Finally! Gil Scott-Heron returns with new music and tour

Finally, after all this time, Gil Scott-Heron is returning with new music. After being absent from the industry for years amid reports and rumors of disabling drug abuse and other destructive behavior, and after a few stints here and there behind bars, he has returned to announce the release of a new CD entitled I’m New Here which is due out in January 2010 on XL Records. In fact, the Gil Scott-Heron Facebook group recently sent this preview out to its members [Click here for video preview.]

After listening to the preview a few times which contains bits of new songs on the CD—“A.M.,” “I’m New Here,” “Me and the Devil,” and “I’ll Take Care of You”—it becomes plain that his physical voice has changed drastically. His once deep, rich, baritone sounds strained, abused; nevertheless, it seems to add another dimension to his work. His voice bespeaks, belies a narrative of pain and anguish—a search for self. It lends a certain authenticity, a certain authority to his poetics.

But however changed his physical voice, his artistic voice remains soundly intact. It remains honest and uncompromising, and reminds me how much we missed him during the eight years of the Bush administration. If any time we needed his honest, uncompromising critique, it was then.

Gil Scott-Heron has often spoken of his love of the blues. And I once heard a noted blues artist state that all true blues artists are flawed in some way. In fact, the blues artist went on to state, often the reason blues artists choose the blues as a medium of expression is simply because they are flawed, because they have been through something, and the blues becomes the medium most suited to articulating that pain.

It follows, then, that I’m New Here is perhaps an apt title. Perhaps, this is not Gil Scott-Heron’s comeback, his re-emergence, but the coming out party for a completely new individual. Gil Scott-Heron has been through something; he seems to be waging an on-going, pitted battle against himself, and finally he is winning. And he has returned, reborn, remade, all new, to share that experience with us.

For those of you living in the New York City area, Gil Scott-Heron will be playing at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill on November 4th. Also, following the album release, he will be embarking on a European tour.

Commemorizing the Fortieth Anniversary of the First Moon Landing (with the assistance of Gil Scott-Heron

In commemoration of the 40^th anniversary of the first moon landing, I would like to make the following dedication:

Thank you for your assistance, Gil.

Where is Gil Scott Heron (and Where Was He When We Needed Him the Most)

I was going through my CDs recently, searching for just the right CD to fit my mood for the moment, when I ran across my collection of Gil Scott Heron CDs. It’s been a while since I last grooved with Gil, so I threw it in and sat back.

I forgot what an absolute beast Gil was. Gil’s shit was always on the money. And what’s so amazing, it’s still relevant even now. Substitute Bush for Nixon and Cheney for Agnew, and all of a sudden, it’s a contemporary piece. It looks like republicans have been up to the same all shit for some time now.

Most people have heard “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” But Gil’s contribution is much greater than that. For a time, he was our griot, our mouthpiece. He stayed in Ronald Reagan’s ass. Poems like “H2O Gate Blues,” “Bicentennial Blues,” “B-Movie” and “Pardon the Analysis” tackled the hypocrisy and other extraneous foolishness in Washington through several administrations. If I might quote poet Etheridge Knight, “He had been our Destroyer,/ the doer of things. We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do.” He said the shit we wanted to day; he was the voice of our frustrations and misgivings.

The Bush administration might have been more bearable had we had the voice of Gil Scott Heron been available. Check out my Gil Scott Heron playlist below. It contains a couple of the poems mentioned above as well as two of my favorites.

I know that he got in a little trouble, but after he did his penance, I fully expected him to return to the stage and the studio. However, I have heard very little from him except a set at SOB’s in New York City which is embedded below. Come on back Gil; we need you more than ever.