Jill Scott Debuts New Song at Special Carnegie Hall Engagement

For her first-ever performance at New York's famed Carnegie Hall (as part of the JVC Jazz Festival) Philly soul diva Jill Scott belted heartfelt verses all the way to the back of the third balcony. "I'm the real thing, in stereo/gotta little highs, gotta little lows" her alto rang to the rafters on the rocked-out title track from her latest album The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3. With each song, Scott dramatically carried the audience through a relationship rollercoaster: there was softness, passion, tension, rage, and rousing climaxes that had the packed crowd swaying, snapping, and longing for more.

On "Insomnia" she was up all night wishing her man would come back home, feeling crazy and alone. She started the song off pining, but soon her vocals were aching, and after the third verse she was defiant: "After being chased, I've been dismissed… You have managed to turn me from a woman of substance into this." The mood turned sweet when Scott's drummer emerged with a bouquet of yellow roses and kissed her — Scott then announced that they're engaged (the crowd cheered its approval). During favorites from all three of her albums, "Is It The Way," "Golden," and "Hate On Me," a mother and her daughters danced in the aisle, excited to have slipped past security down front.

Scott returned barefoot for a second encore, insisting that camera phones be turned off so everyone can "be in this place together." She then performed a new song for more than 10 minutes, "And I Heard," which started like a prayer and ended as a hymn.

Set List:
"The Rightness"
"Let It Be"
"The Real Thing"
"A Long Walk"
"Epiphany"
"Insomnia"
"Only You"
"Whenever You're Around"
"Slowly Surely"
"Is It The Way"
"How It Make You Feel"
"Come See Me"
"Imagination"
"Crown Royal"

Encore:

"Gimme"
"It's Love"
"Golden"
"Hate On Me"
"He Loves Me"
"And I Heard"

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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