Esperanza Spalding: Chamber Music Society, Alive and Amazing

On Sunday night more than 2000 people showed up at Davies Symphony Hall and got to witness something that is going to be hard to describe without resorting to hyperbole. So fuck it. Esperanza Spalding was phenomenal.

Performing her most recent record Chamber Music Society in it's entirety, Spalding and her accomplices took what was already an impressive album and turned it into a masterpiece. I seriously hope the shows on this tour are being recorded. Accompanied by a string trio comprised of Sara Caswell on violin, Lois Martin on viola and Jody Redhage on cello, Spalding's bass made it a quartet of a different kind. Playing in tandem with the very talented Leo Genovese on piano and the fantastic Terri Lyne Carrington on the drums, this was essentially two completely different kinds of bands creating music together at the same time - a glorious blending of jazz and chamber ensembles woven together so seamlessly it comes across as a natural evolution without a trace of novelty.

Both configurations-quartet and trio, are anchored by Spalding on bass. She's a musician with long experience in classical music and is a natural jazz player. On top of that, scatting and singing effortlessly in three different languages, Spalding is one of the finest vocalists I've ever heard. Also accompanying the group was backing vocalist Leala Cyr who was very impressive in her own right.


After a theatrical entrance, Spalding and crew slid into what became "Little Fly," Chamber Music Society's opening track. This beguiling song, the lyrics of which are a poem by William Blake, features Spalding in a plaintive yet whimsical vocal mood, playing descending, bluesy notes on her bass while Caswell follows behind her with a sad melody on the violin. They stretched it out into something much deeper and more beautiful than the version on the album.

And then they kept going through the tracks, expanding melodies, stretching out interludes into twisting spirals of sound that became simply rapturous when Spalding added her soaring vocals to the mix. I know it's hyperbolic- but they were that good. "Wild is the Wind" was turned into a tour de force. I had to wonder if they hit this level regularly or were we witnessing one of those all too rare performances when musicians take it unwittingly to another level and don't even realize it until it's there- right in front, surrounding them. Out of the hundreds of concerts I've seen, perhaps thousands, I've only seen that happen perhaps a dozen times- when a a gig crosses from a performance over an invisible line into something special- almost mystical, which you can only see as its happening, but more importantly you feel it. This show felt like that and yet it seemed so effortless I suspect there is something genuinely unique about this band, and its incredibly special leader, that allows them to hit this level regularly.

That's really all you need to know. This was their last U.S. gig before they take off for a European tour. They'll return to the U.S. in December and will perform through March across the country. Check out their website and get yourself a ticket. Do not miss them. With almost three months to go before the year ends and lot of things to see and hear before then, I suspect I may have already seen and heard the best musical performance I'm going to this year. With this show Spalding catapulted herself into a small group of performers whose concerts I'd really hate to miss. Her company? If you really want to know, Martha Argerich, Leila Josefowicz, Patti Smith, Prince, Rickie Lee Jones, AllenToussaint, Joyce DiDonato and Karitta Mattila are on that short list.

SFJazz, who put on the show, is only two weeks into their fall festival and they have some fanstastic artists lined up for 30 some-odd shows over the next few weeks, but I have to ask them- can you top this?

Yeah. Phenomenal. And she's only 25- this is going to be a fascinating musical career to watch.

Esperanza Spalding casts a spell

Tomorrow night, 10/10/10, SF Jazz is having one of its higher profile concerts of their fall season- Esperanza Spalding performing with Chamber Music Society at Davies Symphony Hall. Spalding created quite a stir when she appeared here last year, and some of the recent reviews I've read of her shows in preparation of this tour make it sound very enticing. Just on musical abilities alone Spalding is an intriguing figure- she's fabulous vocalist- with a range that at times reminds one of Astrud Gilberto and others of Flora Purim. Not that it's a Brazilian sound- Spalding was born and raised in Oregon, but is certainly has the loose fluidity found in those singers.


Espernze Spalding. Copyright Sandrine Lee and Montuno Producciones

Her voice is just half her arsenal. She's also a supremely gifted bassist. In fact she's a prodigy. Picking up the violin at age 4, within a year of teaching herself the instrument she was performing at age 5 with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. At 15 she was their concertmaster. At age 16 she entered college, then crossed the country and enrolled in the Berklee School of Music. In 2005, at age 20 she was hired as an instructor after completing their program. That same year she was the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship. She still only 25 years old.


Her latest album, Chamber Music Society, is a beguiling record that took me a couple of listenings to really grasp and the more I listen to it the more fascinated I am by it. Backed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Leo Genovese, the album also features the string trio of Entcho Todorov on violin, Lois Marlin on viola and David Eggar on cello. Starting off with "Little Fly" featuring the poetry of William Blake set to Spalding's contemporary, deliberated, slow jazz work-out, at first it's enigmatic. Next comes "Knowledge of Good and Evil" and here's where for me Spalding gets really fascinating. With the traditional jazz trio accompanied by the strings, she's creating a hybrid, that takes elements from classical and jazz and melds them together without any seams showing. When Spalding scats and then soars with an elevated soprano towards the end of the piece, while Marlin's viola saws away underneath her, she's crossed over into a territory that's all her own. From here on the album only grows stronger, richer and more varied. It turns and twists into places you don't see coming- especially in songs like "What a Friend," where the tempo shifts are constant but just seem right at every turn- and they turn a lot.

I have a strong feeling the show tomorrow night is going to be the same way. Last I heard there were still tickets available. Don't say I didn't tell you beforehand- this is likely going to be a highlight not only of SFJazz's fall festival, but it may likely be one of the Bay Area's most significant concerts of the year.