{"id":11692,"date":"2016-11-03T05:30:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T09:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=11692"},"modified":"2016-10-28T10:32:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T14:32:56","slug":"esperanza-spaldings-musical-evolution-or-devolution-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/esperanza-spaldings-musical-evolution-or-devolution-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Esperanza Spalding’s Musical Evolution (or D+Evolution?), Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Working with Tony Visconti<\/b><\/p>\n

In the music business, Tony Visconti<\/b> is something of a household name. Since his start in 1968, Visconti has produced more than 120 albums for a wide variety of artists, including more than a dozen for David Bowie<\/b>. He’s worked in a variety of musical genres, but is most closely associated with rock, and a large percentage of his production duties have been on albums by British artists. Esperanza Spalding, on the other hand, is described by some as a bass-wielding cross between Joni Mitchell<\/b> and Michael Jackson<\/b>. So what led Esperanza Spalding<\/b> to choose Visconti to co-produce the sessions that would become Emily’s D+Evolution ‘s <\/i>heady mix of rock\/funk\/soul\/jazz\/hip-hop?<\/p>\n

Spalding had in fact already recorded much of Emily’s D+Evolution<\/i> before deciding to work with a co-producer. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if this record was valid, or if it was any good to anybody other than me,\u201d Spalding says. She knew she didn’t want to work with someone intent on making her music \u201csound like a jazz record.\u201d Spalding was especially impressed with Visconti’s production work on David Bowie’s 2013 album, The Next Day<\/i>. \u201cIt has a lot of acoustic instrumentation, and yet it\u2019s still sounds like you\u2019re getting slapped in the face,\u201d she chuckles. \u201cAnd I wanted that sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"esperanza_spalding_holly_a3\"

Photo by Holly Andres<\/p><\/div>\n

Visconti is \u201ca unique character in that he knows so<\/i> much,\u201d explains Spalding. \u201cHe\u2019s been through the whole arc of rock and roll and jazz. And he has a classical background. He can arrange for orchestra.\u201d That background, Spalding believes, meant that Visconti would be a good person to \u201cendorse\u201d \u2013 that’s her word \u2013 the music she had been writing and recording. \u201cI thought, ‘if someone like Tony Visconti understands this record, then I\u2019m good.’ And he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bassist-vocalist-composer characterizes Tony Visconti’s approach to the Emily’s D+Evolution<\/i> project as \u201chands off in all the right ways,\u201d but notes that Visconti was \u201chands in\u201d concerning studio matters in which his mastery is well-established. An earlier \u201ctechnical snafu\u201d meant that nearly half of the tracks cut before Visconti came on board would have to be re-recorded, but Spalding is grateful for what might have seemed like a serious setback. \u201cHis spirit did need to be in this,\u201d she believes. \u201cAnd it would have sucked if all the songs that he worked on weren\u2019t on the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she initially needed \u2013 and earned \u2013 that coveted endorsement of Emily’s D+Evolution<\/i>, Spalding has moved forward from that place. \u201cNow I know better. Because I\u2019m older; I know that you don\u2019t need authorization. But for a while it was that emotional or spiritual development, artistic development that I needed: an endorsement to feel confident enough to release this to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Bill Kopp<\/p><\/div>\n

Spalding’s first album, 2006’s Junjo<\/i>, was a straight-ahead jazz release that received good notices but didn’t chart. But by the time of her fourth record, 2012’s Radio Music Society<\/i>, the bassist was selling over 100,000 copies, topping the jazz charts, and enjoying crossover success. The small label to which she was signed was absorbed into the larger Concord Records, but when her contract was up for renewal, she didn’t jump ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like them,\u201d she says of the Concord staff. \u201cThey really are champions of me exploring, which is not something that most record labels want to invest in. I don\u2019t sell hundreds of thousands of records,\u201d she says, \u201cbut they still treat me like I do … and that\u2019s really priceless. Any person in a record contract will understand how profoundly special that is.\u201d<\/p>\n