Esperanza Spalding – Live @ Newport Audio

William — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:12:44 +0000

Okay, I am VERY excited! I just recently saw Esperanza Spalding and her band at the Schwartz Center at Emory University in Atlanta (my hometown). This was my first time seeing her live and I can tell you I was not disappointed. Esperanza is an unbelievably powerful performer. Her artistry transcends label. As one might expect from Berklee’s youngest professor in the history of the university, her Bass playing is spectacular. However, you may not expect all that Esperanza’s vocals have to offer. It is visceral and soulful, but has a force behind it fueled by a wealth of knowledge and the highest purpose. Her style is so effortless that it’s not that she’s a bassist and/or a vocalist, her entire body is its own instrument. Along with her old favorites from her album ‘Esperanza’, she had a host of new tunes. For example, she performed “City of Roses” about the city of Portland (her hometown), “Wild Is the Wind”, “Sunlight”, “Cinnamon Tree” about a friend of hers studying for the bar, and her querky new intro tune “Jazz (Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul)”. All of these songs and more will be on her highly anticipated 2010 album release, few details are available at this point though. This audio recording, provided by NPR, also has a tune entitled “Crayola”. Since it’s one audio clip, I’ve written the time markings for each song in the set. The entire set list is:

“Jazz (Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul)” 0:00 – 6:43
“City of Roses” 6:43 – 11:39
“I Know You Know” 11:39 – 15:59
“Sunlight” 17:05 – 21:46
“Wild is the Wind” 21:54 – 28:18
“Mela” 28:29 – 39:46
“Crayola” 39:50 – 47:03

Ricardo Vogt – Guitar

Leonardo Genovese – Piano

Otis Brown III – Drums

William Hollifield » Leonardo Genovese

Esperanza Spalding – Live @ Newport Audio