Esperanza Spalding gets revolutionary with Emily’s D+Evolution
Friday, July 17, 2015
Four-time Grammy Award winning bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding has made something of a left-turn with her latest project, entitled Emily’s D+Evolution, which she brings to London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 2 November.
The follow up to her Chamber Music and Radio Music projects – and her touring jazz trio with drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Geri Allen – Emily’s D+Evolution finds Spalding creating an alter-ego, Emily (her middle name), through which she explores a vibrant mix of funk, soul and alt.rock flavoured songs, in part inspired by seeing footage of iconic jazz-rock band Cream performing on the documentary Beware of Mr Baker.
Spalding describes finding the wildly imaginative concepts behind the project during a “sleepless night of full moon inspiration. Emily is my middle name, and I’m using this fresh persona as my inner navigator. This project is about going back and reclaiming un-cultivated curiosity, and using it as a compass to move forward and expand. My hope for this group is to create a world around each song; there are a lot of juicy themes and stories in the music. We will be staging the songs as much as we play them, using characters, video, and the movement of our bodies.” Following the project’s positive reception in the US, this will be the first chance for the bassist’s UK fans to hear the music, which is yet to be recorded.
For more info and tickets visit www.serious.org.uk/esperanza