Quality. It's that kind of music that just won't leave you feeling the same way as before you listened to it. It's the music that changes you. It gives you a change of mind, a change of perspective, or a change of mood. It's the artist showing you something, and it's only the best ones that knows how to show you something about yourself.
While 2011 gave us a number of new talents and loved returns, it also took some of the truly best away from us. Posthumous albums have and will follow, but for now, let's just remember two artists that stayed commited to Quality.
Gil Scott-Heron (1949 - 2011)
Gil's rough and gritty voice did not always hit the right notes. Sometimes it cracked a little. Sometimes he didn't even sing, just talked his way through the tracks. It wasn't the smooth and flowing kind of voice that Marvin Gaye or Smokey Robinson made a living off. But it was, without a doubt, one of music's most expressive voices. His voice excuded the kind of pain and anger that you would hear from the records of Nina Simone. You knew that what you were listening to was genuinely Gil, his own feelings, and his own life lessons. Gil was more of a teacher and a poet than a singer, but what he made was music at it's core.
Gil circled themes like racism, alcoholism and drug use with the kind of commitment that only a first hand spectator could have. He had something to tell us. His work told stories of oppression, revolution, and pride. Inspired by Malcolm X and Huey Newton intellectually, and John Coltrane and Billie Holiday musically, Gil mixed art and knowledge in a way that's hard to forget. And mote of us never will forget the poet, the civil rights activist, and the very passionate and human man that was Gil Scott-Heron.
Notable tracks:
Gil Scott-Heron - Home Is Where The Hatred Is
Gil Scott-Heron - The Train From Washington
Amy Winehouse (1983 - 2011)
Somebody else who was familiar with pain was Amy Winehouse. Almost more famous for her abuse of drugs and alcohol than her talents, Amy gave the gossip sites a whole lot to write about. However, the legacy she left behind is so much more than that. It's not the pictures of her disheveld appearance, or Youtube clips of her being too gone to perform. It's the beautiful woman with the classic voice. When other popular female artists sang sugary sweet songs, Amy managed to give her songs a strong injection of personality. Even though the themes might have been similar, other singers just couldn't portray real problems in the same way. An otherwise simple song about problematic relationships became instantly complex in Amy's hands.
In a world of plain and overproduced pop songs, Amy Winehouse's soulfully raspy voice and style reminiscent of the great jazz singers of the past will be missed deeply.
