Spirits | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 29, 1994 | |||
Recorded | April 1993 | |||
Genre | Jazz, poetry, blues | |||
Length | 56:34 (CD) | |||
Label | TVT Records | |||
Producer | Gil Scott-Heron, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Malcolm Cecil | |||
Gil Scott-Heron chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Christgau's Consumer Guide |
Spirits is the 1994 album by Gil Scott-Heron. The title track is an interpretation of the John Coltrane piece, and "The Other Side" is a live version of Scott-Heron's 1971 track "Home is Where the Hatred Is" with a new arrangement and many new verses that expand the original to nearly twenty minutes. It was later sampled for "Home" on the 2011 Jamie XX collaboration album, We're New Here .
Gilbert Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. He remains one of the most influential saxophonists in music history. He received many posthumous awards, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church and a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane and their son, Ravi Coltrane, is also a saxophonist.
We're New Here is a remix album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and English music producer Jamie xx, released on February 21, 2011, by Young Turks and XL Recordings. A longtime fan of Scott-Heron, Jamie xx was approached by XL label head Richard Russell to remix Scott-Heron's 2010 studio album I'm New Here. He worked on the album while touring with his band The xx in 2010 and occasionally communicated with Scott-Heron through letters for his approval to rework certain material.
In the liner notes, Scott-Heron discusses the new, jazzier tone of the record, and the attempts to define his sound:
What do you call reggae, blues, African vibration, jazz, salsa, chants and poetry?... Seriously trying to define it, I've said it's Black music. Or Black American music. Because Black Americans are now a tremendously diverse essence of all the places we've come from and the music and rhythms we brought with us.
This was Scott-Heron's first album in twelve years, and it would be sixteen more years before he would release another. "Lady's Song" and "Work for Peace" were omitted from the vinyl issue, while other songs were edited slightly for runtime.
All lyrics and music composed by Gil Scott-Heron; except where indicated
Malcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.
Brian Robert Jackson is an American keyboardist, flautist, singer, composer, and producer known for his collaborations with Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970s. The sound of Jackson's Rhodes electric piano and flute accompaniments featured prominently in many of their compositions, most notably on "The Bottle" and "Your Daddy Loves You" from their first official collaboration Winter in America.
Larry McDonald is a Jamaican percussionist. He was born in Port Maria, Jamaica in 1937. McDonald played congas with Carlos Malcolm's band, Toots and the Maytals and the Count Ossie Band. He plays a wide variety of traditional percussion instruments.
Alabama 3 are an English electronic band, founded in Brixton, London in 1995. Their track "Woke Up This Morning" was used for the show's opening credits of the TV series The Sopranos. In the United States, the band is known as A3, to avoid legal conflict with the country music band Alabama.
The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings is a 1995 box set by jazz musician John Coltrane. It features all of the recordings Coltrane made for Atlantic Records, spanning January 15, 1959 to May 25, 1961.
From South Africa to South Carolina is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was released in November 1975 by Arista Records. Scott-Heron performed "Johannesburg" and "A Lovely Day" on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in December 1975.
Pieces of a Man is the first studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron. It was recorded in April 1971 at RCA Studios in New York City and released later that year by Flying Dutchman Records. The album followed Heron's debut live album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970) and departed from that album's spoken word performance, instead featuring compositions in a more conventional popular song structure.
Winter in America is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on Winter in America deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s.
Free Will is the second studio album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron, released in August 1972 on Flying Dutchman Records. Recordings sessions for the album took place on March 2 and 3, 1972 at RCA Studios in New York City, and production was handled by producer Bob Thiele. It is the follow-up to Scott-Heron's critically acclaimed studio debut, Pieces of a Man (1971), and it is the second album to feature him working with keyboardist Brian Jackson. Free Will is also Scott-Heron's final studio album for Flying Dutchman. The album reissued on compact disc in 2001 by Bluebird Records with alternative takes of eight tracks from the original album.
The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron, keyboardist Brian Jackson, and the Midnight Band—an eight-piece musical ensemble. It was released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's and Jackson's critically acclaimed collaboration effort Winter in America. The First Minute of a New Day was the first album to feature "Winter in America", the title track of Scott-Heron's previous album which was not featured on its original LP release. The album was reissued on compact disc by Scott-Heron's label Rumal-Gia Records in 1998.
"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by audio engineer Jose Williams, Jackson, and Scott-Heron. The song serves as a social commentary on alcohol abuse, and it features a Caribbean beat and notable flute solo by Jackson, with Scott-Heron playing keyboards.
It's Your World is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson, released in November 1976 by Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in studio and live in July 1976 at Paul's Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and American Star Studios in Merrifield, Virginia. Scott-Heron and Jackson recorded the album with the former's backing ensemble, The Midnight Band. It's Your World was originally released on vinyl and was later re-released in 2000 on compact disc by Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia label.
"Rivers of My Fathers" is a song by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was written and composed by Scott-Heron and Jackson for their first collaborative album, Winter in America (1974). The song was recorded on October 15, 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and produced by Scott-Heron and Jackson with assistance from engineer Jose Williams.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a compilation album by American singer and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron. It was released in 1974 by Flying Dutchman Records and titled after Scott-Heron's 1971 song of the same name.
The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron is a 1978 album by spoken word and rap pioneer Gil Scott-Heron. Like many of Scott-Heron's albums, the album's content primarily addresses political and social issues; however, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron relies far more on his spoken word delivery than his other albums. Whereas much of the artist's earlier albums contained backup jazz-funk music from Brian Jackson, many of these tracks, which address contemporary issues such as Watergate, the pardon of Richard Nixon and the Attica Prison riot, are either live recordings or studio-recorded songs with little more than sparse drum backing or occasional instrumentation. Many of the tracks featured were included on previous Gil Scott-Heron albums.
Bridges is an album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, released in the fall of 1977 on Arista Records.
Moving Target is a studio album by American spoken-word poet and blues musician Gil Scott-Heron.
Secrets is a 1978 studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson.
Nothing New is a posthumous album of vocal & piano recordings by Gil Scott-Heron released by XL Recordings on April 19, 2014 in conjunction with Record Store Day. The album consists of new, stripped-down versions of a selection of older Scott-Heron songs stretching from 1971's "Pieces of a Man" to 1994's "The Other Side". It was recorded with producer Richard Russell between 2005 and 2009, in the same sessions that led to 2011's I'm New Here.
1980 is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded from August to October 1979 and released in February 1980 by Arista Records.