'In 2003, Ledisi was pulled out of a dark place by the music of Nina Simone. In a year of many dark times, her album 'Ledisi Sings Nina” did the same for me,” writes columnist LZGranderson. (via latimesopinion)
What would people have remembered about Ledisi had she followed those dark thoughts? What would we have lost had Nina Simone’s powerful voice not touched her? Reached her?
It’s a beautiful moment, full of vulnerability, storytelling, humor. And while Ledisi has paid homage to Nina Simone many times over since that day in Oakland, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect tribute to the “High Priestess of Soul” than her album earlier this year, “Ledisi Sings Nina.” For seven tracks, beginning with the ubiquitous classic “Feeling Good,” the classically trained singer explores, but never wanders too far away from, Simone’s original intent or temperament. The liberties both she and Metropole Orkest — the famed orchestra that accompanied her on the album and at the Bowl — take with the arrangements showcase the remarkable range of Ledisi’s voice. Other Simone covers I’ve heard can feel more like attempts to hide a vocalist’s shortcomings.
After learning that this incredibly gifted and beautiful soul was once “thinking how to leave the earth,” I started listening to “Ledisi Sings Nina” with different ears. She doesn’t just sing the material; she has an intimate relationship with it. When Ledisi sings, “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me,” there is a truth there that rises above the lush arrangement, without the two ever being in conflict.
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