Ledisi, the New Orleans–born and Oakland-raised singer, pays tribute to the legendary Nina Simone with the album Ledisi Sings Nina. Featuring seven songs of social and personal import drawn from Simone’s celebrated songbook, Ledisi Sings Nina is a finely crafted, arrangement-driven collection recorded before and after the pandemic began. It balances upbeat, big-band energy with atmospheric balladry, and an attention to historic detail that succeeds in updating the music for a modern hip-hop / R&B era.