a nonprofit presenter of jazz artistic and education programs

Meshell Ndegeocello

Sunday, October 22 • 7pm

Regency Center Grand Ballroom
  • venue info
  • $35 GA (limited seating)
    • “Meshell Ndegeocello likes all kinds of grooves: easy jazz vamps, thumb-popping funk, chunky hip-hop, slow-motion reggae. And she doesn’t like to keep them apart.”
    —The New York Times

    Impossible to pin down, endlessly inventive, and possessed of an encyclopedic array of grooves, singer, songwriter, and bassist extraordinaire Meshell Ndegeocello has spent the 10+ years of her musical career upturning conventional wisdom. Though her greatest chart success was a duet with grain-rocker John Cougar Mellencamp on a cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night,” her profoundly deep bass tone makes her an in demand player with artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Herbie Hancock, and Madonna.

    Born in Germany in the late ‘60s, Ndegeocello honed her musical chops in Washington D.C.’s well-established go-go scene (a subgenre of funk that features heavy drumming and audience call-and-response) throughout the late ‘80s before releasing her debut album, Plantation Lullabies, in 1993. She was the first female bassist to win “Bassist of the Year” from Bass Player Magazine and has been nominated for nine Grammy awards.

    Her latest album, 2005’s The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel, finds Meshell exploring a jazz vibe, with noted guest artists Jack DeJohnette, Don Byron, Cassandra Wilson, and Kenny Garrett. Reviewing Meshell’s recent live work, The New York Times called her band “a continuing, changeable experiment, balancing between pop-song structures and jamming.” In fact, “her presence is mercurial, and everything she sang or played on electric bass was rapturous, implying groove and melody without making it explicit.”

    Personnel:
    • Meshell Ndegeocello, bass, guitar, vocals
    • Mark Kelley, bass
    • Michael Severson, guitar
    • Dana Hawkins, drums
    • Gilmar Gomes, percussion
    • Sy Smith, back vocals
    • Daniel Jones, keyboard
    • Mauro Tantini, sound engineer