Why Would You Listen To That?

Artist: Esperanza Spalding
Album: Chamber Music Society
Producer: Gil Goldstein
Label: Heads Up International
Release: August 17, 2010

Rating: 8.5 RockRolls

 
Just who is Esperanza Spalding? It's easy to say that a significant majority of the 26.6 million people watching the 53rd Grammy Awards asked that very question to themselves. Or bombarded Twitter with static concerning the veritable upset of the Beliebers' great idol. While she may have been the dark horse of this year's awards, she is most certainly not unknown in and out of the jazz community. She set the online community on fire following her performance on Austin City Limits in 2010 and performed at that year's BET awards alongside Patti LaBelle and Alicia Keys in a tribute to Prince. She was hand-selected the previous December by U.S. President Barack Obama to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize concert and has been heralded as one of the greatest new talents on the current jazz scene; and now she's been awarded the title of the Best New Artist of 2010 by NARAS. Despite having two studio albums under her belt and having played all throughout her teen and young adult career, it is this last year in which NARAS has declared Esperanza Spalding's name to have represented her public identity as an artist making her eligible for the award. Her third solo album, Chamber Music Society, was released during her period of eligibility and no doubt helped rocket her persona from popular obscurity to music business headlines.


Weaving complex, but elegant, lines (from an instrument that threatens to dwarf her diminutive figure) with her rich voice and sharp, breathy tone, Esperanza gracefully meshes her two very unique instruments together into a mélange of aural bliss. It is fitting that the opening track, "Little Fly,' opens with Esperanza walking a bass line of diads down the neck in a natural, effortless manner; much of the album feels like this, and not just in the instrumentation. Esperanza's command of the lyrics in "Little Fly" would make the listener think she wrote them herself; but William Blake's "The Fly" has been waiting since the turn of the 19th century to be set to music. English poetry teachers everywhere should be proud.

Esperanza's penchant for writing and arranging excellent songs is as evident in Chamber Music Society as in her other releases. With the exception of three tracks on the album, Esperanza is the sole creative force of the composition. Not an easy feat at 26 years of age. Standing out among her compositions are the scat lines over the playful but passionate "Knowledge of Good and Evil" and the harmonious duet with the always wonderful Milton Nascimento on "Apple Blossom." Upbeat tunes like "Winter Sun," gentle melodies on "What A Friend" and the bold dissonance on "Really Very Small" all contribute to the legend of Esperanza's versatility.

Despite proving her musical prowess throughout her own compositions, where Esperanza truly shines on Chamber Music Society is in her arrangement of the three non-original tracks on the album. Argentinian composer Leonardo Genovese composed "Chacarera," a brilliant take on a native dance and genre of music bearing the same name; Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Inútil Paisagem" is splendidly paired here with small blips of Esperanza's scat with Gretchen Parlato's own vocals and scatwork; and Esperanza invokes the spirit of Nina Simone in her rendition of the standard "Wild is the Wind." The latter is sure to give any listener goosebumps. Don't believe me? Wait until she nails the high Bb on the final chorus. You'll see.

Fans who are lucky enough to have picked up a vinyl copy of the album can hear exclusive commentary through an interview with Esperanza on the album's D-side along with a bonus preview track from Esperanza's upcoming Radio Music Society. But without the bonus content, Esperanza has delivered a gem of an album that has catapulted her name, and the new wave of jazz music, into the spotlight.

8.5 RockRolls