What words are out there to describe a performance by the legendary Sherry Scott? The consummate headliner has been pleasing audiences with her distinctive vocal styling since her early beginnings with the amazing Earth Wind & Fire. When the group was organized in 1969, she was one of the original members and the only female member of the band. She returns to Chicago Sept. 21, 2014, for her birthday concert highlighting her two years with the group at Chicago’s historic Grand Ballroom.
When you and the band organized, was there a feeling that you all were doing something that was going to bring something new and different to the R&B sound?
That’s one of those questions I don’t really know how to answer, having not anticipated what was coming in the future. So the interesting thing about in the beginning was just that — the beginning — and coming together and trying to make a decision as to what we were and were not going to be able to do to bring things together.
What was that time like of forming the group in 1969?
You know we were in the 60s, so it was a very musical time because of the black power movement and all the things the country was dealing with and going through at that particular time. When I decided to move to Los Angeles I wanted to be able to change what I had been dealing with in Chicago during the 60s.
Tell me about your move into jazz music after you left EW&F?
I would imagine that I’ve always been a jazz singer. I was raised in the genre of jazz especially during the 60s because that was what the new music was. R&B was soul music, all that was happening at that time too, but along with that the Jazz explosion was also taking place and I was a part of that because I was a part of the AACM, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, which was started by Richard Muhal Abrams. They were creating avant-garde and free jazz. I was the first singer to do that.
Tell me about the birthday concert on Sept. 21?
After all these years, I’ve put together an Earth Wind & Fire band and we will be in concert Sept. 21, in Chicago at the Grand Ballroom. The band is composed of a lot of musicians I’ve worked with before and probably, if not all, have touched base with Earth Wind & Fire music at some point. This is an opportunity for me to revisit the material of the first two albums that we originally recorded.
The event will be held at the Grand Ball Room, 804 E. 64th St. Tickets on sale at www.SherryScott.Eventbrite.com.
