Thursday, June 05, 2008

New CDs: Esperanza Spalding, Stanton Moore Trio


Two CDs sure to stay in my regular rotation for a long while:

Esperanza(Heads Up), the sort-of debut from superb young bassist-singer (and Berklee College of Music prof) Esperanza Spalding, the subject of my cover story for the issue of Bass Player mag now on newstands.

Emphasis! (On Parenthesis!)(Telarc), the latest jazzy jam outing from Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, who's joined on the trio date by B3 organist Robert Walter and guitarist Will Bernard.

I reviewed both for Las Vegas City Life. Click here to read the reviews.

BTW, Esperanza, on the bill at several major jazz festivals this summer (including JVC in New York) would be practically perfect for the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, a real coup for the festival.

She's a jazz star in the making, with superb skills as an acoustic bassist and composer, with leanings toward straight-ahead jazz, world music and sophisticated pop. Esperanza is a compelling singer, too, and she has great stage presence. What's not to like?

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