Lady Day And John Coltrane
Pieces Of A Man (1971)
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Did You Hear What They Said?
Free Will (1972)
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Winter In America (Solo Version)
Recorded in 1978
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Back Home (w/Brian Jackson)
Winter In America (1974)
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I’ve been listening to Gil Scott-Heron’s music consistently for decades. I own about eight of his LPs, and have been on the hunt for at least two others. His recent passing merits a proper tribute.

Gil’s music was a gumbo of jazz, blues, R&B, and spoken word — Gil called it “bluesology, the science of how things feel.” He had a gift for melody and was among the most evocative lyricists that emerged from the civil rights movement. I don’t consider Gil to be a great album artist — there are many intolerable tracks in his repertoire  — but when the music, lyrics, and personnel clicked (usually when Brian Jackson was involved), the impact was super powerful.

I remember going to see Gil at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland circa 1998. I am almost sure Brian Jackson performed with him that night (which rarely happened post-1980), but the Internet has not been forthcoming with corroboration. Gil wasn’t all there but it didn’t take more than a few songs for him to find his equilibrium. His voice had become hoarse, yet was no less emotive. I had hoped to see him perform again, but he seldom performed in his later years due to substance abuse and related incarcerations.

Rather than replicate a greatest hits collection, I tried to pick tracks that capture some of the emotions that have coursed through me as I contemplate Gil’s life and career.

“Lady Day And John Coltrane” was one of Gil’s early singles, and speaks to the transcendent power of music. It’s fitting that Gil selected Billie Holiday and John Coltrane as the song’s symbols; all three pushed the boundaries of jazz by combining the personal with the radical. All three also struggled with substance abuse, and Gil’s lyrics could apply to both music or to getting high: “They’ll wash your troubles, your troubles away…”

“Did You Hear What They Said?” was written in reaction to the Vietnam War, but is a timeless dirge about losing a child on a faraway battlefield. Gil’s use of melisma highlights the agony, and creates an emotional analogue with the song’s key phrase: “This can’t be real.”

“Winter In America” is one of Gil’s most lyrically ambitious songs. Originally released in 1974, it grieves the loss of forceful, idealistic civil right leaders and hippie optimism. This elegiac solo version was recorded in 1978 — America still hadn’t thawed out in the four years since the original was released.

Despite purchasing the Winter In America LP sometime in the 1990s, I only clued into the near-perfect “Back Home” a few months ago. It has a catchy, singalong melody that belies its yearning for a simpler time. It’s poetic that “Back Home” would be the Gil track I’d be grooving on at the time of his death: “I gotta get back to see my people, someday and someway.”

Only You
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Close The Door
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It Don’t Hurt Now
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When Somebody Loves You Back
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Album: Life Is A Song Worth Singing (1978)

This is part two of a two-part tribute to Teddy Pendergrass. part one

Teddy Pendergrass’s Life Is A Song Worth Singing is a fine example of how Philly soul adapted to the disco/funk movement while remaining true to the diverse vocal personalities, complex orchestral arrangements, and accessible melodies that defined this popular regional subgenre. Teddy was (arguably) the biggest star of the storied Philadelphia International label, with a voice that can blow you away or woo you to bed — sometimes within the same song.

The first featured cut is “Only You,” which I can’t listen to without remembering Eddie Murphy’s classic bit from Delirious:

“Close The Door” may be my all-time favorite Teddy track, an unequivocal 5-star classic and Teddy’s only single to crack the Top 40 pop charts. Laid-back but with a driving backbeat, this is a groove you can put on at the end of a night of dancing for one last feel-good jam.

Your hip black aunt would have been mighty pissed at me if I didn’t include “It Don’t Hurt Now,” which was one of those Teddy tracks that had women throwing their panties onto the stage. What did Teddy do with all those panties?

The final selection is the uplifting stepper “When Somebody Loves You Back,” arranged by the legendary Thom Bell (check the “Flight of the Bumblebee” strings). This is typical of the songwriting style pioneered by (Kenny) Gamble & (Leon) Huff — catchy and straightforward with a touch of melancholy.