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No texting, no photos, no distractions. With mobile devices locked away in Yondr pouches, Jill Scott\u2019s four-night stand at the Met Philly is a phone-free experience.<\/p>\n
In her run of sold-out shows at the Broad Street opera house that kicked off Friday and \u2014 with a couple of days off in between \u2014 finishes Wednesday night, there\u2019s no intermediary technology to separate Jilly from Philly. <\/p>\n
Which really is \u201cThe Way\u201d \u2014 the title of one of her signature hits, from her 2000 debut Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Vol. 1 \u2014 it should be. <\/p>\n
When it comes to building community, Scott is up there with the best. Her staunchly loyal following has lived through trials and tribulations with the singer-songwriter-poet-rapper-and-actress from just \u2018round the way at 23rd and Lehigh in North Philly for a quarter-century.<\/p>\n
At Monday night\u2019s 2-hour, 23-song show, that bond was evident from the get-go. <\/p>\n
Following an opening set by Camden trumpeter and bandleader Arnetta Johnson, who is also scheduled to perform Wednesday, Scott opened with five straight tracks from To Whom This May Concern<\/a>, her sixth album, which came out in February and is her first in 11 years. <\/p>\n The first, \u201cDope S\u2014,” featured a prerecorded spoken word piece by poet Maha Adachi Earth that offered a taste of what was to come: \u201cI been manifesting visions, oh chile, I been making them all come true \u2026 I make love, I be good, I do dope s\u2014.\u201d <\/p>\n That was followed by \u201cBe Great,\u201d a horn-fired banger cowritten with Adam Blackstone and Trombone Shorty that featured video screen images of HBCU marching bands while sousaphonist Adam Smith II \u2014 who otherwise played guitar \u2014 prowled the stage. <\/p>\n That song threw down a challenge, to her audience, and to Scott herself: \u201cAll my life I want to do good, wanted to be good, to feel free of a history that made me cry,\u201d she sang over a rugged funk groove. <\/p>\n Then, she gave it a second thought: \u201cI\u2019ma go ahead and be great. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n The new songs were warmly received by an audience that has grown up with Scott, 54, since she emerged from the turn-of-the-century neo-soul scene at the Black Lily nights at Old City<\/a> club the Five Spot. <\/p>\n The crowd was approximately 70% female, and as almost entirely Black as, for instance, the crowds at Connor Barwin\u2019s Make the World Better concerts this past weekend at the Dell Music Center were almost entirely white. <\/p>\n To Whom is a jam-packed, musically diverse return from Scott, of which she is justifiably proud. She wove 14 of the album\u2019s 19 tracks into her set. <\/p>\n \u201cLiftin\u2019 Me Up,\u201d which included a snippet of Jackie Wilson\u2019s \u201c(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher\u201d was one To Whom highlight. <\/p>\n Another was \u201cPay U on Tuesday,\u201d in which Scott, who now lives outside of Nashville, Tenn., excoriated deadbeats \u2014 \u201cYou in jail again this weekend? You ain\u2019t got your child support, for real? \u2014 in the style of 1920s blues belters like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. <\/p>\n The look was completed with Scott cooling herself with a giant faux ostrich feather fan in the style Rainey favored,<\/a> while the video screen was lit to look like a roadside juke joint. <\/p>\n Scott keeps up a lively, theatrical but heartfelt rapport with her people, about love, loss, self-care, and finding the way to fulfillment. And the audience is happy to talk back. <\/p>\n At different junctures, the video screen depicted a house with boxes of troubles outside labeled \u201cSelf Doubt\u201d and \u201cUgliness,\u201d packed up to be disposed. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: How to have a perfect Philly Day, according to Jill Scott<\/a><\/p>\n On \u201cThe Math,\u201d the screen showed algebraic equations while Scott sang about behavior that does not add up to equal self-esteem. \u201cDo the math, Jill!\u201d a woman standing behind me enthusiastically shouted out. \u201cDo the math!\u201d<\/p>\n As well as Scott\u2019s new music went over, the crowd-pleasers came from the benchmark albums that kicked off her career. All night long, she was in excellent voice, not only singing, but rapping on \u201cNorf Side\u201d and \u201cBPOTY.\u201d <\/p>\n She had plenty of help from fans who rose from their seats and joined in full-throated unison on the neighborhood stroll of \u201cA Long Walk\u201d and tender \u201cThe Way\u201d from her debut, and \u201cCross My Mind\u201d and \u201cGolden\u201d from 2002\u2019s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds, Vol. 2.<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s 10-member band is of the highest caliber. The three male backup vocalists known as the Pipes supported her ably throughout. When the star left for a costume change \u2014 from one blue gown to another, with an ankle-length poofy white coat added for the second half \u2014 the trio kept the vibe alive with a winning version of Al Green\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Stay Together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is live music!\u201d Scott intermittently stated throughout the evening, reminding the room that nothing they were hearing was canned. \u201cThis is live music!\u201d<\/p>\n She added, before \u201cHe Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat),\u201d that \u201cPhiladelphia keeps music alive.\u201d The city continues to produce the world\u2019s best musicians, said the singer, who grew up less than three miles away from the Met, on the 2300 block of Oakdale St. Other artists come to her shows to lure players away for their own bands, she added, \u201cbut they always come back.\u201d <\/p>\n With that, she introduced pianist Eric Wortham II,<\/a> who has also toured with Adele and Jazmine Sullivan. He played a delicate intro to \u201cHe Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat),\u201d which came to a close with Scott\u2019s showstopping operatic vocal flourishes.<\/p>\n Special praise at the end of the show was reserved for bass player Duane \u201cDW\u201d Wright, <\/a>with whom the singer shares music director duties. Scott was sexually frank throughout the evening, but she got down got and dirty during the finale when DW was spotlighted. <\/p>\n She called him a \u201cwhisperer\u201d with a specialty in women\u2019s sexuality. Wright laid down a deliciously provocative groove just to prove her right, and the audience leaned in, paying particularly close attention.<\/p>\n