Esperanza Spalding- Emily´s D+Evolution (2016)

Esperanza Spalding- Emily´s D+Evolution (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

Those who thought Esperanza Spalding was all about jazz, better think twice no, as Esperanza is really bringing the noise on the adequately titled Good Lava, the impressive first track of her newest record, weirdly called Emily's D+Evolution, as guitar flow in a pretty dynamic way, it seems as is Spalding has been listening closely to those great fusion records made by bands like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, in a way the Mahavishnu Orchestra makes a lot of sense to me, John Mclaughlin, Mahavishnu´s leader is said to have “unlearned” to play guitar in his time as Miles Davis backing musician, Miles asked John to “forget everything he knew about playing guitar and to start learning again”, so in a way this “devolution” may mean that Esperanza is “unlearning” form her past in order to reinvent herself, and that is totally true here.  

Every track on this record is an absolute surprise, as quickly perceived on Unconditional Love, Spalding again going here beyond the jazz realm, this time without going so heavy or loose, except for her powerful bass which becomes almost the leading instrument on the song.

On Judas is where Esperanza really dares to go all the way, the deep tone of her commanding bass plus her soulful voice and phrasing are simply jaw dropping, delivering easily one of the best pieces on the record, and not satisfied at all with that she repeats the dose on the complex melody perfection of Earth to Heaven.

Ebony and Ivory, Spalding's ambition reaches brutal levels of beauty, vision and musical recklessness, invoking the legendary ghost of people like Sly Stone m, Robert Wyatt and at times even managing to get close to the sound of French Zeuhl legends Magma.

The mighty Kate Bush looks a lot like the possible source of inspiration for the baroque Noble Nobles with Spalding refining her high pitched vocals in one of the most singular songs in this collection, and then going into the kind of minimalist stuff Bjork used for her Biophilia record, before returning to free form jazz influenced music with dissonant guitars on Elevate or Operate, and then nearly closing the record with a defiant and deafening Funk the Fear, again upping the intensity and using to her advantage near fusion dynamics and arrangements, Emily's D+Evolution is a world class record by an artist who has never cared for commercial success or massive acceptance, but here more than ever, Esperanza sounds really excited of visiting my place she never explored before, in the end versatility and ambition deviate a little the whole strength of the album, but with so many great songs going to every place imaginable, Spalding is definitely delivering a winning record, one that defies easy categorization and elevates her to star status.