Ledisi Sings Nina

Ledisi
Ledisi Sings Nina
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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.