Winter in America

Winter in America
Studio album by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
Released	May 1974
Recorded	September 4–5, 1973 October 15, 1973
Studio	D&B Sound (Silver Spring, Maryland)
Genre	Soul blues jazz fusion soul jazz progressive soul[1]
Length	44:27
Label	Strata-East
Producer	Gil Scott-Heron Brian Jackson
Gil Scott-Heron chronology
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974) Winter in America (1974) The First Minute of a New Day (1975)
Singles from Winter in America
"The Bottle" Released: 1974

Winter in America is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on Winter in America deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s.

The album serves as Scott-Heron and Jackson's debut release for Strata-East, following a dispute with their former label and departure. It proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, Winter in America featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single "The Bottle", it obtained considerably larger commercial success than Scott-Heron's and Jackson's previous work. The album debuted at number six on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart and eventually sold over 300,000 copies in the United States.

While it was critically overlooked upon its release, Winter in America earned retrospective acclaim from several writers and music critics as Scott-Heron's and Jackson's greatest work together. Along with its critical recognition, it has been noted by several critics for its influence on derivative music forms such as neo soul and hip hop music, as many artists of the genres have been influenced by Scott-Heron's and Jackson's lyrical and musical approach on the album. On March 10, 1998, Winter in America was reissued on compact disc for the first time in the United States through Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia Records.