Esperanza Spalding: "Earth to Heaven"

Thanks to folks like Kendrick and Kamasi Washington, popular music’s relationship with jazz is in a different place now than it was in 2011—the year that Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy for Best New Artist, prompting the usual sneer of “who?” from the internet and beyond. Though the former child prodigy has made four albums of impeccably performed jazz to date, no one should or frankly will be asking “who?” after her forthcoming Emily D+Evolution. It’s a wonderfully chaotic album that fits in line with her genre’s current crossover moment while also feeling exceptionally grounded in ‘70s jazz-rock, prog, and funk.

This latter quality manifests beautifully into sounds reminiscent of mid-‘70s Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan, particularly in the rhythm section, on “Earth to Heaven.” But it’s Spalding’s view of faith’s uncertainty and morality’s virtue that makes the song her own. There’s a playful push and pull vocally that mimics her philosophical back and forth on matters of heaven and hell, bright flourishes underscoring weighty questions over man’s quest for salvation. In her most poetic verse, she sings of kings who “die ringed in gold” while “slaves die consoled,” surmising, “On the other side/ A meek’s reward/ Is better/ Like a pearly resort/ Except without a report from hell/ How on earth can you tell…” 

Lyrically, Spalding’s pulled off something difficult here: Crafting a song that is skeptical of some kinds of thinking about the afterlife without putting down any specific god or creed. Her point is that how we live is more important than what we might believe. She argues it well, right through the music’s constant give and take, its battle between darkness and the light. Spalding doesn’t exactly answer the questions she raises, but she does leave the listener with many of their own to consider.

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