Guitar sure reminds me of 70s Crimson- what says you? That single note line at 2:14 reminds me of Fracture, for starters.
Cool intro too.
It's always good to hear modern music that is ambitious, she is to be applauded being a high profile artist that takes chances. This is a big left turn from her last album.
This is a wonderful tune too-
Does that verse remind you of Joni any??
Last edited by Sean; 03-13-2016 at 07:12 PM.
I see what you are saying. This is completely unexpected! And very nice.
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
She is a cameleon? I'm impressed!
I saw the "Emily's" tour about 2 years ago w/Kay & it was amazing. Just listened to "Lava" based on what you said & I can hear that.
We had seen her once before then, at a large outdoor venue (Ravinia outside Chicago) that sells cheaper lawn seats out of the field of vision of the stage and pavillion (great sound though). There were 2 huge screens mounted strategically that night so that all the lawn seat folks (us) could see the show as well as hear it. That's the only time in all the years we did the lawn picnic thing at many shows there that there were screens.
It was reported in the media later that Esperanza paid for them to be set up herself when she was told the normal "no view on the lawn" M.O. of the venue. A major class act that deserves huge props, and not just for her interesting approach to music.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
The new album is quite good i think...save for three songs (this clunky one, a solo piece, and this free-jazz meets Disney princess freak-out)...Ebony and Ivy has a Wilson meets Yes vocally (Revealing Science + Starship) vibe.
Uh, you can say that again!
She's amazingly talented. Not really my cuppa tea for what I'd find myself listening to a lot, but I've seen videos of her before and remember being super impressed with how she can sing jazz vocals over such complex bass playing.
i will say this new look she's going for is kind of embarrassing/partially upsetting in trying to be garishly "hip and modern" though..? But that's not really important where the music's concerned.
all of it live too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL-aRjjyQpo
Last edited by Haruspex Carnage; 03-13-2016 at 10:44 PM.
There is a full concert from last week over on youtube courtesy of NPR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL-aRjjyQpo
Esperanza Spalding: Live at BRIC | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW
She is very fascinating - but generally her music is somehow too diffuse to grab me. Something is missing, not sure what it is.
Anyone else hear the similarities to St. Vincent (Annie Clark)?Originally Posted by Sean
But yeah -- she's a mega talent. Her songwriting still has a ways to go (IMO), but thank goodness she's not just going the easy standards-plus-occasional-collaborations route.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
In this song, for sure. The vocal style and melody line is very St. Vincent-esque. Funny though that Annie uses no bass guitar in her music nowadays, though (as we're currently talking about a bass virtuoso).
As for the new look, yes, I agree that's it's both incidental but also disappointing. I liked her big hair floppin' about as she played in the past.
ProgEars and other prog posters & prints: http://www.michaelphipps.net
.*AWAKEN*. gentleMASS -touch-
Her new album is the first current pop/rock record that I've considered purchasing in a long time. I enjoy this new material even more than the jazz stuff. I have her first CD, which is very impressive as far as performance and production, but a lot of the music was pioneered over 40 years ago. She is so good at whatever music she chooses to embrace, so I'm looking forward to her development over the next several years.
She is a very good vocalist who sounds like her own person, but she does channel Joni Mitchell to a tee on a few phrases in the song One. Starting at 0:45 it turns into Court And Spark.
Love that guitar solo too, who is that guy?
http://mattstevensmusic.com/
Looks like they're coming to your neck of the woods on April 22nd.
Last edited by Reid; 03-14-2016 at 12:42 PM.
I feel this way about her jazz material. The videos here are much more interesting, to me.
Thought her second album, the self-titled Esperanza, was quite great. Was one of the first jazz records that I was able to get into easily. The Latin flavoring certainly helped.
I got the new one, but haven't been able to listen all the way through yet (too many distractions). I think she is a pretty amazing musician though, and would give my right eye to be able to write/play even half as good as she does.
Two great great art-rock vids indeed.
Emily sounds a lot like Shadows and Light from Joni Mitchel. My daughter is a big Esperanza fan so I made her listen to Shadows and Light and she agreed. Emily is definitely worth a listen.
She has a stage show that goes with the new Cd- see it here (and on tour)-
http://www.npr.org/event/music/46829...ys-d-evolution
I listened to the album this evening. Just amazing on first listen! Very dense. I'm sure it will get even better on repeated listens. Her voice reminds me of Deborah Berg from Eye To Eye on this album. I loved that band. I'm sad I missed Esperanza's stop in SF a week ago. Hopefully she will come through again and play this material.
Full concert for you.
I bought the CD last week. I've listened 3 or 4 times, and I love the whole thing! There are two versions of the album. Unfortunately, the one I bought at the store doesn't have the extra tracks.
Her guitarist Matt Stevens, is superb! He plays jazz with a heavy Metheny influence when he's doing his own thing, but I enjoy his rock guitar playing with Esperanza a lot more.
Coming to my town in early April (while I'm in Montreal for Hackett's show) so this AP article was in our local paper. Describing her new album, "The music reaches back to the prog-rock, funk and jazz-rock fusion of the 1970s but reflects them through a modern prism of sounds."
http://www.gazettenet.com/Arts/Esper...um-700063.aspx
I've never heard her but will check this out online.
I love her---she was on Real Time this past week and she talked about art and music and how difficult it was to make a living---but she is the real deal artist.
I'm a fan of the new one--it's been in heavy rotation for the last week, and I'm still finding lots of stimulating stuff....very cool.
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