Brian Jackson: ‘As Long As We're Breathing, We Can Still Do Something’
We chat with acclaimed American keyboardist, flautist, composer, singer and producer Brian Jackson about the world premiere of his new production, Gil Scott-Heron with Yasiin Bey, the relevance of this work today and his hopes for the future.
Words Thomas Jackson // Image supplied
The world premiere celebration of Gil Scott-Heron by Brian Jackson & Yasiin Bey, fka Mos Def, is coming to Thebarton Theatre this weekend. The show was first announced as part of Melbourne’s RISING and Sydney’s Vivid LIVE festivals, and - for once - Adelaide isn’t missing out and is being treated to this once-in-a-lifetime performance.
The late Gil Scott-Heron was the voice of a generation and a revolutionary poet, musician and author. His iconic music shaped a new language for Black political and cultural expression. Brian Jackson is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and was the musical collaborator alongside Scott-Heron. Together, they created nine albums and undertook countless tours. Their music captured the spirit of the civil rights era while redefining the impact popular music could make.
Joining Jackson to bring these works to life is hip hop legend, Yasiin Bey. Bey’s hip hop career defined the late ‘90s and carried on from the foundations and blueprint set by Scott-Heron, the godfather of rap.
Jackson speaks to The Note from home in Paris a couple of days before he departs for the first show of the tour in Tokyo. Despite only being a few days away, Jackson and Bey haven’t rehearsed at all.
“We’ve spoken many times. We didn’t actually get a chance to rehearse, so I guess that will happen on stage in Japan,” Jackson chuckles.
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In their discussions, Jackson shares that Bey has asked about certain deep cuts that not even he and Scott-Heron performed live. He teases that it will be a mix of Scott-Heron and Jackson’s best work and “maybe some other surprises, we'll see.”
Jackson has had an acclaimed solo career and has been performing songs from these albums in his solo shows. His next solo album will be titled Now More Than Ever and includes fresh reimaginings of his most powerful works alongside special guests. This includes classics like ‘Winter in America’, ‘The Bottle’ and a lyrical modern-day reinterpretation of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. Jackson shares that the album comes at a time when it is more important than ever to unify.
“[The title] is also the opening to the first album Gil and I produced together. So when you drop the needle on the first track of Winter in America, there is a song called ‘Peace Go With You, Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum)’ and it opens with… ‘Now more than ever. All family must be together. Every brother everywhere. Feels the time is in the air. Common blood flows through common veins. And the common eyes all see the same. Now more than ever. All the family must be together.’ Which kind of summarises how we feel about the unification of like-minded individuals with Black spirits. In this time, as then, we have to come together to ensure that we have a better chance of survival on the planet as a human race.”
Jackson moved to Paris from America two years ago and admits it’s a difficult time to watch what is happening in America right now. Unfortunately, it always has been.
“It’s been difficult all of my life to see what’s going on in the United States, and even before I was even on the planet. It’s been difficult, backwards and forwards and in the present itself. There’s not been a time in history, particularly for Black folks in America, that it hasn’t been painful. More of the same in different forms.”
As Jackson revisits these songs they wrote in the ‘70s, it’s strange to see that some are now more relevant than when they were written.
“That's the problem, isn't it? So many of them are like that, but one in particular that comes to mind is ‘Winter In America.’ When people - particularly younger people - hear that song… The first thing they'll ask is, ‘You wrote that song 50 years ago, so are you some type of a prophet?’ Unfortunately, we weren't singing to the future, we were singing into our present condition. The fact that 50 years later, it's still the same, it's extremely saddening.”
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‘Save The Children’ is particularly poignant in 2026 with the line, “Soon it will be their turn to try and save the world.” The world is now at that moment in time that Scott-Heron was singing about.
“When I look at my kids, it fills me with anxiety and regret,” Jackson admits. “I just feel that we could have done more. But we’re still here. I feel that my generation, we need to really take a look at how much of that we're responsible for. I mean, a lot of us did our best, but a lot of us didn't do anything.
“Unfortunately, I think a lot of people look at these situations now and think that we're too far gone. A lot of people back in my day felt the same way. But the one thing that we have to realise is that as long as we're breathing, we can still do something. We can't just sit idly by.”
There aren't many people who can look back on their music and say it made as big an impact as Gil Scott-Heron’s and Brian Jackson’s. But can music still be as impactful as it once was, or have the type of mediums people consume changed the landscape?
“To those who find it [it can]. It is just so much more difficult. There is still very meaningful music about and it's probably more prevalent and more available than in any other time. However, do we have the capacity or the time? Or are willing to expend the effort that it takes to find it? I think that's probably the biggest problem. But I've heard a lot of music that fits the bill.”
Catch Gil Scott-Heron by Brian Jackson & Yasiin Bey at Thebarton Theatre on Saturday 30 May. Tickets on sale now at ticketmaster.com.au.
