Billy Hawks – Heavy Soul! – Bgp UK LP

As part of Ace 50 BGP has hooked up with our old friends at Concord Music to reissue one of the most important albums in our story. In 1987 as the dance jazz scene morphed into acid jazz Billy Hawks ‘Oh Baby (I Believe I’m Losing You)’ was filling the dance floors where either Gilles Peterson or Baz Fe Jazz were playing.

The Prestige Records album that featured the track ‘Heavy Soul!’ was impossible to find, and frustrated DJs were desperately trying to find a copy. BGP – the Ace label that the two DJs helmed – reissued the album and put the in-demand track onto a 12 inch single. With supply sufficient it became a club smash, crossing over to become a mod classic and one of the most important cuts from our scene.

In the ensuing years the tracks status has remained undimmed and the album has never turned up in significant numbers, and yet it has never been reissued since. With an attention to detail that has always been the Ace way, we have carefully mastered the record to be as close to the sound of the original Van Gelder mastering of 1967, and created and accurate representation of the album and label cover art.

Hawks never lived to be rediscovered, but through our musical detective work we tracked down his brother and found out as much of his story as possible, and also unearthed a couple of pictures. The Virginian born organist with the amazing voice was a fixture on the North Eastern lounge bar circuit, which was the entertainment backbone off Black American music at the time, and his full story is told on the illustrated inner sleeve that comes with this release.

Dean Rudland

tracklist:

A01 O’Baby (I Believe I’m Losing You)
A02 Drown In My Own Tears
A03 Whip It On Me
A04 What More Can I Do?
A05 Heavy Soul
B01 You’ve Been A Bad Girl
B02 I’ll Be Back
B03 I Can Make It
B04 That’s Your Bag