#OnRepeat: Jill Scott feat. Mike Phillips "The Way"

For today's #OnRepeat, I had to write about Jill Scott's song, "The Way", which is a live version featuring Mike Phillips on saxophone. There are some musicians who don't sound as good in their live performance as on a fully-mastered, studio album, but Jill Scott is one of the exceptions. For those of you who aren't familiar with Jill Scott, she is an R&B singer and actress. I am always discovering songs by Jill Scott that I really like not only because of the timbre of her voice, but because of her lyric writing.

I really enjoy listening to Scott's voice because of how much control you can hear in her voice. It seems like she has been vocally trained--her vocal clarity and diction, her use of dynamics and vocal placement--even if she may not have necessarily had any formal training. Her ability to go from a full, bright sound to this nasal, pointed tone to convey a message in a phrase makes it interesting to listen to her.

In the song, "The Way", I loved how she had the music reflect the lyrics (and vice-versa) to convey a feeling, atmosphere, mood, etc. For example, in the first verse she says:

 "Woke up this morning with a smile on my face 
   Jumped out of bed, took a shower, dressed, cleaned up my place 
   Made me some breakfast, toast, 2 scrambled eggs,  . . . grits" 

She sings the first line slow, as if to literally insinuate she's waking up. The next line is sung fast; as if she's in "work-mode" (getting stuff done, starting her day). Then, on the third line she slows down and drags out the word, "grits", suggesting that she was really looking forward to her breakfast. You would think that this lyrical phrasing only happens here, but the pattern continues throughout the song--the words fitting nicely within the rhythm of each phrase. Now, of course, this is my own interpretation of the lyrics, but this doesn't take away from the fact that Jill Scott is a good songwriter. 

Please pay special attention to her improvisational skills in this song. This includes where she places notes in a phrase, words rhythmically in a phrase, her use of dynamics and how she messes with the timbre of her voice. You can hear the jazz and soul influence in her scatting and musical riffing. 

Check out more of Jill Scott's music when you get a chance and if you guys have a new artist or group to check out, leave a comment below!