[ g y p s y . s o u l : n ' d e a . d a v e n p o r t ]

[ t e x t . o n l y . v e r s i o n ]

by cyclone

The first solo album from N'dea Davenport maps out her life's journey. It's the musical tale of a transient spirit who left her native Atlanta for the glam capital of Los Angeles, only to join The Brand New Heavies in cosmopolitan London. It's a tale that winds up in the celebratory city of New Orleans, where, after leaving the internationally successful band, the singer settled to contemplate the next phase of her career. 'It kinda cradled me away from all the glitz and the glamour,' N'dea says of her new bohemian Southern base.

But this first post neo-classic soul LP, "N'dea Davenport", is less of an odyssey than a meander through Davenport's disparate cultural influences. As the singer herself points out, 'A lot of the CD reflects the different places; the travels; the influences of the people who I've talked to; the music I've heard inside my head and everything.'

Indeed, with this transitional project, Davenport is in a sense coming to the end of a cycle that began when she signed to the West Coast-based Delicious Vinyl as a solo act at the end of the 80s. Not long after, Davenport put her career on hold for several years to front The Heavies, who had, of course, aligned themselves with Delicious in the US.

The band became the spearhead for the UK's acid jazz movement, which was to segue into the transatlantic retro-nuevo soul of Me'Shell Ndegeocello, D'Angelo, Maxwell, Erykah Badu and Rahsaan Patterson. But, like Jhelisa Anderson, N'dea now stands very much on her own. And that's how she likes it.

Her split with the London band, Davenport assures, wasn't acrimonious, although they didn't necessarily want to let her go. (She did reunite with them briefly for a UK show last December following the premature departure of her successor, Siedah Garrett.) 'I think it was always known within the band that I was going to do a solo record, because I had been signed as a solo artist before I hooked up with them,' she confirms. 'And I think I came to a certain point where I really wanted to complete what I had initially set out to do.' In a sense, Davenport's exit signified her quest for more space and autonomy. 'I had grown and developed into a person and I didn't have time to find out who I had grown into, so I felt it was for my own personal growth and my sanity. I really needed to stop, get away from the music business and just focus on living life normally all over and find out who I had grown into.'

And this Virgo has finally come into her own. 'I'm shy -- especially if I have to meet a guy,' N'dea confides. 'I would never ask somebody to go out on a date or something like that. But I think I've learned over the past three years by stepping away from all the comfort zones -- like the band and everything. I've learned to be my own best friend and I trust in that and it's making me so much more happy. I now feel comfortable with my womanhood and my person.'

Still, Davenport has always been a butterfly (as she puts it) in more ways than one. Unlike many of her peers, she's readily worked with other artists in a cross-section of areas in the music industry. 'I think the people that I primarily appeal to buy lots of different types of music,' N'dea reflects. 'And diversity is a really beautiful thing.' She has vibed with personalities as dissimilar as Madonna, Gang Starr's Guru, Emmylou Harris, Malcolm McLaren, Herbie Hancock and Natalie Merchant. What's more, N'dea has made most of these connections by moving through different social circles.

In the case of Merchant, N'dea shares a special affinity, for both singers have left male bands to pursue solo careers, over which they have pointedly assumed full control in the studio. Davenport realised it was important to take responsibility for her breakaway album (something she was further encouraged to do by her colleague Daniel Lanois). 'To some degree, I guess, my production contributions were a bit overshadowed by me being the female, voice and face of the band,' N'dea states. 'When you step away from a band situation like that, I think it's much more of a strong thing not to have a lot of different people involved in your record.'

Nevertheless, she did collaborate with her old Atlantan friend Dallas Austin (likewise a restless spirit, having worked with everyone from TLC to Fishbone to the Indigo Girls), on a handful of tracks - including the first off-shoot single "Bring It On". 'I really wanted to get some other flavours, some up-tempo things on the CD,' she explains, 'and I felt that it would be much easier working with somebody who knew me personally.'

Davenport's other guests are obscure, to say the least. A friend from her LA days, Hollywood couturier Marie France drops French poetics on the dubby "In Wonder" (she did something similar on Prince's 1985 "Parade" album, during his fling with all things Parisienne). And New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band adds to the atmospherics of the album's carnivalesque finale, "Getaway".

While many of Davenport's lyrical themes draw liberally from romantic scenarios, others tackle social issues from unusual angles. In "Real Life" N'dea eschews Western society's disregard of its older folk. And she empathises with the streetwalker in "When The Night Falls". But it is Davenport's reading of Neil Young's folksy blues "Old Man" that ties things together. 'When I was a little girl, I used to hear that song on this radio station,' she recollects. 'And although this radio station used to play all these different types of music, everything on it was just good music. There wasn't, like, an R&B station, a pop station and this, that and the other. I heard the song again while I was recording the CD and it just took me back to the times when things were really simple.'

N'dea Davenport is out through V2. For lyrics go to www.peeps.com

[ b a c k . t o .c o n t e n t s . p a g e ]