June 17, 2005
Plugging in to the Elemental by Playing the Electric Bass
By BEN RATLIFF

Meshell Ndegeocello radiates autonomy: she has a lot to communicate about funk, identity, sex, politics, the spirit world; she has referred to her records as chapters of a memoir, and she won't recede in her work. In her role as pop star, she often acts as singer, lyricist, composer, bass player, bandleader, producer and central image.

But for the last two years, every now and then at a smaller club, she has taken the bedrock musical languages in her work - jazz and funk - and stepped back into the rhythm section, sometimes creating pure instrumental music, sometimes using guest singers. She now calls this band the Spirit Music Jamia, and its first record, "Dance of the Infidel" (Shanachie), comes out next week. On Wednesday at Birdland she and her band played without any singers at all.

Even without her smoky voice and pointed lyrics, there was still an extravagant amount of Ms. Ndegeocello in the music; the band swelled up to eight people and down to five, but what really made Wednesday's show was her electric bass playing, and her interaction with her drummer, Chris Dave.

Ms. Ndegeocello played softly and far behind the beat; the moment of articulation for each note was tiny and delicate, and she freely alternated short, blipping phrases with longer, liquidly swinging ones. Mr. Dave reconfirmed the groove with a heavy hand, but no amount of power could overrun the force coming from the bass.

The band set itself up as a rectangle, with Mr. Dave's trap drums and a DJ (Jahi Sundance Lake) facing each other on the short sides; Ms. Ndegeocello played at a right angle to the drums. With the saxophonists Kebbi Williams and Ron Blake, the conga player Gilmar Gomes, the guitarist Alex Grant, and the keyboardist Michael Cain, the band stomped out an old Fela Kuti song, later slinking through a slow dub-reggae passage, jamming over a 6/8 Latin clave rhythm, and ruminating through jazz chords and static harmony with Mr. Cain on a Fender Rhodes electric piano, a bit in the style of Miles Davis's early 70's music. For one band to associate all these styles - Afrobeat, Cuban, reggae, jazz - isn't unheard of; Yerba Buena, for instance, does it. But Ms. Ndegeocello, directing the sound while immersed in it, provokes a fascination with individual touch, and completely validates the jamming philosophy. The set lasted an hour, but could have gone on twice as long.

Meshell Ndegeocello and the Spirit Music Jamia play at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, (212) 581-3080, through tomorrow night, with sets at 9 and 11.