Unpacking Jill Scott’s Utterly Iconic Tiny Desk
When we told you a month or so back that Jill Scott is back, no one could have predicted the degree of back-ness that was in the offing. Released on February 13th (just a week ago from this writing), To Whom This May Concern is a sprawling, lively, utterly inspired album — and her first in over a decade. That wait and the album’s triumphant nature have made it, over the past seven days, a global musical event; the album is garnering its own mini news cycle of reviews and it lit up social feeds all weekend long last week and well into this week. Then, on Monday, her Tiny Desk concert dropped, sending the whole thing into overdrive.
To say that Scott’s Tiny Desk appearance was long-awaited and hotly anticipated is something of an understatement, and just like To Whom This May Concern, it delivered… and delivered, and delivered again — to the point where they’re going to have to update this list, pronto.
What made it so great? A lot of things. Let’s unpack some of them here.
Tiny Desk Maximalism FTW!
Jilly from Philly is the kind of person who brings 11 people to a Tiny Desk and still makes it feel like home. This has got to be one of the most musically maximalist Tiny Desks ever made — so many instruments, so many voices (more on that in a moment), and hey, holy moly, is that… a bass flute?!
It is. And throughout, Scott’s band is just unbelievable, offering a master class in jazzy soul and service to the array of songs here that scan from her breakout single “A Long Walk” to tracks from the new album. We need to see this band in concert in Philly ASAP!
The Delivery
“I thought about you so much,” says Scott, early on in the performance. “I was, like, ‘One day, Imma be on Tiny Desk!’” That thoughtfulness shows up big time as Scott delivers a performance here that harnesses her singing skills, her comedy skills — for she is possessed of the Philly person running-commentary gene — and even her acting skills. She is just captivating as a performer, really stretching the role of “singer” back into the old form of “entertainer”; her voice is amazing, she’s legit funny between songs, and you see her connecting with this audience in a way is really truly rare. By the time the performance wraps up with “The Way,” there is a singalong going that will melt your heart, even as she’s improvising a line like: “Shout out to your mama! Shout out to your daddy!” Reader, it made me proud to be from here.
These Guys
Jilly also has three amazing-sounding and deeply engaging backup singers who definitely need their own spinoff meme/LP/sitcom, and special notice of them must be made here. They are Gene Noble, Bluu Suede, and Deonis “Pumah” Cook — all three are artists in their own rite, and each of them have records out right now. What they bring to this performance is really special, and joyful, and true.
The Fit
We looked it up! Jilly is wearing something called the Not Your Boyfriends Shirt Dress.
It is a dress made of shirts that I believe is maybe subconsciously transmitting the idea that maybe all of us Philadelphians are just little kids standing on top of one another to make one Jill Scott. My editor said that sentence made him feel like he was tripping, which only convinces me that I’m onto something here.
The Vibe
The timeline is terrible right now. But time and again lately, music has been offering a salve — live music, recorded music, music maybe you make yourself, even just music your hear on the streets. This performance has got to be one of the truest expressions of soul music — emphasis on both words — that has been put out on a mass appeal level in quite some time. Jilly from Philly is necessary right now, and probably always, and is just delivering at scale. Watching this may very well make you feel better about the world — or if not the world, maybe just yourself, your people, and our hometown. Shout out to your mama. Shout out to your daddy.