READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)

Esperanza Spalding, the Grammy-stacking perpetual “jazz darling,” has made a prog album. Well, it’s a very soulful, jazz-streaked, noisy rock record called Emily’s D+Evolution, which is a concept LP about that titular character, who is Esperanza’s alter ego. (When you talk to her, it starts to make sense.) For the story, I also got to interview the legendary Wayne Shorter, who name-dropped Haruki Murakami and Neil deGrasse Tyson during our chat. That part didn’t make it into the piece, but, well, now I’m name-dropping.