Congratulations to Esperanza Spalding, who received a GRAMMY win last night for her lauded projected 12 Little Spells (Concord Records) in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. The song “12 Little Spells (Thoracic Spine)” was also nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. With this year’s win and nomination, Spalding has a total of 4 GRAMMY wins, alongside 7 GRAMMY nominations.
When 12 Little Spells was surprise-released on streaming services last October, it was met with raves and appeared on a number of Best Albums of 2018 lists including the NY Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard. It was released on physical and download formats in May, along with 4 new songs that Esperanza had recently recorded. The project – originally written at a castle in Italy, and recorded in just 12 days in Brooklyn – explores the healing power of art and how music and the body interact, with each song-spell inspired by and named for a part of the body. The project was covered by Vanity Fair, NPR, the NY Times, the Daily Beast, led to a performance on Live From Here and more.
Each song-spell was also released with a companion video. Watch all of the video pieces here: https://found.ee/Esp_12LittleSpells_videos
PRAISE FOR 12 LITTLE SPELLS
“Truly intoxicating” – New York Times / Top Albums and Best Jazz Albums of 2018
“[Spalding] is well over a decade into one of the most fruitful and strikingly original careers in contemporary pop…the conceptual hook of 12 Little Spells only hints at the radically inventive nature of the songs themselves” – Rolling Stone / Best Albums of 2018
Best Jazz of 2018 – Billboard
“Magic…pure imagination and also incredibly tactile” – NPR Music
“Spalding unearths a haunting, R&B-styled side” – Time Magazine
“12 Little Spells joins a long line of her goddess foremothers in their innovation” – Paste
“The sound of a woman conjuring the contradictions, beauty, strangeness, and power of her body is deeply moving and very possibly magic” – Boston Globe
“Pure magic” – Mother Jones
“Dazzling” – Essence
“Esperanza’s most appealing album yet” – Brooklyn Vegan
Order 12 Little Spells, including packages that range from signed test pressings and USB drives, colored vinyl and more: https://found.ee/Esp_12LittleSpells_store
