Like cooked food

A lot of us remain on the move and rarely get a chance to sit down and have a good, solid, homemade meal. Let alone the best best kind, the kind made with love, from a loved one. The flavor in that favorite dish from childhood is something that we love to the point that it touches our hearts in a unique way, yet sometimes we let it fall to the back of our mind until we have the opportunity to try it again. The taste of momma's raisin butter biscuits, cornbread, cobbler, chicken, what have you, there is something innately special about that good home cooked food. And even if we think we appreciate it, there is nothing like the feeling of tasting it after a long hiatus and. As each one of our taste buds is titillated, the receptors in are brain that recall these tastes scream with delight, and we truly realize what we've been missing....

That's how I feel every single time I see Ledisi. She is the answer when the question is asked "What happened to folks who can really saang, not just sing, but saang?" She is satisfaction to the longing for strong artistry, important lyrics, presence, that "it quality" and all things that make me thrive off live performances. Going to see her at Yoshi's last time, I looked forward to it, but it was not until she hit that 1st note that my receptors started tingling and I knew I was truly in for a treat. Her range is amazing and she does it with the ease of Frank Sinatra. he knows how to control the mood and she just knows how to talk with the audience. She can make you feel her without effort. She also knows how to put her emotion into a song deeply you take a piece of her pain, joy, or struggle a way from each song she does. Did I mention she can skat and beatbox simultaneously, yea that too. When she performs it feels like she evokes spirits of Kings, Queens, Warriors, and Slaves...she just has so much soul.

I take something away from each time I see her. When she is on stage, she takes off all pomp and circumstance and pours her soul into a voice trained in jazz, opera, r&b, skat, with a soul as raw as hip hop. She gives a little old school, a little street, a little church. She provides all the ingredients of what a live performance should be, a good homecooked meal.