True Vibe Records, based in Oakland, California,
was founded in 2005 by owner Bill Jackson, who
has had a burning passion to offer a new genre
of music to the listening public. This
music, called Jazz Funk Hip HoPoetry,
consists of inspirational and conscious-raising
spoken word, hip hop lyrics, and singing over
upbeat jazz, funk, R & B, Caribbean, and hip hop
instrumental beats and music. According to
Jackson, the music is a potpourri of musical
elements and influences designed to entertain,
educate, enlighten, and inspire people.
True Vibe Records was an outgrowth of his
background as a musician, educator for more than
20 years, and other life experiences. Jackson’s
first musical training started at the early age
of 7 when he took piano lessons, after which he
played trumpet in public school concert and jazz
bands. He later learned how to play bass guitar
and played with a number of R & B and funk bands
during his teen and early adult years in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
His experience playing
guitar bass in church and coordinating
programs for assemblies as a public school
teacher led to a profound interest in
brining this new music to people.
Being a proponent of higher education and
cultural enrichment, Jackson had
long been yearning to create this hybrid
of music to uplift people, especially in
the African-American community, and to
help raise the level of consciousness to
affect positive social change.
Along with the variety of
his life experiences, he also credits his
educational background for shaping his
approach to music. Bill
Jackson holds a B.A. Degree in
Journalism and Sociology from California
State University, Los Angeles and an M.A.
Degree in Education from the University of
San Francisco. Upon graduating from
college at CSU-LA, he worked at a staff
writer for weekly newspapers in Compton
and South Central Los Angeles over a
two-year period.
The
genesis of the first album produced,
"Paradise Presents Jazz Funk Hip HoPoetry",
was his pilgrimage to Senegal's Goree
Island, a United Nations Historical Site
in West Africa. According to Jackson,
visiting the holding pens for African
captives during the slave trade there
brought on a "spiritual awakening." He
collaborated with Bay Area slam poetry
icon Paradise (aka Richard Moore)
to introduce this new hybrid of jazz funk,
R&B, spoken word, and hip hop. See
Reviews.
True Vibe Records promises to take this
music to a new level with the release of
its upcoming CD, "Mucho Mas Jazz Funk Hip
HoPoetry", featuring a diverse group of
highly-talented artists affiliated with
the non-profit organization Urban Voices
Collective.
