Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book

Blue Note Records

LP|CD|DL

Out on 16th June 2023  

Featuring a host of outstanding collaborators, The Omnichord Real Book is the Blue Note debut of uber-talented multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Meshell Ndegeocello. It’s undeniably jazz-influenced, yet defies classification. It is, however, indubitably special. Louder Than War’s Gordon Rutherford reviews.

In March of this year, Meshell Ndgeocello introduced the world to her Blue Note debut, The Omnichord Real Book, with an expansive, eight-minute long single that spoke about “jumping through Saturn’s rings…to a supernova”. Virgo, an astonishing funk/space-rock masterpiece with a mood created by Ndegeocello’s phat synth bass, the shimmering wonder of Brandee Younger’s harp and the Farfisa organ of Julius Rodriguez, laid down a marker. If you want to let the world know that your next album is special, that’s the way to do it.

The single set a high yardstick; but it’s one that the album, The Omnichord Real Book, meets. Whilst none of the other tracks directly cover space travel, the sentiment behind the album and the music therein is something of an odyssey. “It’s a little bit of all of me, my travels, my life”, says Ndegeocello. As you would expect from an artist who released their first record more than thirty years ago, she has something of a story to tell. The narrative, however, was significantly altered recently when both of her parents passed away. As she sifted through the remnants of their life together, she came across her first Real Book, a treasure that was gifted to her by her father when she was little. Hence the album’s title. And hence the overall milieu of The Omnichord Real Book.

I can’t drift past the other part of the album’s title without comment. You may be aware that an Omnichord is something of a novelty instrument. Ndegeocello deploys one to fascinating effect on the first two tracks this collection, before seemingly discarding it for more conventional ways to present her music. That contribution makes one wonder whether it justifies taking centre stage on the album’s title, but no matter. It scans beautifully.

Let’s stay with those opening tracks, because The Omnichord Real Book is something of a slow burner. It is akin to a sprinter on a flat stage of the Tour de France; just waiting for the opportunity to explode in a riot of colour and motion. Or, perhaps, it’s more appropriate to think of the first few tracks as the hors d’oeuvres to the feast that will inevitably follow. Whatever, rather than grabbing us by the lapels and giving us a good shake, they gently ease us into the groove. The inevitable step-change is signalled by the album’s glistening, understated fourth track, Good Good. It is a song that lives up to its name. Adroitly, Ndegeocello further notches up the temperature a fraction with the following track, the instrumental, fantastically titled, Omnipuss. Driven by a combination of Abe Rounds’ disco-influenced drumming and Chris Bruce’s chopping guitar, this is the moment when The Omnichord Real Book truly arrives; this is when it announces itself. And after that? Well, we have lift off.

It begins with the very first few seconds of Clear Water. “Don’t be fooled by the myth of control/Be at peace within the chaos.” Sanford Biggins’ voice is both assertive and reassuring. He is delivering his words over the utterly mindblowing jazz licks of Jeff Parker. Between them, they build the tension for the song’s first couple of minutes, before the handbrake is well and truly disengaged. Like a butterfly bursting from its cocoon, Clear Water metamorphosises into something that is channelling the spirit of Sly Stone. Following Clear Water, Parker thankfully hangs about to dazzle us again on the lush space/jazz/soul of the following track, ASR. Let loose in the closing sections of this tune, Parker’s guitar soars majestically. Few are finer. It’s a spectacular brace of performances from the guitarist, but, on ASR in particular, the stunning vocal contribution of Justin Hicks is also praiseworthy.

Implausibly, it gets even better. Next up is Gatsby, a song that wrings every drop of emotion from you. This minimalist composition, centred around Cory Henry’s sumptuous piano and the incredible voice of Joan As Police Woman, engulfs you like billows of silk. It has the import of a vessel carrying the sorrow of millions. “I built a castle out of dreams and pretty scenes/Woke up and it was missing/It wasn’t real”, sings Joan on this heartwrenching ballad of broken dreams. 

By now, you should have realised that whilst it is Ndegeocello’s name above the door, this is very much a team effort. Skilfully, she leans on a host of world class collaborators in much the same way as Robert Glasper does on his Black Radio albums. The influence should be no surprise. Whilst this is Ndegeocello’s debut for the legendary Blue Note label, it’s not her first association. That came in the shape of The Consequences Of Jealousy, her contribution to Glasper’s original Black Radio, released on Blue Note in 2012.

Black Radio demonstrated how an artist can lean on collaborators to create a more rounded, more complete body of work. Ndegeocello’s choices demonstrate that she has clearly been a vigilant learner. We have already spoken about the significant contributions of Joan As Police Woman and Jeff Parker, but there are many more. Particularly noteworthy are those from Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross and Thandiswa. Akinmusire brings a scintillating trumpet to Burn Progression whilst the prodigious Ross contributes vibraphone to the poignant Towers and marimba to the joyous, uplifting Afro groove of Vuma. The voice of Vuma belongs to the aforementioned Thandiswa and the South African singer brings something different again to this particular party.

That brings us neatly to another link with Black Radio. Both Glasper’s magnum opus and The Omnichord Real Book pay scant regard to the strict rules of genre. Famously, Black Radio stretched beyond conventional boundaries to fuse all of the elements of black music and, whilst The Omnichord Real Book, leans less on hip-hop and more heavily on jazz (despite Ndegeocello’s reluctance to use that term) it is equally difficult to categorise. Vuma is a great example, with its rhythms and textures differing from much of what has come before. Different, but no less enjoyable. Ross and Thandiswa dazzle and the quality of their performance is matched by the fluid, super-supple bass of Burniss Travis II. The sum of the parts add up to something special.

Before the album’s close, Ndegeocello has one more delightful surprise up her sleeve. It comes in the shape of a delightful reworking of the children’s classic, Hole In The Bucket. Earlier, when discussing ASR, I waxed lyrically about the golden voice of Justin Hicks. Pleasingly, his soulful timbre recurs frequently across this album, often joined by one or another family member. Hole In The Bucket, however, sees them all in one place and it is that which elevates the track to greatness. Collectively, Justin Hicks, Kenita Miller and Jade Hicks perform under the name of The Hawtplates. How appropriate. Their lush, rich harmonic vocals, functioning perfectly in sync and serving the music perfectly, are hotter than last weekend in Hyde Park. The trio also bless us with their vocal talents on the preceding track, The 5th Dimension.

Throughout this piece, I have, with justification, made much of the contribution of others. But the real star of The Omnichord Real Book, the person who knits it all together, is Ndegeocello herself. This is unquestionably her album and whilst she allows all of the other artists to shine, none of it would happen without her absolute virtuosity. Whether in the strength of her songwriting, her bass playing or her vocal, she delivers a performance that is consistently brilliant. She has masterminded a superb album, one which is arguably the pinnacle of her long career.

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Meshell Ndegeocello can be found here. She is also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Blue Note Records can be found here. They are also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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All words by Gordon Rutherford. More writing by Gordon can be found in his archive.

from https://louderthanwar.com