''Decode Yourself'' is an album by
Ronald Shannon Jackson and The Decoding Society, recorded in 1985 for the
Island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
label.
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]
Critical reception
The AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
review by Stephen Cook stated: "The range of styles found on drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's ''Decode Yourself'' is amazing, but what really impresses is the way Jackson unifies the disparate strains with his unique arrangements and varied rhythmic support."The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' wrote that the tracks "have all the classic elements of good jazz writing—captivating melodic figures, surprising changes and rhythmic swing—and are sturdy enough to contain some of the boldest, most aggressive playing in progressive jazz."
Track listing
All compositions by Ronald Shannon Jackson except where noted.
# "Bebop" (Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
) - 0:49
# "Decoding" - 4:15
# "Thieves Market" - 3:56
# "Behind Plastic Faces" - 4:55
# "Software Shuffle" - 2:35
# "Snake Alley" - 3:44
# "Undressing" - 7:56
# "Love Words for a Queen" - 6:29
# "Tricky Vic" - 3:55
Personnel
* Ronald Shannon Jackson – drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
( Sonor and Simmons Simmons may refer to:
* Simmons (surname), including a list of people with the surname
*Simmons, Kentucky, unincorporated community, United States
*Simmons, Missouri, unincorporated community, United States
* Simmons (Red vs. Blue), a fictional cha ...
)
*Robin Eubanks
Robin Eubanks (born October 25, 1955) is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. His uncles are jazz pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant. His mother, Vera Eub ...
– trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
* Eric Person – alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...
, soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...
*Akbar Ali – violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
*Onaje Allan Gumbs
Onaje Allan Gumbs (born Allan Bentley Gumbs, September 3, 1949 – April 6, 2020)[ ...]
– synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
* Vernon Reid – electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
, steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...
, Roland
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
guitar synthesizer, banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
* Melvin Gibbs, Reverend Bruce Johnson – electric bass
References
{{Authority control
1985 albums
Ronald Shannon Jackson albums
Island Records albums
Albums produced by Bill Laswell