This album has been hiding for a few years, as esperanza spalding and Fred Hersch recorded these duets at the Village Vanguard back in October, 2018 over a few nights. Once you get past the fact that Ms. spalding doesn’t play bass anywhere on the album, you can accept the album on its own terms, a free spirited and seemingly spontaneous get together of likeminded hearts.
The two sound comfy and cozy with each other, with Hersch in a deep Chopin mood on a buoyant “But Not For Me” and a joyful “Little Blue Suede Shoes”. spalding is in a teasingly insouciant mood, toying with elasticity on Hersch’s “Dream of Monk” and scatting through the give and take of Monk’s own “Evidence”. Hersch throws in some polka dots and moonbeams on a fragile “Some Other Time” and the two are loose during “Loro” and languid on a fluid “A Wish”. Spontaneous forays.