Esperanza Spalding has become a key part of Joe Lovano’s Us5 band and as a leader returns with her most ambitious album to date, Chamber Music Society -  Interview: Andy Robson

Without contraries there is no progression,” noted a young William Blake. And the even younger Esperanza Spalding, something of a Blake fan, is an artist ripe with contradiction and paradox.

Believe the hype and she has the world at her feet. Still only 25, a lyrical vocalist in three languages, a breathtaking bassist that has won the praises of Joe Lovano, McCoy Tyner and Pat Metheny, she also composes and arranges in a number of styles, from the coolest of classical – “Shostakovich kills me!” – to the hottest of Latin. Oh, and though it may be un-PC to mention it, she is drop dead gorgeous. She’ll be the only bassist you’ll see in white high heels. Hope by name, she is touted by many as the future hope for jazz, a talent, a face, a force that can widen the appeal of jazz in the iPod age to the young, the female, those who want to dance as well as those who wish to listen.

Some of the more obvious paradoxes in Spalding underwrite the progression of her talents. That she is neurologically able to finger deep contrapuntal runs while singing sweet melodies in a Blossom Dearie-ish range is immediately entertaining. Her appeal to Letterman-style chat shows indicate that she’s immediately found a niche within it is hardly surprising.

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