Jimmy Tucker & Janet Brackbill - Jim & Jan (LP, Album)

Media Condition:  Very Good (VG)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good (VG)
Country:    US  
Released:  1967
Genre:       Folk World & Country
Style:         Folk

Comments:
ON SALE - Light allover wear
 

Notes:

"Illick's Mill" on cover and record label. 
...not sure of how many of these records are still around....
Helffrich Recording Labs has been defunct for many years.

Back Cover Liner Notes:

"The Singers"
Jim has been singing since he was a child in the island of Jamaica. In a large family, with competitive singing as a regular pasttime, he was known at the age of six as the 'screamer' of the family. Hish high soprano voice wasn't used like that of an English choir boy, but rather in vigorous immitation of the great tenors of the forties and fifties. At seven Jim was learning his songs by listening to the radio. The songs of John McCormack, Jan Pearce, and Mario Lanza were reproduced to the minutest detail. The big break came on the Jamaican readio show "Lannaman's Children's Hour," where Jim triumphed with "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific. Soon he was singing frequently over radio and on the stage throughout the island. At ten years of age he was called a prodigy, Jamaica's Lanza, and fittingly, 'little Tommy Tucker who sings for his supper.' He met many outstanding world entertainers, including Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine (who both planned to have him sing in the United States) and Sarah Vaughan. Jim's most memorable musical success came when he won an all-island competition, singing 'Beloved' from The Student Prince. This meant a prize trip to Trinidad during carnival. He was warmly received by the people of Trinidad, and was acclaimed by the Trinidad Guardian as one of the most promising singers in the world.

After high school Jim found that he was fortunate to have come from a boy soprano to a lyric tenor. This, he was told, was a rare thing among singers. But although his voice was still pleasant, his natural gift in technique and expression was not what it had been in childhood days. At times, when carried away in song, he would recapture the special 'thing' which had made his childhood singing so appealing. He would hear 'Bravo' and 'That was great!' from the next room -- but it was obvious that Jim's boyhood confidence was a thing of the past. He knew that from then on, hard work would be the only path to achievement.

Jim left his native Jamaica in September, 1963, with a song in his heart and nothing in his pocket but faith, to further his education in the United States.

Janet's story is somewhat different. Before coming to college her singing was mostly for her little campers. Jim met Janet one evening as he was preparing for an international festival at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As he entered Clewell Hall -- the foreign language dorm for women -- someone shouted, 'Hey, Jim, sing us a Jamaican song!' Who isn't shy among women? So he said, 'Well, if I sing without someone to play for me it will be a poor job.' At once he learned this was not the best thing to say. Who else but a smiling Janet saying, "I'll play for you, if you start off by singing one verse unaccompanied." Soon everyone was singing 'Carry Me Ackee Go a Linstead Market,' 'Come Back, Liza,' 'Island in the Sun,' and others. Songs were sung in succession, and some were interwoven. So it was that their rounds and medleys came into being.

What began on campus as co-ed fun soon became, on campus and in the community, Singing with a Purpose. Janet was thrilled each time the mothers and fathers, the tired and retired executives, would join in singing 'Matilda' with real youthful enthusiasm. For Jim this meant a time to point out the deeper meanings of these simple folk songs -- how they tell the sufferings and dreams of humanity, with a melodic simplicity we have forgotten how to cherish.

Jim and Janet first sang at Illick's Mill (also in Bethlehem) in the autumn of 1966. Even among the young people there -- whose distrust of traditional styles and sentiments usually causes them to prefer the driving beat of electric blues -- the beauty of their voices and the unguarded love their songs express was an irresistible force. Our experience at the Mill was best summed up in one boy's breathless query: "Where on Earth did they come from?" They came straight out of our cynical, intolerant, violent era. And therein, I think, lies most of the wonder.

Jim and Janet feel that their songs are done in a fresh, uncommon style, especially their medleys. They think too that the songs are well done, but this is not their primary concern. They have something to tell. If you get it, they shall have achieved their purpose. Part of that purpose is to awaken in us feelings which the hasty clatter of life today has numbed below all nature. Yet they sing not of ideals, because for many that word has lost its relevance in the deluge of false rhetoric that pours down on us from the thunderheads of earthly power. Instead, they sing of authentic human life as it is lived by some and hoped for by all. As you listen to them sing, may you enter into the spirit that bids them go forward, with a purpose.
--Bob Thompson


"The Songs"
Six songs were written by Jamaican composer, Clyde Hoyte. These songs have come out of the life of this very talented Jamaican. I had the thrillling experience in 1954 of learning both 'Sweet as a Dream' and 'Have Faith' in little more than an hour. I recorded them then, so that Clyde could have them as a birthday present for his mother. 'Have Faith' is the story of a man who failed at a commercial venture, but who, instead of giving up, one evening threw out his despair for the way of faith. Throughout these songs, even when the central theme is not of Jamaica, something has to be said by Clyde for this island and its people. Clyde is always ready to project the indigenous qualities of the people as unique and beautiful. In 'O'er Our Blue Mountain' we have included part of that lovely English gem 'Love Will Find a Way,' a song Clyde loves very much, and one which has been a real inspiration to his life.

Medley #1 is a collection of Jamaican verses: 'Brown Skinned Girl,' 'Every Time Mi Memba Liza,' 'Carry Mi Ackee Go a Linstead Market,' and 'Matilda.' Two of the songs are sung simultaneously, with one being dropped, another picked up, then ending with 'Matilda.' Medley #2 is a group of Negro spirituals with a unifying theme: Let my people go! This has obvious relevance. 'Go Tell It on a Mountain' -- not that Jesus Christ was born, but to let my people go! With 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' the situation becomes desparate. Salvation is apparently to be found outside of this world. Therefore, 'Go Down, Moses!' -- and make them let my people go. In Medley #3 we have used two Negro spirituals -- 'It's Me, O Lord' and 'I Want to be Ready' -- to open and close the medley. In the middle we have placed two Jamaican verses, 'Di Ribbah Cum Dung' and 'Long Time Gal Mi Neva See Yu.' 'Di Ribbah' is the traditional verse of the 'Bamboo Song' which is now heard in contemporary folk.

'Sammy Dead-O' is also traditional Jamaican folk song. It tells of a farmer -- Sammy -- who had a prosperous season and who suddenly died. The singers sit by the roadside lamenting Sammy's death, saying that he was 'obead' (cursed or bewitched) by those 'grudgeful' ones who envied Sammy his good fortune. 'Lucky Old Sun' is the cry of the oppressed man. It is probably one of the first true protest songs. I tried to tell, as best I can imagine, how the man feels. 'Were You There' does not mean, 'Were you actually present?' but rather, 'Can you imagine it?' If you can, then listen and think. That's all.
--Jimmy Tucker

R.I.A.A. Equal.

Copyright 1967
Robert J. Thompson
Bethlehem, Pa.

Recorded, Produced by Helffrich Recording Labs.
R. D. #2
Allentown, Pa.

A1. Oh I Know Now 2:35
A2. Brown Skinned Girl (Medley #1) 2:43
A3. No Snow On Your Carib Island 1:54
A4. Go Down Moses! (Medley #2) 2:49
A5. Jamaica Calling 2:17
A6. Have Faith 3:04
B1. It's Me, O Lord! (Medley #3) 2:03
B2. Sweet As A Dream 2:17
B3. Sammy Dead-O 1:21
B4. Lucky Old Sun 4:03
B5. O'er Our Blue Mountain 1:55
B6. Were You There? 3:30

Barcode and Other Identifiers:

Matrix / Runout HRL 1708A
Matrix / Runout HRL 1708B
Matrix / Runout ARC 12-15-7
Matrix / Runout Pete Helffrich

Videos: 

Copyright (c) Robert J. Thompson
Pressed By Allentown Record Co. Inc.