When relative unknown singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding beat the odds and defied competition from Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & The Machine and Mumford & Sons to win the 2011 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, stunned critics, fans and bloggers took to the web to express their amazement at what was seemingly one of the biggest upsets in the history of the awards.
In March 2012 Spalding will release her brand new studio album Radio Music Society, her most diverse, ambitious and masterful recital yet. The music is realized by many of the talented musicians who are part of Spalding’s ever-expanding universe including hip-hop giant Q-Tip, who performs on and co-produced two tracks, jazz legends Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette and Billy Hart, guitar heroes Jef Lee Johnson and Lionel Loueke, and an array of master vocalists including Lalah Hathaway and Gretchen Parlato. As well as composing and directing the music on the record, Esperanza has also created, directed and edited 12 short films for each of the 12 tracks on the record, which are linked to form an hour-long feature film. This will be premiered online in early 2012 and Radio Music Society will be released with a companion audio-visual edition, available in digital and physical formats.
The album will be released on 19th March 2012.
