Jazz Master Series

iTunes Review

While most music lovers rightfully regard Gil Scott-Heron as one of the most integral pioneers of rap and hip-hop, this set compiles the man’s jazz based material that began in the early ‘70s through encouragement from Bob Thiele, the famed jazz producer who also worked with such luminaries as John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Pharoah Sanders and others. “Alien (Hold On to Your Dream)” opens with funky bass lines and moody horns as Scott-Heron sing lyrics that are phrased rhythmically like hip-hop. “Shut ‘Em Down” moves with a similar groove that leans harder on Stevie Wonder-esque funk before a nine-minute long version of “The Bottle” addresses alcoholism in the ghetto. The similarly lengthy “Blue Collar” touches on working class trials and tribulations with a simmering cool reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On before “Washington D.C.” gets that fretless bass slapping under a poignant political rant about the street crime and squalor that surrounds the nation’s capitol. “Johannesburg” closes with some of his most pointed socio-political commentary.