The Berklee Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson Music, and Spoken Word Ensemble
This course highlights the music and poetry of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. Gil 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." Through these songs and poems, the course examines the contributions of the Midnight Band to the discourse of the turbulent societal changes from the late 70s to the 90s.