Ledisi
switches it up a little for
Good Life
, her 11th album and first set of original material in four years.
Rex Rideout
, her chief partner dating back to third full-length
Lost & Found
, is still very much involved, working here on roughly half of the songs, while she enlists many additional writers, producers, and players, from
Marsha Ambrosius
and
Tish Hyman
to
Isaiah Sharkey
,
Burniss Travis
, and
Cory Henry
. As usual,
co-composes everything, and her smart choices for new collaborators result in an album that further strengthens her body of work. Much of what transpires is suited for a grade-A playlist of modern quiet storm. The slowly swinging "I Need to Know" is one of several songs that finds
in a situation that's either unresolved or conflicted, but it's among her most elegant and seductive ballads, even as she puts forth an ultimatum and proclaims that "You can keep whatever this is." An alluring duet with
Kenny Lattimore
recalls
René & Angela
with its soft bounce and impeccably intertwined vocals. Most surprising is that her meeting with the usually frisky jazz-funk band
Butcher Brown
, "Quality Time," is the LP's most instrumentally spare and restrained (if still stimulating) moment. The quintet's levitating construction sets the scene for
to hold a rapturous note that lasts long enough for a listener to shake their head ten times in wonderment. A few of the high points are more introspective. The title song, produced by
Darhyl Camper
, is an offering of thankfulness, setting a positive and poised tone for the album. Even better are the two finishing tracks, the relatively scruffy and funky "Good Year," driven by
Rideout
and close
Emily King
associate
J. Most
, and the glistening "Hello Love," another
gem. The finale is essentially a sequel to
Deniece Williams
' "Free," both musically and lyrically, if a declaration of recovery written after the first-person protagonist lost herself. Gazing into a mirror with a lilt in her voice,
sounds invigorated and untroubled as she realizes that she's her former self again. It's likely no coincidence that the glamorous cover of
wouldn't be out of place beside those of
Williams
' early albums. ~ Andy Kellman