The Feedback Sits With The Incomparable Ledisi For An Interview

The IPS & Ledisi

Let me tell you, my year ended RIGHT!

If you are a reader of this blog, you know I am the biggest fan of Ledisi. Well it was my pleasure and honor to sit down and have an interview with her after checking out her show up in Seattle, WA on December 18, 2009 at the Jazz Alley. She’d been doing 2 shows a night for the past 4 days and was tired, but she gave me the time of day and was so gracious about it.

Ledisi is a force to be reckoned with and we had a long chat about her music, her upbringing (and not in the church as you might expect), the independent vs. major label business, her Grammy nominations and more! She also sung Happy Birthday to me as well (*fainted*). If you don’t know, consider yourself informed — Ledisi is an artist to watch. Even after all that singing, she STILL sounded amazing and gave the crowd MORE than what they wanted and expected.

If you haven’t seen her live — GO. NOW! She gives 200% and just pours out of herself. And as she says, it’s “church in a jook joint!” There were a couple of times where I went in and had church and had to collect myself. Ledisi sings, shouts, claps, dances, emotes and just puts on a great show. A seasoned live performer and artist who is just breaking through to the rest of the world, but watch out, she’s on her way to the top. And a world in which she doesn’t is a world that needs to reevaluate itself. Yep!

The full interview is after the jump! It’s long, fair warning! We talked for almost 30 minutes, but it’s good stuff! I’m not gonna post the audio because of where we did the interview, but check out the transcript.

TFB:  Okay.  So a question that a lot of people asked me is what genre do you classify yourself in?

LEDISI:  Oh, I don’t.  That’s the, the thing.  I don’t classify or put myself in boxes or else I won’t make music or the style of music I make.  So, I let everybody else do that and that’s why my album is all over the place right now.  [LAUGHS]  You don’t know where to put me.  Put her in church, pop, what, jazz, R&B… What we do?

TFB:  So that’s my next question.  How do you balance and embrace your love for both secular and sacred?

LEDISI:  I don’t, I didn’t, I wasn’t raised in church.

TFB:  Really?

LEDISI:  Not at all and I love that people, that’s the first thing they say. ‘Girl, you was raised in church, so you know…’  No I wasn’t.

TFB:  Really?

LEDISI:  No, I was raised around church folk.  So it’s all up and through. But I was raised, my mother and my stepfather, they were like hippies.  So, they would like play in clubs and do things.  And so I wasn’t raised in church.  I watched music by watching my mother and listening to her albums and whatever they played in the band.  So, I watched them on stage perform.  My mom couldn’t afford a babysitter.  So, she’d leave the door open and have the kids right by the door where she can see us and perform at the same time.  And so that, that’s how I was raised.  And I didn’t get into church music until I was in high school and was in the gospel choir.  So that’s even worse.  It was like learning, PK kids was teaching me how to do ad-libs.  Exactly.  So I’d go to everybody’s church trying to sing.  Cuz I was just singing like real high and Minnie Riperton-like.  But see I hooked up with the PK kids and got turned out, started squawking while I’m learning classical music at the same time.  So, it was a mess.  My vocal coach doing classical music was like, ‘what are you singing?  You must sing the spirituals, not gospel music.”  Child, I got turned out.  I was [SQUAWKS] squawking all over the place.

TFB:  I know a lot of people who would like, they grew up in church, but it was like the Methodist church or something.

LEDISI:  I grew up in Catholic Church.

TFB:  You grew up in Catholic Church.  So they didn’t get like the gospel squawl and all that until after the fact.

LEDISI:  Till later.  Yeah.

LEDISI:  And that was not by choice.  That was my step dad.  I was raised by my mom and step dad.  She grew up Baptist.  So, when she got married, that was part of what we had to do and to the point where I was the only one going to church.  I was really into church and I would read my bible.  I wanted to be a nun.  That was my plan.  But all that got turned around.  But see that’s a whole ‘nother story.  We can’t talk about all that.  But, so that tells you how strong my faith was too.  So, I was all over the place.  Yeah.

TFB:  So, you said you’ve done some opera.

LEDISI:  Mmmhmm.

TFB:  You’ve trained in opera, in classical.

LEDISI:  Classical music.  Yes.

TFB:  And your album, like you just said, is all over the place.

LEDISI:  Mmhmm.

TFB:  So, if you could do any type of project that’s kind of outside of the R&B, soul-ish, gospel lane, what would you do?  Like a jazz project or…?

LEDISI:  Well, I’ve done jazz.  I’ve done R&B.  I haven’t fully done a gospel album, but I would probably do something that would blow people, they would be, ‘What the heck?’  It would probably be, but see I don’t like saying because I wanna save it for when it’s time to do it.  And that’s the whole thing.  But I would do something that would be like, whoa.

TFB:  Randomly just not what people would expect.

LEDISI:  No, not at all.

TFB:  Okay.

LEDISI:  And that’s, that’s what I’m hoping for in the future.  See what I want, I want the body of work that you can always look back, no matter what genre of music you look at, and you say, ‘Wow, Led did that too.’  Like Aretha Franklin.  Like Aretha Franklin.  She did jazz, R&B, blues, even did Pavarotti.  When he couldn’t show up, she came in and sang.  So, and that’ll hold you.  So, [LAUGHS] that’s the kind of career I would like to have.  I’m an aspiring, not to be like her, but to have a career like that.  Yeah.  And it’s too much great music out there to be limited to one. Cuz I love Angelique Kidjo.  I love tabla music.  Child, there’s stuff out there.  We’re so missing out if we listen to one way.

TFB:  [LAUGHS]  Okay.  So tonight, this is obviously a very mixed crowd.  For example, and on a song like “Higher Than This”, I interpret it to be a straight up gospel song.  That song is gospel.  You can’t tell me that that is not a gospel song.  How do people interpret your songs?

LEDISI:  They interpret them all kinda ways.  You wouldn’t believe.  Like people love “Think of You,” which is, I wrote it, it was about God, but it’s a booty song to some people.  Honestly.  They like, ‘this my jam.  I sing it to my boo boo all the time.’  They be all up in it.  Okay?  “Higher Than This”?  I don’t know how they’re responding to it, but I think it’s a very uplifting song and it was intentionally to think above the world, for us to think it’s bigger than us.  And I don’t know really how they’re responding to it, but I do know, it’s been huge. It’s bigger than any song that I’ve written to date.

TFB:  Did you shoot a video for that?

LEDISI:  Yeah.  I just finished the video for it and I’m so proud of it.  I can’t wait ‘til it’s done.  And the director, Malcolm is awesome and it’s simple.  I like things simple.  I like the lyrics to speak and me to just be in there going, ‘Hey, hey.  Are you listening?’ But yeah.  It was meant to uplift thugs, church, anybody, everybody.  Not for one breed.  So that’s me.

TFB:  So now you are on Verve, which is more of a major label situation, but you previously were putting out all your own music.

LEDISI:  Yes.  I had my own label and I still do.  I still own the masters too, I co-own them with Sandra Manning.  We own Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue, my second release, kinda jazzy album and Soulsinger, my first release that came out in 2000.  The Feeling Orange came out in 2003.  And yeah, I still own those recordings and we are looking for distribution for those albums right now.  They’re still not distributed anywhere.

TFB:  You’re not ever.  Okay.  So, we talked about Soulsinger. I know you had a song on there, “Papa Loved to Love Me”.

LEDISI:  Yes.

TFB:  Now there’s been a lot of surfacing of that issue with “Precious”. Would you ever maybe use that song, give it to a charity or something?

LEDISI:  I’d have to talk to Sandra about that, but it’s funny.  When I wrote the song, it’s actually about my step dad, my relationship with my step dad.  And there was fondling going on, not necessarily full penetration, but it doesn’t matter.  It’s enough for it to be not cool.  And when it happened to me, I didn’t really, it was a poem that I wrote and Sandra happened to see it and said, ‘Led, you gotta record this into a song.”  And I didn’t want to.  And when you hear it, my voice is squealing.  I could only get through the song twice.  Said look, we gotta hurry up cuz everything’s choking up.  And when I recorded it, I didn’t believe, there were men, women, all different colors, creed, anybody coming up to me about that song when it first came out.  They were like, wow.  First of all, the song is incredible.  This is what they said, not me saying this.  You have opera in there, you have jazz.  There’s R&B in it and then the words, the lyrics.  It’s incredibly written like a piece, like a theatre piece, as well.  I’m like, well, it’s really honest.  And that’s the thing.  I’ve always been honest in my music.  I’ve never ever hidden anything.  You get the full out, whether it be about me or anything.  And it needed to be said, that it does happen, especially in our community.  It’s huge.  They don’t like to talk about all that.

LEDISI:  Child, look.  And what happened was when it came full circle, it helped my family heal, it helped us deal with it, and I’m so happy and grateful for those songs like “Papa Loved to Love Me” and “Coffee”.  I talked about that on the first album.  The first album was very autobiographical.  So it was a lot of just me purging all those energies.  So, I hope that it helps people and I can tell that it does.  And if it ever needed to go somewhere, if someone asked me for it, I’m sure Sundra and I would agree to let it be out there.   But it’s tough how many people, you would be surprised, do not wanna hear about it.  It’s amazing.  And I saw Precious.  Incredible.  Monique.  Ooo child.

TFB:  She needs to win something for that.

LEDISI:  I hope she gets something for it.

TFB:  Well, speaking of winning things, congratulations on your two Grammy nominations.

LEDISI:  Thank you.  It’s two this time. Yeah.

TFB:  Two this time.

LEDISI: And two for Lost & Found, but this one.  Yeah.  I was so happy about that.  You have no idea.

TFB:  Really?  Were you afraid that you weren’t gonna receive this?

LEDISI:  I didn’t know what to expect, but what I did know is that I made a lot of transitions, a lot of changes on this album, a lot of growth and really did what you’re told not to do.  As usual, I go against the grain and get myself in trouble.  Then afterwards, I’m like, ‘Oh Lord.  What did I do?’  But it was worth it and to be acknowledged for that work felt really good.  It meant my peers were really enjoying the cd.  And so that felt good.  So all the haters…[LAUGHS]

TFB:  You’ll forever be Grammy-nominated, if anything.

LEDISI:  If anything.

TFB:  And they can’t take that from you.

LEDISI:  They can’t take it from me.  On both of my, I mean, how many artists do you get that’s not very well-known, but well-known enough and then get nominated each album they come out with?

TFB:  That’s because of your talent.

LEDISI:  Well, I’m just having fun. Haller.

TFB:  What places has your music taken you that you never thought?  Give me examples, like Oh my God.  I can’t believe I’m here.

LEDISI:  I went to Aruba, which was incredible.  I went to Germany and couldn’t believe that people actually knew my music.  That was amazing.  And then to have, [WHISPERS] there’s people behind us going crazy.  [LAUGHS]  And then to go, where’s the other place?  I went to Paris.  That was nice.  I cannot wait to go back there.  I always go to London, but recently I haven’t been there in four years and they’re kind like, uh ‘scuse me miss?  You should see ‘em on Twitter.  Excuse me miss?  When are you coming to London?  Cuz I used to go every year.  But everywhere, every time, even though I’ve been to Japan probably five times, every time it’s amazing to experience the same response.  And now it’s more people coming up.  So, I watch it grow.  Like at New Orleans’ Essence, I remember it was only like 20 to 30 people in the audience or a least 100.  Now, the wall is sweaty.  It’s a mess.  People can’t fit in.  So, it doesn’t matter where I am, whether I’m in the States or all over, every time, just the response.  If you can get a smile from people, you know how big that is for me?  I was like, ‘Ooo.  Yall smiling!’  So, it’s not just cuz of my singing.  It’s just you’re happy to be here.  So I’ve done my job.  You know what I mean?  So that is like a really exciting thing.

TFB:  Okay.  So, you’re starting to become one of those artists that people often bring up when they’re comparing somebody.

LEDISI:  Oh yeah.

TFB:  How does that feel?  People know you and are just like believing in you and just sharing the word and spreading the word about you.  You’ve been around for a while, but now you’re starting to break out.  Isn’t that exciting for you?

LEDISI:  It’s every little step I’m grateful for the five people to the 500 to the 5,000 to the 5 million or whatever I can reach out to.  The main thing that I truly am grateful for is that word of mouth has always, before television, before radio, word of mouth has always saved my career and kept me afloat where I can still do a show.  And that is like a huge thing.  That’s like, my loyalty, my fans, they are loyal.  Once they become, once they see the show live and they get the cds, they think, oh the cds, that’s one thing.  But then when they go to the show, and they get it, they’re there for life.  There’s a couple that was there this week.  They came twice.  They came tonight and they came last night.  They’ve been there since it was five people in the audience in Seattle where I had just the guitar player and myself and they came that night.  So they’ve been there since the beginning of my career.  And for me, that is a true blessing.

LEDISI:  If I’m your bragging piece, ‘Oh I bet you don’t know, you ain’t heard about Ledisi’, then hey.  That’s a beautiful thing.  Or she ain’t like, you know, whatever. I just, I don’t really get into comparisons cuz we’re all different and we all aren’t doing anything different.  It’s the same stuff we’ve done over and over again, but the best part is that I’m amongst great names and that’s a compliment.

TFB:  So, Ima ask you some of your favorites.  Throw ‘em out there.  What’s your favorite gospel song right now?

LEDISI:  I always go back to “When Sunday Comes” – Daryl Coley.  That one always takes me in because it reminds me of whatever church.  It doesn’t mean a specific thing.  It’s just when that day comes, it gives me peace, even if it’s for five hours or two hours or one hour.  I hear that song; I always go in.  Not go in like church go in, but like, I start reminiscing on my whole life like, thank you.  It’s a peaceful, and it’s Daryl Coley.

TFB:  Classic.

LEDISI:  Classic.

TFB:  Speaking of classic, who is your favorite classical artist?

LEDISI:  Oh, I always love Leontyne Price.  Always, I like old school cuz she was the first introduction for me when I saw Carmen.  She sang Carmen and my teacher said, ‘Let me show you what a singing gospel music and opera is like.’ She put on that Carmen and Miss Leontyne started singing.  Child, and then, I saw her interview and I saw her and Jessye Norman do an interview for me.  Now those two, yes.  I like old school.

TFB:  Who’s your favorite, right now, comeback or return artist?

LEDISI:  Comeback/return artist.  Hmm.

TFB:  Like Whitney, people that’s been gone for a while.

LEDISI:  Whose gone and then come back?  I can’t wait to hear Sade, but I haven’t heard her whole album.  But Sade is, I did hear that song.  Loved it.  Gosh comeback.  I love Maxwell.  I have to say.  The reason why I’m saying Maxwell is because he’s never really done something forward to fit in with everybody.  And that’s what I love about him.  He does whatever Maxwell wants to do.  My favorite Maxwell cd is Embrya though.  I always love that.  But that one right there.  [LAUGHS]  For reasons I refuse to say right now.

TFB:  Favorite musical? Or one that you grew up with.

LEDISI:  I don’t know.  I’d have to say the first one that I was involved in only because of what it did for me and it was my first introduction to the change, which was Caroline or Change and I did it with Anika Noni Rose.  I was the understudy in everything.  And I loved the whole idea around change, how hard it was, it was from New Orleans.  It had all of this.  I was like, this is too close to home!  Cuz it’s the first time I’m changing in my whole life.  I’m leaving everything behind and leaping out and that was the first time I would have to say that play and I was doing Color Purple at the same time so it was a lot.  I love any musical, but those in particular because I was a part of it.  Yeah.

TFB:  Okay.  Favorite 80s music.

LEDISI:  80s?  Aw man.  That is not fair.  You want me to pick from Michael Jackson to Prince to U2, Madonna?  That’s not cool!

TFB:  Which one do you listen to the most?  Which one do you find yourself most often looking through the Ipod to?

LEDISI:  I’d say U2. I love them cuz they’re always consistently U2.

TFB:  Favorite 90s music.

LEDISI:  90s.  SWV. Only because I can relate.  It was like, “hey Coco look like my sister! Hey, we like sisters.”  She the only one that look like me and singing down.

TFB:  I’m done.

LEDISI:  Alright.  So I hope that worked.  [SINGS]

Alright.  Thank you ladies and gentlemen.  Please support R. Thomas’ blog, THA FEEDBACK.COM.

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