Pour une ame souveraine: A dedication to Nina Simone Meshell Ndegeocello
Album info
Album-Release:
2012
HRA-Release:
11.10.2012
Album including Album cover Booklet (PDF)
- 1Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood04:08
- 2Suzanne04:27
- 3Real Real03:08
- 4The House Of The Rising Sun03:36
- 5Turn Me On03:08
- 6The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd: Feeling Good04:10
- 7Don't Take All Night03:28
- 8Nobody's Fault but Mine02:37
- 9Be My Husband03:31
- 10Black Is the Color of My True Loves Hair03:53
- 11See Lion Woman05:51
- 12Either Way I Lose03:29
- 13To Be Young, Gifted and Black03:16
- 14Four Women05:02
Info for Pour une ame souveraine: A dedication to Nina Simone
Acclaimed jazz-funk bassist and neo-soul chanteuse Meshell Ndegeocello tenth studio album, Pour une âme souveraine (‘For a sovereign soul’), is a dedication to the fearless creativity and spirit of Nina Simone, the feisty songwriter/bassist is joined by her regular touring band of guitarist Chris Bruce, keyboardist Jebin Bruni and drummer Deantoni Parks, all creating radically reworked versions of songs made famous by the iconic singer. The recording also features guest vocal performances from Lizz Wright, Sinead O'Connor, Valerie June, Tracy Wannomae, Toshi Reagon and Cody ChesnuTT.
'Meshell Ndegeocello is wary of giving the wrong impression with “Pour Une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone”, her 10th studio album. “I don’t want to necromance,” she said recently. “I feel like that’s going on a lot.”
It’s a useful disclaimer given the album’s subject, the mercurial, commanding singer and pianist Nina Simone, who died in 2003 and has since had her music appropriated by ad agencies, club remixers, Kanye West and assorted other cultural properties, including a biopic reported to be starting production soon, with Zoe Saldana in the title role.
Ms. Ndegeocello, a singer-songwriter of searching candor and an electric bassist of mesmerizing skill, decided to make her album after playing a sold-out tribute concert in March, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Plunging into Simone’s legacy — studio recordings, concert footage, a searing memoir and the recent biography “Princess Noire” — she recognized a strain of rage born out of frustration. “I think I can relate a little bit,” she said.
But where the hallmark of Simone’s style was a defiant moral clarity, Ms. Ndegeocello has long centered her own work in a shroud of ambiguity. “I’m really unclear,” she acknowledged. “Emotionally, intellectually, I’m in this place where it’s definitely gray. It’s ethereal.” The difference manifests in her treatment of “Feeling Good,” one of many songs that Simone didn’t write but seemed to own. “It’s such a weird song,” Ms. Ndegeocello said, “and my title should say ‘Feeling Good, question mark.’ I definitely wanted to challenge that optimism.”
Producing the album with her longtime guitarist, Chris Bruce, she placed emphasis on the brooding cohesion of a band that otherwise features Jebin Bruni on keyboards and Deantoni Parks on drums. At her label’s behest she welcomed a small array of guest vocalists, including Toshi Reagon, who demolishes a rave-up version of “House of the Rising Sun”; Sinead O’Connor, who wryly simmers on “Don’t Take All Night”; and Cody Chesnutt, who’s radiantly soulful on “To Be Young, Gifted and Black.” For “Be My Husband,” a song whose psychological subtext made it a priority for Ms. Ndegeocello, she used the rustic young folk singer Valerie June.
But the most intriguingly shaded voice on the album belongs to Ms. Ndegeocello, who apprehends Simone’s legacy with curiosity and stubbornness — as well as a keen appreciation of her political stance, what Ms. Ndegeocello called her “blurry sexuality,” her independence as a black woman and her fearsome integrity as an artist. “I mostly wanted to pay tribute to her humanity, her incredible chops as a musician, and her song styling,” she said. “She made them her own and added a quality that can never be reproduced.” (Nate Chinen, New Yourk Times)
Meshell Ndegeocello, bass
Chris Bruce, guitar
Jebin Bruni, keyboards
Deantoni Parks, drums
Guest appearances by Sinead O'Connor, Lizz Wright, Valerie June, Tracy Wannomae, Toshi Reagon and Cody ChesnuTT
Produced by Meshell Ndegeocello & Chris Bruce
Following the release of 2011′s critically acclaimed Weather, Meshell Ndegeocello announces the release of her 10th studio album, Pour une âme souveraine (“For a sovereign soul”), a dedication to fellow musician Nina Simone. Joined by musicians Chris Bruce (guitar), Jebin Bruni (keys) and Deantoni Parks (drums), the singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and vocalist reworked some of the tracks made famous by the iconic musician. Guests on the album include Sinead O’Connor, Lizz Wright, Valerie June, Tracy Wannomae, Toshi Reagon and Cody ChesnuTT. To celebrate the release of the album, Meshell is sharing the iconic track “Be My Husband,” which just premiered on NPR. Flush with stomps, claps and chants, Meshell is accompanied on vocals by New York singer-songwriter Valerie June.
After only ten days in the studios of guitarist Pete Min, this album was born, reflecting Meshell’s admiration for the pioneering work of an artist who refused to be owned by genre, industry, or expectation. As Meshell describes, this album is “a dedication to Nina Simone and her incredible influence but it is also a dedication to the single, interior life we all experience.” Revered by Meshell, Nina Simone was a powerful influence both musically and politically. Her music was highly instrumental in the fight for equal rights in the United States. “She wanted success, was pressured to make hits, but her own sound was still irrepressible,” explains Meshell. “She had things to say, she protested. She was a loud, proud black, female voice during a time when black female voices were not encouraged to make themselves heard.”
Comprised of a mix of traditional classics (“Feelin’ Good”), songs written by Nina Simone (“Real Real”), or for her (“To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Weldon Irvine), the album represents a full spectrum of Nina Simone’s work and life. From the pulsing of the traditional ballad “House Of The Rising Sun,” the velvety, soul filled vocals of “Feeling Good,” and a bluegrass duet with Sinead O’Connor in “Don’t Take All Night,” Meshell Ndegeocello gives a subtle spin to the tracks off the Pour une âme souveraine.
“We really wanted to do something we felt was true to Nina Simone. By that realizing it meant we had to do what felt true to us,” says Chris Bruce, who co-produced the album along with Meshell and wrote the arrangements. “The aim was not to re-create the existing versions, because we felt strongly that the only way to honor Nina would be for Meshell to find her own voice in the material. Nina was always exploring and experimenting, and quite cathartic. If you are familiar with her work at all you will frequently find that there exist multiple versions of the same song. So we wanted to tap into that same creative spirit and make the songs our own. And in the end hopefully have something we feel she would appreciate and feel pride.”