IoS album review: Meshell Ndegeocello, Pour une Âme Souveraine – A Dedication to Nina Simone (Naive)

You want to like bassist/singer/auteur-gone-rogue Ndegeocello’s oddball homage to La Simone, but she doesn't make it easy.

The arrangements for a small rock band are rudimentary, leaving everything to depend on the song and the singer. Ndegeocello sounds terrific on “Suzanne”, “Turn Me On” and “Feeling Good”, while Lizz Wright soars through “Nobody’s Fault but Mine”. Nothing beats the sheer joy of Cody Chesnutt on “Young, Gifted and Black.”