Republic of Jazz: Esperanza Spalding - Exposure & Undeveloped (2 CD) 2017

Monday, December 18, 2017

Esperanza Spalding - Exposure & Undeveloped (2 CD) 2017

CD 1: Exposure

01. Swimming Toward the Black Dot

02. Public Trance It

03. Heaven in Pennies (feat. Robert Glasper)

04. Colonial Fire

05. Coming to Life (feat. Lalah Hathaway)

06. Geriment

07. I Am Telling You

08. The Ways You Got the Love (feat. Andrew Bird)

09. I Do

10. Double Jointed Canyon

Today's world has a way of teaching us that who we are is not good enough as it is. It tells us that we're better when we look our best. And that as artists, our work requires polish before it can be seen.

But the truth is, the creations that come from us are at their most powerful, at their most potent, the moment they surface.

In her new work entitled 'Exposure', composer, vocalist and bassist Esperanza Spalding will create an album of music in just 3 days, every second of the process broadcast live for a global audience.

The three-day livestream will begin on Facebook Live on September 12th, giving the audience a chance to see what it takes not just to create an album, but to create an album entirely composed on the spot.

Once the cameras start rolling, the audience will witness every second of Esperanza's process, including her eating and taking breaks to sleep in the studio. A monitor will also capture and show Esperanza the comments from the live audience, allowing them to participate in the creative process. Making it the first album ever created entirely on Facebook Live, not just for an audience, but with an audience, for an unprecedented 77 hour live feed.

After the record is finished, a limited edition 7,777 CDs will be released. The packaging of each CD will include a piece of the original notepaper Esperanza will have used to write the lyrics and music, allowing those who witnessed the process to own a piece of the creation itself, directly from the source.

Part of the theory behind Exposure comes from the idea that everything we've ever seen as people - anything we've ever seen, studied, heard, wished, read or thought - has been permanently captured by the mind. During Esperanza Spalding's Exposure, she'll aim to open this cache in her mind, allowing songs, lyrics, music and themes to develop spontaneously from the depths of her imagination and experience.

Esperanza says, "I foresee that creating before a live audience will add excitement and extra inspiration energy. Knowing someone is watching and listening to what you're making seems to conjure up a sort of "can't fail" energy, the necessity to keep going because it's live draws up another depth of creative facility that can't be reached when you know you can try again tomorrow."

Having such limited time to write and record will also force us to rely on improvisation and first instinct. Not allowing us time to judge, second guess, question, or alter the initial hits of inspiration that drive the creation of each song.

That means that the audience will get a record of the most potent, charged, fresh-from-the ethers-compositional, musical and lyrical content. Of course they will be formed into songs, but they'll carry the charge of the immediate, of the innately inspired artists co-creating in the room throughout the 3 day process.