The following was transcribed from an article appearing in a special edition
of Bass Player Magazine I picked up from the newsstand the other day. The mag is titled
"Bass Player Presents Legends of Funk & R&B". It's a nice edition, worth picking up. Each section features an article devoted to one of the great bass Legends of our times. So I guess that means its 'official' then right?...Meshell IS officially a "Legend" ...(as if we here didn't think so already .

Anyway, here's the article...

"Meshell NdegeOcello Solo Artist"

Meshell NdegeOcello cut her teeth playing go-go music, Washington, D.C.'s loping, percussion driven funk offshoot. Whether she's singing, rapping, playing keyboards, or laying down solid,funky bass lines on her poweriul compositions, Meshell has just one goal:"lf I die tomorrow, I want people to say,'Well,it was funky.lt was definitely groovin'."

Q: You performed with the surviving Motown house band in the documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown. What did you learn from that experience?

A: What's so interesting about the Motown cats is that was their 9-to-5. They weren't going to eat if they weren't at the top of their craft. They are still the paradigm for artistic integrity. Look at the arrangements that came out of their minds! And if you play R&B, there's no way you can say that I you weren't influenced by James Jamerson.

Q: What other funk bassists do you admire?

A: Rodney "Skeet" Curtis from P-Funk - everybody slept on him. Paul Jackson
with the Headhunters - he sounds like a bass player. I also had a great mentor, Mike Neil, when I was growing up in D.C. He's helped me develop my bass personality.
He always said, "You've got to know what not to play. Just hold it down - it's a waste of time if nobody can dance to it. I definitely got that slide stuff I do from him. It's the period, the end of the sentence.

Q: How do you practice?

A: At home I'll take one of my lines, turn on a drum machine, and just play it over and over, messing with the pocket, cutting up the phrases, and trying to see how many different ways I can make the line sit around the beat. I try not to listen to the drums to play with them, but just to feel them and groove with them.

Q: Where do you play in relation to the beat?

A: I play super behind. It's that D.C.go-go feel; everything has this lope in it. When you play go-go, everyone's a percussionist, so you learn to take up space and add that rhythmic feel. At the same time, space is where it is. Here's how I see it: If you were doing this all the time [breathes really fast], you'd think,'I can't breathe I I'm hyper-ventilating!' Instead, it's all about [takes slow, easy breaths]. To me, music is like sex - you've got to relax and take it slow. You can't be just on it all the time. A lot of musicians think they've
got to be at bat 'Pow Pow' - hitting home runs all the time. I'm fine just taking
it easy.

Q: In addition to electric bass, you also play keyboard bass.

A: Give me a keyboard and a pitch bend and it's on. Keyboard bass and electric bass are both a part of me, and I love it when the two interact. To me, one of the greatest bass players of all time is Stevie Wonder. The way his keyboard bass percolates on "Boogie on Reggae Woman" [Fulfillingness' First Finale, Motown]-oh my God, you don't want to play after that!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: derek,

great article - thanks Derek !