Meshell Ndegeocello: RFI

she is beyond amazing here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl1R_Cn_L98

She looks great!

Never heard that Mark Hollis record, sounds good

<3

I love this record, top three record.

Is this an album track, or upcoming? Amazing band lineup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFAWrJ6EC8I

it's the japanese bonus track for the omnichord real book, but she's put it out as a single now

So her Sun Ra tribute album is up for preorder:

https://redhot.bandcamp.com/album/red-hot-ra-the-magic-city

It's so good!!!! And not Just cux I'm on it... it fibrillates the tribute genre in all the ticklespots!!

Oh cool. Congrats

Seeing her at University of Maryland, near DC , Thursday night

A good show but short - an hour plus 1 short encore. $40 some dollars for a ticket .

She and her band covered George Clinton Atomic Dog and Marvin Gaye “I Want You” nicely plus various songs from throughout her career. Justin Hicks opened and then sang well with Meshell. “Virgo ( they’re calling me back to the stars)” sounded great.

Nothing from her Sun Ra tribute and no mention of it

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/meshell-ndegeocello/2024/the-clarice-smith-performing-arts-center-college-park-md-5baacbac.html

It's out!!!! And I'm so humbled to have a teensy part on it. It's so good!!! Hope u all like it

https://open.spotify.com/album/0DasJUmo5vuNbhrMWehX5x?si=BTSRyE6FRaqHrRS9eMF4mQ

Got my preorder last night! Will give it a proper ear over the weekend for sure.

Ned if u have some of those psilocybin gummies in the cabinet it wouldn't hurt.

This Friday, GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello will unveil her groundbreaking and visionary album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn

New album is out. It's emotionally heavy lyrically with both sung and spoken word vocals. Carefully crafted and effective musically and lyrically.

She and her band are at the Newport Jazz Fest Sunday. Wesley Morris interview with her for the NY Times here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/arts/music/meshell-ndegeocello-james-baldwin.html?unlocked_article_code=1._00.FxeI.rX4DWliM-6Yy&smid=url-share

Has Plantation Lullabies been bettered? The first three albums are perfect.

New album is totally brilliant.

One aspect that is notable to me: the use of ethereal, floating keyboard lines, which has been like this recurring recessive gene within Meshell’s output, really comes to the fore here, and frequently gives the music this sense of threatening to float off into the stratosphere.

Early days, but if I remain as enthusiastic about this as I am after two listens, it could be my favourite quasi-jazz album since Ancestral Recall.

The Omnichord Real Book also awes (still need to check xxxxpost bonus track),

For sure. It's great to have so much amazing material from her in such a short period of time after such a long gap.

I feel like I should clarify what I meant by the last line of my post, and "quasi-jazz" in particular: this album feels less obviously jazz-grounded than Omnichord and more explicitly "post-genre" - but in away that feels incredibly natural and organic rather than self-conscious and premeditated. If I squint, I guess the clearest prior precedent for this album from Meshell's prior work is The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams, but the flow of this feels more seamless, which perhaps reflects its origins as a theatre piece.

...this album feels less obviously jazz-grounded than Omnichord and more explicitly "post-genre" - but in away that feels incredibly natural and organic rather than self-conscious and premeditated.

I've kinda gotten this impression in going from The Hope Six Demolition Project toI Inside the Old Year Dying.

From the NY Times article/interview I linked to above--

Ndegeocello’s vocals aren’t always the most prominent in this configuration. That role goes to Justin Hicks, who can soar as high as Ndegeocello can luxuriate in her lower comfort zone. Kenita Miller-Hicks, his wife, fleshes out the harmonies. “My energy has changed,” Ndegeocello said, “and being up front doesn’t really appeal to me as much. I have here a lot of music in my head, things I can’t sing.” Hicks realizes her visions; now, she’s producing an album of his music.

Justin Hicks both opened for her, and sang with her band when I last saw Ndgeocello

his voice is gorgeous. this is a great album

This Friday, GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello will unveil her groundbreaking and visionary album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn

FYI due to thunderstorms that show was cancelled at the last minute, but BRIC managed to reschedule for this Wednesday and it's still FREE:

Rain, rain, go away, “No More Water” is here to stay ☔️

Following our unfortunate show cancellation, we knew we had to bring back the incredible Meshell Ndegeocello! Experience her soul-stirring latest album, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin—a powerful tribute marking Baldwin’s 100th birthday—live 🕊️ A musical chameleon, often blurring the boundaries of genre between jazz, soul, rock, hip-hop, and more, we’re thrilled to finally bring her masterful performance to the Bandshell stage.
Hope to see you there Wed, August 14! Doors open at 7PM.