Gil Scott-Heron: Black Wax Plus 'Is That Jazz?' [DVD]

The poet, vocalist, and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron is both the descendant of the African griots and the forefather of rap. In the early '70s, he boldly proclaimed that "the revolution will not be televised," and in the '80s he warned us of the "New World Order" with his prophetic and satirical single, "B Movie." The gifted filmmaker Robert Mugge filmed the controversial artist in performance at the now-defunct Wax Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Mugge alternates between the electrifying soul/jazz/funk grooves of Scott- Heron's Midnight Band and his witty and deep monologues about racial politics with a wax figure of Uncle Sam and his dead-on commentaries on urban life in the nation's capital. Included on this DVD is the bonus selection "Is That Jazz," Heron's swinging shout-out to the jazz legends and a rebuke of those who try to limit it. Nobody tells it like it is like Gil Scott-Heron, and nobody ever will. --Eugene Holley Jr.