Ledisi, "Ledisi Sings Nina" (BMG)
It took 14 years and 13 nominations before New Orleans-born vocal fireball Ledisi finally won her first Grammy Award earlier this year.
Her Best Traditional R&B Performance victory for "Anything But You" was long overdue Grammy recognition for the vibrant singer. Ledisi's talent and versatility have been a matter of record since her audacious solo debut album, "Soulsinger," was released in 2000.
Exactly how versatile Ledisi is has been demonstrated in her spot-on film and TV portrayals of such singing giants as Mahalia Jackson, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight. Then there's her incendiary version of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" — a highlight of the 2020 edition of the livestreamed International Jazz Day — and her buoyant 2019 Grammy salute to rock and R&B pioneer Louis Jordan.
Now 49, the glorious-voiced Ledisi was just 8 when she made her singing debut with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. She was barely 21 when she discovered the transcendent music of singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone. A former classical piano prodigy, Simone's command of jazz, blues, gospel, pop and soul has inspired everyone from Lauryn Hill, David Bowie and Jewel to Jay-Z, Tracy Chapman and the English rock band Muse.
A ferociously independent artist, Simone was 70 when she died in 2003 — the same year Ledisi discovered her music. In 2017, Ledisi performed classics from the Simone songbook at a Kennedy Center concert with the National Symphony Orchestra, and in December PBS aired the TV special “Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone.”
The sublime "Ledisi Sings Nina" is both a heartfelt tribute to Simone's singular artistic oeuvre and a bold extension. Ledisi simultaneously salutes Simone and puts her own stamp on songs that have long been synonymous with Simone's name, including "Feeling Good," "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and the epic "Four Women."
Meticulously crafted yet filled with infectious exuberance, the new album was recorded in London, Los Angeles, New Orleans and the Netherlands. It primarily features instrumental support from Holland's Metropole Orkest, whose previous collaborators have ranged from Dizzy Gillespie and Elvis Costello to Snarky Puppy and San Diego guitar wizard Mike Keneally. On "I'm Going Back Home," Ledisi is joined by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and the result is a propulsive, Big Easy-flavored strut.
The musical arrangements throughout the album, much like Ledisi's captivating vocals, are both reverent and fresh, steeped in tradition and yet very much in the moment.
She brings deep gospel and blues feeling to the album-opening "Feeling Good," then bounces delightfully through "My Baby Just Cares for Me," which Simone recorded in 1958. Ledisi playfully updates "Baby's" lyrics with references to Beyonce, Halle Berry, RuPaul and Michelle Obama. She concludes the song with a wonderfully giddy burst of scat-singing that pays homage to Ella Fitzgerald.
Ledisi begins Jaques Brel's gently pleading "Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me)" in French, then switches to English. Her impeccably nuanced vocals are a joy in either language. "Wild is the Wind," the album's sole live recording, comes from the aforementioned 2020 PBS TV special, "Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone." Its hushed intimacy makes Ledisi's pinpoint operatic vocal flourishes even more effective.
The Nat Adderly-penned "Work Song" is performed here as a big band romp that allows the members of Metropole Orkest to soar. Best of all, though, is "Four Women," which Simone wrote in 1966 and quickly became a feminist anthem and an enduring ode to civil rights.
Ledisi is joined on vocals on "Four Women" by, in order, Lizz Wright, Alice Smith and Lisa Fischer, before Ledisi sings the climactic conclusion. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, each recorded their parts separately, although the cohesion of their collaboration belies its long-distance nature.
Admirably high in quality, "Ledisi Sings Nina" falls short of the mark only in its unexpected brevity. At only seven songs, which clock in at under 31 minutes, it is simply too little of an exceptionally good thing.
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Tito Jackson, "Under Your Spell" (Gulf Coast Records)
There seem to be several surprises on "Under Your Spell," Tito Jackson's debut blues album, beyond the fact the 67-year-old co-founder of The Jackson 5 has made a blues album in the first place.
Indeed, at first glance, "Under Your Spell" appears to feature posthumous backing vocals by Tito's legendary brother, Michael Jackson, who died in 2009.
At second glance, the backing singer in question is Michael K. Jackson (no relation) — a fact that the album's flea-sized recording credits make difficult to discern without a magnifying glass.
But this 11-song outing does feature some illustrious musical guests, including Stevie Wonder (one of two harmonica players on "Love One Another") and George Benson (one of two lead guitarists on "Rock Me Baby"). Cameos are also made by Tito's brother, Marlon, six-string star Joe Bonamassa and such first-rate blues veterans as Bobby Rush and Kenny Neal.
Tito, who quietly turned to the blues (at least part-time) in 2003, is a solid guitarist and an adequate singer with an agreeably smooth voice. That he almost never pushes himself — even with several years under his belt now as the guitarist and lead singer in the post-B.B. King B.B. King Blues Band — makes clear he has no intention of straying beyond his undeniably pleasant comfort zone.
The opening number, "Wheels Keep Turning," is a bouncy, brassy shuffle that clocks in at under two minutes. It finds Tito trading vocals with Michael K. Jackson, who co-wrote most of the songs here and is a former member of the R&B band Portrait. They are joined by Marlon Jackson on "Love One Another," a pleasant ode to hope.
Several of the late B.B. King's band members shine on a percolating version of "Rock Me Baby." Like much of the album, it is as pleasant as it is lacking in the flinty edge required to light a palpable musical fire.
Elsewhere, Tito glides through 12-bar blues ("I Like It" and "That Kind of Love") and croons on "Under Your Spell," a loping, funk-rock number that could fit comfortably on a Lenny Kravitz album. He sounds most at home on "I Got Caught (Loving in a Dream)," a silky, soulful ballad that name-checks Muddy Waters and Johnny Taylor while sounding like it was recorded for another, altogether different (and more satisfying) album.
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Julian Lage, "Squint" (Blue Note)
There are periodic echoes of such fellow guitar greats as Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Nels Cline and Bill Frisell on "Squint," the terrific new album by Julian Lage and his first for the storied Blue Note label.
But the Santa Rosa, California, native has musical personality to spare. And, at 33, he has carved out a distinctive niche that should appeal to six-string fans of many persuasions. Jazz, blues, country, surf-rock, open-ended improvisations and finely calibrated ballads — Lage skillfully mixes and matches styles at will.
The richly textured music that results strikes a neat balance between precision and freewheeling spontaneity, melodic charm and edgy bravura. On "Familiar Flower," whose stop-go rhythms evoke Ornette Coleman's classic "Ramblin'," Lage makes even the most twisting lines lithe and inviting. On "Short Form," he alternates glistening chords, gently dancing lines and bluesy accents on top of Jorge Roeder's delicate bass playing and Dave King's nimble drumming.
The trio's supple interplay on "Call of the Canyon" and the album's 10 other songs is a gem of empathetic interaction. Each musician listens as intently as they play, and even when they come close to rocking out on "Twilight Surfer," their lightness of touch is as unmistakable as it is rewarding to hear.
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