This is the first Jazz Sunday of 2012! Welcome back, welcome to newcomers, welcome to everyone. I am absolutely excited to present to you all Esperanza Spalding’s latest album “Radio Music Society” which is set to be released on March 20th through Heads Up International. The album is a follow up of sorts to her hit album “Chamber Music Society” which saw Ms. Spalding receive a 2011 Grammy for best new artist(deservedly so). The album is packed with quality features including vocalists Algebra Blessett, Lalah Hathaway and Gretchen Parlato just to name a few. Also Q-tip will be featured on two songs which he produced. Q-tip tweeted back in late 2010 that he was going to produce Esperanza’s entire album but two songs!? Creative Beach will take it. It goes without saying that Radio Music Society is a much anticipated release. Here is a snippet of the official press release posted on Jazz Times:
On March 20, Heads Up International will release Esperanza Spalding’s new album,Radio Music Society. Each of the 12 album’s songs is accompanied by conceptual music videos. Shot in various locations including New York City, Barcelona and Portland, Ore., all videos will be available to purchasers of Radio Music Society< as a digital download or a DVD on the deluxe version. Continue to read HERE
Check out this quick performance from 2010 at NPR, enjoy! Happy Jazz Sunday everyone.
I finally saw the much anticipated, much hyped and much talked about documentary Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest. Yeah, yeah before I get stuff thrown at me or in internet terms a bunch of “you just saw that” posts. Ummmm I did have something to take of, namely the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival which Q-tip headlined(hmmmm interesting) and it just opened in D.C. last week. So! Let’s get into the review, ok wait! A quick back story, like many I literally grew up with A Tribe Called Quest and the whole Native Tongues movement. De La Soul was my introduction to hip hop and of course Tribe was in the mix and the rest is history and voila! Here I am.
This documentary brought along an immense amount of Joy as I slid into my seat and watched all of the ‘other’ previews, took mental note of future movies with ‘oooooo I wanna see that’ and eagerly anticipated the opening scene to the Beats, Rhymes and Life documentary. Being as though it is a documentary, the audience wasn’t in the realm of blockbuster numbers but we were ALL fans and watching a film that tells the story of a group that has changed lives, it felt like an intimate screening as we all looked around and smiled like “yeah I know you’re just as happy as I am to be at this screening” There aren’t any spoilers just an opinionated review of a documentary.
Honestly I thought the documentary was great! Michael Rapaport did a wonderful job and crafted a story that felt complete. I walked out of the movie theater thinking, ‘ok the story has been told’ There were many wow moments as stories were told of the beginning of the group, from their initial meetings, to the group name, to the behind the scenes of some truly legendary albums. The documentary was funny, insightful and even sad at times as it delved into the very personal relationship between the group members who have become more family than friends. I know I would definitely ‘see it again for the first time’ and I will definitely be purchasing the documentary on DVD(hopefully bluray hehe) I know you maybe thinking…that’s it!? That’s the review? Well like I said there aren’t any spoilers. I suggest you go out and see it for yourself. If you want to discuss it, feel free to post a comment or we can discuss on twitter @creativebeach
