Meshell Ndegeocello’s Blue Note debut The Omnichord Real Book is officially available. She is joined by collaborators Jason Moran, Cory Henry, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, Joan As Policewoman, Julius Rodriguez, Thandiswa and more. The album is an epic composed of folk, funk, jazz and soul led by Ndegeocello’s philosophical lyrics about emotional rejuvenation. She explained in a press release how the music was informed by the passing of her parents and the memories of them including her mother’s ache and the Real Book gifted by her father. TOR has the melancholy of mourning but also stretches of instrumental passages that encourage healing because of the self-reflection that can come in the absence of words. The songs feel more like meditations on rebirth and letting go of the past with Ndegecello keeping a pensive tone throughout. Charged moments like “Vuma” and “Burn Progression” shake off some of the gloom to offer snapshots of new life beginnings. The hourlong odyssey is a soundtrack for shedding old ways of seeing after learning from the pain of loss.
Tour Dates
June 18: Terrace Theater @ The Kennedy Center – Washington, DC
June 20: The Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA
June 21: Blue Note Jazz Festival @ Sony Hall – New York, NY
June 23: Wasfest @ Boch Center – Boston, MA
July 29: Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa – Napa, CA
Aug. 11: We Out Here Festival – Wimborne, UK
Nov. 19: City Winery Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, PA
