Doctor Tongue's 3-D House of Jazz

(photo via Enrico Maioli's Flickr)

Well, you're right, and there are some very good reasons.

It's a whole form that can seem devoted to indulgence, its musical joys expressed as an inside joke, its communication plagued by opaque melodies and obsessive, intellectualized technique.  Or:  If there aren't enough indulgences and difficult corners, it melts into dinner music.  It can seem either all big words or prune juice, and how embarrassing would it be to find yourself enjoying the wrong thing?  Yes, you're right, jazz can be scary.

(I had a friend tell me that all jazz piano made him think he was trolleying over to The Land of Make-Believe.  When I asked if that was such a bad thing, he meow meow meow convincemeowed meow meow meow.)

Esperanza Spalding (myspace) is pretty terrifying herself, at least on paper.  The Oregon-born singer-bassist's bio begins all "wrong side of the tracks" and "economically adverse circumstances."  Moves-thru: Home-schooled, self-taught, multi-lingual. GED and university at 16, BA in three years, college faculty member at 20.  Time spent as a band mate and/or session player with the likes of Pat Metheny and Michel Camilo.  She's 23, now, just released an acclaimed second CD, Esperanza,  and seriously, she wins, you lose, you're never going to catch up.

So sit back, engage and enjoy.

Spalding - who writes or co-writes much of her own music - makes very active, very accessible, stuff.  Nothing to be afraid off.  Its ideas of fusion don't feel obtuse.  Her charisma pushes her from precocious to playful.  There's the odd shrill tweet, some stretches of noodley meltdown.  But those who fear the giant J-word should take comfort in her serious crossover potential.  (Spalding is one of the performers (others include Gnarls Barkley, Deerhoof, and Santogold) at the Roots-curated fest this weekend in Philadelphia.)

For instance, the affirmative "Fall In," which she performed last night on Letterman, should settle in nicely next to Alicia Keys on the R&B charts.

About as straightforward as you can get, that sunny voice can sell.  But what I like about Spalding is that she can produce a variety without losing identity or feeling like a Nellie McKayish novelty.  Her inclination toward Latin Jazz always helps, because that stuff never carries an air of exclusivity about it.

Esperanza Spalding - Perazuán (mp3) (buy)

Another legitimate argument against jazz is that it's so of-the-moment that a performance errs toward instant obsolescence.  There are instances worth capturing, but a lot of it's just wasted time.  And I'd never dispute there isn't tons of chaff, and I don't like chaff, I don't need more music these days.  It's one of the reasons I've never listened to tons of jazz, the way aficionados do.  But I don't think there's a better music to illuminate every passing timepoint's potential.  It's not about isolating specific occurring facts, but about electrifying possibilities.

"Perazuán" is from her first album, Junjo, and it's short and airy and smart and lovely.  Her click-scat's not as gutsy as an Ella or as annoying as a McFerrin.  Spalding and her melody here are like a cat and a string.  They're both present throughout, but what we hear is the action, the pounce and paw and sway.

Esperanza Spalding - I Adore You (mp3) (buy)

From the new record.  Full-bodied, Brazilian flavored (something about the basic melody, maybe just the childlike la-la-la-la-ley anchor, reminds me of older Caetano Veloso).  It's seven and a half minutes and - other than that uninteresting piano aside around the 2:45 mark - keeps finding reasons to go on, directions to go in.  Every time it threatens to go unmoored something holds it down.  I don't think you'd even notice how rhythmically insane everything is but for the brief respites where the piano reigns itself back to basic riffs and all the fill percussion drops out.  "I Adore You" has one of those fantastic rousing climaxes where you want to jump up and down and clap your hands because everything totally makes sense.

Esperanza Spalding - I Know You Know (mp3) (buy)

That's just as much a song, in the pop sense, as "Fall In."  I like it better because it's both easy enjoyment and a dare to delve deeper.  A step slower and the rumbaish chorus would be undeniable, but that punchy startstop approach encourages you to engage your higher faculties.  This song gives gorgeous face, great personality, fine conversation.  If your A-game ain't any better than a C-minus, maybe you should be terrified.

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Speaking of scarrrrrrry stuff, boys and girls, have you heard about the new M. Night Shyamalan movie?  The Happening?  Why, it promises to be the most frightening film since Ingmar Bergman's A Thingy.

What's odd is that the SECRET SURPRISE ENDING has already made it to YouTube and Fox hasn't had it yanked, yet.

Hmmmm.  Very Simon of the Desert.

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Sorry. 

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And yeah, thanks, I did see this, and that's why I've said before Pitchfork shouldn't go there.  They did better than I thought they might - and I thought they might, after seeing ads for the record running on their site this week - by giving 12 Angry Months several positive words... before burying it under a number that guarantees no casual reader will ever read them.

It's how they can feign appreciation while never having to leave their dismissive little hidey-holes; they've got their "mook rock" prejudices and they're going to hold on to them to the detriment of any great rock and roll that might come along.  It's reactive, it's reductive, and it's why you never ever want to sit at the same table with any of these sad little people.

tags: esperanza spalding  twelve angry months  obvious jokes  

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