Esperanza Spalding: 12 Little Spells and Beyond

Esperanza Spalding is a Grammy-award winning composer, bassist and singer, born in Portland, Oregon on October 18, 1984. She has released seven solo albums and won her first Grammy for Best New Artist when she was only 26 years old, against musical giants like Drake and Justin Bieber.1 Spalding went on to win two more Grammys at the ages of 28 and 29 years old, respectively. Her first Grammy win created a bridge to the pop music world from her own specific brand of jazz that she has kept in some form since, and is especially prevalent on her 2018 album, 12 Little Spells.

Throughout her musical career, Spalding has never shied away from exploration, from recording an album with lyrics in English, Spanish, and Portuguese (Esperanza, released 2008), to writing and recording another in 77 consecutive hours.2 With this amount of exploration therefore, 12 Little Spells is not the first album of hers to be reminiscent of pop; her 2012 album Radio Music Society was often discussed as being more “accessible to the public,” though Spalding tended to reject that simplified view.

However, there is a marked difference between 12 Little Spells and Radio Music Society. Because these two albums were released six years apart, Spalding released two other albums, Emily’s D+Evolution and Exposure, in the interim. Given the nature of her musical career, it would be foolish to assume that her style wouldn’t change at all, and 12 Little Spells certainly feels like a combination of the more pop-driven style of Radio Music Society and the more experimental style of D+Evolution.

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One of the most evident ways that Spalding combines pop and jazz/experimental sounds is through using instruments that are more typically seen in classical or jazz pieces and using them to create sounds that would sound familiar to us in pop music or combining these sounds with jazz and classical. Each track on the album also has a corresponding body part that the lyrics relate to. For example, the title track “12 Little Spells” is about the Thoracic Spine. Spalding’s lyrics are certainly one of her strong points, as even though the concept of writing songs about body parts may seem childish, her lyrics are meaningful, thought-provoking, and often fun. For instance, while “Reading to Rise” is about your life from the perspective of your legs (they apparently get upset with not having room on airplanes), “Dancing the Animal” is about the relationship and similarities between technology and religion in the modern age.

Not to suggest that pop lyrics can’t be meaningful, but the juxtaposition of lyrics exemplifies the connection between pop music and jazz, as jazz is especially adept at social commentary. In terms of combinations of sound, “12 Little Spells” begins with a dramatic flute line and strong horn section that one might expect to hear in a classical piece, before transitioning into guitar and a vocal and percussion line that are very typical of pop R&B, while those same orchestral sounds and Spalding’s signature bass still play behind them. This balance throughout the piece serves as the perfect representative of the sound of the album.

The beginning of the next track, “To Tide Us Over,” certainly sounds more like jazz, with a guitar line and organ behind Spalding’s vocals, but it transitions into a more layered sound and R&B beat that reintroduces the pop feel. The organ is particularly striking in this song, as even though it’s certainly not seen in pop music frequently, it still contributes to the feeling. The song “Til’ The Next Full” is even more experimental, utilizing just a guitar, synth, and drums, the latter of which has a pretty minimal sound, since the guitar is the focus, providing both melody and most of the percussion. The experimental sound of this track therefore makes the next song, “Thang,” stick out even more. “Thang” is one of a few tracks on 12 Little Spells reminiscent of R&B, largely due to Spalding’s vocals, echoed by other singers, and bass line. The organ behind them gives an almost gospel feeling as well. However, the track with the most apparent R&B influence is certainly “You Have to Dance.”

“You Have to Dance” is an upbeat song with a strong bass line and background vocals in octaves that compliment Spalding’s voice well. In the exploratory vein, “Touch in Mine,” the fifth track on the record is nearly five minutes long, its repetitive melody with floating vocals and muffled percussion a similar departure from traditional jazz that’s become a trend on this album. “Now Know,” has a similar sound, but with Spalding’s bass and guitar playing jazz chords. “All Limbs Are” also strays away from the pop vein, with Spalding’s vocals accompanied only by soft background vocals and jazzy piano. “Readying to Rise” returns to the classical influence from “12 Little Spells” with bowed cello and bass introducing the piece. However, electric guitar is also introduced, both playing softer picked lines that have been consistent throughout the album, but the song is played out by shredding rock guitar.

“Dancing the Animal,” the second to last piece is almost an amalgamation of all these sounds, jumping from just vocals and soft guitar, to picking up tempo and incorporating jazz bass guitar, and drums that are the least melodically focused of the album, and then to a cut time feeling that echoes previous experimental tracks. The last track of the album, “With Others,” is a tribute to the ears and is fittingly the longest song. Where “Dancing the Animal” fell short of an amalgamation, “With Others” certainly doesn’t. It mixes R&B vocals from both Spalding and other singers with a consistently changing time signature, spoken parts, trumpet and saxophone lines, and Spalding’s insightful lyrics incredibly.

Esperanza Spalding has succeeded in tying pop, jazz, and more experimental genres together in an entirely unique way that is surely demonstrative of her incredible talent, and hopefully the resurgence of jazz as more popular music.