Meshell Ndegeocello has announced her new album, The Omnichord Real Book. It marks her debut release on Blue Note and is set to arrive on June 16. She’s shared the lead single, “Virgo,” which features Brandee Younger and Julius Rodriguez. Give it a listen below.
The Omnichord Real Book is Ndegeocello’s 13th studio album and follows her 2018 full-length, Ventriloquism. Clocking in at 18 songs, the new LP boasts a lengthy list of featured artists, including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Mark Guiliana, Cory Henry, Joan as Police Woman, and Thandiswa, among others.
“This album is about the way we see old things in new ways,” said Ndegeocello. “Everything moved so quickly when my parents died. Changed my view of everything and myself in the blink of an eye. As I sifted through the remains of their life together, I found my first Real Book, the one my father gave me. I took their records, the ones I grew up hearing, learning, remembering. My mother gifted me with her ache, I carry the melancholy that defined her experience and, in turn, my experience of this thing called life calls me to disappear into my imagination and to hear the music.”
Read about Meshell Ndegeocello’s “Hot Night” in “When Feminism Meets Music: Great Songs That Sample Radical Speech” on the Pitch.
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The Omnichord Real Book:
01 Georgia Ave [ft. Josh Johnson]
02 An Invitation
03 Call the Tune
04 Good Good [ft. Jade Hicks and Josh Johnson]
05 Omnipuss
06 Clear Water [ft. Deantoni Parks, Jeff Parker and Sanford Biggers]
07 ASR [ft. Jeff Parker]
08 Gatsby [ft. Cory Henry and Joan as Police Woman]
09 Towers [ft. Joel Ross]
10 Perceptions [ft. Jason Moran]
11 Tha King [ft. Thandiswa]
12 Virgo [ft. Brandee Younger and Julius Rodriguez]
13 Burn Progression [ft. Hanna Benn and Ambrose Akinmusire]
14 OneElevenSixteen
15 Vuma [ft. and Joel Ross]
16 The 5th Dimension [ft. The Hawtplates]
17 Hole in the Bucket [ft. The Hawtplates]
18 Virgo 3 [ft. Oliver Lake, Mark Guiliana, Brandee Younger and Josh Johnson]
