Gil Scott Heron – Live at the Blue Note NYC review

Initially I wasn’t sure I was going to go to the Gil Scott Heron show at The Blue Note. I asked my homeboy to go with me because he actually has a song that he recorded sampling one of Gil’s songs. I’ve been helping him throughout the process of this album, taking executive producer role and told him it would be a good idea to meet Gil personally if possible. I’d already met and spoke to Gil twice in the past, very cool and funny guy in person. The first time was in Washington DC at a place called Blues Alley where I snagged a photo with him. The second time was in NYC at his annual show for MLK Jr’s B-day at SOB’s. I believe this was in 2003, just before Gil’s legal troubles. This time I brought my original vinyl promo album of “The First Minute of a New Day” with hopes of getting it autographed. Surprisingly, Brian Jackson, Gil’s right hand man was in the house. This is the man behind all the music and piano on the numerous classic albums they’ve released together over a 10-year period. I had a chance to speak to Mr. Jackson who was very cool and autographed my record and even brought me backstage to get Gil to sign as well. Everything worked out great that night. Fast forward to 2010, I found out a week prior that Gil was going to be performing at The Blue Note in NYC. Having just missed his annual show in January, I began to ponder on attending this one. My homie said he probably wouldn’t make it because he’d be getting out of work at the time Gil’s last set of the night started. So just as always, I’m never one to miss a good show just because I didn’t have a cohort to accompany. Then a good friend of mine said she would be around the area once the show ended to hang out, so I was then sold on going for sure.

On the drive up to the area, I spent a good 20 minutes looking for parking within a 5 block radius from the venue. By the time I found parking (extremely close to a fire hydrant) and started walking toward the venue it was 10:25 and the show starts at 10:30. The set I was going to see was the last set on the last night of a two-day performance at The Blue Note. When I get to the venue there’s a line outside where I see a group of folks raising their hands for the doorman to select them to go in. The place was packed. There was a young woman in line with a press photo of Gil and a book hoping to get inside to get it autographed. Unfortunately she left once the doorman let her and her friends in to see what the capacity of the venue was like. Again, it was packed!!! All table seats were taken and there was standing only space available at the bar, which is what I paid for. I could barely see the stage from where I was standing, but I didn’t care I just wanted to hear “The Voice” and feel the vibration of the music.

Gil comes out alone with a blazer and a newsboy hat placed firmly atop his gray filled fro, looking mighty cheerful. He starts the show in his usual fashion, with a few words to catch people up with what’s been goin’ on and his take on a few current events. Anyone who’s ever been to a Gil show knows he is a natural comedic genius as well as a gifted wordsmith. He starts by telling the audience about his new album “I’m New Here” and how it came together. He talked about his first initial meetings with the album’s producer Richard Russell. Russell began to build a rapport with Gil while he was in prison. Gil jokes that he thought Russell was just another inmate coming in and later realized that he MUST be serious to come all the way from London to come see him. He also speaks on some of the reviews of the album where some journalists have said that the album is dark and angry due to him coming out of prison. Gil jokes “If anyone knows anything about prison and inmates, they will know that no one is angry when they get OUT of prison”. Classic Gil humor.

Another great story Gil tells is concerning the book that he’s been working on for several years entitled “The Last Holiday”. The book tells the story of Stevie Wonder’s campaign and tour to make Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a national holiday. Gil is able to tell this story because he was also a part of the tour and campaign to get legislation passed for the holiday that we now celebrate as a result of their effort. He spoke of one of the tour dates taken place the night that John Lennon was killed. Stevie looked to Gil for advice on how and when to break the news to the audience. All wonderful and great stories before he started his set.

The first song he begins with is the song that has become heavily sampled by several Hip-Hop artists, We Almost Lost Detroit. In particular Gil jokes that when he heard Common’s song “The People”, it was so good that he had to go back and listen to his own song to see if it was still any good. He then points out several other Hip Hop artists like Talib Kweli and Kanye West who have sampled his work and made contributions to music that he appreciated. During the song he brings out the first member of his band for the night, keyboardist Kim Jordan. Jordan was nothing short of amazing and a virtuoso playing with equal parts speed, precision and passion. We Almost Lost Detroit transitions smoothly into the motivational activist’s anthem Work For Peace where Gil tells people “…Peace ain’t gonna be easy…If you say you’re about peace…gotta go to work”. Gil then brings out his other two band members Glenn Turner on harmonica and Tony Duncanson on percussion. They continue to go through songs such as 95 South, the angelic tribute to his daughter “Your Daddy Loves You”, the piano laden “Pieces of a Man” and “Show Bizness” where Gil jokes was NOT a favorite of Arista exec Clive Davis.

One of the most interesting parts of the night was Gil’s introduction into his song “Is That Jazz?” In this introduction Gil breaks down the history of how the term “jazz” came to be. Around the time this music was being made, many of the musicians who were playing the music did not take to the term because of its negative connotation. He goes on to state that the word is a combination of two words combined. The first being “Jism” which is what was referring to the functions and events where folks would come to dance in the big hall style of lindy-hopping. Now the musicians who were playing this style of music, were not playing the traditional style of music at the time. These musicians were not formally trained and were referred to by those who were as “ass musicians”. Eventually the two words were combined and the music was being called “Jas” and later “Jazz”. Gil is known to be a very witty storyteller and often combines humor in his stories, this story shows well that ability. Gil still continues the oral tradition of storytelling in the lineage of the ancient griots. He ended the night off by getting the crowd involved with his huge hit and anti-alcoholism anthem The Bottle. Leaving the stage to a full standing ovation, Gil still encourages those in the audience to continue to do the work that contributes to our society. To find a way to support those who have and still are making a difference in this world. These are the words that resonate with people that make him the poet we all known him to be.