In its heyday, which began about 30 years ago and lasted for a decade, neo-soul harkened back to a time when pop music drew from R&B and jazz. For Jill Scott, who was born in 1972 — around the time Gil Scott-Heron, Sly Stone, Miles Davis and many others were changing Black music — neo-soul has been a way of singing about basic values and self-identity without stinting on style. The lush textures of her 2004 album Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 drew from the sounds of 1970s R&B and soul, and Scott’s smooth approach didn’t disguise the weirdness underneath. Beautifully Human and 2011’s The Light of the Sun describe Scott’s voyage of self-discovery, which includes her struggle to find the perfect relationship. Scott’s new To Whom This May Concern updates the neo-soul ingredients just a little, but it withstands comparison with her earlier work. At this fraught moment in history, Scott’s slightly abstract jazz-funk-soul and her narratives about getting by in a world that’s as tough as it can be — check out the album’s “Pressha”— sound mighty real to me. Thursday at the Ryman, Scott settles in for a three-night run that continues Friday and finishes on Sunday.
June 4, 5 & 7 at the Ryman
116 Rep. John Lewis Way N.
