Radio Music Society

Radio Music Society is the fourth studio album by Esperanza Spalding, which was released through the record label Heads Up International on March 20, 2012.^[1][2][3][4] The album earned Spalding Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the track, "City of Roses".

Radio Music Society
Studio album by Esperanza Spalding
Released	March 20, 2012
Genre	Contemporary jazz big band R&B neo soul
Length	57:54
Label	Heads Up International
Producer	Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza Spalding chronology
Chamber Music Society (2010) Radio Music Society (2012) Emily's D+Evolution (2016)
Singles from Radio Music Society
"Black Gold" Released: February 1, 2012 "Radio Song" Released: March 26, 2012

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.2/10[5]
Metacritic	74/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	[7]
AllMusic	[8]
The Austin Chronicle	[9]
Blurt Magazine	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	B[11]
The Guardian	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slant	[14]
The Telegraph	[15]
The Times	[16]

Radio Music Society was well received by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[6] John Bungey of The Times noted the album's "journey through soul, gospel, balladry and big-band swing", and complimented Spalding's "light, airy voice".^[16] He wrote in conclusion: "For those who have hitherto found her considerable abilities easier to admire than enjoy, this is the most convincing display yet".^[16] A review in the monthly Kulturspiegel extra of the German Spiegel magazine noted that the poppy arrangements of the songs might help the album to become successful beyond the jazz genre.^[4] Jeff Artist of Okayplayer wrote "With her new companion LP, Radio Music Society, the young virtuoso branches out sonically, injecting her jazz roots with some modern soul and pop juice, maybe even inspiring the Bieber faithful to check in on what all the fuss is about... At just 11 tracks, this record flexes serious range, but what’s even more impressive is that it rarely sounds overextended".^[17]

Commercial performance

In the United States, Radio Music Society became Spalding's first Top 10 album. It debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and number one on the Top Jazz Albums chart with first week sales of 25,000 copies.^[18] The album has sold 135,000 copies in the US as of January 2016.^[19]

Track listing

Radio Music Society track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Radio Song"		6:32
2.	"Cinnamon Tree"		5:36
3.	"Crowned & Kissed"	Spalding Algebra Blessett	4:35
4.	"Land of the Free"		1:54
5.	"Black Gold" (featuring Algebra Blessett & Lionel Loueke)		5:17
6.	"I Can't Help It" (featuring Joe Lovano)	Susaye Brown Greene Stevie Wonder	4:42
7.	"Hold On Me"		3:40
8.	"Vague Suspicions"		5:51
9.	"Endangered Species" (featuring Lalah Hathaway)	Spalding Wayne Shorter Joseph Vitarelli	6:38
10.	"Let Her"		4:21
11.	"City of Roses"		4:35
12.	"Smile Like That"		4:18
Total length:			57:52

All tracks are written by Esperanza Spalding except where noted

Japanese only bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Jazz Ain't Nothin but Soul" (featuring Joe Lovano)	Norman Mapp	3:37

Personnel

Production

• Esperanza Spalding: producer
• Q-Tip: executive producer, co-producer (3, 11)
• Dave Love: associate executive producer
• Terri Lyne Carrington: additional production
• Dan Hallas: local production
• Zulema Mejias: local production

Musicians

• Esperanza Spalding: vocals, electric and acoustic bass
• Leo Genovese: piano, Rhodes electric piano, keyboards (1–3, 6, 8–12), guembri (9)
• Daniel Blake: saxophones, flute (1–3, 8–10)
• Darren Barrett: trumpet (1–3, 9, 10, 12)
• Jeff Galindo: trombone (1, 3, 8, 10, 12)
• Terri Lyne Carrington: drums (1–3, 5, 9, 11)
• Gretchen Parlato: background vocals, spoken word (1, 6, 10)
• Becca Stevens, Justin Brown: background vocals (1, 6)
• Alan Hampton, Chris Turner: background vocals (1)
• Jamie Haddad: percussion (1)
• Jef Lee Johnson: guitar (2, 9)
• Olivia Deprado: violin (2)
• Jody Redhage: cello (2)
• James Weidman: organ (4)
• Algebra Blessett: vocals (5)
• Savannah Children's Choir: choral voices (5)
• Lionel Loueke: guitar, voice (5)
• Raymond Angry: organ (5)
• Tivon Penicott:tenor saxophone(5)
• Igmar Thomas, Corey King: trumpet (5)
• Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone (6, 13)
• Ricardo Vogt: guitar (6, 8, 10)
• Lyndon Rochelle: drums (6)
• Janice Scroggins: piano (7)
• Billy Hart: drums (7)
• Jack DeJohnette: drums (8, 10, 12)
• Lalah Hathaway: vocals (9)
• Raydar Ellis: spoken word, sounds (10)
• Leni Stern: background vocals (10)
• Anthony Diamond: saxophone (11)
• Q-Tip: vocals, glockenspiel (11)
• Gilad Hekselman: guitar (12)
• American Music Program big band (1, 7, 11)

arranged and conducted by Thara Memory

• Kama Bell: clarinet
• Renato Caranto, John Carey, Andrew Olsen, Sam Seacrest, Kyle Zimmerman: alto saxophone
• Hayden Conrad, Nicole Glover, Aaron Reihs, Adam Reihs: tenor saxophone
• Stanley Matabane: tenor and alto saxophone
• Jeff Rathbone: baritone saxophone
• Kiran Bosely, Noah Conrad, Noah Hocker, Benjamin C. McDonald, Tree Palmedo, Benjamin Seacrest: trumpet
• Stan Bock, Dan Brewster, Ian Garner, Javier Nero, Ashton Summers, Matt Warming: trombone
• Jerry Stalnaker: bass trombone

Charts

Chart performance for Radio Music Society

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20]	59
French Albums (SNEP)[21]	54
Japanese Albums Chart[22]	39
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23]	33
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[24]	40
Swedish Jazz Albums[25]	4
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26]	75
US Billboard 200[27]	10
US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[28]	1
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[29]	4

Singles

Chart performance for singles from Radio Music Society

Year	Title	Chart	Peak position
2012	"Black Gold"	US Top Jazz Songs[30]	20
2012	"Black Gold"	Japan Hot 100[30]	21
2012	"I Can't Help It"	US Top Jazz Songs[30]	26