CD Review - Esperanza Spalding 'Esperanza'

ESPERANZA SPALDING "Esperanza" Heads Up

ESPERANZA SPALDING first garnered attention as a precocious jazz bassist. By the time she turned 21 in 2005, she was the second-youngest instructor in the history of the Berklee College of Music and the bassist in the Joe Lovano Trio. By the time of her first solo album, 2006's "Junjo," she had added scat singing to her arsenal. On her latest disc, "Esperanza," she sings actual lyrics -- both her own and others'.

By itself, her light soprano is pleasant but not striking. But as she has explained in interviews, she wants her singing and her bass playing to be heard as one instrument, like right and left hands on a piano. Heard that way, her two-pronged approach makes a lot of sense, for the dialogue between her dark, muscular bass notes and her breezy, bubbly vocals is fascinating in the way the two lines diverge and converge again and again.

On the standard "Body and Soul," which she sings in Spanish, her bass keeps driving the same descending motif into the song like a nail, while the vocal skips freely here and there above the band. But when she takes a solo on the same song, her scat syllables suddenly lock in with the bass to thrilling effect. On her original "I Know You Know," her bass establishes a push-and-pause funk syncopation, while her vocal is a spray of eighth and 16th notes. Her lyrics about youthful flirtation may be generic and repetitive, but their abundance of "b" and "no" sounds is perfect for her dizzying swoops and soars through the melody.

-- Geoffrey Himes

Appearing Friday with Dianne Reeves at the Warner Theatre (202-783-4000, http://www.warnertheatre.com). Also headlining a show Saturday at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick (301-600-2828, http://www.weinbergcenter.org). Shows start at 8 p.m.