Esperanza Spalding follows no rules

I think of Esperanza Spalding and I remember how Justin Bieber fans were once in uproar. They asked then, Esperanza who? So did many others. That was in fact the big question that rang after the telecast of the 2011 Grammy Awards. Esperanza who, indeedy.

It turned out it was Esperanza Spalding, the jazz artist from Oregon, who won the Best New Artist Award for the year. She won over such popular and talented co-nominees like Drake, Florence & the Machine, Mumford & Sons and Bieber, who because of his phenomenal success was expected to get the trophy. 

I do not know if it was the first time that a jazz artist won in a category believed for years to be reserved for young pop stars and where talent often took a backseat to record sales. But all it took was one listen to Esperanza in the album Chamber Music Society to understand why the Grammy voters picked her out. She was just too talented to be ignored. And multi-facetedly at that. 

Esperanza is a very good bassist. She is a composer and lyricist of extraordinary depth, and a producer and arranger of incredible daring. She is categorized as jazz but her music really follows no rules. Then, she is also an incredible singer with a sweet, very flexible voice. I hear her as a cross between the very young Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Ross in her early solo recordings.

You should check out her latest album, Radio Music Society. The singing is what grabs you first. What a voice. Of course, Esperanza also played acoustic bass in all of the songs. Then read the credits and find out that she composed, arranged and produced most of the cuts. I find it amazing that this wisp of girl only in her 20s with big Afro hair, has with the help of other fine jazz artists, put together this unique production that took her artistry to a new level.

You will hear varied rhythms. Jazz, funk, Afro, Latin, hip-hop and hints of others in the songs. The style could have resulted in chopsuey but Spalding pulled everything together. I think though that she is treading dangerous waters here. If she keeps this up, just one small, uncalled-for addition in the future can very easily destroy the symmetry of her work and give the listener unwanted clutter. For now though Esperanza got it right and is doing just fine.

And take note of the themes she wrote about. I have always thought of jazz as flowing but this girl gets you thinking. She goes for the ordinary, “This song will keep you groovin’ keep traffic movin’/ played to lift your spirits soon as you hear it,” for Radio Song. Then she mourns for a dying world in Endangered Species featuring Lalah Hathaway. “Human nature scrambling late to curb consequences/ young mankind so much potential/ time to heed earth’s guidance.”

Particularly touching is City Of Roses, her love song to Oregon. “Streets lined with red brick and green branches/ all the rainy days might seem bleak/ our rain is the paint that makes the land lush and the folks unique/ city parks, wild berries and old bridges/ a rolling river running goods to and from the sea/ and mountain hooded in snow silently watching over me/ everywhere I go their roots are with me/ and I find/ I take along a little piece of heaven with these memories of mine.”

Radio Music Society is also epic in another way. The album comes with a DVD containing videos for every cut. Shot in New York or Oregon or Barcelona, Spain, these are not the usual music videos that come with music releases. These are short films about what inspired her to write the songs and the stories and insight she found in them. Knowing how sales of physical CDs are dwindling every day, I cannot help but rejoice that Esperanza’s Montuno and Heads Up label has total trust in her selling power to foot the expensive production. 

Have fun with the surprising twists in the music and lyrics of the other cuts. Cinnamon Tree, Crowned & Kissed, Land Of The Free, Black Gold featuring Algebra Blessett and Lionel Loueke, I Can’t Help It featuring Joe Lovano, Hold On Me, Vague Suspicions, Let Her and Smile Like That.