SOULFUL GROOVIN'

N'Dambi: Daisy Chain
From Pink Elephant (Stax, 2009)

Believe it or not, this album marks the 10th year that N'Dambi has been putting out solo material. Prior to that, she was a backup singer for Erykah Badu. It is fitting that a singer whose roots are deeply entrenched in earthy sounds put out material on the revamped Stax label, which needs no introduction with its historic soul music breeding grounds.

Sound-wise it's an extension of her earliest work but advances the coffeehouse jazzy/neo soul vibes with songs that still brew with groovy undertones but with a modern twist. While it's not as rootsy as her earlier work, it still brims with funky jams aided by the production by soul music veteran Leon Sylvers III.

Reminiscent of the recent work by Leela James, N'Dambi finds a way to expand her sound with more uptempo numbers such as the cowbell-aided, tom-tom jam “The World Is A Beat,” which stops short of seethe, but nonetheless is irritated of music that is based only on head nodding backbeats. In an ironic twist, the beat of the song is what really elevates it – but you get what she's saying.

The album is at its grooving best on “Daisy Chain,” with its catchy hook and catchier melody, itself a nod to former Stax residents The Staple Singers. Playing the role of the woman being led astray by a can't-make-up-his-mind suitor who has more than her in his little black book. Perhaps that's where she gets that attitude on the follow-up “Can't Hardly Wait” where she questions why she can't quite quit him.

While it breaks no new ground in the genre, it certainly is a worthy addition to the expressive nature and sound that is soul music.