Esperanza Spalding's "Esperanza"

Here in Florida, although it is already hot, I was seriously in need of some hot music. Think about it: hot climates and spicy hot foods go together. So do hot climates and hot music. So, I welcomed Esperanza Spalding's debut album Esperanza (released recently on Heads Up International), although technically it is not her first album. That honor goes to Junjo, which came out a couple of years ago on a Spanish label, and which I am already hunting down.

The only problem with Esperanza Spalding's hot jazz is that it is also as cool as a cold beer in a heavily air-conditioned room somewhere even further south than where I am enjoying her soaring vocals and serious bass playing. Esperanza Spalding can make a jazz fan break out in a sweat and cool him off at the same time, even as she reminds us of the adage that a lady doesn't sweat, she perspires. But, she makes it all seem so effortless that I would believe that Esperanza Spalding most likely doesn't even perspire.

You may want to keep count. First, Esperanza Spalding sings, with a light voice that floats over solid jazz instrumentals amply fleshed out by her playing acoustic bass, tackling swing and ballads with equal authority. Did I mention that she writes her own songs, leads her group, and - just so she won't get bored - teaches at the Berklee College of Music?

If that is not enough, those songs come to us in English, Spanish, Portuguese, as well as that magical language beyond language called scat. She told National Public Radio that since she found out another meaning of scat (poop), she does not like the word. So, let us make up new word for her. She creates an almost split personality of solid instrumental playing and lighter than air scat, as if she were playing two instruments at once, especially effective on "I Adore You," which is appropriate, because after hearing that song, I adore Esperanza Spalding.

Total up all those achievements, and then factor in that she is only 23. She is aptly named Esperanza, Spanish for hope. How appropriate, since Esperanza Spalding single-handedly gives us hope for jazz, in a world in which pop music offers either soulless American Idol pre-fab or tiresome hip-hop.

With a lovely lady like Esperanza Spalding in command of things (this is not a raucous, anarchic music), jazz has a future and so does Esperanza Spalding. Just listen to her "Mela," if you have any doubt, or "Love in Time," or - oh, heck - any of the dozen tunes on "Esperanza," each of which is a distinct little musical world, with some pop, some jazz, a dash of soul, and isn't that a bit of Latin there? Under the leadership of Esperanza Spalding, the songs of Esperanza fit together into a hot, cool, exciting, relaxing, constantly entrancing portrait of a very talented artist as a beautiful young lady.

You can see and hear Esperanza Spalding in action on YouTube videos.