“Them Changes,” penned by drummer Buddy Miles, who recorded it with
both Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and his own Freedom Express, served
as the inspiration for Ledisi’s fifth and funkiest CD. With drummer
Teddy Thompson (of Mary Mary and American Idol renown)
ferociously kicking along horn section riffs and Errol Cooney’s
hypnotic, Hendrix-derived rhythm patterns and scorching guitar solo,
the Oakland soul siren wails with virtuosic abandon on the funk-rock
classic, the only tune on the fourteen-track disc she didn’t have a
hand in writing. The title did, however, lead Ledisi to compose the
original songs “Everything Changes,” “Love Never Changes,” and “Goin’
Thru Changes” in collaboration with, respectively, co-producers Carl
“Chucky” Thompson, Raphael Saadiq, and Rex Rideout.
Working for the first time with a variety of writer-producers, also
including Chief Xcel, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Ivan Barias and Carvin
Haggins, and Eric Krasno and Adam Deitch, provides the vocalist with a
wider range of canvases on which to apply her multi-octave jazz- and
gospel-imbued magic, from the provocative power ballad “The Answer to
Why,” written with Rideout, to the Memphis grooves and churchy melodies
of the two songs cut with Saadiq. Many selections use programmed
percussion, but Ledisi seems most inspired when singing with live
drummers. Campbell plays on four tracks and Deitch on two, including
“Knockin’,” a Meters-style trip back to Ledisi’s native New Orleans
that features the John Scofield sideman’s slamming Zigaboo
Modeliste-inspired syncopations and Krasno’s blistering Leo
Nocentelli-like guitar. (Verve Forecast)
