Meshell Ndegeocello – 9:00 PM

Acclaimed GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello makes her Blue Note Records debut with The Omnichord Real Book – a visionary, expansive, and deeply jazz-influenced album that marks the start of a new chapter in her trailblazing career. Following her 2018 covers album Ventriloquism, Ndegeocelo returns with an album of new original material that taps into a broad spectrum of her musical roots.

“It’s a little bit of all of me, my travels, my life,” says Ndegeocello. “My first record I made at 22, and it’s over 30 years from then, so I have a lot of stored information to share.” Reflecting on the impact that the forced stillness of the pandemic lockdown had on her, she says “I must admit it was a beautiful time for me. I got to really sit and reacquaint myself with music. Music is a gift.”

“This album is about the way we see old things in new ways,” Ndegeocello explains. “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.”

Ndegeocello will be joined on this concert date by vocalist Justin Hicks, bassist Kyle Miles, drummer/vocalist Abraham Rounds, keyboardist/vocalist Jebin Bruni, and guitarist Chris Bruce.

Meshell Ndegeocello Website
Sponsored by Val, Terry & Asha Cole
(Ticket Includes 5% City of Santa Cruz Admission Tax)