...and The Godess Again

This is my third article on Esperanza Spalding in the year that passed. I usually evade repeating myself or favoring any artist, but Esperanza greatness in the world of contemporary music is simply imminent. She presents everything that is good in American music in the past hundred years; from the swing era, bebop and post-bop jazz, through the upbeat electric funk grooves, to orchestral music and classical idioms - Esperanza’s got it all. In her music, all the musical heritage comes packaged in a unique form, which will be left for further analysis by the new generations of musical critics, theorists, fellow musicians and fans to admire and study. Esperanza will be definitely be remembered as one of the driving forces in jazz and contemporary music in general, that has emerged at the beginning of the new millennium.

This performance I am presenting you today was recorded at the Musical Theater in Basel, Switzerland, on November 7th, 2012. Lay back and enjoy Esperanza’s superb singing and bassing, but also the wonderful arrangements and tunes. Except for the first song, all of the rest are from the Radio Music Society, her fourth studio album, which earned Spalding Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the track, "City of Roses."