Upright-bass prodigy Esperanza Spalding was barely out of her teens when she dropped her first CD, Junjo, a stunningly sophisticated yet playful set of acoustic trio jazz: rubbery bass, piano, drums and sexy Latin melodies harking back to the Seventies Brazilian jazz of Flora Purim. For her second disc, 2008's Esperanza, she added hints of funk and hip-hop. Chamber Music Society finds Spalding stretching herself a bit too thin, pulling together everything from a Broadway-like duet ("Apple Blossom," with Milton Nascimento) to scat-heavy, string-and-percussion excursions ("Chacerera"). But her talent is undeniable. The chamber setting provides a feathery pillow for moody tracks like "Little Fly," William Blake's poem set to lovely bass and strings.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."