Visionary jazz, blues and soul musician to visit Israel next month.
By DAVID BRINNHeron(photo credit: Adam Turner)
Called “the black Bob Dylan,” African-American poet, musician and author Gil Scott-Heron will be making his performing debut in Israel on May 25 at Tel Aviv’s Barby club.Rising to prominence in the 1970s with a fusion of spoken word, jazz, blues and soul focusing social and political issues, the 62-year-old Scott-Heron’s proto-rap style was a forerunner of the hip hop revolution.In addition to galvanizing a generation of young black Americans withalbums like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,Scott-Heron also reached a mainstream audience, performing theanti-nuclear “We Almost Lost Detroit” at the 1979 No Nukes concert inNew York with Bruce Springsteen and Crosby, Stills and Nash.Scott-Heron’s career has been sidetracked for many years due to drugaddiction and prison sentences, but he’s pushing forward with a newalbum, I’m New Here, and hoping to recapture some ofthe energy that made him such a visionary artist.