On The Verge

Esperanza Spalding (Relix Revisited)

Jersey City, NJ
Afro Jazz for the People
www.esperanzaspalding.com

Esperanza Spalding strikes a remarkable balance between emotion and intellect on her new self-titled album. “I like to call it jazz soluble, ” the acoustic bassist/vocalist/composer says, “How soluble jazz is in so many other forms of music that we are really familiar with. In a down-to-earth way, that’s just kind of what I hear, too. The songs showcase a broad spectrum of sounds that are obviously infused with jazz from around the world—Afro jazz from Brazil and Cuba.” Her influences stretch from hip-hop to world beat to the tricky art of pop music songcraft with lyrics she penned in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The Berklee College of Music grad and youngest professor in that institution’s history is surrounded by an excellent group of veteran musicians on the album, including pianist Leo Genovese, drummer Otis Brown, saxophonist Donald Harrison, and flamenco guitarist Nino Josele. Yet it’s Spalding’s singular vision throughout the work that delivers the deepest impression. “Ultimately, I wanted to make music that would have a lot of the essences of jazz—improvisation, harmony and theory, and that type of interaction and communication in song form—but in a vernacular that is more palatable for the general listener who may not necessarily be a jazz connoisseur.”