2021 Grammy winner, singer-songwriter, author, playwright and actress Ledisi will be one of the headliners of the 13th annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. She'll be performing at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh on September 15.
Ledisi spoke with WBGO News Director Doug Doyle about her career and why she is excited about her upcoming performance in Pittsburgh.
"I love Pittsburgh. My producer and long-time friend Rex Rideout is from Pittsburgh. I've done a few festivals there. I love touring there. My best friend Billy Porter is from Pittsburgh. It's a lot of connections there for me and every time I perform there they are so loving, great listeners."
Born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, CA, Ledisi has wowed fans with her amazing vocals ever since she burst onto the scene. The multi-talented performer says music was all around her when she was growing up.
"I think we left New Orleans when I was ten. I never experienced my world without music. It was around the house. My parents were musicians. We listened to Zydeco music as well as every style of music that exists there. We didn't get just the option of jazz or R&B, we listened to everything. My mom loves Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and Dinah Washington. My stepdad loved funk music and I had a great aunt who listened to Mahalia (Jackson), so I had no choice but to listen everything. You take it with me. It's not something you ever let go of. I just love classical music too which drew me in the beginning. Oakland taught me a lot too."
Ledisi has headlined two nationally sold-out tours, performed alongside Dave Matthews, Kelly Clarkson, Vince Gill and Maxwell as well as jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Patti Austin.
No stranger to the film and television world, Ledisi landed her first feature, singing in the George Clooney directed film Leatherheads. In 2015 she landed a role in the Oscar-nominated movie, Selma, portraying the great Mahalia Jackson and had a notable performance in Gabourney Sidibe’s Shatterbox Anthology film, “The Tale Of Four”. Ledisi secured her first major television role , playing the legendary Patti LaBelle on the hit BET series American Soul.
Ledisi has also been active in the theater, making her debut as a Radio and Washing Machine understudy on Broadway appearing in Tony Kushner’s Caroline or Change directed by George C. Wolfe. She helped workshop the Tony Award winning musical, The Color Purple and then began her recording career signing a deal with Verve/Universal Music Group. Ledisi returned to theatre in 2019 as The Ancestor, in the critically acclaimed off broadway musical, Witness Uganda by Griffith Matthews and Matt Gould, the role for which she received the LA Alliance Ovation Award nomination. Also in 2019, she co-wrote and co-produced her one woman show, “The Legend of Little Girl Blue.” The show premiered at the Wallis Theatre in Beverly Hills to rave reviews with 19-sold out shows.
Ledisi says her introduction to the music of the legendary Nina Simone came at a early age.
"I used to think my mom wrote 'Mississippi Goddam' the way she would wake us to that song every morning for school. I hated that song. I just thought it was a rhyme she made up and later I learned it was a Nina Simone song. I've grown up around history and understanding the ancestors who came before me. I couldn't help it. The truist introduction is when you are ready for them and to understand where that history comes from. I think at Pittsburgh, they are asking me to do the Nina Project, but I will also sneak a few Ledisi songs in there to show that without her I couldn't be me. Also, on my own shows, I've been able to sneak the Nina energy into it and show that audience why I love her so and why did I to that project so that I can honor her in those settings as well."
The Nina Project has resulted in the 15th Grammy nomination for Ledisi. The singer won her first Grammy Award in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category for "Anything for You" in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ledisi is also extremely passionate about being an advocate for the arts. She says she understood that because of the philanthropy of others she was able to study music through scholarships and funded programs.
"That's why I give back and advocate and I make sure it's in the schools, even if its a violin or tambourine, for the students to have something. Before I perform, I try to go visit a school. It matters to me because there's another Ledisi out there doing what I'm doing. So giving back means everything."
You check the lineup for the 13th annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival here.
