review
Jill Scott
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Phatmag:
While you were recording your particular album, were there any albums
that you were listening to in particular? 'Cos I know some people, when
they're working, they don't want to come back and listen to what they've
been doing but they lock themselves into another album, just listen
to different stuff or were you coming back from the studio and listen
to your own stuff and see how it was.
Well
I listened to Kim Burrel. She's a jazz, gospel artist. Incredible lyrics.
Incredible, incredible, incredible voice. I listen to Rachelle Ferrell
- incredible and other than that, I pretty much kept quiet.
Phatmag:
Do you listen to a lot of jazz, a lot of gospel? What's you're main....?
As
of lately, I haven't been really listening to much of anything because
there's so much going on, I try to keep my mind open and not heavy.
When I do listen, I do listen to jazz and blues. Parliament... you know
I listen to some funk, reggae. I mean I listen to all kinds of music
Phatmag:
So what three artists can you say have most influenced you and your
style or who you are?
Prince,
Donny Hathaway and I would have to say Aretha Franklin
Phatmag:
That's quite broad actually. I mean Donny Hathaway and Aretha might be
a bit closer but Prince, yeah
Yeah
and I mean there's more like Barbara Streisand really influenced me and
Sting. But the top three I would have to say is those three
Phatmag:
Now I read that you didn't want to be put into a box - you didn't want
to be pigeonholed. Do you think you've managed to do that?
Well
I think this album speaks for itself. Yeah. I think that some people will
say that it's R&B and some people will say it's rather jazzy but at
the end of the day, when it's time for the next album, I think they'll
be open enough to expect anything from me 'cos you know, there's a lot
of different flavours on this album
Phatmag:
And would you call yourself first, a singer/songwriter or a poet?
Err I was
never a writer first. Yeah I started singing before I did anything but
you it's hard to say because they both fit in the same place in my world.
I love to write and sing. I could sing but I don't enjoy it as much you
know without the writing part of it. Actually I can't say that because
I haven't tried to sing anybody else's music
Phatmag:
So you enjoy singing what you write?
Yeah
of course. I think it becomes a little more intense because you know exactly
where the work is coming from
