Fred Jackson

Hootin' 'N Tootin' is the only album Fred Jackson made as a leader. It is a soul jazz record, with organ, guitar and drums behind his muscular tenor saxophone. Jackson was already known to Blue Note listeners as a sideman on organ dates. Here he steps forward with a set of seven originals that stay close to the blues.

Before this session Jackson had played on Baby Face Willette's Face to Face in 1961. He would later appear on Big John Patton's Along Came John and The Way I Feel. His own date was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on February 5, 1962, with Alfred Lion producing. He chose organist Earl Van Dyke, guitarist Willie Jones and drummer Wilbert Hogan. Van Dyke later became part of the Funk Brothers, the Motown house band.

All seven tunes are Jackson's, and they are compact and direct, with no long-winded blowing. Dippin' in the Bag opens the set on a bluesy medium groove, with the tenor out front and the organ answering. Preach Brother points by its title to the church roots that run through so much soul jazz. The closing Way Down Home stays in the same earthy territory. There is no bass player, so the low end is left to the organ. Guitar and drums keep the rhythm tight and uncluttered.

AllMusic rates the album four and a half stars. Jackson never recorded another album under his own name. A second session by the same group, recorded on April 9, 1962 with Sam Jones added on bass, stayed in the vaults and later surfaced as bonus material on CD.

This Blue Note Tone Poet edition (2026) is stereo, produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analogue master tapes. It is pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.