Monday, June 30, 2008

Jill Scott Redux


So it doesn't look like Jill Scott is going to show up to save Bumbershoot this year. Bummer. So I will have to settle for another concert that is circulating on the OneTV, a cable station that kind of resembles Ted Turner's TBS that is focused on urban African Americans: instead of reruns of Andy and Gomer, it features the Hughleys and Martin Lawrence. But in the midst of all of these reruns comes the occasional special or movie. Two weeks the Jill Scott homecoming Philadelphia concert from her recent Real Thing Tour has been on their airwaves.

And it is a true wonder. The command this woman takes of her stage and the intense funk grooves that her band weaves behind her are absolutely spellbinding. I continue to be amazed that this woman isn't about five times bigger a star than she is. Readers of the buffet know that I consider soul music is a pinnacle of human expression, on mypantheon as others would place Beethoven, Ellington, or Stravinsky (or Miles Davis, Hank Williams, the Beatles, or Neil Diamond) on theirs.

Early in the show Jill tells "We're doing it big." Before launching into a reprise of The Real Thing.

I’m the real thing,in stereo
I got a little highs,I got a little lows
Follow this,melodic flow
I could make it shine,I could make it glow

I’m more than a toy for your satisfaction
I’m a pay-per-view for the TV screen,your
main attraction/
Your phosphorus,I’m your energy
When your lost,and you need some focus
come see me

She is more Muhammed Ali here than Aretha Franklin. There is an incredible assurance and confidence in her attack of note and lyric as her tighter than tight band creates the foundation of steadily moving platform for her to take her stand.

Before she launched into A Long Walk, she riffed on Everybody Loves the Sunshine from Roy Ayers. I admired and appreciated Ayers fusion with soul and jazz back when he created it in the seventies. I recall George Page, Portland's lead jazz DJ (who seemed to feature an organ+tenor quartet almost every hour on his program Jazz Rap) once disparagingly comment how Ayers had lost his mind. In actuality he moved on the same soul jazz highway of the seventies that also had Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire and Ramsey Lewiss in its fast lanes. Regardless, it was great to hear Ayers being touted as the father of Acid Jazz in the seventies and to see the great Neo Soul divas of the nineties and the two thousands, Erykah and Jill cover his songs and give further tribute to the man.

But I digress. This post is about Jill, celebrating this broadcast of her Philly concert, but needs to make mention of another recent enterprise of hers. She has given her name and cred to the design and release of a brassiere especially designed for full figured voluptuous women like herself. How cool is that? I think it is tribute to her down to earth nature to use her celebrity not to try to save the world or sponsor a fragrance. The design and need to create something that will make the life the world, by redesigning the physics of underwear in a way that has not been addressed in such a direct and high profile way is pretty impressive. Just another reason why I am extraordinarily impressed by this woman and artist.

posted by well-executed buffet at 5:02 PM
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