Esperanza Spalding. “I’ll Look Around”

Young, enthusiastic, bracingly talented and achingly pretty, Esperanza Spalding is jazz’s golden girl. The bassist, bandleader and trilingual vocalist has already crossed over with her original hybrid of bop, bossa nova, R&B and classical music. You can hear a Stevie Wonder influence in this lush cut (which ends with Angela Bassett reading Billie Holiday), though there are also echoes of Joni Mitchell sophistication. This neo-soul style cover of a standard that Lady Day helped mint shows the direction Spalding will head on her next release, a pop album called Radio Music Society. -- Nick Dedina

"I'll Look Around" Esperanza Spalding