Apparently, the dude I keep referencing is Casey Benjamin, who is a saxophonist as well as keyboardist, with an apparent fascination with vocoders. Sure wish he'd been playing saxophone on that gig.
If I never hear another vocoder, I'm cool with it.
For Valerie and others who had problems with the Robert Glasper/Ledisi clip I posted earlier.
thanks, Ron. now i can say that i totally agree with you! what a waste! and Robert can play - make no mistake about that. and we know about Ledisi. and how about those scintillating lyrics?!? NOT!!! mos def NOT!
Apparently, the dude I keep referencing is Casey Benjamin, who is a saxophonist as well as keyboardist, with an apparent fascination with vocoders. Sure wish he'd been playing saxophone on that gig.
If I never hear another vocoder, I'm cool with it.
I think Spalding's tune and the performance of her band were excellent. Loved it. The Glaspar/Ledisi song didn't do anything for me.
No problem, walto.
Why am I so long-winded, when Walto nailed my feelings exactly with far fewer words?
My wife and I agreed that Esperanza & her group's performance actually exceeded our expectations, was inventive, well-performed and fun. I'm buying her new album.
Why am I so long-winded, when Walto nailed my feelings exactly with far fewer words?
My wife and I agreed that Esperanza & her group's performance actually exceeded our expectations, was inventive, well-performed and fun. I'm buying her new album.
Is it politically incorrect to say that she's also drop dead gorgeous?
i can't believe that i'm not singing "my girl's" praises but it's just not the Esperanza that i love that appeared last night. i miss what she was playing and the way she was playing on her acoustic bass. and i don't even like seeing her with makeup. i sound like her mother! she's so gorgeous, naturally. i'm happy though that she's doing what she wants to do. assuming that anyway!
saw Ms. E on Kimmel's show last night and was underwhelmed again, sad to say. and, again, the sound was lousy. band practically drowned her out. it was pretty unexciting.
Last edited by Valerie; March-30th-2012 at 09:53 PM.
There's a pretty well-written article in the current issue of Jazz Times magazine which might offer some perspective as to Esperanza's background, as well as her take on her current musical interests, expectations and career path.
I applaud her honesty, as well as her playing and singing. That doesn't mean that I'm crazy about everything she's done, but it means that I'm cutting her some slack in the genre department. So she's experimenting with some crossover material. OK.
I don't think Esperanza has any illusions about her current recording, Radio Music Society. I think she did exactly what she felt she needed and wanted to do on that project. Good for her.
"I don't think I speak on behalf of the jazz community at large, nor do I represent the jazz community at large." - Esperanza Spalding
"On the new record, it's clearer than ever that her three favorite musicians are Wayne Shorter, Milton Nascimento and Stevie Wonder, and not in that order — or, for that matter, any order. The songs have choruses and dance beats and lots of electric bass; lyrically and musically, they're possessed of a shrewdly urbane magnetism that Spalding has never shown before. And for the first time, she takes on political themes." - Giovanni Russonello/Jazz Times
My wife and I just watched last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live show which we recorded.
The sound pickup on Esperanza's spot was pretty crappy, as expected (especially the drum set), but I've heard far worse. I kinda dug the simple groove, and felt that it was a soulful, if not earth-shattering performance. Her vocal chops were intact, and she had capable backing from a male vocalist. They performed "Black Gold" from her new album, which is mostly an R&B groove, but with some jazz sensibilities in the horn arrangement.
I wasn't expecting Us Five on Jimmy Kimmel, that's for sure.
I just finally dug into Glasper's Black Radio and while it's an interesting concept it's not really remotely a jazz record to me. Definitely hip hop (and pretty good at it FWIW). Didn't I read somewhere someone said the two "jazz" records making noise right now aren't even jazz? Pretty accurate IMO. Of course, YMMV.
Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz
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And I like Jazz too 
