Gil Scott-Heron and Me...

My grandmother was dead serious. Her sense of humor was a secret. She started me playing the piano. There was a funeral parlor next door to our house, and they had this old piano that they used for wakes and funerals, and they were getting ready to take it to the junk yard. She wanted me to play hymns for the ladies’ sewing circle that met every Thursday, and she bought the piano for six dollars, and she paid a lady up the street five or ten cents a lesson to teach me to play four hymns, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus,’ ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘The Old Rugged Cross,’ and I can’t think of the other one. I was eight years old, and I had started to listen to WDIA in Memphis, and they would play the blues. When I was practicing, I would have to mix them, because my grandmother was not big on the blues. When she was out in the yard, I can play what I want, but if she’s in the house I got to mix John Lee Hooker with ‘Rock of Ages.’
Gil Scott-Heron
It’s really between me and the marketing people, because they have a history of being wrong about my music, they never anticipated any of my songs being hits. In America, the mentality is that if you have a hit like ‘B-Movie’ (off 1981’s Reflections) they expect you to do the same thing again, repeating the formula. But my style has been to explore the different aspects of black music, to continually explore and develop. When Leonardo da Vinci did the Mona Lisa, did he go right back and do the Mona Lucy, just ‘cause he had a hit?
Gil Scott-Heron 1986

***The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron (1984) signed by Gil, 7/87***

He wasn't a great singer, but, with that voice, if he had whispered it would have been dynamic. It was a voice like you would have for Shakespeare.
               Ron Carter
Not only important; they’re necessary, because they are the roots of rap—taking a word and juxtaposing it into some sort of music. You can go into Ginsberg and the Beat poets and Dylan, but Gil Scott-Heron is the manifestation of the modern word. He and the Last Poets set the stage for everyone else. In what way necessary? Well, if you try to make pancakes, and you ain’t got the water or the milk or the eggs, you’re trying to do something you can’t. In combining music with the word, from the voice on down, you follow the template he laid out. His rapping is rhythmic, some of it’s songs, it’s punchy, and all those qualities are still used today.
               Chuck D of Public Enemy
Well, you have to accept that Gil does not operate on any clock known to man. He may turn up late, he may not turn up at all some days, but when he does, it tends to be incredible. He's a genuine artist in a way that most performers aren't anymore. He has no conception of time, no regard for money. He seems utterly free from the normal everyday burdens people carry. In that way, too, it was an extraordinary and unique experience.
               Richard Russell on producing Gil's last album I'm New Here (2010)

***No Nukes Rally 9.23.79 Battery Park City (Next To World Trade Center)***

I saw Gil Scott-Heron for the first time in a Battery Park City landfill at the tip of Manhattan in the shadows of the Twin Towers on September 23, 1979. The site had yet to be developed into the massive mixed-use of housing and business that it is today. The event was a "No Nukes" rally sponsored by MUSE - Musicians United for Safe Energy. I wasn't much of an activist then (probably less so now) but it sounded like a great party with music. A bunch of my college friends made a (brief) pledge of fealty to Mass PIRG and we took a yellow school bus under their sponsorship to the site from our Boston campus. We did some aggressive pre-game activities along the way, so we were well equipped and informed to (ostensibly) protest the risks of nuclear energy. The near disaster of Three Mile Island was fresh in our addled minds and The China Syndrome, a Hollywood thriller cum pastiche, starring Jane Fonda as an overly earnest reporter and Michael Douglas as her hip, bearded cameraman, had raised the awareness of nuclear risks in those quaint, pre-social media days. As Bonnie Raitt later explained, it was "as if we planned it that way." The scene was ripe and festive for the 200,000 revelers who attended.

***Twin Towers overlook No Nukes Rally 9.23.79 200,000 folks on the beach!***

There was lots of politicizing and pontificating in the blazing, noon day sun. Jane Fonda reprised her role (which was still in theaters!) and she gave an impassioned homily on the menace of nuclear energy as did her then husband, noted anti-war activist Tom Hayden. Representative Bella Abzug, Ralph Nader and other doyennes of the liberal cognoscenti gave speech after speech after speech. I believe even one of the Berrigan brothers spoke to make sure there was a blur of church and state. After all, it is hard, but not impossible, to disagree when God is on your side! In between the political jawboning and invective, there was music. Sweet glorious 1970s music. Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills & Nash, John Hall from Orleans, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Jesse Colin Young and Gil Scott-Heron all performed short sets.

***No Nukes Rally view from the stage - 200,000 of my closest friends and me…***

There was a concert that night at Madison Square Garden (which was filmed and later released as an album and video) but I didn't have a ticket. Somehow, a miracle ticket appeared. Rather than slow down the momentum of our party, it accelerated. We skipped the school bus which was to return to Boston after the rally, and we made our way uptown to MSG. There were several stops for libations along the way and by the time I got to the venue, the luster of seeing the same performers had worn off. My friend Pam and I decided to sell our (highly sought after) tickets and use our ill gotten gains to continue on our ill advised ways. Thus began a descent from a long night's journey into day. We scalped the tickets, nicked a nice profit, and by daybreak, it was "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" but I was not Johnny Cash nor was Pam, Kris Kristofferson. We ended up hitch-hiking back to Boston, freezing in the early morning autumn chill, hoping, wishing, and waiting for a ride. The lights of a semi tractor trailer pulled over. It was not Big Joe and Phantom 309, but a driver who said he was going near Boston and he'd get us a close as he could, so we hopped in his cab. It worked. And the memories of those great musicians remain, especially Gil Scott-Heron.

Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago, spent ten years in Jackson, Tennessee with his grandmother and then moved as a twelve year old to the Bronx, New York City. He was smart, had a flair for writing and received a scholarship to the prestigious Fieldston School. After graduating, he attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the alma mater of his hero, Langston Hughes. Gil dropped out in 1970 to write his first novel, The Vulture. As he said, "I was concentrating on the book when I should have been studying and studying when I should have been writing the book. I had to quit in order to find out if I could actually finish something."

***Midnight Band: The First Minute Of A New Day (1975)***

Gil's first album in 1970, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, had the first version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", perhaps his most famous and enduring song. A spoken word poem with biting political satire, stripped accompaniment of congas and drums, some musicologists think it is the birth of rap or hip hop. It is not altogether a call to arms. As Gil explained, " 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' – that was satire. People would try and argue that it was this militant message, but just how militant can you really be when you’re saying, 'The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner’?' My songs were always about the tone of voice rather than the words. A good comic will deliver a line deadpan. They let the audience laugh.” And the humorous references to The Beverly Hillbillies, Bullwinkle, Coca Cola and Petticoat Junction, are a long way from the vitriol of N.W.A.!

***From South Africa To South Carolina (1976)***

Pieces Of A Man, Gil's major label debut in 1971, was produced by Bob Thiele, a jazz producer who had helmed sessions for Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and others. Thiele enlisted the great jazz bassist Ron Carter and the equally influential drummer, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. Both artists are among the most prolific session musicians in music history with Carter appearing on over 1,100 recordings and Purdie, according to his website, "the world's most recorded drummer." It also marked the first time Gil recorded with his college friend, frequent music collaborator and co-composer Brian Jackson. The re-recorded version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is more fully fleshed out with Hubert Laws adding a lilting flute to the heavy bottom supplied by the rhythm of Ron Carter and Pretty Purdie.

Between 1970 and 1982, Gil Scott-Heron produced thirteen albums. Clive Davis thought so highly that Gil was the first artist signed to Arista Records when Davis founded the label in 1975. Clive acknowledged Gil's vast talents in 2011: "I always felt tremendous regard for him. You see the success of a Jay-Z or a Kanye West, and I always felt that Gil was as charismatic as either of them. Seeing him in his prime, the ability to dominate a stage, Gil at his best was an all-timer." Unfortunately, the ravages of Gil's alcoholism and drug addiction were relentlessly punishing. In the ensuing twenty-nine years, Gil produced only two records, and his performances became erratic and frustrating. When he showed.

Late in his career, Gil was called "The Godfather of Rap", a name which he disdained, "I don't know if I can take the blame for it." He preferred "Bluesologist....a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues" as he defined his work, and he was generally critical of hip hop:

"They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There's not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don't really see inside the person. Instead, you get a lot of posturing."

Despite his protestations, Gil Scott-Heron's influence is undeniable and ubiquitous. Common, Drake, Dr. Dre, Grand Puba, Kanye West, Mos Def and so many artists have directly sampled his grooves. He said near the end of his life that he didn't listen to hip hop, "It's something that's aimed at the kids. I have kids, so I listen to it, but I would not say it's aimed at me. I listen to the jazz station."

I saw Gil again in 1987 at Blues Alley, a small jazz club in Washington, DC. It was a Sunday night and I went alone and sat at the bar. I was debating going upstairs to get a record signed but I decided to have a few drinks instead. I was chasing my own demons in those days. The bar area was quiet, just a few patrons and most of the tables were full near the stage. Just then, Gil sidled up next to me to order a drink: "Courvoisier and coke" he said to the bartender. "Hey Gil, I'll buy you a drink", I said hopefully. "Nah, that's alright. It's part of my deal." I grabbbed an album and asked him to sign it. "Okay" he said warily. "Hey could you sign it to Erin...." Gil quickly signed the album and handed it back to me. "Nah, you're gonna have to do that. You can write whatever you want. I'm busy." He turned, grabbed his drinks and walked away. I was disappointed but the show and his music was riveting. Sadly,I never saw him again.

Gil Scott-Heron, activist, author, composer, humorist, musician, poet, performer, satirist, singer, songwriter....a genre unto himself.

Perhaps, he was wrong The revolution seems to be televised…

Choice Gil Scott-Heron Cuts (per BK's request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpxb4GWSYi8

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" 125th and Lenox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvHFuJX2Ock

"Johannesburg" Old Grey Whistle Test Live 1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01WRqq-ubsU

"We Almost Lost Detroit" No Nukes Live 1979 MSG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV_astp3BjM

"I'm New Here" Gil Sings Bill Callahan 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnOVbMFiGVg

"The Bottle" Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zWFvLCEI8

"Ain't No Such Thing As Superman" Midnight Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odf1WWhAF6I&index=12&list=RD01WRqq-ubsU

"Get Together" Jesse Colin Young, Jackson Browne, CSN et al.....1979 Battery Park City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odf1WWhAF6I&index=12&list=RD01WRqq-ubsU

"Power" John Hall, Carly Simon, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt Battery Park City 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYh9OdAAaCE

"Big Joe and Phantom 309" Tom Waits any way I can weave Waits into a story, I'm taking it...