Esperanza

The CD is well worth the money. She is a very talented artist and it is shown in this cd. I got to see her in concert and she sounds exactly the same as she does on the album so you know that there has been no work done on the cd. She plays the instruments as she sings. She is very great. I wish her first cd was a steal like this one. BUY IT!

If you're a jazz head (or not) and you're looking for the next wave of classic recordings and talent in that idiom, get this record and rejoice. Esperanza Spalding's voice is awesome, her playing is solid, the songs are intriguing and her accompaniment is very capable. It's part world jazz, part straight ahead, part pop jazz, pop youthful exuberant jazz, part masterpiece. This album stayed on repeat for weeks and still gets played when I'm looking to be inspired by new music. Trust.

I heard this artist on a local jazz station and had to find out who she was. Bought the album and then saw her in person here in NYC and I am falling deeper in love with her every day . The album is a rare treat from start to finish. Buy it and you too may fall in love, but I saw her first.

If you're a jazz fan, get this CD and make sure you see her live. I can't put it any simpler.

Having seen Esperanza live several times, I had some very high expectations for this CD. They were certainly met, and I'll be listening to this CD quite a bit.

Admittedly, I don't have the easiest time catching the vocals in most songs, but that's fine by me because the tunes on here are wonderful. There's a wonderful feel to every song, and often you can pick up her bass as much as her vocals, and that's even when pianist Leo Genovese is shining like he does for most of this CD. In fact, her vocals are very prominent on "I Know You Know", and that's not among my favorites on this CD, although it's hard to say any songs really stand out. They're just all so good.

I had so much fun listening to this disc! I've had it in heavy rotation since June and each time I listen, I hear some nuance that I missed the previous time.

Esperanza's voice is very pleasant and she doesn't oversell or overtax her vocals which works perfectly with her songs. I loved the instrumental tracks equally as much as those with vocals because it's a new experience for me listening to music with this instrument at the forefront. (It was also something to see such a slight female handling such a large unexpected instrument on the Letterman show so that piqued my interest in her music.)

The standout tracks I keep pressing repeat on are: PONTA DE AREIA, FALL IN, I ADORE YOU, SAMBA EM PRELUDIO, ESPERA, PRECIOUS, MELA & IF THAT'S TRUE.

Esperanza sings as a Brazilian singer, she has swing, very talented but sometime her sound is too repetitive. After 6 musics you feel like you have already listened. Perhaps if you can buy songs one by one you make better business.

The CD was received very timely and in excellent condition! Brand new. I would definitely recommend this seller.

Bassist-singer Esperanza Spalding's self-titled CD starts like a warm breeze. "Ponta de Areia", like many of the songs, has a playful spirit. The music (on all songs) is both accessible and musical. I didn't figure out the chords to any of the songs or anything, but they combine pop accessibility with jazz depth. Esperanza sings both in Portuguese and wordlessly on this tune. "I Know You Know" is the first of the English songs about relationships. Her lyric-writing isn't as deep as the music, but has some good lyrical phrases. "I Know You Know" has a deeper funk feel. "Fall In" is a duet with pianist Leo Genovese. "I Adore You" starts with Esperanza and backup singers singing wordlessly, and this turns into a group improvisation, including scatting with the bass and some unfettered piano throughout. It, along with "Body And Soul," forms the heart of the CD. "Cuerpo y Alma (Body & Soul)" sounds nothing like the other versions I've heard. Part of it is the Portuguese, the other part is that the music fits with the rest of the CD. "She Got To You" has my favorite lyrics, where Esperanza laments the loss of a boyfriend to a different girl, but the breeziness of the song makes it seem like she wasn't too upset about it. "Mela" has Ambrose Akinmusire guesting on trumpet. "Love In Time" is a more traditional-sounding jazz ballad, though the bass solo isn't typical. Spalding's bass is very good, she plays with a melodic virtuosity. "Espera" is back to the style of the CD, though at slower tempo. "If That's True" is another instrumental, and it has the core bass-piano-drums augmented by Akinmusire and Donald Harrison on sax. It's a fiery swinger, and like most of the songs, was written by Spalding. "Samba Em Preludio" is another duet, this time with Nino Josele on guitar.

If popular tastes in music were more musical (think about Bach vs. the Foo Fighters, or Ellington vs. Young Jeezy), this CD would be playing from every every radio in America. Since it's catchy and fun, you might think it's lightweight or a sell-out, but it's too musical to let those sorts of accusations stick. Why do I give it four stars and not five? I think a more mature-sounding CD would be a classic, especially if the instrumental parts were more Binney-esque or Mingus-ian. She has the talent, it's just a matter of time.

Esperanza is a credit to Hispanic women. She's one of the best bassist I've ever experienced.

This album is very well put together! It's very intimate and revealing because it shows Esperanza's beautiful soul! You can listen to this in the car, at work, or at home with your sweetie. If you have a hard day at work, kick off your shoes and relax to Esperanza's soothing, beautiful voice and let it take you to paradise.

i got to hear Esperanza Spalding on youtube and catching up on her bass playing which really was on point and vocally she was cool. her band is real tight. there are gonna be instant comparrisons between her and Norah Jones for the versatility and stylings. i think there is merit in that but Esperanza can rock a upright bass which is so cool.no new ground being broken, but yet a fresh approach that sure sounds and feels good to the ears. real enjoyable and I feel that the best is still yet to come her way musically. she is talented and i enjoy the versatility.

Esperanza Spalding and her group made great success at the Stockholm Jazz
Festival in july 2008 and I was curious to listen to some of her recordings.
The record "Esperanza" is most interesting and enjoyable and she brings
a new pleasant spectrum in the jazz scenery.

Spread the word, there's a new lady in town: Esperanza Spalding, and she's bringing her 'A' game to the area of music called Jazz. And what a refreshing brew it is. Using her skills as a bassist, accompanied by her brilliant voice, which can be heard in three languagues (English, Portuguse & Spanish), this her sophomore presentation, is a mature offering for one so young (she's 23)
What I love about this CD is the variety on offer. You have straight on jazz, a samba selection, and a soulful selection, all wrapped into one CD.
The bonus that Ms Spalding has is that along with her skills as a bassist, she has a great voice, that I would imagine, along with her looks, would make her a marketing dream. But she still has to deliver the goods, and she does: form the soulful' I Know that you know', the quiet stormish ' Fall In', the sambaish' I Adore You', and the haunting 'Samba Em Preludio, which I couldn't get out of my head the to name just a few of the highlights of this CD. This is a solid set that should make this young lady a star, if there's any justice in the music world. My CD of the year thus far

So, I bought this highly acclaimed eponymous debut (or, at least, first widely released) c.d., knowing nothing about Esperanza Spalding other than she's this year's favorite jazz flavor. The first cut was the great old Milton Nascimento tune, "Ponte de Areia." I noted: "above average Brazilian jazz-pop; stronger voice than Bebel Gilberto; probably 4 stars."

But this is why you have to listen to an entire c.d., before jumping to conclusions.

As Esperanza expands into jazz-pop ("I Adore You," track 4, and track 7, "Precious"), funk ("Espera", track 10), and freer post-bop ("Mela," track 8, and my favorite on this disc, track 11, "If That's True"), it becomes quite evident that this disc is anything but "above average Brazilian jazz-pop."

But then, Ms. Spalding ends the disc with an absolutely gorgeous "duet," a samba entitled "Samba Preludio," with her on voice and bass, and Pablo Martin on guitar (recorded especially in Spain), and it's as if she has just given us a great big wink.

Esperanza Spalding in fact is not Brazilian. Rather, she was born and raised in Portland, Ore., trained at Berklee, and is the youngest instructor in the history of Berklee. And she's 23 years old.

Quite obviously, this is an eclectic c.d., designed to show off Esperanza's chops. And damn, this chick's got chops! Her vocal range is impressive; but she's one of the finest young bassists in the business. I suspect she'll hit Down Beat's "talent deserving wider recognition" category as a bassist before she does as a vocalist; but she easily could be in both categories very soon.

2008 has been an amazing year for debut c.d.'s. Raya Yarbrough, Hope Waits, Melody Gardot, and Esperanza Spalding have knocked out the most impressive quartet of "debut" recordings I can remember in any one year. While this one is not my favorite of the four, I really think Esperanza Spalding has the most inherent talent of all. I don't see a ceiling on this artist, and hopefully, she'll keep expanding the sky as the years go on. RC

I can't stop playing this album. Her voice, lyrics, musicality, vibrance and just sheer love of music come through fully in this tour de force! She never leaves her jazz roots while exploring fusion, Brazilian and straight ahead. But it is all so accessible yet complex. We don't get music like this often.
EASILY my choice for New Artist and Album of the Year...Maybe five years...More!!!!!!

This CD is a promise. There is so much enthusiasm and sheer joy of playing in all the songs on the album that one cannot help but wait for the future releases by Esperanza Spalding. This beautiful artist definitely has a bright one coming. After thousands of albums in this genre that look so similar, finally there is something new to enjoy. Truly a pleasure to listen. And Esperanza's voice is something difficult to forget. Just but the CD, you won't regret it.

She's young, gorgeous and immensely talented. Esperanza Spalding's second offering is a musical potpourri that is sure to please most jazz afficionados. A superb bass player, an already highly nuanced vocalist and a promising composer, Esperanza is a triple threat who may very well be one of the key figures in defining the direction jazz will be heading in the 21st century.

There's a ton of variety here, everything from the stunning opening arrangement of Milton Nascimento's folk tinged Ponta De Areia to the sassy smart brazilian funk of She Got to You, the unsentimental poppy sweetness of Precious, not to mention the balls out straight ahead hipness of If that's True, and the tour de force jazz samba, I Adore You. Her scat with bass solo on this tune simply has to heard to be believed. Did I mention that she's not half bad as a lyricist? Is there nothing that this young woman can't do? Apparently not. And the fact that she sings and plays simultaneously and this effortlessly puts her in a class by herself.

Check her out on youtube, especially her performance of Body and Soul at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, not to mention her exuberant performance on Letterman, which prompted the usually cool David to comment, " You were right Paul: She IS the coolest guest we've ever had on this show". And he may very well have been right.

Esperanza is the complete talent we've all waited for way too long.
She is the real deal...live and in the studio.The lady has chops !!
This album is without a doubt one of the best I've heard in years.

Carlton Batts
Stage Right Talent

I caught Ms. Spalding on the David Letterman show about a month ago. I'd never heard of her, but when I saw her decked out with her afro holding this huge bass all while still looking feminine and dainty, I thought to myself, "This is going to be interesting." And interesting it was indeed. So much so that I actually bought this CD immediately after watching that performance. A month later, her CD is still in my CD player and each time I listen to it, it grows on me even more than the time prior. This young lady is definitely worth listening to!