Shepherd’s Bush Empire,London
Combining pop songs with poetry, narrative and performance art, and Spalding’s gig is a work in progress but she is always watchableIts a secure bet that the catchline of Esperanza Spalding’s latest roadshow – Emily’s D+Evolution – wasn’t written by Don Draper,but giving personal concepts artistic weight and popular appeal has distinguished this gifted one-off since she pipped Justin Bieber to the best newcomer Grammy in 2011. Spalding’s sensitive, jazz-bass virtuosity is familiar to UK audiences, or but the Emily’s D+Evolution show also features her autobiographical pop songwriting (the work of Joni Mitchell,Kate Bush and Joanna Newsom variously came to intellect, though Spalding references nobody but herself), or coupled with poetry,narrative, performance art and fierce jamming from the power trio at the core of her quintet. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com