JD and Zen Making Mac and Cheese Photo Courtesy of Netflix
Without reservation, the filmMalcolm & Marie starring Zendaya and John David Washington was no doubt visually stunning. The movie, which chronicles the couple’s highs and lows of a brutal all-night argument about . . . damn, I don’t know, was shot on black and white film rather than in a digital format. It was artful. It was special. It was instantly classic in its aesthetic. Moreover, it was abundantly clear that the movie Malcolm & Marie intended the soundtrack to be something special as well.
From the opening scene where Malcolm jubilantly prances around their rented home then cues up James Brown’s “Down and Out in New York City,” a tune intimately tied to the film Black Caesar (1973), an astute audience was privy to the fact the music, diegetically (both the character and the audience can hear it), will narrate the nonverbal sentiments of the characters. The music was brilliantly cast and was more than ample to sonically narrate a scene. Admittedly, writer, director, Sam Levinson, and film editor Julio Perez, IV were deliberate in their attempt to support dialogue and set the mood of a scene with music. Malcolm’s choice of Brown’s funk jam first fills the scene with sound then enlightens the audience of the bold overcoming power of a Black man, which is gan yẹ* to the character’s attitude at the moment. Likewise, only moments later Marie’s unspoken tensions are revealed through Little Simz’s song “Selfish” featuring the amazing vocals of Cleo Sol. Marie sentiments as heard through “Selfish’s” chorus, “I don’t want to fight” set the scene and reveal her desire to be left alone to brood for the remainder of the evening . . . or not.
Little Simz Photo: Linda Nylind
As the film progresses, the music continues to be a sonic masterpiece as it enters and exits the various scenes. Saxophonist Zoot Sims’ Betaminus syncopated beat and flighty saxophone runs clearly disrupts the couple and escalates their tensions in a scene where Marie makes Mac and Cheese for Malcolm. Fatback Band’s jam “Yum Yum” speaks loud and clear for Marie as she states her discontent about the evening. Stax singer, songwriter William Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” which is awesomely orchestrated, by the way, drops in at the perfect time to allow an all too brief respite for the sparing couple, a mood of forgiveness for not making love a priority.
Coltrane and Ellington making magic
The film moves through its paces with a myriad of songs and rounds out with the ever lovely “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington. This song is undefeated in ushering in feelings of intimacy and sex appeal. With the light key touches by Ellington on the piano and the seemingly far and away melody of John Coltrane on saxophone “In a Sentimental Mood” does it again. In the end, literally in the last scene, Outkast’s song “Liberation” enters the expansive and resolute morning, to sum up the events of the previous evening. The chorus belted out by CeeLo Green, and Erykah Badu states, “And there’s a fine line between love and hate you see, Can’t wait too late but baby I’m on it.” As the couple Malcolm and Marie stand in the sunrise it reinforces the couple’s love-hate relationship in the most melodic of ways.
Outkast: Big Boy and Andre 3000. Ready to eat their Mac and Cheese!
Music in film is meant to aid in storytelling by driving and supporting scenes. It is also used to set the mood and emotion of the characters. In Malcolm & Marie, music is used to narrate the unspoken words of an emotionally caustic couple. The music effectively created a subtext for the audience to follow. We should all be so lucky to have a soundtrack like this to help back our most difficult moments in an argument.
Imagine you and your significant other getting dressed in your finest evening wear. Watch, necklace, bracelet, and earrings adorned. You’re going out tonight! You head to your car, drive downtown, and enter the premier concert hall of the city. Everyone is excited and dressed to the nines! This must be the philharmonic’s opening night! This is a highbrow event! Together you find your seats just before the lights dim. In anticipation, you hold your breath. Your wait is brief. Suddenly the stage lights shine to reveal the assemblage of . . . wait for it . . .wait for it . . . Parliament/Funkadelic and a rambunctious funk mob on stage. They begin to tear shit up (musically speaking of course). You look at your significant other and gleefully discover you are both sporting the same quintessential funk face. You throw your hand up forming the righteous universal funk symbol and rock out. Imagine that!
Goin out tonight! By Joshua Aaron Photography
The night was seemingly set up for a sophisticated event. Your attire and the venue location suggested as much. The atmosphere was ripe to embrace a stiff collar crowd. This was not classical music. With P-Funk on stage were you truly going to engage in a so-called “highbrow” event? Of course, you were! Funk music is everything classical music is and more.
Classical music has certainly achieved, in over three hundred years, a position in our society of reverence and honor. Its widely known composers Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre. Most often intellectuals and the cultured are drawn to classical music. Statistics reveal the college-educated and affluent are largely attracted to the genre. They—“the sophisticated”—not only enjoy and indulge in the accouterments of classical music but it also defines them. The richly appointed hallowed concert halls, tailored suits, designer cocktail gowns, and opening nights cater to their refined and even snobbish worldly taste. Classical music is indeed a highbrow phenomenon. However, it has a younger sibling that mirrors its every move and defines its very own high brow flare.
Sly And The Family Stone. Cosmopolitan at its finest!
Funk music has certainly achieved, in over fifty years, a position in our society of reverence and honor. It’s widely known progenitors Brown, Clinton, and Stone are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre. While the ‘sophisticated’ who chiefly consume only classical music and little of anything else the rooted funk music consumer is attracted to classical and beyond. Jazz, r&b, blues, gospel, soul, swing, rock, and metal are often devoured by the funk listener. Funk music, like classical music, also holds the attention of intellectuals, the cultured, educated, and affluent. Moreover, it also draws to it the enlightened, the academic, literate, and articulate. In this way the funk music listener is beyond sophisticated, rather they are ‘Cosmopolitan’—the sharing of all things wrapped in the ONE! Funk music can be heard in the richly appointed hallowed concert halls as well as in stadiums, arenas, street festivals, parks, backlots, and garages.
Conversely, funk music is defined by the listener. Unlike classical, which is static in terms of its response to current affairs and its inability to create a space for active audience response during a performance, funk music is qualified by its attention to current affairs and welcomes the immediate response of the audience (call and response).
Clinton in a suit! By: Marcy Guiragossin
In the end, you can go to a funk music concert in your tailored suit and designer evening gown. You can listen to EWF at the Chandler, (Sup, L.A.). You can funk out and follow along with intellectuals like Brown and Vincent in the front row as they raise their hand with the righteous universal funk symbol and chant:
If you got funk, you got style
You’re funkin’ and you’re styling all the while
When you got funk, you got class
You’re out on the floor movin’ your ass . . .
Yeah, funk music is everything classical music is and more. Take a listen.
Every summer there is a song that just sets up the perfect vibe for the season. This summer many songs captured my attention, but none in the way Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” did. This song not only held a seasonal vibe but also spoke to the current condition that has plagued the year of 2020.
Currently, as the summer winds down there is always a song that magically sums up the memorable events of the summer season. Such is the case for India Shawn’s end of summer release “Movin’ On,” which features .Paak. The tune plows the rigors of finally moving on from a failed relationship as one should. Shawn’s song can easily sum up our feelings for the summer. The summer of 2020 didn’t work out, so we need to move on as we rightly should.
Listening to Anderson .Paak at the beginning of summer and then to his end of summer collaboration in verse on Shawn’s record brought back to mind his musically brilliant and lyrically essential album Ventura. This album, his latest studio recording, which was released April 12, 2019, is loaded with musical gems, flushed with social themes, and lyrics that resonate in terms of the ebbs and flows of our relationships. Anderson .Paak’s Ventura is a must (re)listen. A Johnny-come-lately review is needed! Let’s get into it!
According to .Paak, songs for Ventura were recorded along with the songs of Oxnard. During recording sessions, gritty and eggier songs were selected for Oxnard while more soulful, R&B sounds, and themes of relationships were selected for the creation of Ventura. With guidance from Dr. Dre and an amazing collection of featured singers, Ventura hit the mark in terms of getting close to contemporary R&B perfection.
1. “Come Home” featuring Andre 3000 (Song won Grammy for Best Musical Performance).
Notable Lyric: “Who should I rest blame upon, when all of the signs are brightly drawn and point back to your open arms?”
Come Home, is musically lush (in comparison to contemporary releases) and contains great drum work by .Paak and smart and subtle Motown-ish bass lines throughout played by Jairus Mozee. The song’s theme is classic R&B where a man is broken-hearted over a failed relationship and although he is to blame and deserves to be punished for his wrongdoings, he endeavors to beg to reunite with his woman. In the end, Andre 3000 delivers a hurried twisted rhyme that conveys the same sentiment all in a style that is so . . . Andre 3000!
Notable lyric: “And it’s easier to walk away than to look for what would make you stay.”
.Paak and Robinson on Jimmy Kimmel Live 2019
Following a sparse two bar hip hop drum intro, .Paak’s voice enters smoothly with a subtle Motown-ish feel. The song is simple in structure which allows .Paak to reveal the ups and downs of a relationship. The narrative suggests the various efforts used to keep a stale relationship fresh; find ways to stay in love. Smokey Robinson sings the chorus in tandem with .Paak and their blend is perfect.
Notable lyric in movement one: “Baby, I feel your pain. But to try and save you now is what I won’t do, what I won’t do”
Notable lyric in Movement two: “I think I’m doin’ way too much, I . . . Way too much, way too much, hey.”
This song is completed in two movements. The first movement is dramatic and tense in its feel with its busy drum work leading to the chorus. The drama continues in .Paak’s voice as he states his intention to not get involved with a person who is going through a moment of struggle in life. He observes their difficulties from afar. Movement two begins with a resounding solid ‘four-on-the-floor’ mid-temple groove. The narrative quickly reveals .Paak could not resist helping the person and has become fully involved in what is now a relationship. In fact, the relationship is more than rigorous, rather, it’s overwhelming. The song resolves with .Paak leaving the relationship as a friend. Lalah Hathaway’s full-bodied voice assists .Paak throughout the second movement and she finishes with an all too short virtuosic scat.
Notable lyric: “This more that get to know me, kiss me slowly, hard to focus . . .”
This record begins with an audible scene from the 1993 film A Bronx Tale. In it, the characters discuss that a man only meets three perfect women in his lifetime. The scene sets up a theme for this song. .Paak suggests that he has possibly met one of the three perfect women in a man’s life. With a driving kick drum and steady staccato vocals, .Paak tells the listening audience this is not a woman you fast talk to, but one you take your time with because she is the one. The record is musically bountiful and complete with strong formulaic A-B-C sections. In the pinnacle of the song, .Paak reminds the listener of his hip hop roots and rap prowess as he kicks a verse all while managing to rhyme in Sacagawea while background vocals recall memories of rapper Big Pun.
Notable lyric: “You gon’ get me killed, I’ma catch a fade”
Amid a musically sparse intro, .Paak lets us, the listener, in on a treacherous moment in an affair. Seems his side chick forgot all her essentials at his house and now can’t seem to get into her place as she has left her keys at his house. She is stuck outside in her good heels. .Paak, who is not at home, suggests she sneak back in to get her essentials without getting caught by the wife who is on her way home. Both .Paak and Jazmine Sullivan aptly fill the sparse track with their strong melodic narratives as they trade verses.
Notable lyric: “Came a long way from them open mics at Leimert”
In this record, .Paak is simply fed up! The songs piano and synth bass layout a funk-oriented groove for .Paak to verse all his grievances. All at once, he is fed up with fighting his best friend, dealing with fame, having to prove himself as an artist. He is simply not dealing with it today. It’s all yada yada to him!
Notable lyric: “You can move or stay your ass asleep”
With its luscious groove complete with a funky synth bass and saxophone coupled with recalling elements of Sly Stone’s vocal style this song makes a social statement as a musical dedication to LeBron James and the work he has done and is doing as a civil servant and an entrepreneur in the Black community. The song also serves as a rallying call for freedom fighters to not give up and continue the fight for equity. Listen for a great nod to Colin Kaepernick in the verse.
Notable lyric: “We should be more than each other’s baby.”
With an uptempo groove, embedded with .Paak’s quick vocals together the opening chorus establishes a sense of urgency. However, just as soon as .Paak’s urgent voice is felt, Sonyae Elise comes through in the continued chorus with a calmness that immediately contrasts .Paak. The two trade-off in the chorus to relay a statement of needing someone who will know how to love and who will also have your back no matter what. .Paak doubles down on this message as he raps poetic. In the end, the song collects at the outro as they chant the ways they should love each other.
Notable lyric: “Hands above us, feels like someone lifted me.”
This is a certified dance floor banger. With a soft but pensive piano intro, the song quickly evolves into an exuberant dance tune as .Paak recounts his experience on a dance floor with a beautiful woman he just met. Together they drink and smoke and at times dance close . . . if only for one night. Brandy’s voice soars in the chorus as she sings the catchy hook of the song.
Notable lyric: “It happens to everyone, you’re not the only one, girl.”
Stand at attention for this Reveille-like trumpet and relentless mallet banging bass drum tune. Take heed listeners, .Paak has something to say. Holding your attention .Paak reassures someone he loves that at times we all get a little hurt or embarrassed from our relationships. It’s part of life that he is all too familiar with. The chorus is a thankful response from the loved one noting that .Paak has always been there in times of need. Listen closely for Ferrell Williams’ background vocals in the second verse.
In this well-orchestrated mid temple groove, .Paak tells the listener of a relationship that has ended abruptly, and then he speculates she’ll be back when he gets more money. The chorus finds .Paak and the late Nate Dogg (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011) waxing about what can they do about a finished relationship. The presence of Nate Dogg’s voice is what makes this recording awesome. Dr. Dre’s producer and mixer Fredwreck, who almost exclusively recorded Nate, brought .Paak an unfinished hook. .Paak made it into a song that featured the best of Nate singing. The most memorable part of the song is the interaction between .Paak and Nate in the vamp as Nate seemingly walks away singing his way into eternity. (RIP Nate Dogg)
Anderson .Paak’s Ventura is a masterful endeavor. Complete with a mixture of solid R&B, soul, and a bit of funk. The album is a powerhouse of sound. .Paak’s album easily outpaces other R&B albums released during this time in terms of its musicality. It’s real, it’s listenable, and it sets .Paak apart from his R&B contemporaries as one to follow. Reward yourself with a re-listen.
The close out of the ‘60s era ended with the release of a song that examined the experience of trying to fit in to a society that struggled to accept individuality to say the least. Sly And The Family Stone released “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” in December 1969.
“Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” became a hit and remained high on the music charts for the first half of 1970. Sly And The Family Stone was famous for pushing social and cultural messages through their songs. They forced the listener to bop their head, snap their fingers, and stomp their feet to the most current social concerns of that era. “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” was indeed such a song. Filled with personal experiences from Sly, the song created an image of a person struggling with overzealous authority, the awkwardness of high society, and the price to be paid for being different all the while being both thankful and resentful for the experience as ones true self. If you can get past the funkiest of grooves provided by the band (take note of Larry Graham’s ground breaking thumb slapping technique) the message in the lyrics are loud and clear.
Just to mention–upon listening to the first verse, one will notice a seemingly prophetic image of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman take shape:
Lookin’ at the devil, grinnin’ at his gun. Fingers start shakin’, I begin to run. Bullets start chasin’, I begin to stop. We begin to wrestle, I was on the top.
However, this is not prophetic in the least; this type of imagery has been a constant in American society before Sly’s era, during Sly’s era, and sad to say, certainly since Sly’s era.
Hurry and read this, Prince might shut it down! (It’s all love! Happy Birthday, Prince!)
In 1987, amid the throes of “Reaganomics,” the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, gang violence, and the A.I.D.S. scare, musical genius and artist extraordinaire, Prince released his album Sign O’ The Times, which contained the single of the same name. Prince’s album addressed many carnal issues of mankind such as love, lust, contentious relationships, and androgyny. However, one song stood out as the social commentator to the happenings of the mid to late 80s—“Sign O’ The Times.” It placed the ills of American society front and center and challenged the listener to not turn away but to address them. The song reached #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and was couched there for several weeks.
According to Susan Rogers, Prince’s sound engineer, he wrote and recorded “Sign O’ The Times” all on a Sunday—his most productive writing day. The song was scheduled to appear on both his 1986 albums Dream Factoryand Crystal Ball. However, both albums were famously shelved and songs were dispersed to other albums including the album Sign O’ The Times.
Prince’s social commentary reached beyond the city limits of Chanhassen, Minnesota to span the globe and resonate with an international audience who faced similar issue in their social and political spaces.
Happy AAMAM! And Happy Birthday Prince!
(Go listen to “Sign O’ The Times” in your Prince collection . . . you do have a Prince collection?)
Poet, writer, musician, singer, and activist Gil Scott-Heron really knocked the ball out the park with his re-recording* of the proto-rap/spoken word/song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” on his Pieces Of A Manalbum in 1971, which features Ron Carter on electric bass, Hubert Laws on flute, and Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdy on drums. Scott-Heron and his band created an infectious funk grove that resonated with young urban adults. The proto rap/spoken word/song famously made many pop culture references from TV shows to commercials of the day. Scott-Heron song addressed American complacency and consumerism as a distraction and from the political corruption that plagued the era. The proto rap/spoken word/song urged its urban listener to pay attention what’s really going on! Tune in and get involved!
* [“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” was first recorded in 1970 on Gil Scott-Heron’s first album Small Talk At 125th And Lennox, where he was accompanied only by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on congas and bongos]
Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” released on July 31st 1973, is a tale of second chances given by God and the tremendous effort put forth to make the best of that second chance until life is done or you reach that ‘higher ground’. The song, for Wonder, took on a more spiritual meaning after his near death experience on August 3rd 1973 a few days after the song was released. Wonder was badly injured in a car accident wherein which he lay in a coma for several days. After he recovered, he believed the song was a sign of what was to come. From that point on Wonder contends he was thankful to be alive and got his act together.
You musicians will revel in this song because Wonder single handedly wrote, played all the instruments, and recorded this highly intricate and rhythmically dense track in 3 hrs at the tender age of 22! Genius? Yep!
Listen closely to the lyrics then listen again to the music. Be sure to turn it up!
Photo by Thomas E. Landers/Globe Boston, afternoon April 5, 1968
As you know it is Black Music Month! And if you are like me you are knee deep in the melodies of some good Black music (just like last month and the month before that and the month . . .)
Anyway here is little something for you to chew on for Black Music Month!
Did you know James Brown and his music saved Boston from being destroyed on April 5, 1968? It’s true. As Brown would say, “Here’s how the whole thang went down, man!”
On April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. was assassinated while supporting the striking Black public sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. As soon as his assassination made the news, Black folks became enraged at the untimely loss of their beloved champion of equality. Feeling hopeless, frustrated, and angry with their lingering social status as well as becoming increasingly impatient with the pace of King’s campaign of non-violence, the youth (who drove the movement of civil equality) responded with aggressive violent resistance toward the oppressive power structure. A swell of rioting broke out in Black urban centers across America the evening of April 4th 1968 . . . including Boston!
Months before Dr. King’s assassination, James Brown was scheduled to perform at the Boston Garden. However, given the social unrest in Boston by the Black youth, city officials including Boston Mayor Kevin White thought it would be best to cancel the concert in an attempt to restore order amid the growing civil unrest in and around Boston. However, Boston’s only African American City Councilman, Tom Atkins thought otherwise. He was convinced that allowing the concert to continue would be best for the city in terms of diminishing the-sure-to-come destructive riot. He was quickly able to convince Mayor White that allowing the concert to go on would allow a space for the youth to release their frustrations in a non-destructive way. Atkins also suggested the concert be televised on local TV station WGBH to reach the homes of those youth who could not attend the concert.
Photo by Bob Deen Atkins, White, and Brown workin’ it out!
His thinking Brown, one of the hottest acts in the country, would be able to persuade the city’s youth to stay in and forego a violent protest in the city. Mayor White took a gamble and agreed with Atkins. Atkins, White, and Brown met to work out the money details of a live broadcast.
So, the evening of April 5, 1968, while several urban centers across America experience a second night of rioting in the wake of Dr. King’s assassination, James Brown and his band put on a captivating high energy show, which redirected the youth’s feelings of angst and sorrow to one of a celebration of life and peace. Brown’s presence and music did in fact quiet the hostile youth in the city of Boston and the surrounding urban areas that evening. In the end, Boston experienced no more disruption than a typical Friday night for that city. Boston was saved by James Brown.
What’s more is that the Boston Garden concert was recorded and preserved for us to watch today. We now have the opportunity to witness the amazing James Brown in action roughly 24hrs after King’s assassination. We can watch his music captivate and stop the youth, city-wide, from violent resistance. We get to witness the moment Brown’s music emerged as the undisputed musical beacon of Black empowerment following the Boston concert in 1968.
Photo by Bob Deen Brown Live on stage in Boston Garden
From the great words spoken by Atkins, White, and Brown at the beginning of the concert to the driving tempos to Maceo’s Parker’s solo to the pace of the Go Go dancer’s hips to the concert’s ending with Brown’s interjections of Black pride to thwart a sure riot on the Garden stage are not to be missed. Take a look and listen below and be mindful of how quiet things are in the streets during the time of the concert. James Brown saved Boston!
Prince and Sheila E., BFFs if there ever was a pair! The above photo was taken in Oakland, California during Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour. On this night of the tour, Sheila E. opened for Prince. The picture captures the moment as she finished her hit song “Glamorous Life” and Prince walked on stage to congratulate her. She immediately grabbed and hugged her BFF. They then shared a laugh.
Inseparable and certainly joined at the hip for almost 3 decades, Prince and Sheila E. have collaborated to create some of the most memorable music from the mid to late 80s.
According to Alex Hahn’s book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, Prince Rogers Nelson and Sheila Escovedo met in 1978, while Sheila was touring with her father, the magnificent timbalero Pete Escovedo. They met back stage and Prince prophetically proclaimed they would one day make music together. Soon Prince and Sheila began to jam together and share musical ideas. Prince began to produce Sheila as an artist and bestowed upon her the moniker Sheila E. Their first recorded collaboration took place just a few years later when a reluctant Sheila sang background on Prince’s big hit “Let’s Go Crazy”. Hahn suggests Sheila, up to this point, saw herself as an instrumentalist and in no way a singer. Prince was able to instill in her the confidence to sing. The newly minted BFFs began their productive and legendary collaboration. Prince produced Sheila E’s albums The Glamorous Life (‘84), Romance 1600 (‘85), and SheilaE. (‘87). During the same period Sheila shared her drumming and percussion talents on Prince’s albums,Purple Rain (‘84), Around The World in a Day (‘85), Parade (‘86), and Sign O’ The Times (‘87). Sheila E.’s ability to play complex Jazz and Latin rhythms added a new dimension to Prince’s recordings and live sound.
Prince and Sheila E. have over the decades forged an unbreakable music bond that is filled with love, respect, honor, and support for one other. When you see one of the BFFs perform the other is no doubt not too far away.
Prince and Sheila E.’s friendship fused musical cousins R&B, Funk, Rock, Blues, and Latin Jazz together in a way that allowed it to soar far beyond rigid musical genres, which were intended to keep the masses in their respected cultural places. Their music was multi-genre and multicultural; simply put, they used Black music to bring people together.
I confess I’ve been a fan of bassist/singer/songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello since she dropped her first album Plantation Lullabies in the early 90s. I’ve watched her perform in L.A. several times and once in Atlanta in 2007, which was memorable I must say. However, even more memorable than that was when I saw her years earlier live at the Virgin Mega store in Hollywood. Ndegeocello played a small in-store set then signed copies of her second released Peace Beyond Passion (96). I clearly remember asking her, as she signed the cover of my freshly bought CD, “Where’d you get that funk from?” like the P-Funk lyric. She smiled and said, “Yes, right there!” Wow! I just had a brief moment with Meshell Ndegeocello, whoa!
Over the years I’ve enjoyed the limitless range of Ndegeocello’s music. As a serious soul music lover, I’ve especially relished in her exploration of the many nuances of soul. Ndegeocello and her music easily moved beyond the essentialist theory of the black artist. She approached several other genres of music in her own unique way.
So, when I heard she was in the process of recording an album of Nina Simone songs I was excitedly perplexed (this is a good thing). What would it sound like? Would it be funky with heavy bass lines? Or would the songs be reconfigured in emotion filled ballads with spoken word-like delivery? (You know how she does).
Ndegeocello’s new album, Pour Une Âme Souveraine (For A Sovereign Soul) was released in October and is a wonderfully crafted tribute to Simone. First and foremost, Ndegeocello’s voice is perfect for the songs she sings while her musical approach is spot on. She organically moves away–though not far–from the musical intention of Simone certainly due to the contemporary climate of the times. Ndegeocello finds a laid back groove for each song that departs from what NPR calls the “urgent” tone of Simone. Her small group of musicians recorded the album with an obvious audible post soul aesthetic that is undeniably Ndegeocello. She invited vocalist/musicians such as Cody ChesnuTT, Toshi Reagon,Sinead O’Connor, and Lizz Wright to join her on this tribute to Simone. Collectively they sing with heartfelt respect for Simone whom Ndegeocello calls “royalty.”
Just SOul You Know 