Gil Scott Heron

Gil Scott-Heron is an American poet, jazz musician and author. Though known primarily for his late-1970s and early-1980s work as a Spoken-word Soul performer, he is also recognized as a pioneer of modern Hip-Hop.

Gil’s collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson led to a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, dramatically delivered by Gil in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles. The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced later African-American genres such as hip-hop and Neo-soul. Gil’s recorded work is often associated with black activism and received critical acclaim for his most well-known composition, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

Born in Chicago, Gil attended Lincoln University, the same college attended by his biggest influence, Langston Hughes. There Gil met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After 2 years at Lincoln, Gil took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The N*gger Factory. He made his recording debut in 1970 with the LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. The following year he released Pieces of a Man, followed by Free Will and the highly praised Winter in America. An album of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, came out in 1979. Over the years, Gil has released nearly 3 dozen discs, including 2 seminal disks, Reflections and Moving Target.

His newest, I’m New Here, released on Feb. 8, is his 13th studio album, and his first album of original material in 16 years. Primarily a blues and spoken-word album, I’m New Here serves as musical and lyrical departure from Scott Heron’s previous work. The album has spawned one single, “Me and the Devil,” an adaptation of Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues.” The Guardian’s Jude Rogers called I’m New Here one of the next decade’s best records. In November 2009 the BBC’s Newsnight interviewed Gil Scott-Heron. The BBC titled the program “The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns.”

Jazz Fest director and founder Frank Malfitano calls Scott-Heron the nation’s greatest living male jazz vocalist. “ No one in the history of American music has ever seamlessly melded, poetry, comedy, social awareness, soul, jazz, blues and funk in the way that Gil Scott-Heron has, said Malfitano. “ His ability to improvise spontaneously and to engage sidemen and audience members is the very definition and essence of what jazz is all about. And Gil follows in the great musical tradition of the musical pioneers of Black awareness that preceded him, like Marvin Gaye, Sly and The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Richie Havens and James Brown....and his style contains and combines the best elements of all of those giants, all rolled into one. He’s amazing. And his recent return to performing is the biggest news on the national jazz scene in decades.”