In 2016, Meshell Ndegeocello debuted one of the most ambitious and compelling works of her storied career at the historic Harlem Stage Gatehouse in New York City. Styled as a church service, the performance intertwined spoken-word pieces, poetry, instrumental music, and choir-like vocals and was a tribute to the famed writer/activist James Baldwin, titled Can I Get a Witness? The Gospel of James Baldwin.
In 2024, Ndegeocello released a spectacular album based on this 2016 show, similarly titled No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin through the legendary Blue Note Records. The album also included poetry by fellow writer/activist Audre Lorde and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. Whatever the recorded album lost in church-based feeling, it gained in intimacy and accessibility. Now, once again, she is bringing this reverent and pensive work to a live audience, much as it was originally presented.
On February 13th, 2026, at the University of Denver’s Gates Concert Hall, Ndegeocello sat under Baldwin’s visage and paid homage anew to one of the most important writers of the 20th century. She took the stage and immediately elicited a fitting round of applause for all the teachers (including Baldwin and Lorde) present, then separately for all the parents in the house. Lorde was a steadfast mother of two, while Baldwin was a devoted uncle, although not a father himself.
Ndegeocello then launched into a thought-provoking excerpt from Baldwin’s renowned 1962 lecture The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity (which can also be heard on the track “Baldwin Manifesto I” on No More Water […]), while the keyboard player from her four-piece backing band, Jake Sherman, joined in with simple, ominously beautiful organ playing. Church was back in service, with a most powerful priestess in the pulpit.
As a side note, keyboardist and organ player Jake, along with the percussionist from Ndegeocello’s backing band, Abe Rounds, played an exquisite opening set as Jake & Abe, a moniker under which they released the album Finally! in 2024. Easing concertgoers into the night, their set was more lighthearted and filled with comedic relief than the solemn main set that would follow, though it was certainly no less musically and dramatically compelling.
Jake and Abe also played on Ndegeocello’s Grammy-winning No More Water […] album, as did everyone who joined her on stage, including the incomparable, show-stopping vocalist Justin Hicks. Hicks and Ndegeocello did the heavy lifting on vocals, complementing each other perfectly, especially when Hicks’ soaring vocal runs contrasted with the spoken-word passages Ndegeocello delivered in her beautifully husky voice. More than once, they created a reflective and enchantingly eerie atmosphere by delivering the poetry in a round, utilizing echo and repetition to great contemplative effect. Together they turned the hall into a hauntingly beautiful environment, befitting the sonic content of No More Water […] and the conjuring of Baldwin’s presence.
Ndegeocello did not stray far from No More Water […], having crafted a setlist exclusively from the album. The work was not one that asked to be intertwined with anything other than similarly meditative and provocative pieces. Rather, it demanded of listeners a concentrated, open mind and an intently focused ear. Most of all, Ndegeocello’s performance required an accepting heart. Just like Baldwin’s writing itself, the music was in turns harrowing and healing, sometimes both at once — an intensely intriguing interplay of consonance and dissonance. There were no tunes to dance to, no special lighting or visuals. Instead, the show was a direct communion between the musicians on stage and Baldwin, in an aptly stripped-down, spartan manner. If the recorded album was a panegyric, the live rendition was the channeling of Baldwin’s spirit. Indeed, the soulfulness of Ndegeocello and her band seemed able to call down into the concert hall the very soul of the man they were honoring.
Ndegeocello played her usual role as bassist, but it was her interpolations of Baldwin (and Lorde) on the mic that kept the crowd in awe. She breathed new life into the extremely relevant and eternally wise words of the two late geniuses, who would’ve been not only immensely proud, but also just as awed as the audience.
One Response
Meshell certainly lived up to the reviewer’s expectations. Nunnelee was literate and almost reverent in his praise of her performance. I’m sure Baldwin would have been pleased.