MUSIC REVIEW : Scott-Heron Still in Tune With Times : ‘Blues-ology’: His music comes with pungent commentary on what’s wrong with the world.

Gil Scott-Heron is best known for his music, but he is first and foremost a poet and wry social commentator, a sort of analyst-of-the-streets who makes us laugh at the absurdities of life in America, seen from the black perspective.

With both the Persian Gulf War and Black History Month under way, Scott-Heron found plenty to chew on Thursday night at Elario’s, where he and his band, the Amnesia Express, opened a four-night engagement that continues through Sunday.

Nearly 20 years after his first album “Pieces of a Dream” dealt with the issues of its day in songs such as “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Scott-Heron looks and sounds much the same. Tall and wiry, with the trademark beard bushing beneath his chin, he chants like the granddaddy of rappers and sings in a deep, resonant voice that seems like a direct window on his soul.

Dressed like a working man in blue jeans and a T-shirt under a loose, unbuttoned long-sleeved shirt, Scott-Heron opened with a monologue dedicated to Black History Month.

Always conscious of differences between black and white cultures, Scott-Heron moved between racially based commentaries and humor with no racial slant. He called often for world peace. Over the years, his anger at society’s outrages seems to have dropped from a raging fire to a steady glow, and his sillier moments draw you in, making the serious stuff more accessible.

At Elario’s, Scott-Heron pronounced the 1990s the decade of “ologies.”

“If you can’t find a job, you put ‘ology’ on the end of whatever you want to do. I have entered the field of blues-ology, which is about how things feel.”

He called for an “Infrequent Flyer Plan” requiring well-to-do, frequent travelers to donate their bonus air trips to those who can’t afford to fly. And he wondered about the logic of “Driver’s Side Air Bags” in cars--”He’s the one that (screwed) up. Put it on the passenger side!”

When the music began, it was loose and gritty, with Scott-Heron providing the spark and direction for the band of five.

Material consisted of several of Scott-Heron’s best-known 1970s tunes, reworked for the 1990s, plus a variety of newer music. Among the classics were “Detroit,” “Winter in America,” “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” “Blue Collar,” “The Bottle” and his “Nothin’ But a Movie” rap.

The sound was rhythmic, funky, pulsing, with percussionist Tony Duncanson, drummer Rodney Young and bassist Michael Bowie creating a dense, ever-changing, polyrhythmic backdrop for Scott-Heron’s singing and some searing improvisations supplied by Edward Brandy on guitar and Carl Cornwell, co-founder of the Amnesia Express, on piano, sax and flute.

On piano, Cornwell moved between a pounding, two-fisted Little Richard attack and the free-style of Cecil Taylor. He blew tenor sax with the wide-open wail of John Coltrane and coaxed sensuous, tropical lines from his flute.

Guitarist Brandy, young, hip and obviously schooled in funk and rock, played his white Stratocaster upside down and left-handed like Jimi Hendrix. He combined Hendrix’s fire, speed and generous use of the tremolo bar with assorted bluesy string bends and fleeting cries reminiscent of Carlos Santana.

Much like Miles Davis, Scott-Heron provides a sort of glue that holds his band together. He gives his musicians plenty of leeway, but the music’s rhythmic grounding and looseness seem to emanate from their leader.

Between sets, Scott-Heron took time out to talk.

Besides his music, he continues to put society under his microscope and report on what kinds of disgusting and amusing bacteria are multiplying.

Though the 1990s are perceived by some as tame compared to the revolutionary 1960s, Scott-Heron believes there is still plenty of interest in social causes, including peace.

He recently participated in an anti-war march in Washington, where 200,000 people showed up. He blames the military’s knowledge of media manipulation for giving many Americans the idea that the Persian Gulf war makes sense.

Musically, a live double album was released in Europe last year and has sold 80,000 copies, but it is still not available in the United States.

Scott-Heron said he has had offers for U.S. distribution, but recording companies want to sign him to long-term deals, although he would rather do one project at a time.

U.S. fans can, however, buy his new book. “So Far, So Good”--a collection of of his writings and song lyrics published by Third World Press in Chicago--is available at his shows and in bookstores.