Search - Ronald Shannon Jackson :: Puttin' on Dog

The focus here is where it should be: Shannon's drums

Richard B. Downing | hudson, Florida USA | 05/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Shannon Jackson's drumming on Ornette's Dancing in Your Head. It was the drums that initially attracted to me to the LP (obviously, Ornette had a little to offer himself). I have since followed Shannon's wonderfully varied career from Ayler (Live at Suggs) to the Decoding Society. But here the focus is on Shannon - drums, voice, writing. The power, the necessary restraint, the poetry (yes, poetry - you'll like it) - the entire package makes you glad you listen to music. I pull this record out a few times every year and wonder each time why I ever take it off my turntable, now CD player. Shannon Jackson is an important artist; Putting on Dog is an important work."

An unusual masterpiece.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 09/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An album of breathtaking power, Ronald Shannon Jackson's "Puttin' On Dog" (originally titled "Pulse") is by and large a solo performance by Jackson, performing at the drum kit and occasionally on vocals. Jackson is joined by poet Michael S. Harper (contributing a vocal on a couple tracks) and pianist Onaje Allen Gumbs, who performs a piano solo on another.



This is not, by and large, easy listening, even for someone such as Jackson-- his vocals have that road-worn blues sound to them and are reasonable enough, but it's the path in which he uses them that makes it difficult. Take album standout "Raven"-- over brilliant and subtle drumming, Jackson mumbles, moans, grunts, groans and occasionally puts forth a coherent recitation of some of Poe's famed piece. And this goes on for eleven minutes-- by the end of it, you'll either be stopped in your tracks with its unnerving brilliance or you'll have taken the record off.



Personally, I fell in the former camp. But I recognize this is not going to work for a lot of folks. Still, for those of us who it does work with, this is an uncommon and unique masterpiece. Highly recommended."