friday frequencies...a Replay Edition- Esperanza and Gretchen

We had the great good fortune to see these two amazing ladies perform last night at the TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Gretchen Parlato was the "opener", but we would easily have paid top dollar just to see her on her own.

Esperanza Spalding has to be one of the coolest ladies working in the music industry today. She played pretty much anything with strings that you don't have to sit at. And that voice! She brought with her a dozen crack musicians, including an incredibly tight eight piece horn section. Truly remarkable!

But the highlight of the night came as the hands on our watches started to tilt upwards toward midnight; it was encore time and Esperanza invited Gretchen back onstage to join her in performing "that song".

Here is "that song":

We first brought you this back in late March, but we were so excited about last night's performance that we just had to give it the Replay treatment! We hope you enjoy it as much the second time around!

friday frequencies...Esperanza plucks our strings!

The amazing Esperanza Spalding released a new album, Radio Music Society, this week. We haven't had the opportunity to listen to it yet, other than its first heavily promoted single Black Gold, but we surely will. Apparently Esperanza conceived of her most recent previous album, Chamber Music Society, and the new album as comprising a set...two sides of the virtuoso bassist's musical personality best appreciated as a whole. Here's a taste from Chamber Music Society to get you in the mood. It's "Inútil Paisagem" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, also featuring the amazing Gretchen Parlato: (You know how we're suckers for Brazilian music!)

...and the best news of all? Esperanza will be bringing her Radio Music Society show to Nathan Phillips Square on June 28th of this year as part of the TD Toronto Jazz Festival!

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May your bass notes be as deep and resonant as can be this wonderful weekend!