Show Preview: D'Angelo and the Vanguard

[BLACK LIVES MATTER] We’ve never needed D’Angelo more than we do now. The legendarily enigmatic R&B singer spent most of this century in relative hiding—from stardom, from lofty expectations, from eager critics, from his status as a sex symbol. He made few public appearances, occasionally emerging on a collaboration with J Dilla or Common, but mostly popping up in the public consciousness with news about legal troubles or another album delay. But after years of speculation and false starts, D’Angelo returned last December with Black Messiah, the follow-up to 2000’s landmark neo-soul masterpiece Voodoo. Black Messiah is an album for all times. Topical and forward-thinking, it addresses America’s continued struggle with race and its creator’s battle to love himself and the world at large. Led by the driving rhythmic core of Questlove on percussion and bassist Pino Palladino, Black Messiah is a slinky and charged-up amalgam of gospel, soul, funk and even hard rock, recalling not just Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On but also Hendrix, Erykah Badu (especially New Amerykah) and Miles Davis. His voice, constantly surrounded by backing harmonies, horns and, on standout track “The Charade,” thrashing guitars, is still a thing of pure beauty, a withered falsetto that can stop time in its tracks. D’Angelo doesn’t need a hashtag to stay relevant—Black Messiah will live on, forever. 

WWeek 2015