Great Scott!!!

FCN 12/18/2001

The Queen's Scene

Great Scott!!!
Singer returns with phenomenal new LIVE CD --Experience: Jill Scott 826+

by Michelle Muhammad

She�s back!!!! Not that she ever really went anywhere, but we missed her just the same. I�m talking about the strong, compelling voice for Black women, especially the ones who do not remotely resemble the European standard of beauty. She is the next door neighbor who is a down-home, down-to-earth, no holds barred Soul Sister Girl who is intent on spreading her love throughout her music and poetry. No one is asking the question who is Jill Scott anymore, they know. Jilly from Philly, as she is sometimes referred , wants you to know she�s the real deal.

She hails from that new Mecca of soul music, Philadelphia. There has not been this much noise made in Philadelphia since Gamble and Huff. Jill has been working non-stop since the debut of her critically acclaimed, Grammy nominated album, Who Is Jill Scott? Word & Sounds: Volume 1. She had been tapped to appear on the Grammy awards, Diva�s Live: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin, The recent Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Tribute and even was chosen to be the opening act for Sting, thereby broadening her audience. In between that she found time to write songs for Common and Will Smith. She also lent her talents to The Isley Brothers� most recent chart-topping album Eternal, the forthcoming R&B solo debut album from Hootie & The Blowfish lead singer, Darius Rucker, and soundtracks such as Rush Hour 2, Down To Earth and Kingdom Come. Most recently she has appeared on the Red Star Sounds compilation.

With more than two million copies sold of her debut album, she received a string of accolades for her four Lady of Soul awards (including the Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year award), one Soul Train award, three Grammy and one MTV Video Award nomination and countless praise from her peers in the industry.

When asked by Free, host of BET�s 106 and Park, what he had in his CD player, award winning actor Denzel Washington said with enthusiasm, "Jill Scott. I am really feeling her now." How cool is that to have Denzel Washington say that he is into your music?

This extraordinarily gifted performer has become a multi-media darling in her own right. She has been on every conceivable talk show and seems to have appeared in virtually every magazine in the world�and she has even found time to complete her own world tour in the process.

When asked by The Final Call what kind of response she received on her album and tour, Jill said, "So warm and so loving and so sincere that I don�t feel that people are giving me hogwash. Sometimes people say things like, �Your album�s hot.� I say, �Hot like what?� Then they start talking and expressing themselves and sharing how they feel about [the album] and it becomes more real for me because they�re sharing. I wanted Black people to talk with each other. And we�re doing that."

The eagerly anticipated follow up to her double platinum debut is: a 21 track, two-disc set featuring 11 live songs recorded in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia, along with 10 new, unreleased cuts. The album was given the title "826" because August 26 is the date that she performed at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. That particular show captured the essence of a Jill Scott show. The "+" is disc 2 and its unreleased music.

As a founding member of Black Lilly�a Black bohemian take on the all-female Lillith Fair tours�she started out as a poet. When asked by The Final Call about her early days as a poet she said, " The poetry began first. I had acquired a name for myself as a poet in Philly, New York and D.C., and was content with that. When the time is right, I will publish my poetry."

Never one to stray from her roots, Jill tapped the poetess within and came up with a beautiful, thought provoking piece called "The Thickness." In the piece she so eloquently tells the story of a young girl who has the body of a woman, but is still a child. She states: She�s so big they won�t even try to reach her mind/ She�s been degraded, exploited/ not celebrated/ saturated in self-hatred � Oh Lord help her recognize the magnificence you created. While the background singers softly sing the chorus of let her be elevated.

Jill goes on to say: The deal is she doesn�t know and nobody ever told her how marvelous, beautiful, special and how perfect she is in her own way. Even though the language is raw and for mature adults, it is written for teens like the one that inspired the piece. She tells how young girls and boys are underdeveloped in the mind, though they have the bodies of adults. She also says that if we as adults do not stop to tell, or show them the right way, then it�s our fault.

Experience Jill Scott 826+ features the best of both worlds�live, deftly rearranged recordings made famous on the singer�s debut album and new, never before heard studio material. Among the live songs are revamped takes on "He Loves Me," "Love Rain," "Do You Remember," "It�s Love" and "One is The Magic Number." Standout studio tunes "Be Ready," "Gimme," "Free," "Sweet Justice" and "High Post Brotha" which features Common.

In a culture that is obsessed with sex and bling blinging, Jill and others of her genre are a breath of fresh air. She has remained true to her herself and the image that she is projecting through her music. "There is some really good music about to come � music with integrity. Music with dignity. Music that is about more than how somebody did in bed, or how many cars somebody has," Jill said. We welcome it.

(Michelle Muhammad may be reached via her email address at: [email protected])