Meshell Ndegeocello Covers Her Influences On “Ventriloquism”
Meshell Ndegeocello’s style is so singular that she owns every song she performs. That includes the tracks on her latest album, Ventriloquism, which features eleven covers that pay tribute to her diverse influences.
“Early on in my career, I was told to make the same kind of album again and again, and when I didn’t do that, I lost support,” the bassist/vocalist explains. “There isn’t much diversity within genres, which are ghettoizing themselves, and I liked the idea of turning hits I loved into something even just a little less familiar or formulaic. It was an opportunity to pay a new kind of tribute.”
The album ranges from Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April” to TLC’s “Waterfalls” to Sade’s “Smooth Operator”. Ndegeocello’s signature smoky vocals grace every song while she shares bass duties with Kneebody founder and session ace Kaveh Rastegar.
Check out her take on “Sometimes It Snows In April”:
Ventriloquism is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
Ventriloquism Track List:
- I Wonder If I Take You Home
- Nite and Day
- Sometimes It Snows In April
- Waterfalls
- Atomic Dog 2017
- Sensitivity
- Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)
- Tender Love
- Don’t Disturb This Groove
- Private Dancer
- Smooth Operator
