The Omnichord Real Book

Meshell Ndegeocello

Released on 6/16/23 by Blue Note Records
Main artists: Meshell Ndegeocello
Genre: Jazz

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It's been nearly a decade since Meshell Ndegeocello last released a new and original album. Although we did get an excellent collection of covers in 2018 (Ventriloquism), it was 2014's Comet, Come to Me that last gave the world a glimpse of Ndegeocello's highly unique creative approach. That album found Ndegeocello exploring a relatively genre-agnostic (if somewhat indie-rockist) approach alongside her regular collaborators and a clutch of guests. Although the set was just a bit more than EP length, it showed an artist still unwilling to be hemmed in by anyone's expectations of what her music should sound like. Fast forward to 2023: Ndegeocello has lost her parents, suffered through the isolation and creative restraints of a pandemic, and come out on the other side with a new label (Blue Note) and an album, The Omnichord Real Book, that is both her boldest stylistic exploration yet, but also one that's resoundingly true to the creative journey she's been on since the '90s. To be clear, Omnichord both is and is not "a pandemic album"; while certainly inspired by the reality of the last few years, Ndegeocello has taken that energy and funneled it into a kaleidoscopic and energetic batch of tunes that celebrate individuality and collaboration, with more than a dozen guests scattered throughout the album's 18 tracks. And yes, her new home at Blue Note is an appropriate one: not because she's decided to make that late-career "guess I should make a jazz album" move that many middle-aged artists make, but more because the stylistic definition of "jazz" has, over the past few years, moved closer and closer to the soulful, funky futurism that Ndegeocello has trafficked in for decades. The eight-minute "Virgo" doesn't arrive until the last third of the album, but it is an expansive declaration of intent, an intensely rewarding piece, and probably the clearest distillation of what Ndegeocello is doing on Omnichord. Steeped in Afrofuturism and anchored by throbbing synth grooves and staccato funk guitar, the song also features Brandee Younger's harp, and a swirling Farfisa organ played by Julius Rodriguez; it's a robust open dialogue between extremely talented musicians, but also one mediated by Ndegeocello's insistent space-brained vision; that it gets reprised at the end of the album in an evocative arrangement by jazz icon Oliver Lake only underlines the strength and mutability of the material here. Of course, Ndegeocello's robust, whispery singing voice is still a primary ingredient, and it's in top form throughout the album—evocative and occasionally ethereal but always intensely expressive. And on a few numbers she gets a great assist from South African singer Thandiswa Mazwai, most compellingly on the driving funk workout of "Vuma." © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

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The Omnichord Real Book

Meshell Ndegeocello

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