Will Jackson – Where There’s A Will There’s A Way
Self-Release – 2024
www.facebook.com/will.jackson.12
12 tracks; 57 minutes
Will Jackson is a bassist from Michigan who has had a long career as a sideman, playing with the likes of Sharrie Williams and Robert Bradley. On this album he gives us eleven original tunes, alongside one from multi-instrumentalist and producer Matt Burgie. Will does not sing, so lead vocals are taken by Lavel Jackson (on six of the tracks), Dena Pruitt, Stephanie Noel Howland, Tony Purifoy, Drew Charles Pentkowski and Dave Kellan. Will and Matt are the rhythm section throughout, Matt also covering guitar, keys and percussion at various times; other musicians involved are Drew Charles Pentkowski, James Owens and Scott Van Dell on guitar, Michael Brush and Loren Krantz on keys and Ronald Selley on harmonica.
The album opens with Drew’s slide work a perfect fit for the Southern Rock approach to the music and Tony Purifoy delivering a good vocal on “River Of Blues”, immediately followed by “R.O.B. Aftermath”, a guitar-centric instrumental jam with Drew and Matt delivering some scorching riffs that take this one into Rock territory. We then get a run of five consecutive tracks featuring Lavel’s soulful vocals, the first a travelogue song about a trip to the centre of Soul music: “Shuffling Down To Memphis wearing my Motown shoes”. Strong guitar is a feature of the album, nowhere more than in Drew’s lead work on “Cupid Made Me Stupid”, a tune with a strong rhythm and memorable chorus. The pace drops for the first time on the soulful ballad “It’s Just Love”, Lavel’s vocals nicely offset by Drew’s slide and the warm cushion of Loren’s B3 before the funky “Can’t Stand The Heat” which has three guitarists and Ronald’s harp. “Crime” completes Lavel’s five song sequence, offering his help in difficult circumstances: “And if you need me I’ll be standing there like a tree, and when you start to fall I will lift you up above everything”.
Drew takes over the vocals for “Cruisin’ With The Top Down”, an anthem to one of the great images of America: “This is America, the land of the free and I’m cruising with the top down in the land of liberty”. Changing styles, “Chasing Your Memory Through The Blues” is a slow blues which Dave Kellan handles convincingly, Drew providing some excellent slide work. Stephanie Noel Howland sings “Another Song About A Broken Heart” and Dena Pruitt is joined by Lavel on “A Little Bit Of Love”, a soulful and funky duet. The album closes with the title track, an extended instrumental, just Will on bass and Matt showing his diverse skills on drums, lead and rhythm guitar, wurlitzer and percussion.
Generally on the soulful side of rock and blues, Will and his cohorts have produced an original album that should appeal to quite a wide range of tastes.
