CD review: Esperanza Spalding – 12 Little Spells 2018: Video

12 Little Spells is, according to a press release, an investigation of art’s restorative energy; each track was written with a part of the body in mind.

Spalding recorded the music about two weeks ago in Brooklyn, with Matthew Stevens on guitar, Justin Tyson on drums, Aaron Burnett on saxophone, Burniss Travis on bass, Corey King on background vocals, and Rob Schwimmer on continuum.

The first track, written for the thoracic spine, is accompanied by this bit of text: “For increased oxygen and circulatory support from the external world to anatomical and/or energetic lungs and heart. Via sensations of the conversational exchange – circulation – between the abundant ‘outside’ and our internal body. Grounding the sensation of infinite exchange with external systems of support, in the bellows of our rib-cage cavity, mounted on the spinal pole.”

01 12 Little Spells
02 To Tide Us Over
03 ‘Til The Next Full
04 Thang
05 Touch In Mine
06 The Longing Deep Down
07 You Have To Dance
08 Now Know
09 All Limbs Are
10 Readying To Rise
11 Dancing The Animal
12 With Others

Free regular download