Gil Scott-Heron by Brian Jackson & Yasiin Bey

An evening to conjugate 1970s soul in the present, both political, connected to jazz and fertile ground for coming hip-hop. With — across the Atlantic — the ever-flamboyant Cymande and Gil Scott-Heron's legacy revisited by Brian Jackson and Yasiin Bey.

Novelist, poet and musician, Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011) left his mark on 20th-century popular music history, with a discography punctuated by classics deeply in tune with their time. Starting with Pieces of a Man in 1972, the second album housing the hit 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. Supple soul and spoken word, politics and poetry shine on this record, more than half of whose tracks were composed with producer, keyboardist and flautist Brian Jackson. The collaboration between the two men flourished throughout the 1970s across a dozen albums where their unprecedented blend of jazz, soul and blues paved the way for hip-hop's emergence.

It's precisely with a rap legend, Yasiin Bey, that Brian Jackson now collaborates to revisit Gil Scott-Heron's exceptional repertoire, underlining an obvious kinship between two artists who have both cultivated jazz culture and social and political fibre within protean, incisive and free work. Cast: Cymande · Gil Scott-Heron by Brian Jackson & Yasiin Bey · Brian Jackson – piano, vocals · Yasiin Bey – vocals · Lex Cameron – keyboards · Sara Madaluni – keyboards · Dean Mark – bass · Claudio Cartagena – percussion · Chris Morris – drums