Esperanza Spalding is one of the contemporary greats, and that’s a fact, not an opinion. She proved it on many occasions, playing her own material, but also playing with legends like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter on their projects. She sings like an angel and plays the bass like a devil. Musicians know that playing bass and singing at the same time is one of the hardest things to do. Well, look at her genius now - she acts on top of all! This video is from her concert at BRIC House in Brooklyn, N.Y. on March 3, 2016. WFUV and NPR Music presented a live video webstream of the performance as part of the First Listen Live series. Esperanza’s performances have grown more and more theatrical lately, but this one is a whole play, with a libretto and all of the other musicians involved in the acting as well. The concert’s program contains the music of her new album Emily's D+Evolution, Emily being her spirit-muse. She said prior to the performance that acting was one of her favorite things when she was a kid, but something she abandoned later.
The new material brings a fresh, new sound to Esperanza’s music. She plays an electric bass guitar, piano and singing, of course, accompanied by a guitarist and a drummer. The power trio combination takes up a heavier, louder and more rock and funk oriented sound. The theatrical vision for the character Emily is inspired by broad philosophical musings on resourcefulness and the nature of progress."Whether you want to see it as devolution and evolution, and the place where they co-exist without one diminishing the other, or you could look at it like barely having the tools that you need, but having to move forward, and having to keep moving," Spalding told NPR. "What do you do when you don't really have all the tools that you need, but you have to survive? And you need to grow and expand?"
