Turn Me Loose

Performer: Ledisi
Producer: Ledisi; Jimmy Jam; Raphael Saadiq; Terry Lewis
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Following LOST & FOUND, an album that earned Ledisi a pair of Grammy nominations, TURN ME LOOSE partially roots itself in the singer's past work and otherwise branches out from it. The album's title, as well as its cover, indicates a new, brash direction--one that makes up only a portion of the set. Throughout the opening "Runnin," "Knockin'," and stretches of a couple other songs--not to mention a charging, howling cover of Buddy Miles' "Them Changes"--Ledisi and her band deliver rocking funk that cooks as hot as Labelle's "Messin' with My Mind" and "What Can I Do for You," or anything by Van Hunt. Here, Ledisi wails and belts with a kind of power previously untapped--in recorded form, at least--all the while maintaining remarkable finesse. "I Need Love," one of the collaborations with Ivan Barias and Carvin Haggins, is another highlight, seductively melancholy over a slick and slippery rhythm, while the title track's bluesy Southern soul backdrop seems just as ideal for Ledisi's voice. Verve Forecast might be a little sheepish about their artist straying from the style that brought them success; on the sticker affixed to the album, the label singles out three songs, none of which break a sweat. It would bid them well to help expose her versatility as much as possible.

Singer-songwriter Ledisi Young began to make a national name for herself in the late-2000s with a jazzy, funky sort of soul plucked from three decades hence. However, the sparkling-throated chanteuse had lived a musical lifetime before that. She debuted at age 8 on stage with her hometown New Orleans Symphony Orchestra at age eight, before relocating to Oakland where she would land a role as Dorothy in a heralded local version of the Wiz. She would become a staple of the Bay Area cabaret scene beginning in the '90s, and it was a slow rise, but by the end of the next decade she would become one of the most intriguing voices regularly heard on R&B radio.

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