New York Times, October 16, 2007
Music Review | Meshell Ndegeocello
‘A Soul on the Planet’ Approaches the Big Questions of Life From a Variety of Directions
By JON PARELES

A somber, self-effacing Meshell Ndegeocello greeted her audience at the Hiro Ballroom on Saturday night. Dressed in a hooded jacket with a CBGB logo, she introduced nearly every song by simply announcing its title — “This is called ‘Wildnerness’ ” — in a subdued voice, and she sang as if she was looking inward.

But there was nothing modest or diffident about her ambitions. Ms. Ndegeocello’s lyrics muse on large concepts — faith, science, politics and above all, desire — as private struggles, while her music constantly transforms itself.

There’s a lot of funk in her songs. Her main instrument, and the one she sometimes played onstage on Saturday night, is the bass. But funk is only one component of her music, which can be as transparent as fingerpicked guitars and voice, as aggressive as power-chorded rock, as spacious as reggae and as cerebral as jazz tunes moving in odd time signatures. A few of her songs use recurring pop riffs and refrains, but she no longer operates in the realm of songs aimed for the Top 40. Most of her music finds structures all its own. The musical term fusion was devalued in the 1970s, but Ms. Ndegeocello’s music is a vital, constantly surprising fusion. Maybe, instead, it should be called flux.

Ms. Ndegeocello’s voice extends from low and sultry to a vulnerable upper register, and while she has lately been working largely as an instrumentalist, at Hiro she mostly sang without playing. But there was no question who was guiding her superb band in songs from her new album, “The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams” (Decca), like the quiet, heartsore “Shirk” and the propulsive, Mali-meets-Hendrix “Michelle Johnson” (Ms. Ndegeocello’s former name), in which she declared, “I’m just a soul on the planet/Trying to do good, be good, feel good.”

She also performed other, unrecorded songs like “Lola,” a sympathetic portrait of an unhappy woman — “The girl she loved left her for another boy/The boy she loved left her for another girl” — and “Mass Transit,” a hurtling meditation on loneliness, enticement and manipulation that careered through vamp after vamp — folk-rock, metal, funk, jazz-rock, reggae-rock — and explored or raced past each one, going local or express at whim.

The band included Oren Bloedow and Chris Bruce on guitars, Jason Lindner on keyboards, Mark Kelley on bass and Charles Haynes on drums, and they were prepared to follow the songs in any direction. Tricky patterns would always swing; instrumental interludes climbed way out on improvisational limbs but easily returned to earth. For all its complexities, Ms. Ndegeocello’s music sounds as if it springs directly from a mind that’s restlessly curious about ideas, people, interactions and possibilities, and is passionate about all of them.

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which show(s) are you going to?

chicago and milwaukee.

jealous and envious

No Detroit this time? I swear, I'll never run imto you.

nope, k'trazz. i was gonna throw detroit in there too, but my traveling companion couldn't make that one work. i was in detroit for the show in late june tho...were you?? i should'a let you know we were going. deshigrrl was there too!

i'm surprised gt didn't throw minneapolis in the mix. in my hey days of being employed and generous, i would've probably joined groove in doing a detroit - chicago - milwaukee - minneapolis tour. ha! 4 in a row? yeah. not so this time around. but chi and milwaukee for sure.

wait until you see deantoni parks. maybe the best drummer i've ever seen

deshi, don't THINK that i didn't consider the whole detroit-chicago-milwaukee-minneapolis extravaganza. if i weren't already doing this weeklong seattle trip right beforehand, i might have just done it!

m, better than chris dave?! i will never forget when he broke the drum--no, not the drumSTICK, but the DRUM--at the jazz cafe in london.

i wasn't lucky enough to catch chris dave, jon jon webb or the band she had at that time.

watching deantoni parks the other night in sacramento was unreal. i know i'm going to regret not calling in sick and making my way to the portland show so i can see kudu live again... because i'll probably never see that again in person.

quote:

Originally posted by groove thang:
nope, k'trazz. i was gonna throw detroit in there too, but my traveling companion couldn't make that one work. i was in detroit for the show in late june tho...were you?? i should'a let you know we were going. deshigrrl was there too!

Yeah, I remember you two talking about making the trip. Another missed op. For the record, I usually like to sit/stand as close to a speaker as possible to get a good recording. I was on the left side, aisle seat of row 2 for that gig.

quote:

Originally posted by groove thang:
chicago and milwaukee.

See you and deshigrrrl in Chicago. Will you hold a spot in line for me?

Assuming it's on time, my flight isn't scheduled to arrive at O'Hare until 4:43pm. I haven't been in Chicago in 20 years. Should be able to hit the hotel (in Rosemont) and make it to the HOB via train in time...

Who else is going to the Chicago show? We should all meet up before or afterwards. Preferrably afterwards so we all have each other to talk to about Parks and the new material. Maybe before and afterwards

Oh Good Lord! I already had trouble switching shifts to get Monday off. Now you're making me wish for Tuesday? If I can quit my job by then (and somehow get a ticket)... sigh. Hell, even if I couldn't get a ticket, I'd LOVE to hang out with you guys.

Damn. I was hoping you could make it. At least you are going to get to see Parks in Detroit

hey m, you should be fine... you pretty much want to catch the blue line train, and there's a rosemont stop which takes about 40 minutes to get downtown (used to be shorter when the chicago transit authority was more dependable) and once you get off the train downtown it's about a 10 minute walk to hob max.
hope your flight doesn't get delayed!
peace
deshi

yeah, my only *real* concern is that my flight is delayed.

oh it's ON in Chicago....deantoni parks will be tearing it up and I'll be there to hear it in person too? Hell yeah! Just ordered my tix, gonna be staying with relatives...but i will see you all there people!

this is almost turning into a convention of sorts. some of her strongest longtime supporters all showing up at the same place for the first time and all.

i'm looking forward to finally being able to thank the 3 of you

right back at ya m! This'll be cool. Deshi & Groove looking forward to seeing ya'll & m in the windy city!

Anyone know what the best location is inside this particular House Of Blues? (Is there a balcony or is it all on one floor) (I'm short so unless i'm in the front row on the floor i usually go for the upstairs /balcony seats so that i can see the whole stage)

If I remember correctly, the HOB on Sunset Strip had a balcony -- so it's possible that this one might as well. I'm guessing there's either a seating chart either at hob.com or ticketmaster.

I imagine either all 3 of you holding a spot for me at the front of the line since my flight might be late coming in. In return, I'll go hold spots for us at the front of the stage while you find a place that you want to watch the band's performance from. I've started to realize that I'd rather not stand for 8 hours straight anymore...

At the Portland show, the venue was so empty, I spent the whole show walking back and forth near the back. Mostly to stay awake. I was exhausted. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the flight from Seattle to Chicago after getting off work at 7am...

woah... convention indeed! looking forward to meeting you guys for sure.
the hob chicago space is essentially standing room only on the main floor. on either side of the main floor there are small areas where they have cocktail tables set up and (i think) a long seating area along the length of the wall. they do have an upstairs balcony, though i've actually never been up there. i've always stood in the main floor area and have generally been within the first few rows for any meshell show.
so, i've heard, from a friend who works for hob, that tix aren't selling so great. but that was 2 weeks ago so things could've changed, and folx could be waiting to buy tix at the door too. so i'm not super worried about not getting a good spot to watch the show but i don't want to jinx it either. and of course i want, for meshell's benefit, the show to be sold out. but either way, there's always the balcony which for the most part i've noticed doesn't really fill up unless the show is totally sold out.
see yall in chi!
deshi

i'm curious what's up with tickets not selling for these shows. she's always done well (afaik) with smaller venues... portland was awful. at least sacramento had a good turn out... i'm assuming san fran did as well, based on what her manager said.

so, this is only my opinion on why tix aren't really selling, but basically the last show she did in chi was the one she did where the audience felt like they weren't told that it was smj and not meshell. it was the one at the park west where folks chanted for her to sing, and of course she didn't, so many of them walked out and wanted a refund. i'm sure i posted about that show with vehement disgust at the way the audience treated meshell that night, but all i'm saying is that maybe a lot of chicagoans who went to that show decided that they didn't want to risk another instrumental set? who knows, that's just my opinion. i also don't know if tix sales have gone up since then, cuz like i said, that news is two weeks old.

it's too bad there really isn't any press about the concerts or the album... i know she doesn't care for doing interviews, but it helps to let people know she's singing again, performing live in their city, etc.

it took me a long time to figure out that she just doesn't care about that stuff. at least, not until folks are chanting for her to sing when she has no intention to, or screaming out "barry farms," or that there are only maybe 150 at a show that could probably take 500 or more... i know that's got to be disheartening to her, but there's only so much limited information on the internet can do.

as little as people read the paper or listen to the radio anymore, i'm not sure how she should be promoted anymore...

sometimes word of mouth just isn't enough...

quote:

i'm sure i posted about that show with vehement disgust at the way the audience treated meshell that night

Hmph. Park West. I'm still a little bitter about the way they treated her.