jazz music during the 1970s, while the latter genre had been viewed by many jazz purists to be in a period of creative confusion and decline. In describing the label and its issued musical works, Dream magazine's Kevin Moist stated "The diversity and experimentation of the music, plus the great quality of many of those experiments, make it seem like more like a creative golden age in which the dominant idea was new ideas mixing and blending cultural styles and artistic genres or pushing existing styles into new extremes." According to Nick Dedina of Rhapsody
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
, Winter in America had impact elsewhere, stating "this deeply felt (and sometimes deeply funky) album helped break the pioneer of protest jazz-soul and rap to the general public with hit single 'The Bottle'".
The album was re-released with previously unreleased bonus material by Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia label in 1998, following a reissue project headed by Scott-Heron after he had received ownership of his 1970s recordings. The record's significance and influence in music has led to much retrospective favor of it among music writers and critics, as shown in Winters rankings in several "best of" publication polls. Winter in America was ranked number 67 on New Nation
New Nation
This article is about the British newspaper, which is not to be confused with the Apartheid-era New Nation published in Johannesburg, South Africa or the satirical publication in Singapore....
s June 2004 list of The Top 100 Black Albums. The album was also listed in the music reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...
(2006). "The Bottle" was later ranked number 92 on NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
magazine's list of The Top 150 Singles of All-Time and was included in Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine's 1010 Songs You Must Own! publication. The title track was included on music writer Bruce Pollock's 2005 list of The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000, and it was ranked number 82 on Blow Ups list of 100 Songs to Remember.
Track listing
1998 compact disc reissue bonus tracks.Musicians
- Gil Scott-HeronGil Scott-HeronGilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
– vocals, electric piano - Brian Jackson – electric piano, acoustic piano, flute, vocals
- Danny Bowens – fender bass
- Bob Adams – traps
Production
- Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.Perpis-Fall Music, Inc. or Perpis-Fall Music is a pseudonym and production credit for the musical partnership of:*Gil Scott-Heron, a soul poet/musician and hip hop pioneer, and*Brian Jackson, a keyboardist and neo soul pioneer...
– producer - Jose Williams – engineer
- Malcolm CecilMalcolm CecilMalcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.A founding member of the UK's leading jazz quintet of the late 1950s, The Jazz Couriers, he went on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 50s and...
– remastering - Vera Savcic, Adam Shore – reissue exec. producer
- Dan Henderson – manager
- Eugene Coles – cover painting
- Peggy Harris – liner collage
- Monique de la Tour/Rumal-Gia, David Lau – reissue art direction
- Scott Townsend – reissue design
- Tony Cerrante, Gary Price – liner photos
Charts
U.S. Billboard Music ChartsBillboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
(North America) – Winter in America
- 1974: Top Jazz Albums – #6
U.S. Billboard Music Charts (North America) – "The Bottle"
- 1974: Top R&B Singles – #15
Release history
Winter in America was originally released as a 12" vinyl record, in stereo format only. Released in May 1974 with a limited supply, the record remained out of printOut of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
for nearly twenty five years in the United States until 1998, when Scott-Heron acquired ownership of his recordings, with the exception of his material for the Flying Dutchman label. Afterwards, he initiated a reissue project through his own Rumal-Gia label, which had obtained a distribution deal with TVT Records
TVT Records
TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
. The compact disc reissue contains bonus tracks, including the live version of the title track, and the original and new liner notes written by Gil Scott-Heron. Prior to this, a German release of Winter in America was issued in 1992 as was a remastered LP in 1996. However, they did not include these features. Other remasters were also released in Europe, as listed below.
| Region | Year | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | May 1974 | Strata-East Records Strata-East Records Strata-East Records is an American record label specialising in jazz which was founded in 1971 by Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver.Gil Scott-Heron recorded his 1974 album Winter in America with Brian Jackson for Strata-East. "The Bottle" featured on the album, was a popular single... |
stereo Stereophonic sound The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective... vinyl LP |
SES-19742 |
| Germany | 1992 | Bellaphon Records Bellaphon Records Bellaphon Records is an independent German record label. Their artists have included Geordie, Limahl, Johnny Cash, Nektar, and Ganymed.Bellaphon were founded in 1961 by Branco Zivanovic. They are headquartered in Frankfurt. The company runs the labels Bellaphon, Bacillus and L&R. Bellaphon has... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
660-51-015 |
| United Kingdom | 1996 | Snapper Music Snapper Music Snapper Music is an independent record label founded in 1996 by former head of Castle Communications Jon Beecher, Dougie Dudgeon and funded by the late Mark Levinson from Palan Music Publishing. In 1999 Snapper broke away from its parent company in an MBO in association with ACT and CAI venture... , Charly Records Charly Records Charly Records is a British record label which specialises in reissued material.-History:Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. Charly Records was founded in France in 1974 by Jean-Luc Young, who had been a promoter of... |
digipack CD | SNAP103CD |
| United States | March 10, 1998 | Rumal-Gia Records, TVT Records TVT Records TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and... |
CD | TVT-4320-2 |
| United States | 1998 | Rumal-Gia, TVT | remastered LP Remaster Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began... |
TVT-4320 |
| Italy | 2001 | Get Back Records | CD | GET-8004 |
| Italy | 2004 | Get Back | remastered LP | GET-98004 |
Sample use
The information regarding samplingSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
of songs from Winter in America is adapted from TheBreaks.com.
- "Peace Go with You, Brother"
- Lords of the UndergroundLords of the UndergroundThe Lords of the Underground are a hip-hop trio based in Newark, New Jersey. MCs Mr. Funke and DoItAll Dupré met DJ Lord Jazz when all three were undergraduates at Shaw University....
– "Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time" - Miilkbone – "Keep it Real"
- Lords of the Underground
- "The Bottle"
- De La SoulDe La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
– "Area" - Jungle BrothersJungle BrothersThe Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
– "Black is Black" - Kenny Dope – "Hittin the Bottle"
- Stop the Violence MovementStop the Violence MovementThe Stop the Violence Movement was begun by rapper KRS-One in 1989 in response to violence in the hip hop and African American communities.In 1988, during a concert by Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, a young fan was killed in a fight. The killing occurred shortly after Scott La Rock, a...
– "Self-Destruction"
- De La Soul
- "H²Ogate Blues"
- Abstract Tribe Unique – "The Scandal"
- Boogie Down ProductionsBoogie Down ProductionsBoogie Down Productions was a hip hop group that was originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the...
– "Why is That?" - KMDKMDKMD was an American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother...
– "Bananapeel Blues"
External links
- Winter in America at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Audio samples at Yahoo! MusicYahoo! MusicYahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
- Music videos: "Winter in America" live 1990, "The Bottle" at NMENMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
- Winter in America: Black Heroes and Black Homicides at The Herald-SunThe Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina)The Herald-Sun is a daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky.-History:The Herald-Sun began publication on 1 January 1991 as the result of a merger of The Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun.The Herald-Sun and The Durham Morning Herald...