Meshell Ndegeocello
The Omnichord Real Book
Blue Note
Released 06/16/23 | Listen Below
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Although she maintains a relatively low public profile, Meshell Ndegeocello has quietly cultivated one of the most consistently high-quality discographies across the past three decades, dating back to her breakthrough 1993 debut Plantation Lullabies. And now, five years on from her most recent album (2018’s covers collection Ventriloquism), the singer-songwriter-musician is embarking upon the next intriguing chapter of her prolific career with the arrival of The Omnichord Real Book, her thirteenth studio affair overall and first LP recorded for the storied Blue Note Records label.
“It’s a little bit of all of me, my travels, my life,” Ndegeocello confides in an official statement. “My first record I made at 22, and it’s over 30 years from then, so I have a lot of stored information to share. This album is about the way we see old things in new ways. Everything moved so quickly when my parents died. Changed my view of everything and myself in the blink of an eye. As I sifted through the remains of their life together, I found my first Real Book, the one my father gave me. I took their records, the ones I grew up hearing, learning, remembering. My mother gifted me with her ache, I carry the melancholy that defined her experience and, in turn, my experience of this thing called life calls me to disappear into my imagination and to hear the music.”
Adorned with a cover illustration created by Ndegeocello herself, The Omnichord Real Book is preceded by the epic, eight-minute-plus lead single “Virgo” (featuring harpist Brandee Younger and drummer/pianist Julius Rodriguez), “Vuma” featuring South African vocalist Thandiswa and vibraphonist Joel Ross, “The 5th Dimension” featuring the HawtPlates, and “Clear Water” featuring Deantoni Parks, Jeff Parker, Sanford Biggers.
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