For a man who spent part of the last decade doing stints in jail, Gil Scott-Heron certainly has a positive attitude.
"I got no complaints whatsoever," the 60-year-old poet/musician/author/icon says on the phone from his Harlem homestead. "Like I've been blessed by the spirits."
When you've had the decade that the Chicago-born, Tennessee-reared Scott-Heron had, every day must seem like a blessing. The man who's best known for the socially/politically conscious music he dropped during the Me Decade (which he most likely will perform tonight at the Carolina Theatre in Durham) spent a total of 18 months locked up, starting in 2001 when he was sent to a New York state prison for drug possession. (He reportedly had $20 worth of cocaine.) This was followed by a 10-month stretch in 2006 for violating the terms of his plea bargain by leaving a drug-treatment program.
But Scott-Heron likes to think he didn't go to prison because of drugs. "We can say drug possession," he says. "I call it 18 months for being defiant."
Between those two stints, he got some shocking news: He was diagnosed as HIV-positive. But Scott-Heron says he has undergone several tests since then that have been inconclusive.
"I got my first positive reading in 2006," he says. "Then, it was negative. ... I take a pill every once in a while, because they told me to. But it hasn't been any problem, either."
While he was in prison, he received something that made him stay upbeat: a letter from XL Recordings owner Richard Russell. Russell wanted to record with Scott-Heron, being a longtime fan of his work. It was Russell's relationship with indie-book publisher Jamie Byng - a close friend and the father of Scott-Heron's godson - that made Scott-Heron take notice. "Knowing that he was a friend of Jamie's and that he knew Jamie was a positive reference," he says.
Once out, Scott-Heron recorded songs with Russell for "I'm New Here," a collection of songs that will be released Tuesday. "Here" is full of Scott-Heron's raw vocals and introspective lyrics, with his getting inspiration less from his incarcerated days and more from artists such as John Lee Hooker (who inspired "New York Is Killing Me"), Robert Johnson (whose "Me And The Devil" he covers) and Bobby "Blue" Bland (he also covers "I'll Take Care Of You").
While most of the tunes have a postmodern, minimalist, synth-heavy backbeat, the collection still might take Scott-Heron fans back to his days on the Flying Dutchman label, the label for which he recorded self-penned classics such as "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" with such jazz greats as Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and Brian Jackson, Scott-Heron's most frequent '70s collaborator.
In an interview, Scott-Heron hits you with all the points of his life succinctly: started playing piano at age 8, began writing poetry in high school, got his master's degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. He lists off Esther Phillips, LaBelle and The Intruders as the artists who've covered his tunes, while Kanye West, Common and 2Pac have sampled them.
Just a 'piano player'
Scott-Heron has been trumpeted as a hip-hop godfather, thanks to his spoken-word verses and proto-rap numbers like "Revolution." However, the self-described "piano player" doesn't see himself affiliated with the rap world.
"I'm not anywhere with rap music," he says. "I've never been anywhere with any of them. Like, they started putting me aside for all of them."
The man isn't opposed to working with rappers, though, as he did when he collaborated on a track with Blackalicious on their 2002 album "Blazing Arrow" or joined Mos Def onstage at Carnegie Hall in 2008.
While it appears those conscious hip-hoppers just wanted to be in the same space with one of their idols, Scott-Heron downplays his iconic status.
"I think folks respect what I do 'cause I can play piano," he says. "I could write it or I could sing it or I could do whatever was necessary with it to make it come across to whatever audience we're trying to get to."
Besides, Scott-Heron knows that collaborating with these artists means that his three kids will hear his stuff. "As a father, I'm trying to get through to my kids. So, why not use every vehicle available?"
At the moment, Scott-Heron is using live performances to get through to people who will pick up not only "Here" on Tuesday but also, he hopes, his other, earlier, essential albums. From the way Scott-Heron sees it, he doesn't have time to be a bitter misanthrope.
"I'm sorry I can't join you on the sidelines and complain," he says. "I guess I will one of these days."
