Who is Jill Scott?

        That's the question posed in the title of her 2000 debut, a CD that earned her a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

        Subtitled Word and Sounds Vol. 1, it moves from playful eroticism to heartbreak and back again. It features her powerful old-school soul singing, poetic, socially conscious lyrics and supple hip-hop production weaving in jazz and world-beat.

Scott

        The mature, multifaceted disc has sold well more than a million copies and landed the Philadelphia native a headlining spot on the WIZ Coors Light Riverfront Jazz Festival at Cinergy Field.

        The short answer is: Jill Scott is one of the fastest rising artists in modern soul music and the newest star of Cincinnati's biggest annual R&B show.

        That barely touches the surface, says the woman who first posed the trick question. There is no single answer, she admits.

        “To answer, "Who is Jill Scott?' it's just impossible,” says Ms. Scott. “I won't know and maybe you won't know until it's all over.”
       

Aspiring teacher

        Ms. Scott, 29, was raised in North Philly, home to a burgeoning music scene that includes the Roots, Bahamadia, Eve, D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Musiq Soulchild.

        She cites her grandmother as an early musical inspiration, but she never planned a musical career. Instead, she attended Temple University as an English major, working to become a teacher.

        She dropped out in her junior year to pursue her interest in legitimate theater and before long, she was starring in the Canadian production of Rent.

IF YOU GO

What: The WIZ Coors Light Riverfront Jazz Festival     When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5:30 p.m. next Sunday     Where: Cinergy Field     Performing: Friday — Jill Scott, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Joe, Carl Thomas and the Ohio Players.    Saturday — Aretha Franklin, Brian McKnight, the Four Tops, Cameo and “Jazz Explosion 2001” featuring Chante Moore, Will Downing and Jonathan Butler.    Next Sunday — the O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Yolanda Adams and Kathy Wade & the Queen City All-Stars.     Tickets: $60, $40 and $30 Friday and Saturday; $45 and $30 Sunday, at Ticketmaster outlets, phone 562-4949 and online at www.ticketmaster.com

        That's a big part of what sets her apart from so many of today's CD-centric R&B and hip-hop artists. Recording stars may sell millions, but when it's time to take it to the stage, they don't have a clue.

        “But that's where I come from, I come from the stage and I'm really comfortable being there. I enjoy it,” she says. “I spent so much of my time, from a teen-ager to now, being onstage, it's really what I'm comfortable doing.”
       

Songwriting big break

        Her big break came as a songwriter, not a performer. She was brought to national attention in 1999 for co-writing “You Got Me,” the Grammy-winning hit by the Roots and Erykah Badu.

        After appearing on CDs with Will Smith, the Roots and Common and on the soundtracks for Wild Wild West, The Hood and In Too Deep, she released her solo debut on Hidden Beach, a boutique label funded by Michael Jordan and distributed by Epic.

        A year later she's a star on her first headlining tour. But she's careful not to let her new fame take over her life.

        “I need to take out the trash, and I need to sit on the steps, and I need to vacuum and not rush so much and make dinner every night. That's where I get the majority of my music from.”

        She feels no pressure to follow up her CD, even as she continues to create new songs.

        “I've written a lot this last year, so I'm pretty much on the third album already,” she says, adding that there's no hurry, one benefit of being once removed from a major label.

        “That's the best way to create,” she says. “This is not something to mass produce — "OK, now the next one, now the next one, now the next one.' I don't work that way.”
       

Soul of the matter

        That's a big chunk of the answer to “Who is Jill Scott?” For this soul singer, “soul” isn't just music.

        “I'm a writer, I need to stay calm, to pay attention to what's happening around,” she says. “I had a friend of mine tell me, "Don't get too old before my time.' And I told her, "I don't think there's anything I can do about that.' My life is different and I have to acknowledge it.

        “But there's still life and zest and fun and joy in me, absolutely. If I was to lose those things I would quit this job. I would quit in a heartbeat, because my soul is so much more important to me than fame or fortune.”
       

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