Artist: Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza Spalding is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and two honorary doctorates: in 2018 from her alma mater Berklee College of Music and in 2022 (along with Charles Lloyd and Wayne Shorter) from CalArts.
Spalding released her first album, Junjo, in 2006 on the Spanish label Ayva Musica, after which she signed with the independent American label Heads Up, who released her 2007 self-titled album. Her third studio album, Chamber Music Society (2010), was a commercial success, charting at number 34 on the Billboard 200, and resulting in Spalding winning her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist; Spalding was the first jazz artist to win in this category. Her fourth release, Radio Music Society (2012), earned the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album, as well as the track "City of Roses" winning for Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals.
Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music to teach bass performance and private lessons, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution's history, at the age of 20. As a teacher, Spalding tries to help her students focus their practice through a practice journal, which can help them recognize their strengths and what they need to pursue.
When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it was not a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her. Spalding has said that, for her, discovering the bass was like "waking up one day and realizing you're in love with a co-worker." By the time she randomly picked up the bass in music class and began experimenting with it, she had grown bored with her other instruments. Her band teacher showed her a blues line for the bass that she later used to secure her first gig. After that, she went in to play the bass daily and gradually fell in love.
Patti Austin hired Spalding to tour with her internationally after Spalding's first semester at Berklee, where Spalding supported the singer on the Ella Fitzgerald tribute tour "For Ella". In 2008, Spalding recalled the tour as educational, helping her learn to accompany a vocalist and also how to sustain energy and interest playing the same material nightly. She continued to perform with Austin periodically for three years.
During the same period, while at Berklee, Spalding studied under saxophonist Joe Lovano, before eventually touring with him. They began as a trio, expanding into a quartet before joining quintet US5 and traveling across the United States from New York to California. As of 2008, she was also in the process of developing several courses for students at Berklee, including one learning harmony and theory through transcribing.
In the 53rd Grammy Awards that year, Spalding won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In November 2011, Spalding won "Jazz Artist of the Year" at the Boston Music Awards.
In February 2012, Spalding performed at the 84th Academy Awards, singing the Louis Armstrong standard "What a Wonderful World", alongside the Southern California Children's Chorus to accompany the video montage that celebrated the film industry greats who died in 2011 and early 2012.
In 2016, Spalding released her fifth studio album, Emily's D+Evolution, a concept album featuring a funk rock sound. The album was co-produced by Spalding with longtime David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti.
In 2020 and 2021, Spalding worked with Wayne Shorter on a new operatic work titled Iphigenia, with Spalding writing the libretto. The opera premiered in select locations on both coasts of the United States in the fall of 2021 and in February 2022.
Spalding has cited jazz bassists Ron Carter and Dave Holland as important influences on her music. She has described the saxophone player Wayne Shorter, and singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, as heroes.
Further information about Esperanza Spalding is found here.
Photography credit: jose nieto, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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