WARNING: if you have a short attention span for music (ex; you prefer listening to ringtones over albums), click away from this review, you will have zero interest in this music.

Are you the type of person who finds yourself scratching your head when you hear something labeled as "contemporary jazz, " wondering if perhaps like Rip Van Winkle you had fallen asleep, while someone had destroyed the jazz idiom?

Do you ever find yourself wondering whatever happened to the days when someone told you about a new jazz album and upon listening for the first time, realized with some glee that you were going to have to listen again immediately, simply because there was so much going on with the music that you were going to have to listen again?

A few of yall out there might remember the ground breaking 5 disc album called "Crystal Ball," by Prince from 1999? If you remember the first 4 disc's of "Crystal Ball" were self produced and un-released music that Prince had recorded over the years and that most of the hoopla surrounding "Crystal Ball" had to do with the fact that Prince was releasing all of this music via his website, sans record labels, distribution deals, etc. Missed amongst all of that hoopla was any sort of discussion about disc #5 from the "Crystal Ball" album. Well as it turned out Disc # 5 from the "Crystal Ball," an album of brand new music was entitled "The Truth." It was a soft, deep and introspective album that was truly an artistic masterpiece.

I would maintain that the album Esperanza Spalding - "Cha... Society," would make a perfect opposite "bookend," for "The Truth" - Prince much in the same manner that "Caravansari" - Santana, makes a perfect "bookend" for "A Love Supreme" - John Coltrane.

In other words not only will you want to play Esperanza Spalding - "Cha... Society," right after you listen to it for the very first time, but it is likely that you will want to play this album over hundreds of times and you will probably want to play it at those times in your life when you need to look deep inside of yourself.

Obviously the singing, the songwriting and the instrumentation on Esperanza Spalding - "Cha... Society," are suburb. The players include pianist Leo Genovese, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and percussionist Quintino Cinalli. On strings is violinist Entcho Todorov, violist Lois Martin, cellist David Eggar and Gretchen Parlato on voice, with Milton Nascimento making a cameo appearance on the song "Apple Blossom" and of course Esperanza Spalding on bass.

To be BLUNT, this album is a rare work of artistic expressionThe tracks flow together on this album, the way that that "ancient medium" called an album are supposed to. Put your headphones on, get yourself a glass if iced tea and fire up your iPod/CD player at a time when you won't be interrupted and will be able to completely focus on the music. Trust me on this one, because if you try to listen to this album in the background, you will find that you will need to listen to it again. And maybe, just maybe, that isn't such a bad place to be?


1. Little Fly
2. Knowledge Of Good And Evil
3. Really Very Small
4. Chacarera
5. Wild Is The Wind
6. Apple Blossom
7. As A Sprout
8. What A Friend
9. Winter Sun
10. Inútil Paisagem
11. Short And Sweet

review from www.soul-patrol.com

[Edited 8/18/10 22:54pm]

Downloaded this yesterday, love it. Can't wait for Radio Music Society.

Disc 5 was Kamaustra, which if anyone did not read any further than the mention of "Disc 5" would be a HUGE insult to her new album.

The Truth was disc 4 (because the 4 disc edition had The Truth and only the 5 disc edition had Kamasutra).