At JPR, and especially on Open Air, we embrace music discovery and take pride in the diversity of the music we play. This week, we have an album that captures both ideas perfectly — Synonym by Meshell Ndegeocello.
Ndegeocello — whose last name means “free bird” in Swahili — is a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a bassist. She’s won two Grammy Awards this decade for Best Alternative Jazz Album, a fitting category for an artist who has been difficult to categorize since the beginning of her career in the 1990s.
Her music is rooted in jazz, but she draws freely from rock, soul, hip-hop and reggae, blending those influences into a sound that’s distinctly her own.
Synonym is a collection of reimagined classic duets from a wide range of genres, performed with an equally diverse group of collaborators.
Brandi Carlile joins Ndegeocello for a rendition of the George Jones and Tammy Wynette classic Golden Ring, singing Tammy Wynette’s part. While the original is built around guitar and the voices of Jones and Wynette, the new version uses a jazzy electric piano to set the groove. It culminates with Carlile and Ndegeocello surrounded by church-like background vocals that build toward a choir-like ending.
Sonny and Cher’s classic I Got You Babe has a totally different feel. Ndegeocello collaborates with soul singer Anohni to build dense, multi-layered vocal arrangements reminiscent of Jacob Collier, grounded by sparse wind instruments and light percussion.
Joining Ndegeocello on the Ja Rule and Ashanti tune Always on Time, is Laura Lee, the bassist and vocalist from Khruangbin. The track slows the tempo of the original and features the signature walking bassline Khruangbin fans will instantly recognize. The song's hard rap edges are also smoothed out, making it much jazzier.
In a recent Morning Edition interview, Ndegeocello said that any song — even one you wrote yourself — can be a cover. A different interpretation can give a familiar song new life.
You can hear that idea on Hunger Strike, written by the late Chris Cornell for the grunge supergroup Temple of the Dog. Ndegeocello is joined by WILLOW, Will Smith's daughter, and together they strip away the distorted guitars and power vocals of the original, turning the song into something almost ethereal.
There are two basic approaches to cover songs — stay true to the original, or make the song your own. On Synonym, Meshell Ndegeocello puts her own creative stamp on these familiar duets, transforming them into something that feels almost entirely new.
And that’s the thrill of music discovery — the closer you listen, the more there is to uncover.
We’ll be exploring Synonym in the coming weeks on Open Air – Weekdays 9am-3pm on JPR’s Rhythm and News Service.
