Esperanza Spalding

• DOUBLE LP GATEFOLD EDITION

Stressing music’s therapeutic qualities is a goal both noble and lofty. Timbres, cadences and mantras are often key elements for those artists concocting treatments for the parade of ills tainting life, and of late, Esperanza Spalding has wielded them with aplomb.

With Songwrights Apothecary Lab crafting a suite of 12 fetching art-songs with curative intentions, Spalding consulted with therapists and neuroscientists to shape the program as an antidote to modern maladies. Scrutinizing it on that level is slippery, but the insightful way her decidedly non-pop song structures work to foster pop-adjacent ditties remains impressive.

PERSONNEL:

• Esperanza Spalding _ (upright bass, piano, vocal)
• LaMont Hamilton (bells)
• Francisco Mela - (drums)
• Justin Tyson _ (drums, percussion, vocals)
• Chris Sholar - (electric guitar)
• Matthew Stevens (guitar, vocals)
• Leo Genovese (piano, vocals)
• Phoelix - (piano, synthesizer, organ)
• SWayne Shorter - (sax)
• Aaron Burnett - (sax, vocals)
• Ganavya Doraiswamy, Gretchen Parlato, Luke Titus, Shamell Bell, Thrive Choir (vocals)
• James Greeley - (whistle)

TRACKS:

• SIDE A
• A1. Formwela 1
• A2. Formwela 2 (Featuring – Ganavya)
• A3. Formwela 3

• SIDE B
• B1. Formwela 4 (Featuring – Corey King)
• B2. Formwela 5 (Featuring – Corey King)
• B3. Formwela 6 (Featuring – Corey King)
• B4. Formwela 7

• SIDE C
• C1. Formwela 8
• C2. Formwela 9
• C3. Formwela 10

• SIDE D
• D1. Formwela 11
• D2. Formwela 12
• D3. Formwela 13