Esperanza Spalding – Chamber Music Society Heads Up International HUI-31810-02 (2010)
I bagged on Esperanza’s last album (Esperanza) because she followed a formula too closely. Well, on this time out she certainly breaks from formula. Now she dabbles in a mixture of third-stream and pop. Problem is, she doesn’t pull it off. The songs are too complex for their own good. Cluttered. It seems like she’s aiming for something a little more ambitious than she’s able to pull off as a writer and arranger, even if well within her means as a performer. Oh well.