Tony- and Grammy-winner Leslie Odom Jr. has released his first album of all-original material, the 13-track “Mr.” “I wanted to include as much of my life and the people who make me who I am on some level. I wanted to sew them into the tapestry,” Odom said
Odom said he gingerly asked his spouse to be part of the album. She was always the first person he shared his demos with, but he wasn’t sure if she wanted to sing backup. “My wife is a star,” he said, laughing.
“She’s not the background in my foreground in any way. I didn’t know if she’d be willing to sing background. I just wanted her to know, ‘It’s not that I think you’re less. It’s just that I want you there.’” Odom’s favorite song on the album is one he didn’t write. It’s not even a song, really — it’s his grandmother’s contribution. She had memorized Longfellow’s poem in the fourth grade and her grandson would often ask her to recite it for him. He videoed her speaking it earlier this year in a hospital at the end of her life. “It was the last time my grandmother ever read me that poem. And so I got to include her, too, which is so meaningful to me. That is my favorite track on the album. It kind of stops me dead in my tracks.” S-Curve Records founder and CEO Steve Greenberg, who is an executive producer and co-wrote two tracks, said Odom had a clear conception of how he wanted the album to sound and said he and the songwriters were inspired by the film “Blindspotting.” The CD starts with the jazzy “Stronger Magic” but halfway through the song, it veers into other territory, including adopting a trap beat. “That was on purpose. It was kind of to say, ‘OK, you think you’re getting this. But I’m actually going to take you on a journey that you might not have expected you were going on,’” he said. “Because he’s such a great singer, he actually can take to a very unexpected and even unorthodox place. Because he’s singing so beautifully, you’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and go there with him” In addition to music, Odom’s acting credits include TV work in “Smash” and “CSI: Miami,” on film in “Red Tails” and on Broadway in “Leap of Faith,” and he became the youngest person ever cast in the Broadway company of “Rent” at 17.Odom is next to star in a prequel of “The Sopranos” called “Newark” and this fall co-starred opposite Cynthia Erivo and Janelle Monae in “Harriet,” the biopic of Harriet Tubman and her Underground Railroad safe houses. “Harriet” has been criticized for everything from the casting of British actress Erivo to the film’s supposed white savior narrative, prompting the creation of the hashtag #NotMyHarriet. Odom, who plays the abolitionist William Still, isn’t bitter from the sniping and welcomes honest feedback. “I understand people are protective over Harriet. They’re protective over black stories because historically there’s been so there’s been such a historic lack of representation,” he said. “This is the first major motion picture about Harriet Tubman, but I don’t think it’ll be the last and there’s no reason why it has to be the last. It doesn’t have to be the definitive telling.” Odom plans to tour with the new songs next year and, in the spirit of “Harriet,” hopes to hear from fans — about what they like or not. “I’m always willing to have people tell me the truth, but I hope that they do it in love. Tell me the truth about what I made.”
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