Ledisi Sings Nina

Ledisi
Ledisi Sings Nina
Listen Back

Ledisi remembers waking up in New Orleans hearing her mother sing, "…and everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam!" Later she learned it was Nina Simone. While in Oakland in her 20s, she was depressed and hearing Simone sing "Trouble in Mind" over the radio. It woke me up. I was feeling discouraged for being different, for being the oddball that liked every style—blues and jazz and Broadway and hip-hop. I had sung every club in the Bay Area, done every gig. Nina's voice said to me I was not alone. Her voice saved my life and woke me up and taught me to be fearless. I had two pieces of luggage and moved to New York City after that."

In the past eight years, Ledisi has produced and toured popular tribute shows to Simone and performed concerts on television, in major concert halls, and at music festivals, featuring her interpreting Simone's songs and explaining her importance and history. This EP album is the culmination of these projects that reveal the depth of Ledisi's continuing sense of gratitude and debt to Simone. The world-renowned Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley with arrangements by Jochen Neufer and others provides the backing for the majority of the seven songs she brings her voice to. "I'm Going Back Home" features the all-star New Orleans Jazz Orchestra directed by Adonis Rose. "Four Women" is powered by Ledisi in the company of other vocalists of similar stature: Lisa Fisher, Lizz Wright, and Alice Smith. "Wild Is The Wind"—with Spanish guitar, piano, and drums—is the album's sole live recording taken from the 2020 PBS special broadcast Ledisi "Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone."

Listening to Ledisi here, one can perhaps detect Simone's influence as well as Ledesi's own voice with her rich vocal palette, impeccable pitch, diction, and phrasing, along with an impressive mastery of vocal dynamics. This is heard whether she is belting out "Feeling Good" with the full tonal colors provided by Metropole Orkest or the relaxed treatment of "My Baby Just Cares For Me." On the latter number she playfully updates cultural references to the likes of Lana Turner with references to Beyoncé and Halle Berry. There is some wooly, muted trombone of this track. Then there is a wonderful bilingual reading of Jacques' Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me)," with the Orkest's horns adding to the longing mood of this rendition. A driving arrangement propels The Metropole Orkest's backing on her full-throated singing on "Work Song" along with a terrific tenor sax solo.

The other tracks are equally striking, including the closing "I'm Going Back Home," with punchy gospel-infused backing and a second-live groove by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Like Simone, Ledisi is a singer who defies categories, as is demonstrated throughout this release. The only complaint is that one wishes there was more music here.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is Ledisi singing a tribute to Nina Simone at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

Ella 100: Live at the Apollo

Various
Ella 100: Live at the Apollo
Concord Jazz

As the title of this new Concord Jazz album indicates, this recording is of the October 22, 2016 celebration at the famed Apollo Theater of the Ella Fitzgerald centennial. Included here are performances of songs that still are associated with the "First Lady of Song" by an All-Star Cast.

David Allen Grier and Patti Austin hosted and performed at this concert with the music provided by the Count Basie Orchestra (augmented by strings) and the Ella 100 All-Star Quartet giving support. There was quite a cast of performers besides Grier and Austin, including Andra Day, Lizz Wright, Ayo, and Afro Blue from Howard University, Cassandra Wilson, Ledisi, and Monica Mancini (accompanied by guitarist Brian Nova. The accompanying booklet has liner notes from jazz and pop vocal music authority Will Friedwald, and Greg Field, who produced this concert. Full personnel for the performances is also provided in the booklet.

The celebration opened with an imagined recreation of Ella's legendary appearance at the Apollo's weekly amateur talent contest on November 21, 1934. Ayodele Owolabi (Ayo) of Afro Blue plays the young Ella Fitzgerald with David Allen Grier playing the role of Ralph Cooper, the Apollo's first amateur night host. To this listener, it is enjoyable if a bit awkward. It does serve as an intro to the evening that Grier introduces before introducing his fellow host, Patti Austin. Austin, with the Basie Orchestra, launches into vibrant renditions of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and then "When I Get Low I Get High," with her wondrous intonation and phrasing.

Andra Day was a special guest that night and provided a deeply reflective rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'" with a luscious backing from the Basie Orchestra and strings. Austin introduces her co-host Grier, who, backed by the Basie Orchestra, sings a wonderful interpretation of "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me." I was unaware Grier played Sportin' Life in an acclaimed revival of "Porgy and Bess." Still, his warm baritone evokes the great Ellington male singers such as Herb Jeffries and Al Hibbler, with the Basie Band outstanding recreating the Oliver Nelson and Sam Nestico arrangement. Basie Orchestra bandleader Scotty Barnhart takes a marvelous trumpet solo.

The All-Star quartet, led by pianist Shelly Berg, has a sparkling backing for Lizz Wright behind her horn-like phrasing for Ellington's "Love You Madly." Berg, guitarist Brian Nova, and bassist Nathan East take solos on this. Wright mesmerizes on her unaccompanied intro to "The Nearness of You," before the Quartet enters. Like the other performances, there is love and appreciation for Ella but distilled through each artist's own musical approach. This is evident from the outstanding interpretation of "Lady Be Good" by Ayo and Afro Blue with some striking scatting. Afro Blue and the Basie Orchestra provides support for Austin on a sublime "How High the Moon," with breath-taking scatting.

After an intermission, the Count Basie Orchestra swings Frank Foster's arrangement of "Back to the Apollo! (Apple)," with tenor saxophonist Doug Lawrence soloing. Then, in tribute to the Ella Fitzgerald-Louis Armstrong duets, Austin and Grier provide their versions of "I Loves You Porgy/ That's a Boat Leaving' Soon for New York." Their vocals are caressed by the enhanced Basie Orchestra with a masterful solo from Barnhart. There is a singular rendition of "Cry Me a River" by Cassandra Wilson, followed by the effervescent swing and scatting of Ledisi's "Honeysuckle Rose." The Basie Band packs plenty of punch behind her. Accompanied by guitarist Brian Nova's appealing accompaniment, Monica Mancini (Henry's daughter) captivates on the intimate performance of "Once in a While," originally recorded by Ella with Joe Pass.

Austin and Grier close out the concert with a swinging "You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)/ Paganini Bows Reprise." They trade verses as the Basie Band explosively accompanies them before they call and acknowledge the rest of the performers to take their bows. A bonus track of Ella singing "People" is an encore for the CD. It is a delightful coda to this outstanding recording of a remarkable night at Harlem's Apollo Theater.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is Lizz Wright's performance of "The Nearness of You" from this concert.

Billy Porter Presents The Soul of Richard Rogers

Billy Porter Presents
The Soul of Richard Rodgers
Sony Masterworks

A quick and dirty description of this new recording by the Tony and Grammy Award winner Billy Porter is hip hop meets the classic songs of Richard Rodgers. Included are includes solos and duets from the a variety of artists  (in addition to Porter himself) including  Tony and Grammy Award winners Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Tony Award-winner Patina Miller (Pippin), Grammy Award winners Pentatonix and India.Arie, Tony Award nominees Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along), Joshua Henry (Violet), and Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), alongside YouTube sensation and Kinky Boots star Todrick Hall and multiple Grammy Award nominees Deborah Cox and Ledisi.

"I like to think of this as the Richard Rodgers version of the Hamilton Mixtapes," Porter said.  "These are classic songs that everybody knows and loves, and I'm so excited for people to hear them in a brand new way." Certainly listening to Ledisi singing "Bewitched," the hip hop groove recasts a familiar melody, elongating and transforming it as well as incorporating an explicit rap from Zaire Park. India.arie sings "Carefully Taught," from the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical "South Pacific" and its 1949 lyric is unfortunately so relevant today, "You got to be taught to hate and fear; You got to be taught from year to year; It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear; You got to be carefully taught." Porter himself provides the lovely interpretation of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music," and a brief narration notes that the flower exists in the harshest of environment and reminds us we must flourish in the harshest of times, again not only reworking the song for contemporary tastes, but showing its continued relevance,

There is the hip hop rendition of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" with a politically charged rap mixed with the singing of the lyrics. Not everything has political connotations as the dreamy duet between Renée Elise Goldsberry & Christopher Jackson on "If I Loved You," Cynthia Erivo's lovely "My Funny Valentine," or Porter's interpretation of "The Lady Is a Tramp," with a Zaire Park rap playing off the lyrics, incorporated in this performance. Then there is Pentatonix's optimistic and spirited take on "What a Beautiful Morning."

Billy Porter has put together this imaginative re-imagination of some classic songs that are well established parts of the American Songbook, and these performances show the contemporary relevance of these songs in introducing them to new audiences. At the same time, there is no question that some will be put off by the musical settings and there are some explicit raps on a couple of tracks on a very intriguing recording.

I received a review download from a publicist. This review appeared in the September-October 2017  Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 374). Here Billy Porter and others talk about this recording.