Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord
It’s hard to believe that Plantation Lullabies, Meshell Ndegeocello’s sensuous, soulful and unremittingly funky debut, came out 30 years ago—and not just because it still sounds fresh today. More important, it announced the arrival of a visionary artist with the game to fold her eclectic hip-hop and jazz influences into an altogether new style that harnessed the dual promise of Afro-futurism and matriarchal power, paving the way for Janelle Monáe, Esperanza Spalding and, yes, even Beyoncé. Twelve albums later, Meshell is still blazing pathways and challenging trite expectations. On her first project for the Blue Note label, she recruits saxophonist and producer Josh Johnson to deliver an all-star confab teeming with extended grooves, tightly arranged sonic excursions and straight-up progressive R&B. Her fluid bass playing anchors the proceedings throughout; from the bouncy “Omnipuss” (taking its title in part from the Omnichord, the portable electronic gizmo she used as a composing tool for most of the album) to the funk-fueled “Clear Water” and “ASR” (both featuring the choice guitar licks of Tortoise’s Jeff Parker), each track surges with elite musicianship, as well as a quiet but insistent aura of self-discovery that’s remarkable for someone who’s been steadily making music for so long. The simple fact is Meshell has never stopped feeding her curiosity; you can hear it in the slow-building, synth-driven “Virgo,” a centerpiece song that recurs as the album’s instrumental closer, accentuating her own guiding themes of travel, exploration and spiritual enrichment (“They’re calling me back to the stars/ Deep outer space/ Wait for love to show her face,” she sings). It’s akin to what Jimi Hendrix once referred to as the electric church, where music and creativity unite as a healing force. In these times, that’s a compelling ideal we can all embrace.
