ESPERANZA SPALDING - Emily's D + Evolution
Concord Records
Esperanza Spalding (vcl, bs gtr) Matthew Stevens (gtr) Karriem Riggins (drs) plus background singers and musicians.
This album is another change of direction for this four time Grammy award winner and is a step further along the path laid down by her 2012 release Radio Music Society. Emily D is her current alter ego and during this album she projects her full vocal range while and the same time producing bass guitar accompaniment of the highest order. Do not expect anything like the performances of contemporary jazz you hear alongside Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington in the contemporary jazz trio, this is a funk and soul based excursion which will hurtle the listener into a fast and furious new world of sound, with no holds barred and where many may have not ventured before.
Perhaps the best place to start with this music is not the cd or the deluxe version or even the 12" vinyl but with the promo video from the artists web site of the opening track "Good Lava". Here you will enjoy a multi media experience of epic proportions usually reserved only for the highest echelons of rock and pop music. This whole project is the brain child of Tony Visconti, the producer responsible for most of the late great David Bowie's work over nearly five decades. The recording itself is a mixture of fast moving up beat original vocals with a handful of well delivered ballads in between. "Rest In Pleasure" and the soft centered "Unconditional Love" stand out alongside the rap like"Ebony And Ivy" performed over an almost jazz like backdrop.
The venture is soon to be backed up by a world tour and without doubt this music by a diverse and highly talented musician will be purchased in very large quantities, even if not by all regular jazz listeners.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
Concord Records
Esperanza Spalding (vcl, bs gtr) Matthew Stevens (gtr) Karriem Riggins (drs) plus background singers and musicians.
This album is another change of direction for this four time Grammy award winner and is a step further along the path laid down by her 2012 release Radio Music Society. Emily D is her current alter ego and during this album she projects her full vocal range while and the same time producing bass guitar accompaniment of the highest order. Do not expect anything like the performances of contemporary jazz you hear alongside Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington in the contemporary jazz trio, this is a funk and soul based excursion which will hurtle the listener into a fast and furious new world of sound, with no holds barred and where many may have not ventured before.
Perhaps the best place to start with this music is not the cd or the deluxe version or even the 12" vinyl but with the promo video from the artists web site of the opening track "Good Lava". Here you will enjoy a multi media experience of epic proportions usually reserved only for the highest echelons of rock and pop music. This whole project is the brain child of Tony Visconti, the producer responsible for most of the late great David Bowie's work over nearly five decades. The recording itself is a mixture of fast moving up beat original vocals with a handful of well delivered ballads in between. "Rest In Pleasure" and the soft centered "Unconditional Love" stand out alongside the rap like"Ebony And Ivy" performed over an almost jazz like backdrop.
The venture is soon to be backed up by a world tour and without doubt this music by a diverse and highly talented musician will be purchased in very large quantities, even if not by all regular jazz listeners.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
