Key points about I Know You Know
Esperanza Spalding is an award-winning American jazz singer, bassist and song writer.
I Know You Know features on her album Esperanza, which was released in 2008. Spalding performed this song in 2009 at the concert to celebrate Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. The recording of this concert differs from the one specified by AQA, which is the album version.
Spalding spent time in Brazil and learnt Portuguese. She studied Latin music, including Brazilian samba and bossa nova.
Spalding writes in mainly a Music from two or more traditions that are combined in the same song or piece of music. In I Know You Know Spalding mixes samba with jazz.
Remember
I Know You Know is one of the three songs by Spalding which are the study pieces for Area of Study 2 for your AQA GCSE listening exam.
The other two are:
Video
Watch the video below to learn more about the structure, vocal, instrumental and other musical features used in I Know you Know.
Presenter: Esperanza Spalding is an award winning American jazz singer, bassist and songwriter. This song I Know You Know features on the album Esperanza, released in 2008. It starts with a bass solo.
As well as bass, we hear the piano and drum kit, and those bongo drums that give the song its Latin American feel. It's written in a simple verse and chorus song structure and features improvised instrumental solos. The verse has a repeating chord progression of extended and altered chords.
The vocal melody includes blue notes, that means flattened notes, and the vocals are mostly syllabic, meaning one syllable per note.
Let's hear them.
Singer: The way you looked at me when you think I'm not looking, tells me your heart's a sleeping giant worn out by someone you loved before me.
Presenter: Latin American influences in the chorus includes syncopation and polyrhythms drawn from samba rhythms.
Singer: You already know, but sing it again. I love you, baby. Nothing will take me away. I know that you know, but I sing it again. I love you, baby. Nothing will take me away.
Presenter: In jazz music, the instrumentalists feature as soloists, improvising on the main theme to showcase their skills. Here's an example on the piano.
Take it away.
Structure
I Know You Know has a verse-chorus structure. The song also includes improvisation sections where Spalding and accompanying musicians are able to showcase their improvisational skills.
The structure of the song is as follows:
| Section | Lyric or Instrumental |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Instrumental |
| Verse 1 | ‘The way you look at me while you…’ |
| Chorus | ‘You already know but I’ll sing it again’ |
| Verse 2 | ‘The way you always call me with…’ |
| Chorus (double) | ‘You already know but I’ll sing it again’ |
| Interlude/Middle 8 | ‘I wait for you to open up’ |
| Vamp bars for solo | Improvisations from piano and bass |
| Chorus (double) | ‘You already know but I’ll sing it again’ |
| Return of the introduction | Instrumental |
| Verse 3 | ‘The way you look at me while you…’ |
| Repeat ad lib. and coda | ‘I know you know’ Vocal improvisations including some scatting |
Vocal features
Spalding is known for her silky smooth vocals and how they interact with her funky basslines, especially in I Know You Know. The first verse and chorus are good examples of how Spalding varies her every time she sings the line ‘I love you babe and nothing will take me away’.
Spalding’s female vocals are predominantly in the alto range with some of her improvisations extending above this range.
You can also hear Spalding bend her pitch at the end of lines, for example in verse two on the words ‘time’ and ‘mind’.
Spalding’s improvisations can be heard at the end of the track where she improvises and repeats ideas already in the song. As the song fades, Spalding When the singer improvises using nonsense syllables or no words at all, sometimes using the voice to mimic instruments. over with no specific words using a variety of vocal sounds.
Remember
When listening to recordings of I Know You Know, make sure you listen to the track from the album Esperanza, as live versions (including the 2009 at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony) have some differences.
Question and answer
What does the term ‘to scat’ mean?
When the singer improvises using nonsense syllables or no words at all.
Instrumental features
The bass, piano, drumkit and additional percussion interact with each other to combine jazz features and samba features.
How is the bass guitar used?
It is picked throughout with the occasional slide or portamento.
It presents a syncopated four-bar riff at the start of the song which also appears many times in the verses and at the end.
As well as being syncopated, this riff is a combination of repeated notes, leaps and chromatic steps.
How does the piano feature in I Know You Know?
It plays off beat extended jazz chords, which are major or minor triads with other notes added. These are often cross-rhythms and polyrhythms, demonstrating the influence of samba.
How is the drum kit and additional percussion used?
It provides the regular metre as a focus for the listener among the syncopated rhythms in the bass and piano.
The drummer plays When the drummer places the stick across the drum and taps the rim of the snare drum. on beats 2 and 4.
Additional percussion gives the Brazilian samba feel, including a shaker, known as a ganza. The snare drum, also called a caixa, is often used in samba.
The bongos can be heard filling the texture using techniques including A drumming pattern when a stroke is preceded by a grace note., which can be heard in the introduction. The bongos are not directly related to samba, they originated in Cuba, but can be found in a lot of Latin American music.
The triangle plays different sounds. Sometimes it is played with the hand open and sometimes with the hand closed - muted.
Remember
The harmonies in I Know You Know include many extended and added chords, typical of the jazz style.
Other musical features
Spalding uses the following musical elements to create her unique sound of jazz and samba fusion:
| Tonality | Initially the tonality is quite ambiguous, it is not clear which key we are in. The music suggests F major, but it is not until midway through the first verse that we hear an F major chord and it is only at the start of the chorus that the key of F major is fully established. |
| Harmony | The extended and altered chords in the piano are typical of the jazz style. They contribute to the ambiguity of the key at the beginning, along with a number of chromatic chords that do not belong to the key. |
| Melody | The melodies in this song come in different shapes and lengths. The opening bass riff has two repeated notes followed by small leaps and chromatic steps. The opening of the vocal melody in the verse has mainly stepwise movement, with the first two notes being repeated. In the second two phrases, octave leaps can be heard at the start. In the chorus, the phrases are shorter and all four phrases contain blue notes. The vocal melody is syllabic in the chorus with a lot of the melody focusing on one note before leaping up or down. |
| Rhythm and Metre | The rhythms are often syncopated – a feature of jazz and samba. These syncopations are often layered up to produce A combination of two or more rhythms played simultaneously while moving at the same tempo. as heard by the bass and piano in the introduction. The result of the polyrhythms at the start means that the 4/4 feel isn't always easy to hear. The offbeat quaver chords in the piano in the chorus help it to sound like a samba. |
| Texture | The song opens with a monophonic texture with only the bass playing. The main texture is melody and accompaniment. |
Question and answer
Once it has settled, what is the overall tonality or home key of I Know You Know?
F major
Quiz
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