LEDISI
Since the August 2007 release of her Verve debut Lost and Found, Ledisi confesses that her life has undergone all manner of transformation. One glance at her achievements in a whirlwind of activity over the past year, and it's clear that the two-time 2008 Grammy nominee (for Best New Artist and Best R&B Album) has fulfilled dream after dream. "It's been a little overwhelming," she admits.
With true glee, Ledisi recalls performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival (with Chaka Khan, and at a birthday tribute to Quincy Jones), doing her own set at the Essence Music Festival as well as paying tribute to Patti LaBelle, and appearing in a major movie, George Clooney's Leatherheads. And, she adds, "I got to record a Christmas album. In three days! It sounds insane, but we did it!"
The result: the joyously celebratory It's Christmas, another first for a performer who constantly receives standing ovations from A-list show business veterans and everyday 'Ledheads' (as her growing legion of fans are known) alike. Offering her thoughts on the project, Ledisi says, "I'd like to think of it as a piece of art, a body of work. It's not like any other record I've ever made and I hope it will be something that people will pull out and listen to every year."
The twelve-track set is pure Ledisi: a heady mixture of jazz, R&B, pop and gospel that moves effortlessly from an unforgettable emotionally riveting version of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" (featuring trumpeter Christian Scott), to a marvelously blues'n'soul-flavored "Please Come Home For Christmas" (with special guest Keb Mo). "We had so much fun in the studio! Keb is like an older brother and one of my favorite guitarists and blues players. I wanted to capture the kind of feeling that I always associate with Aretha when she sings anything that's bluesy."
"I would sneak in where all the presents were still laid out at the end of Christmas Day. I'd just sit and look at all the lights," Ledisi recalls, recalling her own childhood, "and it would amaze me. When it came time to record this album, I wanted to make sure we captured what my version of Christmas would be like, and "Silent Night" reflects how I felt when it was still at the end of Christmas Day. We did this in just one take, like much of the recording."
Track by track, Ledisi – working primarily with producer Rex Rideout (who contributed significantly to Lost and Found) – brings her brand of soulful creativity and musical intuition to It's Christmas. Beyond its obvious theme, the album becomes another wonderful stand-alone achievement for this multi-faceted artist, who co-wrote four songs for the set, including the soothingly poignant title track, co-written and produced by the legendary George Duke.
Originally planned as a four-song EP for the holiday season, It's Christmas became an entire project literally in the studio. Ledisi explains, "I was on tour at the time and I just came in and did it. We used live instrumentation throughout so the record has a real organic feel like my first album, Soulsinger. And honestly, I never finished an album this fast in my life!"
Christmas 2009 Home 
