Harold Jackson (March 31, 1924 – June 24, 2005) – The Freedom Riders (1961)

This powerful anthem by the unsung bandleader and his brothers was dedicated to the brave civil rights activists risking their lives to defeat segregation.

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Harold Jackson was an unsung musician, songwriter, and bandleader who recorded mostly during the early 1960s.

Born in Gary, Indiana, George “Hack” Harold Jackson would have been celebrating his centennial birthday this year. He was born into a musical family, with his brothers Billy becoming a saxophonist, George a drummer, Freddie a vocalist, and Wilfred a songwriter. After moving to Los Angeles, starting in the late 1940s several of them performed together as the Jackson Bros. Orchestra, an L.A.-based swing big band.

In 1952 they recorded their first single, the upbeat R&B jam “We're Gonna Rock This Joint,” written by Wilfred and released on RCA Victor. Which was not the same song as Jimmy Preston’s 1949 “Rock The Joint,” a contender for the first ever rock-’n’-roll song, even though that track was alternately titled “We're Gonna Rock This Joint Tonight.”

Harold’s wife Marcene “Dimples” Harris was Redd Foxx’s sister-in-law, and appeared on the first season of Sanford & Son in 1972, the year before she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In June, 1961, Edsel Records released a single co-written by Jackson and Harris, billed to Harold Jackson And The Jackson Brothers. Its A-side was “The Freedom Riders,” a tribute to the brave civil rights activists who were then risking life and limb on deliberately integrated buses bound for cities in the segregated South. Billboard magazine described it as a “wild, driving and exciting instrumental” in their July 24, 1961 issue.

On the flip was the stellar upbeat R&B jam “Travelin’,” which Jackson and Harris also co-wrote, with a scorching sax solo by Billy Jackson.

Rest in Power, Harold Jackson.

#soul #funk #R&B #civilrights #Harold Jackson