Gil Scott Heron

Gil Scott Heron passed away on May 27, 2011. I heard the news that Friday. A few things passed through my thoughts at the time: the fact that he lived a troubled live during his latter years of his life; of course, I thought of the immense legacy (soul, blues, jazz music with a heavy political tint) he left behind;… and lastly, I was especially saddened by the thought that “I’m New Here” his latest album and mostly autobiographical (rather than political) in nature, was a signaling that he was coming back from the drug addictions he had fought the last 15 to 20 years or so (several times having been incarcerated for possession). Or was it that he was saying “I Need Help” when making the statement “I’m New Here”?

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”…most remember or know him from that statement from the title and subject of his most famous poem put to music. There of course was much more to the man. I constructed several tributes. Immediately after his passing, I put together an impromptu mix at The Flat, the following Monday for my weekly (RockSteady Mondays). The Saturday that followed, it was on Soular Grooves (the weekly radio show on KPFT 90.1), that I was able to put together a bit more comprehensive of a tribute together, splicing some interviews from a BBC documentary from 2006.

That led to an invitation to do a tribute in Austin on June 19th at The Gypsy Lounge, for the StrangeTribe crew (Papa Chop & Jeff Strange), which also featured El John (percussionist for Thievery Corporation) and Felix Pacheco (fellow DJ from Austin).

Finally, BOSCO34, one of my compatriots at Soular Grooves, came into my studio to ask me some questions about GSH and compiled a nice video piece for Vimeo. Most of what I wanted to say in this blog, is included in there, so I won’t repeat myself.

RIP GSH!

1 Response to Gil Scott Heron

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Philippa

July 18th, 2011 at 12:19 pm

Thanks for doing those DJ Sun, I learned alot from them.

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