''Free Will'' is the second
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American poet
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
, released in August 1972 on
Flying Dutchman Records
Flying Dutchman Records was an American jazz record label, which was owned by music industry executive, producer and songwriter Bob Thiele.
History
Initially distributed by Atlantic Records, Thiele made a five-album deal in 1972 with Mega Recor ...
. Recordings sessions for the album took place on March 2 and 3, 1972 at RCA Studios in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and production was handled by producer
Bob Thiele
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
*Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname) ...
.
It is the follow-up to Scott-Heron's critically acclaimed studio debut, ''
Pieces of a Man
''Pieces of a Man'' is the debut studio album by American poet Gil Scott-Heron. It was recorded in April 1971 at RCA Studios in New York City and released later that year by Flying Dutchman Records. The album followed Scott-Heron's debut live a ...
'' (1971), and it is the second album to feature him working with keyboardist
Brian Jackson.
''Free Will'' is also Scott-Heron's final studio album for Flying Dutchman.
[Bush, John. Biography: Gil Scott-Heron Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.] The album reissued on compact disc in 2001 by
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...
with alternative takes of eight tracks from the original album.
Music
''Free Will'' featured a format which divides the LP's two sides, musically. The first side is made up of five recordings done by Scott-Heron and the entire band, which once again featured
Brian Jackson playing a major role as he did on the previous album, ''Pieces of a Man''.
The title track opens up the album with a meditation on personal responsibility. One of Scott-Heron's best known performances, "The Get out of the Ghetto Blues" is a moving ghetto warning and features bluesy instrumentation by pianist Brian Jackson and guitarist
David Spinozza
David Spinozza is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album ''Walking ...
.
The second side functions more as a live rap session with Brian Jackson on flute and a couple of percussionists.
"Ain't No New Thing" emphasizes Scott-Heron's
black pride
Black Pride in the United States is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate African-American culture and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it was a direct response to white racism especially during the Civi ...
, which he previously displayed on
his debut album, by presenting an argument about the placement of
black culture Black culture refers to:
* Culture of Africa
* African-American culture
* The culture of black communities in other parts of the world, see Black people
See also
* Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center for Resear ...
into the American mainstream:
"Wiggy" is a
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
-like appreciation of
natural black hair.
The themes of police brutality, violence, and self-exploration are still present as they were on Scott-Heron's previous albums. "No Knock", a reference to a police policy whereby knocking is not required before entering a house, and "... And Then He Wrote Meditations", a tribute to John Coltrane, continue these themes.
Track listing
Personnel
;Musicians
*
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
– vocals (all tracks)
*
Horace Ott
Horace Ott (born April 15, 1933) is an American jazz and R&B composer, arranger, record producer, conductor and pianist, noted for his work since the late 1950s with a wide variety of artists including The Shirelles, Don Covay, Nina Simone, Hous ...
– conductor, arranger
*
Brian Jackson – acoustic and electric pianos, vocals, flute, bells (1-5)
*
Gerald Jemmott
Gerald Stenhouse Jemmott (born March 22, 1946, in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, New York City) is an American bass guitarist. Jemmott was one of the chief session bass guitarists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, working with many of th ...
– bass (1-5)
*
Pretty Purdie
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician. He is known for his precise musical time keeping and his signature use of triplets against a half-time backbeat: the "Purd ...
– drums (1-5)
* Eddie Knowles – percussion (6-12)
* Charles Saunders – percussion (6-12)
*
David Spinozza
David Spinozza is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album ''Walking ...
– guitar (1-5)
*
Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...
– flute, piccolo (1-5)
;Production
*
Bob Thiele
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
*Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname) ...
– producer
* Bob Simpson – mixing
* Charles Stewart – cover photo
Notes
References
*
External links
*
Free Will' at
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Will (Album)
1972 albums
Gil Scott-Heron albums
Flying Dutchman Records albums
RCA Records albums
Albums conducted by Horace Ott
Albums arranged by Horace Ott
Albums produced by Bob Thiele
Spoken word albums by American artists
Jazz-funk albums