`Who is JiLL SCOTT?' - singers

Ebony, July, 2001 by Lynn Norment

WHO is Jill Scott?" For the past year, this question has been buzzing through the entertainment industry and among music fans. We've heard her soulful, earthy voice, reveled in her heartfelt, woman-in-love lyrics. We've seen her smiling face with twinkling eyes, enjoyed her down-to-earth, jazzed-up stage performances. We've even seen her sing on television, paying tribute to her greatest influence, Aretha Franklin.

Jill Scott has been called the "premier female romantic voice of the neosoul era." One magazine named her one of "50 most beautiful people." A music industry insider says he can see Jill smiling when he hears her singing. Another says God is talking to him through Jill Scott. Her music has been described not only as hip-hop but also as poetry and R&B and jazz, as "introspective" and "hypnotic," as a "thorough sensual appraisal." There have been comparisons to Billie Holiday's aching sensuality, Lauryn Hill's earthiness and social consciousness, Roberta Flack's introspection.

Yet, the question--"Who is Jill Scott?"--continues to beg for a definitive answer. Scott herself says she is a poet and singer and, based on her lyrics and words, a woman in love--in love with her man, her music, her soul. In love with life. "I would say I'm a whole woman who is on a long journey," she says when asked the million-dollar question. "It began with music, and writing ..." She hesitates. "Basically, I can't answer the question, for what I do is to invite folks to watch and to enjoy. I'm an artist."

A very successful one, though success for Jill Scott is not measured by dollars, albums sold or by whether people like her or not. Yet, success has found this spirited creative force and infused her into the hearts of fans around the world. The Philadelphia native's platinum album, Who Is Jill Scott?, has sold more than a million copies and represents an auspicious debut for Hidden Beach Recordings.

A clever, gifted lyricist, she writes about love and related matters that consume the heart and soul of a Sister from the neighborhood. A poet and actor before venturing into music, Scott's music is peppered with bursts of spoken-word segments, interspersed with melodic vocal offerings. She is a prolific wordsmith who co-wrote each of the songs on her CD, her favorites from more than 50 she put together. Her alto is clear, earthy and soulful; and her womanly desires and needs are spelled out, passionately.

"No question about it, my songs are created from places I've been, something I've Keen, something I've felt. It's all coming right out of me," she says. "I just put my thoughts down. I keep with me a notebook I pick up from the dollar store. I place stickers all over the book so I can see the places I've been during that time. The words wake me up sometimes. I see them in my dreams; the rhythm, it hits me all at once. Sometimes I have to sleep to hear the song. Sometimes they won't let me sleep. I have vivid dreams, where I see the whole thing ... When it's time to write, I must. To others I have to say, `Sorry, I can't help you right now.'"

That's why, she says, this "celebrity" that has engulfed her over the past year is difficult at times. While she appreciates the support of fans, she is sometimes caught off guard when concentrating on a thought that is evolving into a poem or a lyric. "Some folk tap you on the shoulder and pull you out of the dream," she says. "That has been hard for me, because I want to be respectable of folk."

She says she signed with Hidden Beach because she wax impressed with the fact that CEO Steve McKeever ("the keeper, the young visionary, the Chicago Brother") was interested in her music, her heart and where her music comes from. Other industry executives, says Scott, only wanted to know, right up front, how she looked. "Jill's the ideal artist to usher in Hidden Beach," says McKeever, previously an executive with Polygram and Motown, where he launched the MoJazz label. "She's both a throwback to the days of `real music' and compelling artists, and a representative of the emerging cadre of new, relevant performers who will set the tempo for the next generations."

One of Hidden Beach's "guiding philosophies" is to give artists the creative freedom to try new genres and musical styles, and that obviously is what caught Scott's attention. "Steve has a passion for and sincerity in music and about music," she says. "I also knew I'd be able to run my own show. There would he nobody telling me what I could and could not do, from the artwork to the presentation, not only the music."

Though Scott has been writing poetry since she was a youngster, she didn't write her first song until a few years ago when her friend and collaborator, Andre Harris, gave her a tape full of music and she wrote, among other lyrics, the words for her hit "A Long Walk." "I was on the bus on the way to an audition, maybe the third or fourth callback," She recalls. "When I heard that beat, it sounded like a summer day. From there the words just started coming and I just went with it. Much of it was part of my fiance's and my first date. That's when we met. We just went to the park and got a chance to learn how to look at each other. `Long Walk' is really a metaphor for life, If you rush and run through it, you might miss it, but it you take a long walk ..."