Gil Scott-Heron! Gil lives in the music, in our hearts & souls, Gil lives! We also have new music from Ayo and wrap up the week with seven versions of "Lonnie’s Lament" featuring the composer John Coltrane, as well as interpretations from Dr. Lonnie Smith, Archie Shepp, Kenny Garrett, Conrad Herwig & Brian Lynch, Pharoah Sanders, and McCoy Tyner.
I call this Mixtape Gil Scott-Heron Classic Mixtape not because it features the most famous or even most impressive Gil Scott-Heron songs. For example “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is not included, nor is there even one of the numerous versions of “The Bottle.” And I’m sure people are going to wonder how in the world I could not include “Is that Jazz” or “Inner City Blues.” And for those who like to party-hardy, or maybe just to dance until they drop, I’m sure you think I’m positively lame for not including “Angel Dust” or especially for skipping over “Johannesburg.” But there is a reason for my madness of excluding popular songs.
Some of the songs included here are rarities in Gil’s copious catalogue. Plus, some of these versions are not the studio recordings but live performances of diverse provenance. I had three little guidelines in mind. I assumed that over the next week or so you would be able to hear the major hits from a plethora of online and radio sources. Therefore I didn’t feel any pressure to assemble a greatest-hits Mixtape.
In addition, I wanted to highlight Gil as both a poet and a composer by including a wide range of his work. I’m sure that the majority of people will be hearing the poem “Jose Campos Torres” for the first time. I’ve included “The Ghetto Code (Dot Dot Dit Dot Dit Dot Dot Dash)” especially for those who have never heard Gil live, especially Gil in his prime at the top of his game both fully in control of his faculties and in full synchrony with his audience.
Many people may not be aware that Gil wrote as many ballads as he did, after all Gil was often characterized as fiercely political but he also wrote some of the most tender love songs you ever want to hear. In a couple of cases, most notably “Morning Thoughts” Gil was the master of merging the personal and the political in ways that seamlessly transitioned from romance to revolution within three minutes or less.
Finally, I had a not so obvious goal in mind. In this time of mourning and grief about Gil’s transition from the land of the living, I wanted to put together a Mixtape that encourages us to be optimistic about our ability to create a better world, our ability to live better and more beautiful lives.