Artist:     Tito Jackson

Album:     Under Your Spell

Label:     Gulf Coast Records

Release Date:     8.6.21

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Now here’s a truly surprising blues release, one that just twists and turns beautifully with a solid soul-music undertow. Maybe much of the unexpected virtue here is the artist himself, no less than one of the original Jackson 5, now able to shake off those strange, pop-star days and clearly moving ahead without looking back over a shoulder.

Jackson is joined on this remarkably strong release by many greats including Kenny Neal, blues master, Joe Bonamassa, Bobby Rush, jazz giant George Benson and Stevie Wonder. There’s little doubt that old pop-star background and connection allow him to pull in the services of these guys, but, that said, Jackson is very much his own man, with no true need for the input. And maybe that’s just another surprise inbuilt with this 11-track package.

Jackson has a grand, grit-fuelled voice and a mastery of the material here. His blues credentials may surprise, but he has long been a fan of the late BB King whose daughter, Claudette, guests on one track, the ever-popular, “Rock Me Baby.” Jackson is known to have always had a foot in the blues camp, with the old Jackson 5 often jamming together off-stage and out of the spotlight, as a family blues outfit, a thought that certainly adds an unexpected dimension to the music of his late, global King of Pop star brother, Michael.

“Under Your Spell” marks a debut solo blues release for Tito Jackson and the gatefold album cover and publicity shots all come from Elmore photographer Laura Carbone, who spent several days around the Crossroads shooting Jackson and friends.

While it’s easy to look at Jackson with an eye to his family-band background, in reality that is to do a huge disservice to this project. Tito Jackson is a musician of significance and stature with a genuinely excellent offering that can only help propel him to a new audience, now to be seen as a musician and seasoned performer  with talent, purpose, clarity and vision in abundance..

—Iain Patience