This anthology covers the period from 1973-80 an extraordinary creative period for Gil and Brian during which they recorded seven great albums where this material is taken from. Prior to this Gil had met Brian at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and recorded three albums for Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label, his debut ‘A New Black Poet’ (all poetry), ‘Free Will’ (half Poetry/half music) and the classic ‘Pieces Of A Man’ an essential for any collection. In 1973 Gil and Brian wanted more freedom to develop their music and they recorded the ‘Winter In America’ album for the collective label Strata East. The following year they became the first artists to sign to Clive Davis’ fledgling Arista label, ‘First Minute Of A New Day’ being the first album released on that label.
Gil and Brian rounded off the decade with their 1980 album, the last they made together. Included here are ‘Shut Um Down’ (nuclear power again), and ‘Alien’ A tale of illegal immigrants from Mexico, who now make up a sizeable proportion of the population of Southern California, and other border states. After this album the fruitful partnership that had started on the ‘Pieces Of A Man’ album was dissolved, although they did get back together for touring together occasionally. Gil re-signed to Arista as a solo artist and made a further three albums until 1983. Brian worked with many artists as keyboard player/M.D most notably Phyllis Hyman, co wrote and produced Will Downing’s first album which went Gold, and worked with Kool And The Gang and Gwen Guthrie. He released his own solo album ‘Gotta Play’ in 2001, and is currently working with Ladybug Mecca and touring with Digable Planets.
It is ironic and very sad that Gil succumbed to the substance abuse that he had so forthrightly warned against, which apart from the 1994 album ‘Spirits’ and a few one-off tracks has limited his recording output in recent years.
