Review – Comet Come to Me – Me’shell Ndegeocello

This record is thing of rare beauty and a feast for the ears and the heart. Me’Shell Ndegeocello’s 11th album ‘Comet Come to Me’ is arguably her finest collection of songs to date; all of which are enriched and enhanced by lush instrumentation that slips seamlessly and cohesively between genres from chilled r’n’b through dub reggae beats, to acoustic driven soft rock and even with hints of country, with subtle pedal steel woven into the tapestry of sounds.

Me’Shell opens with a cover of a 30 yr. old classic hip hop song ‘Friends’ by Whodini with some sweeping electronica to fanfare proceedings and long time collaborator Christopher Bruce’s excellent guitar work; a multi disciplined technician who delights throughout this varied set. Me’Shell explains ““I grew up listening to hip-hop, and I get mad at my peers and older people who are not really open to modern music, especially rap music. I wanted to show how intricate the music is, if you really listen deeply. On this track, for example, if you take away the vocals, it’s got really intricate things going on. There’s keyboard element, which on my version is the guitar. And then they added a half beat to each bar, which is why it has a kind of shift in it. “There’s something in music called “chopped and screwed” where you “screw” the track, which I wanted to emulate. If you hear the original version on the record, you’ll understand.”.

After being introduced to her work through ‘Cookie’ and ‘Comfort Woman’ I went to see her play Camden’s Jazz Cafe, many years ago, where she played a purely instrumental set of free jazz and refused requests for familiar songs from some obviously disappointed fans. I wondered then if she produced her commercial output simply to allow her freedom to play improvisational jazz and to stretch her electric bass explorations; since then, having ardently followed every subsequent release, I have abandoned that theory. She is a multi-talented musician who naturally expresses herself lyrically and melodically as a singer/songwriter, arranger and producer as well as being a world class jazz bassist.

This record is as good an introduction to her work as any but I would also highly recommend ‘Plantation Lullabies’, ‘Comfort Woman’, ‘Cookie:The Anthropological Mixtape’, ‘Peace Beyond Passion’, ‘Bitter’ and her gorgeous 2012 dedication to Nina Simone ‘Pour une ame souveraine’. Every release has a different flavour and tone, some meditative and some provocative, some deeply chilled and others hard tight funk but all showcasing her precise and fluid bass playing and her soothing (even when angry) vocals.

This album also features special guests Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Doyle Bramhall, along with safe ‘old hands’ Jebin Bruni (keys), and Earl Harvin on drums.