Mark Stryker Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 http://www.npr.org/2016/01/08/462325734/esperanza-spalding-is-letting-emily-be-emily Discuss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 All I can comment on is this one song, this one performance of it, and I think it's freakin' brilliant. A more than worthy worthy addition to the Minnie Riperton/Charles Stepney Continuum. If the rest of the album operates at this level...HELL yeah. Just found this, apparently a whole set, don't have time right now to go in depth, but...yeah, go ahead with that, take it there. No problems here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I think it's interesting. I hear the Minnie Riperton thing you mention, Jim. But there's also something "prog-rock-ish" about the music too. I suppose it's the rhythms. And the "power trio" band config. I dig it. Spalding could easily rest on her laurels and churn out albums of bland standards. They'd probably sell like hot-cakes. I admire the fact that she's willing to move in unexpected directions, doing something different. Of course, it's nice that I happen to admire the type of music that she's made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I dig anybody that covers a post-WR Wayne tune without trying to "apologize" for it by moving it backwards. It is what it is, move on with it. Regarding Minnie Riperton...I keep talking about Monday Michiru, and stand by that, but people who are into the whole "historical education" aspect of getting into music who haven't yet heard Minnie's Come To My Garden should really give hard consideration to doing so. It was her first album after leaving Rotary Connection, produced by Charles Stepney (and all that implies), and is a simply brilliant piece of work. She'd subsequently drop bits and pieces of it through her work here and there, but this is the full frontal package here. It and late-70s Marvin Gaye are two things that when you hear any pop artist referencing those continuums, you know they're serious about it, because those musics were not particularly popular, but it sure wasn't because of a lack of substance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I saw her do this show and quite liked it. I was in the first row because a friend who had a series ticket couldn't go. Not sure it's jazz but it's definitely entertainment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 Yeah, I tend to be entertained by original, well executed musical ideas that offer me visceral and intellectual stimulation, jazz or otherwise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 The label machinery is really moving now...got a promo email from Concord this evening, and apparently this is the lead single: Whoa! There's a song on there called "Goodbye Dolly". I'm like, ok, you go my attention, talk to me. And make it good. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019PL3C68?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stryker Posted January 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the context folks -- lotta music I don't know but have added to an ever-growing list. Jesus, it's really true that the more you learn, the more you realize what you don't know. Meantime, I'm on board with Emily, at lest in the short run. Also tickled to see Karriem Riggins riding shotgun on drums. (Detroit!) Some resume: Mentored by Marcus Belgrave, Ray Brown, Mulgrew, Dilla, Common, Diana Krall, Cedar, Bags, Madlib, Young Roy, BetCar, and you should hear the trio D3 with Geri Allen & Bob Hurst Edited January 9, 2016 by Mark Stryker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 Thanks for hipping me to this stuff - she's definitely onto something with the new material. I dig it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 Listening to this for the first time right now, and liking it. Not loving it, but love should not always be easy. She does seem to be a vocalist in need of further shadings, but geez, the shit she writes for herself to sing, that might not be possible. What she does sing, she nails it. Musically, yeah, this is some good creative music. I laugh at the notion that stuff like this is ever gonna find a true "mass audience", but, you know, keep hope alive. In some regards it's so freakin' nerdy, but you know, aggressively nerdy, confidently nerdy. As somebody who loves it when people make choices that don't result in obvious outcomes...that happens here. A lot. Also a lot of references that feed into new ideas and then back again, and which is it, reference or new idea? Both? Nice to have that choice. I would go see this live if I could be guaranteed a volume level that would not require hearing protection. But I kinda think that that's not gonna be anybody's concern but mine, and that's how it should be. But playing-wise, this shit is tight and right. People have resources and ain't afraid to use them. Definitely some of the more interesting chronologically-new music I've heard lately, and the progress from Radio Music Society is real. How high her ceiling is going to be remains to be seen, this kind of extroverted introspection, could go either way as far as continued inspiration vs loud narcissism, but don't you love it when that happens, to have something to wonder about what might happen in the future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 ok, 3X thru today, I think that'll do it. Still very enthusiastic, but a little tempered by a few things, mostly Not fully transcending the influences/sources. Just enough times being able to play connect-the-dots without rebuttal, just a few, but enough. The dots are not unpleasant ones, though. Aforementioned limited palate of vocal shadings. Not really a "problem",especially on an isolated track or two, but over the course of an entire album... All spaces filled up, not a lot of breath here, everything is (seemingly) constantly full. Again, exciting on individual cuts, less so over the course of an entire album. Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles in the face of a massive undertaking that is far more success than qualm. And it's so damn nerdy, jesus, it sounds like (almost) all my 70s pop/fusion listening all rolled into one, like, thanks for saving me the trouble of having to go back to all of that stuff, just get it in here all at once, and this time with vocals! But that's not snark, that's Nerdism Avenged! Seriously, this is a most impressive release, imo. The lines between "concept album", "musical", and "opera" get blurry up until the point(s) they don't, but Spalding sounds as if she's looking to go into the blur headfirst, and god bless her for both her nerve and her skill. I still don't like eyewear as affectation, but that's just me. That's how they do things these days, so onward anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Garrett Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 From last night's Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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