“She's very sort of soulful and bluesy and deep and her voice is sort of haunting and sweet at the same time. She has this way of kind of like having both sides and so the idea was just to have this sort of blood or liquid kind of pouring down her and the blue just... the color of the blue seemed to be more interesting than the other color on her skin.” —Mark Seliger, Award-winning photographer

“The thing about Meshell is that she’s real. These days, that’s a hard commodity to come by. I’m extremely disconnected from popular music, but a friend played me her album and just loved her vibe. She came up with her bass part in seconds. I told her what I wanted and she came up with something ten thousand times better. I think Meshell can do anything that she wants to do. Her imagination is unlimited and her ability to play her imagination is unlimited. She is in the moment.” [more] —John Mellencamp, Musician, August 1994

“She knows what she’s doing. It’s not some ‘let me jump on a bandwagon, be a part of some shit that might be new so I can call myself hip and suck my own dick’. There isn’t anybody else like her. The rest are faking.” —Branford Marsalis, The Weekly Journal, July 6, 1995

“Meshell and me are like this,” he says, holding two fingers together. “She’s really quiet and soft-spoken, but when she picks up an instrument... Musicians, when they really communicate, don’t have to talk. They just play.” —Prince, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1996

“We’re very similar. We’re both fusion artists. We come from kinda the same planet and it was a marriage made in heaven. We’re going to do more work in the future together.” —Chaka Khan, New York Amsterdam News, November 23, 1996

“The CD I always have playing in my car is Meshell Ndegeocello’s Peace Beyond Passion. She has a great raw voice.” —Naomi Campbell, People Magazine, December 30, 1996

“’Red Lady w/Cello’ was written for Meshell Ndegeocello. The red lady is the guitar. I love the way she has brought hip-hop and an expanded sense of musicality together. This song is a tribute to that.” —Robben Ford, RobbenFord.com, 1997

“I remember first meeting Meshell Ndegeocello after a gig I did at Catalina’s in the spring of 1993...” [more] —Joshua Redman, Jazziz, April 1997

“I think Meshell is an important icon of our time. She tells the truth about her life and her art, and that's rare these days.” [more] —Rebecca Walker, VIBe, May 1997

“Her last album, Peace Beyond Passion, is a flawless work.” —Pete Townshend, Boston Globe, May 9, 1997

“Once again, this is somebody who is influenced by jazz, R&B and hip-hop and is her own person. She was a big influence on my last album, and she certainly is an influence on this one. We’re trying to write some things together. We’re working on it.” —David Sanborn, Good Morning America, September 24, 1998

“We have a really great competitive, like healthy competitive, atmosphere together because we both like playing funk. So when we got the chance to play together on that last record it was like two kids in a candy store. So it was a great combination. She’s subsequently become a very good friend of mine and we just like playing together. We’ve been doing little things here and there and still writing together and she’s writing for her new record and there’ll be more involvement on that. She’s hot shit, she really is and she’s doing her best to grow and to be a really good artist.” —Wendy Melvoin, Seven Magazine, October 2, 1998

“Meshell is an incredible talent who never plays by the rules. That’s her strength—and weakness.” —Madonna, The Sunday Telegraph, August 29, 1999

“I respect Meshell on every level. As a songwriter, a musician, a singer, a performer, but mostly as a woman.” —Madonna, The Performing Songwriter, December 1999

“I just bought the CD Bitter by Meshell Ndegeocello, and it’s my favorite. Why? It evokes my emotions.” —Taye Diggs, People Magazine, December 31, 1999

“Meshell Ndegeocello is so underrated it’s ridiculous. Her shows are some of the best shows that I have ever seen. She is just this beautiful soul. She ain't pulling no punches. She is telling it like it is.” —Lenny Kravitz, VH1 Neo-Soul Special, October 25, 2001

“She is music.” [more] —Talib Kweli, VIBe Magazine, May 2002

“Meshell is in a realm of her own.” [more] —Jill Scott, VIBe Magazine, May 2002

“Meshell Ndegeocello. Unbelievable musician, activist. I respect the shit out of her. She's just an engaging, engaged woman.” (When asked which female musician she admired.) —Alanis Morissette, Rolling Stone Magazine, October 31, 2002

“Sade or some Maxwell. Or Meshell Ndegeocello’s Bitter.” (When asked if he cooked his fiancé a candlelight dinner, what music would he play?) —Taye Diggs, In Style Magazine, December 2, 2002

“Somehow Meshell captures the sound of the future that reminds of everything ancient that made us who we are today. I have loved her music since she first came on the scene with “Plantation Lullabies.” But last summer, I heard her on a tour she was doing around Europe with a group of musicians playing mostly instrumental music that totally blew my mind. There were a lot of great bands touring that summer, but to me, what those guys were doing under Meshell was the hippest thing I heard all year. It reminded me a lot of Herbie’s “Mwandishi” period which has always been some of my favorite music, but with Meshell’s incredible bass playing and the totally killing drumming of Chris Dave, it was addressing all the stuff that has happened in the 30 years since “Mwandishi” as well. Ron Blake, who was featured on Meshell’s tour, has been one of the best tenors around New York for years, we all love his work in the Christian McBride Band and in everything else he does, and he and I again have always wanted to hook up. When I met Meshell recently she expressed an interest in wanting to play. I was thrilled and we are happy to be able to present our first meeting together under the guise of this series.”—Pat Metheny, May 2005