Lost And Found With Ledisi

By Keith Boykin, in music
Wednesday, August 29 2007, 10:54AM

When I first heard of Ledisi a few years ago, I didn't even know how to spell her name. As I wrote in my 2003 review, "It took me awhile to find Ledisi's CD. I heard about her a few months ago and looked around unsuccessfully to find her. I looked again recently only to be disappointed again. Turns out I was misspelling her name." But despite the name glitch, I concluded that her debut album was solid. "The highs are very high and the lows aren't that low. At this rate, Ledisi is sure to gain more favorable attention in the future," I wrote.

As she has grown in popularity, Ledisi's new challenge is not so much name recognition but name pronunciation. She pronounces her name like the green stuff in salad (lettuce) with a "y" on the end (led-dud-see), but people still get it wrong from time to time. That's one of the things she revealed when I sat down to talk to her last week about her new album, Lost and Found, released yesterday. As I told her in the interview, I have a good feeling about the album, and not just because it was released on my birthday.

INTERVIEW WITH LEDISI

Keith Boykin: Hi Ledisi. Thanks for doing the interview. Now your new album is coming out on my birthday, August 28, so I know it’s going to be a hit. Are you ready for it?

Ledisi: Yes. I’m ready. I think I’m ready.

Keith Boykin: I’ve listened to the CD and what strikes me is how fluid it is. It reminds me of one of my favorite albums, Jill Scott’s “Who Is Jill Scott?.” And there's a familiar sound I like too. Anybody else made that comparison?

Ledisi: Never at all.

Keith Boykin: Really? Does it bother you or is it okay?

Ledisi: I don’t have an issue with it at all. It's definitely different [from the last CD]. I hope so. I hope in a good way. I just wanted to reach a different audience, but I wasn’t focused on that. But I knew I had to be radio-friendly too…I’m a little more grown now, Keith. I’m kinda calm and in alignment with myself….I don’t have to scream and holler, "Love me! Love me!"

Keith Boykin: Now are you spending most of your time in Oakland these days?

Ledisi: I’ve been all over the place…I wish I could pick one spot and say I’m here all the time. I’ve been traveling between New York, DC, LA and Oakland, back and forth.

Keith Boykin: I know you're from New Orleans too. As we approach the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I'm curious. Was your family affected by the hurricane?

Ledisi: A few but not very many…[not directly.]

Keith Boykin: It affects all of us in some way.

Ledisi: Yes, we all are, to put it simply. It’s a lot lost. A lot of argument over land and a lot of just missing home, you know what I mean. It’s not the same for me. It’ll never be the same because the people made New Orleans and if all the people are gone, you can build over it, but there’s a rooted thing…I’m proud to be from there, but it’s still the people who made New Orleans.

Keith Boykin: I’ve read that your name means “to bring forth” in Yoruba. What does the name mean to you?

Ledisi: Ledisi means fiery, vulnerable, spiritual and a people pleaser. You try to please people but you can’t. I'm very vulnerable, very shy, believe it or not.

Keith Boykin: I'm glad you said that twice because at first I thought you said "volatile" instead of "vulnerable."

Ledisi: No, I'm vulnerable, not volatile. [Laughter]

Keith Boykin: I’ve also noticed you put the pronunciation of your name on your web site. When I first heard it I thought it was La-DEE-See. So I guess I'm not the only one. Do people get it wrong often?

Ledisi: I mean, for all of my life In school, I knew [they were trying to call] my name when they started stuttering on the pronunciation. I’ve had it forever and it’s a tough name but once you get it…it rolls off the tongue…I wanted it on the record but it didn’t fit. So I thought it has to go somewhere, so why not the website.

Keith Boykin: How do you feel about the new album?

Ledisi: Well, I’m excited about it. I’m mainly excited about the compliments. I don’t read the reviews because I’m afraid of all that. The main thing that people keep saying is that they like it from front to back. This was a tough record because there was so many things going on while making it. I started on it before I signed my record deal….

Then coming to full alignment with my faith. Having faith in God and letting it flow and not trying to make it happen on my own…And then being in alignment with my family. So a lot of stuff was going on in the making of this record….that’s blowing me away…just the fact that it’s a piece that people are going, "I love it because I can hear it from top to bottom without going, 'well let me skip over this'"…that means I’ve done my job…We have [done our job], me and the people I work with. Everything came naturally like water…I didn’t have to force nothing…The hardest part was picking a single…I wrote more songs than what you hear…There’s records sitting around.

Keith Boykin: Why did you call it Lost and Found?

Ledisi: Well, that phrase kept coming back and forth because it reminds me of the old hymn, Amazing Grace. It sums up everything. I was lost and now I’m found. I heard it in a R&B song, not only a gospel song…I was doodling on that song from the time I started working on that project…I didn’t have money, I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. Verve hadn’t come into the picture…Everything was happening…[I was asking myself] what do you want to do? You don’t want to sing anymore?...I was working on that song by myself and Rex Rideout heard me…and he said, Oh we’ve got to record that…And he was like, I couldn’t believe you felt that way…That song just sums it up.

And I’ve always wanted to sing a Carole King, Carly Simon, James Taylor like song…because I really love pop music, that style of music…And then to have Karen Briggs play on it…I thought, Oh my God, a dream. So that piece is my favorite song on the record.

Keith Boykin: You were in Caroline or Change on Broadway. I liked that show. How was that experience for you?

Ledisi: It was wonderful. And it was so necessary. Because I had just moved to New York at a friend’s house…and here I am on Broadway in a play about changing…And working with George C. Wolfe.

Keith Boykin: I think you’re pretty popular in the black gay community. What do you think about your gay fan base?

Ledisi: I think it’s great...It’s what it is. People are people to me...And I love house music (laughter). So it’s great. They’ve always kept me afloat. Them’s my people. My thing is "everybody is love."

Keith Boykin: Last question. What are you listening to in your Ipod these days?

Ledisi: Oh my Lord, I can’t get rid of Abbie Lincoln’s "A Turtle’s Dream" and Kenny Loggin’s "Leap of Faith," and Miles Davis's "Kind Of Blue."

Keith Boykin: Good selections. Well we're out of time, but thank you so much for the interview.

Ledisi: Thank you.

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