When the country shut down in March of 2020, Ledisi breathed a sigh of relief.
The New Orleans-born, Oakland-reared R&B powerhouse was worried about the rising pandemic, but staying home for a couple months didn’t sound like a bad idea.
“I’d been going so hard for the past 20 years, I thought I’d get a little break,” she said from her home in Los Angeles. “And then the break kept going.”
Employing the same pluck and resourcefulness with which she navigated the detour-filled path from the millinery bacchanal of Beach Blanket Babylon to illustrious stages around the world, Ledisi turned the disaster into an intensely productive home residency. On Saturday afternoon she returns to the Monterey Jazz Festival, an institution that has presented her throughout her rise from Bay Area phenomenon to Grammy Award winning star. All three days of the festival are sold out. More information is at montereyjazzfestival.org.
She completed her Grammy breakthrough album “The Wild Card” during lockdown, finally taking home the elusive award last March after earning a dozen nominations since 2008. She won in the best traditional R&B performance category for “Anything for You,” the soul-steeped opening track on the self-produced album that launched her own label, Listen Back.
She’s taken the reins of her creative output on a variety of fronts. Ledisi recorded the album’s last two pieces at home, which required transforming her office into a recording booth. The home studio became the setting for her “Anything for You” video, which has racked up more than 5 million views on YouTube. She figured that if everyone else was also cooped up at home, music was more necessary than ever.
“I had a lot of faith,” she said. “People will always need music, and people are online all the time. It was my way of making that work, and being more transparent about how I was making my music.”
She also started recording her latest release, “Ledisi Sings Nina,” at home, though the elaborate production includes a string section and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra led by drummer Adonis Rose. Given Ledisi’s stylistic breadth, it’s not surprising she’d gravitate to Simone, who carved out a singular niche on the American music scene after her initial concert piano ambitions were dashed by racism.
Ledisi didn’t know much about Simone’s story until the Kennedy Center asked her to perform a set of songs associated with the iconic singer for a 2017 concert accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra. She started researching Simone’s life and found a kindred spirit and muse, which led her to write and star in “The Legend of Little Girl Blue,” an autobiographical theatrical production that sold-out a three-week run in Los Angeles in 2019.
“When I hear Nina Simone I hear the blues, soul, Africa, and classical music,” Ledisi said. “I love her rebellious self, and this longing she had throughout all of her music. Nina wasn’t one thing, and I can relate to that. When I’m doing jazz I sneak in a little blues. When I’m doing R&B I sneak in a little jazz.”
Ledisi has always defied easy categorization. Conservatory-trained in UC Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program, she’s also deeply versed in the full continuum of African American music, from sacred songs and lusty blues to jazz standards and R&B anthems. Her voice and stage presence is so evocative that Hollywood often casts her as an era-defining figure, starting with her screen debut as a blues singer in George Clooney’s 2008 comedy “Leatherheads.”
She went on to portray gospel music legend Mahalia Jackson in the Academy Award-winning 2014 civil rights drama “Selma.” In 2020, Ledisi was cast as Patti LaBelle in the BET series “American Soul” and is playing Mahalia Jackson again in the upcoming British thriller “Remember Me.”
She’s also portraying Gladys Knight in the upcoming biopic “Spinning Gold,” about Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart, who played a key role in the careers of Donna Summer, KISS, the Village People, the Isley Brothers, and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
Even as she’s gained confidence stepping into the shoes of iconic artists, Ledisi continues to grow into her most challenging role, namely embracing her own fabulous talent. Winning a Grammy for a song she produced, co-wrote and released on her own label is a big step on her ongoing journey. A little step might be deciding exactly where the award goes.
“My Grammy is still in the box,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know where I want to put it yet. It’s so huge. It feels like a piece of glass you might break. It felt weird posting about it. I’ve been so used to hiding my greatness and being OK that. There have been some really low moments and I almost gave up several times. But I know I belong.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
