Electric Git Box

Michael Gregory Jackson, the visionary guitarist namechecked as a vital influence by modern masters like Vernon Reid, Brandon Ross, Bill Frisell and Nels Cline, releases his first-ever solo electric guitar album, Electric Git Box (Golden Records). Available exclusively at the artist’s Bandcamp site, the digital offering boasts 11 unaccompanied solo guitar pieces showcasing the breathtaking stylistic scope and technique of this critically-acclaimed and influential guitarist’s singular work.

The album includes both reinterpretations of Jackson originals dating back to his 1976 solo debut, Clarity, Circle, Triangle, Square, as well as a host of powerful new work. The release will include liner notes comprised of reflections on Electric Git Box from Oliver Lake, Vernon Reid, Bakida Carroll, Ed Motta, Brian Jackson and Brandon Ross, as well as a poem written for the project by authur/playwright/poet Jessica Hagedorn, with additional writings from Jackson.

Jackson says of Electric Git Box, “The nature of beauty is at the core of my being and my music, alongside aggression, passion, fire, and powerful feelings of personal independence and creative freedom. This project was borne of an angst-full period for me, I was feeling inundated with tragedies, the isolation of Covid lockdowns, re-occurring police and vigilante killings of Black people, and living with the omnipresent reality of systemic racism. I was feeling angry, disconnected and erased; thus, I recorded this music with some edges, some distortion, to communicate the multifaceted well of emotions that birthed this performance.”

He goes on to explain, “My guitars, which I’ve called ‘git boxes’ since my teens, have always been my companions and a sanctuary to me, vehicles to help me through the angst of my younger life, and now. Through my guitars, I discovered discipline, self-awareness and inspiration, my git boxes opened a conduit, a dive in deep access and connection to the blues-ness in me.”