NdegéOcello, Me'Shell

Vinyl Records and Rare LPs:

No More Water, The Gospel Of James Baldwin
New - LP - 00602465215052
Sealed 2024 2LP gatefold original. "No More Water followed Meshell Ndegeocello's Sun Ra celebration The Magic City by four months and arrived on the centennial birthday of its subject, the incomparable writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin. It closes an informal trilogy of commemorative recordings from Ndegeocello that began with Pour Une Âme Souveraine, dedicated to Baldwin's beloved Nina Simone. At the same time, No More Water is an outgrowth of a theatrical production the musician presented in 2016 at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Impelled by Baldwin's The Fire Next Time -- an essential text that gave her a profound comprehension of racism, classism, and the effects of both on her family -- Ndegeocello conceived the performance as a Pan-African church service with an ensemble of instrumentalists, singers, and orators. Many of the participants are involved here, and Baldwin's words are woven into eight of the 17 tracks, whether sung by the pained if undaunted Justin Hicks on the rippling funk of "On the Mountain," or recited by Jamaican poet and activist Staceyann Chin on "Baldwin Manifesto I" and "Baldwin Manifesto II." The pieces that don't quote Baldwin are often equally charged, freighted with anguish. Take Chin's declamatory "Raise the Roof." Backed only by phantasmal saxophone and effects from Josh Johnson, Chin, tightly coiled, rails against police brutality, a rigged justice system, and "a lack of white accountability parading as a penal system in which 40% of those incarcerated come from a group which only consists of 12% of the entire fucking population." Just as gripping is the brief folk song that follows, "The Price of a Ticket" -- what could be called a ditty if Ndegeocello wasn't making a gentle appeal to be spared by an armed officer. In a way, the album is, to use a description Ndegeocello used for her fourth full-length, an anthropological mixtape. It's constantly switching gears in terms of structure and sound. Songs slowly unfurl or unexpectedly intensify, quickly settle into a groove or change direction, are adjoined with spoken interludes and interjections, and yet a sense of flow is maintained. In addition to its funk and folk components, the album blurs 21st century jazz and soul with elements of soukous, samba, dub, and art rock. Additionally, Baldwin isn't the only writer/activist from which the album gleans influence. "Thus Sayeth the Lorde" pays tribute to Audre Lorde, the fellow writer/activist who challenged Baldwin on gender in a historic conversation published in Essence magazine. Chin most certainly embodies the "feminist warrior" aspect of Lorde's self-identity in the subsequent "Tsunami Rising." For all the pain the material relates, there's an unwavering sense of communality and even some joy; the uplifting "Love" is a reminder that Ndegeocello remains a masterful hook writer and reinterpreter. No More Water concludes with a looped and layered mantra for bookworms. The words, voiced by multi-instrumentalist Paul Thompson, shift and repeat for over a minute, echoing Ndegeocello's hope that the album provokes listeners to read Baldwin's undiminishable writings and take them to heart." All Music Guide - Andy Kellman more
No More Water, The Gospel Of James Baldwin
New - LP - 00602465215052
Sealed 2024 2LP gatefold original pressed on limited edition gold vinyl. Includes a signed art card. "No More Water followed Meshell Ndegeocello's Sun Ra celebration The Magic City by four months and arrived on the centennial birthday of its subject, the incomparable writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin. It closes an informal trilogy of commemorative recordings from Ndegeocello that began with Pour Une Âme Souveraine, dedicated to Baldwin's beloved Nina Simone. At the same time, No More Water is an outgrowth of a theatrical production the musician presented in 2016 at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Impelled by Baldwin's The Fire Next Time -- an essential text that gave her a profound comprehension of racism, classism, and the effects of both on her family -- Ndegeocello conceived the performance as a Pan-African church service with an ensemble of instrumentalists, singers, and orators. Many of the participants are involved here, and Baldwin's words are woven into eight of the 17 tracks, whether sung by the pained if undaunted Justin Hicks on the rippling funk of "On the Mountain," or recited by Jamaican poet and activist Staceyann Chin on "Baldwin Manifesto I" and "Baldwin Manifesto II." The pieces that don't quote Baldwin are often equally charged, freighted with anguish. Take Chin's declamatory "Raise the Roof." Backed only by phantasmal saxophone and effects from Josh Johnson, Chin, tightly coiled, rails against police brutality, a rigged justice system, and "a lack of white accountability parading as a penal system in which 40% of those incarcerated come from a group which only consists of 12% of the entire fucking population." Just as gripping is the brief folk song that follows, "The Price of a Ticket" -- what could be called a ditty if Ndegeocello wasn't making a gentle appeal to be spared by an armed officer. In a way, the album is, to use a description Ndegeocello used for her fourth full-length, an anthropological mixtape. It's constantly switching gears in terms of structure and sound. Songs slowly unfurl or unexpectedly intensify, quickly settle into a groove or change direction, are adjoined with spoken interludes and interjections, and yet a sense of flow is maintained. In addition to its funk and folk components, the album blurs 21st century jazz and soul with elements of soukous, samba, dub, and art rock. Additionally, Baldwin isn't the only writer/activist from which the album gleans influence. "Thus Sayeth the Lorde" pays tribute to Audre Lorde, the fellow writer/activist who challenged Baldwin on gender in a historic conversation published in Essence magazine. Chin most certainly embodies the "feminist warrior" aspect of Lorde's self-identity in the subsequent "Tsunami Rising." For all the pain the material relates, there's an unwavering sense of communality and even some joy; the uplifting "Love" is a reminder that Ndegeocello remains a masterful hook writer and reinterpreter. No More Water concludes with a looped and layered mantra for bookworms. The words, voiced by multi-instrumentalist Paul Thompson, shift and repeat for over a minute, echoing Ndegeocello's hope that the album provokes listeners to read Baldwin's undiminishable writings and take them to heart." All Music Guide - Andy Kellman more
The Omnichord Real Book
New - LP - B003731701
Sealed 2023 2LP Gatefold original with custom hype sticker. Produced by Josh Johnson, Featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeff Parker, Julius Rodriguez & Jason Moran among others. One of the best in 2023! "Contrary to the concept the title might conjure, The Omnichord Real Book is not another wholly interpretive set from Meshell Ndegeocello. It's the musician's first album of primarily original material in nearly a decade, appearing nine years after Comet, Come to Me and following the all-covers Ventriloquism by five years. Also the musician's Blue Note debut as a leader, this consolidates an affiliation with the historic label that began with a supporting role on Robert Glasper's Black Radio and continued with production and playing on Jason Moran's All Rise and Marcus Strickland's Nihil Novi. The album takes its name from the Autoharp-inspired instrument manufactured in the early '80s as well as a widely published volume of lead sheets for jazz standards -- a copy of which Ndegeocello received from her father and rediscovered while going through her late parents' belongings. The Omnichord is heard on only three songs, all of which are powered in part by its amiably knocking programmed rhythms and dainty synthesized strings. More consequential is the squad of over two dozen instrumentalists and vocalists lending a plenitude of supple rhythmic and ruminative vocal interplay. It features long-standing partners such as guitarist Chris Bruce and keyboardist Jebin Bruni, and recent or new collaborators like guitarist Jeff Parker, whose spiraling guitar solos are on crucial back-to-back songs, and Josh Johnson, who adds winding and tender saxophone on twice as many numbers and produces the whole thing. Even though it was created by enough people to fill a starship, including the HawtPlates, a vocal group present throughout and granted the spotlight on a moving a cappella piece, this is as intimate as any of Ndegeocello's previous albums. It's almost as varied as any of them in sound, naturally veering from sheer folk-soul to grimace-inducing funk to charging Afrobeat. Almost every song is informed by a kind of heartache with prevailing feelings of disorientation, regret, and grief. Ndegeocello always owns it, whether she says "Pain colors everything I touch" with her chest or laments her "extraordinary pain," maybe with a nod to Songs in the Key of Life. There's respite in "Virgo," a nine-minute funk marvel that vibrates and glistens with Ndegeocello's key bass and Bruce's bassline interfacing beneath Brandee Younger's harp. (This is distinct from the like-titled song on The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams.) Then again, it's not quite rapturous, either, with Ndegeocello briefly weaving into the astral homecoming theme a sense of anticipation: "The warmth of your embrace…I long for." An alternate version of "Virgo" arranged by Oliver Lake is fruit at the bottom." AMG - Andy Kellman. more
The Omnichord Real Book
New - LP - B003731701
Sealed 2023 2LP Gatefold original with custom hype sticker. Produced by Josh Johnson, Featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeff Parker, Julius Rodriguez & Jason Moran among others. One of the best in 2023! "Contrary to the concept the title might conjure, The Omnichord Real Book is not another wholly interpretive set from Meshell Ndegeocello. It's the musician's first album of primarily original material in nearly a decade, appearing nine years after Comet, Come to Me and following the all-covers Ventriloquism by five years. Also the musician's Blue Note debut as a leader, this consolidates an affiliation with the historic label that began with a supporting role on Robert Glasper's Black Radio and continued with production and playing on Jason Moran's All Rise and Marcus Strickland's Nihil Novi. The album takes its name from the Autoharp-inspired instrument manufactured in the early '80s as well as a widely published volume of lead sheets for jazz standards -- a copy of which Ndegeocello received from her father and rediscovered while going through her late parents' belongings. The Omnichord is heard on only three songs, all of which are powered in part by its amiably knocking programmed rhythms and dainty synthesized strings. More consequential is the squad of over two dozen instrumentalists and vocalists lending a plenitude of supple rhythmic and ruminative vocal interplay. It features long-standing partners such as guitarist Chris Bruce and keyboardist Jebin Bruni, and recent or new collaborators like guitarist Jeff Parker, whose spiraling guitar solos are on crucial back-to-back songs, and Josh Johnson, who adds winding and tender saxophone on twice as many numbers and produces the whole thing. Even though it was created by enough people to fill a starship, including the HawtPlates, a vocal group present throughout and granted the spotlight on a moving a cappella piece, this is as intimate as any of Ndegeocello's previous albums. It's almost as varied as any of them in sound, naturally veering from sheer folk-soul to grimace-inducing funk to charging Afrobeat. Almost every song is informed by a kind of heartache with prevailing feelings of disorientation, regret, and grief. Ndegeocello always owns it, whether she says "Pain colors everything I touch" with her chest or laments her "extraordinary pain," maybe with a nod to Songs in the Key of Life. There's respite in "Virgo," a nine-minute funk marvel that vibrates and glistens with Ndegeocello's key bass and Bruce's bassline interfacing beneath Brandee Younger's harp. (This is distinct from the like-titled song on The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams.) Then again, it's not quite rapturous, either, with Ndegeocello briefly weaving into the astral homecoming theme a sense of anticipation: "The warmth of your embrace…I long for." An alternate version of "Virgo" arranged by Oliver Lake is fruit at the bottom." AMG - Andy Kellman. more

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