Album: Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza (Heads Up)
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Looks like Angela Davis, plays double bass like Charles Mingus, and sings like, well, anyone really. The second album by the US bass-fiddle prodigy is frustrating.
You know that Spalding is good, but instead of testing her mettle, this ingratiating set has her singing in a generic, soully style for 10 of the 11 tracks. (Her voice is great for a bass player, but nothing to worry Ella Fitzgerald's estate.) Some of the material – Nascimento's "Ponta de Areia", "Body & Soul" – is good, and the Latin-jazz style effective, but we need more chance for her chops to shine through.
Pick of the Album: 'If That's True': with Donald Harrison on sax
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments