While a large, enthusiastic crowd gathered at Dodger Stadium for Paul McCartney's final U.S. tour stop on July 13th, I attended a more intimate concert by Meshell Ndegeocello at the Ford Theatre which was filled with an equally excited audience. Since her 1993 debut, "Plantation Lullabies", Ndegeocello (which means "free like a bird" in Swahili) has been thrilling us with her blend of jazz-infused, funky r&b and has been hailed as the the spark of the neo-soul movement.
On the road to promote her latest album, "Ventriloquism", the fifty year old performer has decided look back at pop and soul songs that inspired her through the years yet delivers each of them with her own special vibe. The concert largely consisted of material from this record with her live versions of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's, "I Wonder If I Take You Home", Al B. Sure's "Nite and Day", the TLC classic, "Waterfalls", Force MDs' , "Tender Love" and particularly the George Clinton song, "Atomic Dog" being twisted and mellowed yet still retaining the power of the originals.
Soft-spoken and low-key, the singer and bass player kept the conversation to a minimum. Ndegeocello really only spoke to acknowledge the love she was feeling from the crowd and how much she appreciated everyone coming out to see her. She simply allowed the music to communicate everything she wanted and with her small yet tight band, Jebin Bruni on keyboards, Christopher Bruce on guitar and drummer, Abraham Rounds, they were able to recreate some extraordinary sounds that smoothly washed over us. With the open-air stage at the bottom of a hill and birds (and helicopters) soaring over head, Ndegeocello was aided by this natural setting to deliver a serene show that left everyone in a wonderful mood.
