IMN : Updates for Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding on the Enduring Legacy of Jazz

IMN

June 3rd, 2013

From Wall Street Journal

Esperanza Spalding on the Enduring Legacy of Jazz
By A.D. Pruitt

Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Esperanza Spalding was among several trailblazers honored this week in New York City at a benefit by the Brotherhood Sister/ Sol, a nonprofit organization focused on youth development. The bassist became the first jazz artist to win a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011. Spalding talked with Speakeasy about how jazz is being embraced by younger generations and how the upright bass became her soul mate. An edited transcript of the interview follows.

What’s your response to critics who say jazz is a dying genre?
Spalding: If you were born 40 years, 50 years after [Vaslav] Nijinsky died you might think that ballet was dead. Just seeing that level of mastery and creativity and passion for the way someone like that danced, I can understand where maybe as a lover of that kind of…genius, you can say “after him what’s the point?”

If you ask any ballet dancer today that spends eight hours a day practicing …and they’re willing to go all through that because they love it so much, ask them is ballet dead? They will look at you cross-eyed because in their life, it’s not dead. It’s bringing them the satisfaction, challenges and meaning every day that they live it, that they explore it, that they study it.

2,000th Episode of Tavis Smiley to Feature Esperanza Spalding

IMN

May 24th, 2013

From Yahoo Music Blog

Prince, Stevie Wonder and Esperanza Spalding, Tavis Smiley Show’s 2,000th Episode Highlights
By: Billy Johnson, Jr

Stevie Wonder, Carole King and Etta James are just a few of the music icons who will be featured on the 2,000th episode of “Tavis Smiley” that will celebrate its 10th season on PBS Friday.

Smiley, who has interviewed a diverse range of guests from President Barack Obama to filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to Academy Award winning actress Sally Field, has managed to continuously produce compelling content without succumbing to the salacious reporting that has become commonplace in the media.

“I’m interested in the humanity and the complexity of my guests, the stuff I don’t know. Not the gossip that I’ve been over-saturated with. I think our audience wants new and fresh, not old and stale,” he said in a statement released to Yahoo! Music.

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Confirmed Tourdates As Of May 15th, 2013

IMN

June 22nd, 2013: Royal Theatre Victoria, BC, CANADA
June 23rd, 2013: Vogue Theatre Vancouver, BC, CANADA
June 25th, 2013: Francis Winspear Centre For Music Edmonton, AB, CANADA
June 26th, 2013: Epcor Centre For the Performing Arts Calgary, AB, CANADA
June 28th, 2013: Town Hall New York, NY USA [Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration Featuring Wayne Shorter Quartet, ACS, Sound Prints: Dave Douglas & Joe Lovano Quintet]
June 29th, 2013: Maisonneuve Theatre de la Place des Arts Montreal, QC, CANADA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
July 4th, 2013: Muziekgebbouw Frits Philips Eindhoven Eindhoven, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
July 5th, 2013: Festival International de Comblain-La-Tour Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium
July 7th, 2013: Love Supreme Festival East Sussex, England
July 9th, 2013: Gruvillage Festival Gruliasco (Torino), ITALY
July 11th, 2013: Chateau des Ducs de Savoie Chambery, France
July 12th, 2013: Nice Jazz Festival, Theater de Verdure Nice, France
July 23rd, 2013: Palais Longchamp, Festival de Jaz des Cinq Contine Marseille, France [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
July 24th, 2013: Piazza Delle Feste Genoa, ITALY [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
August 3rd, 2013: Fort Adams State Park Newport, RI USA
August 4th, 2013: Tanglewood Seiji Ozawa Hall Lenox, MA USA
August 28th, 2013: Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA USA [Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
August 29th, 2013: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre Salt Lake City, UT USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
August 31st, 2013: Sir Duke, Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival Curacao, Curacao
October 11th, 2013: The Terrace Theater, The Kennedy Center Washington, DC USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 15th, 2013: McCain Auditorium, Kansas City University Manhattan, KS USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 17th, 2013: Paramount Theatre Austin, TX USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 19th, 2013: Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center Houston, TX USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 20th, 2013: Lensic Performing Arts Center Santa Fe, NM USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 22nd, 2013: Ikeda Theatre, Mesa Arts Center Mesa, AZ USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 24th, 2013: SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 25th, 2013: Samueli Theater Costa Mesa , CA USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 26th, 2013: Samueli Theater Costa Mesa , CA USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
October 27th, 2013: The Broad Stage Santa Monica, CA USA [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
November 7th, 2013: Helsinki Music Centre Helsinki, Finland [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
November 8th, 2013: Stockholm Konserthuset Stockholm, SWEDEN [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
November 13th, 2013: Stadtcasino Basel, Switzerland [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
November 15th, 2013: Sala Multiusos Zaragoza, Spain [ACS Allen Carrington Spalding]
December 3rd, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
December 4th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York , NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
December 5th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
December 6th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
December 7th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
December 8th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Chamber Music Society]
January 25th, 2014: Prudential Hall Newark, NJ USA [Esperanza Spalding]
January 31st, 2014: Memorial Hall Chapel Hill, NC USA [The Spring Quartet]
February 1st, 2014: Warner Theatre Washington DC, DC USA [The Spring Quartet]
February 8th, 2014: Ruby Diamond Concert Hall Tallahassee, FL USA [The Spring Quartet]
February 13th, 2014: McCarter Theatre Princeton, NJ USA [Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese: The Spring Quartet]
February 18th, 2014: Lobero Theatre Santa Barbara, CA USA [The Spring Quartet featuring Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano, and Jack DeJohnette]
February 23rd, 2014: Newmark Theater Portland, OR USA [Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese: The Spring Quartet]
February 28th, 2014: Rose Hall New York, NY USA [The Spring Quartet]
March 1st, 2014: Rose Hall New York, NY USA [The Spring Quartet]
March 3rd, 2014: Flynn Theatre Burlington, VT USA [The Spring Quartet]
March 4th, 2014: Spaulding Auditorium hanover, NH USA [The Spring Quartet]
March 6th, 2014: Sanders Theatre, Harvard University Cambridge, MA USA [Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese: The Spring Quartet]

Spalding Speaks Universal Language of Timeless Music

IMN

April 26th, 2013

From The Daily Record

Esperanza Spalding speaks universal language of timeless music
By: Bill Nutt

“Esperanza” is the Spanish word for “hope.” And for many aficionados and critics, Esperanza Spalding may be the new hope for jazz – in any language.

In 2011, she became the first – and to date the only – jazz artist to win the Grammy for best new artist. This past February, she picked up two more Grammys, including one for best jazz vocal album.

More than awards, Spalding has amassed a following that extends beyond the jazz community. She has collaborated with several non-jazz artists, such as M. Ward and Prince. She sang “What a Wonderful World” at the 2012 Academy Awards. “Radio Music Society,” the album that earned her the Grammy, reached the Top 10.

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Esperanza Spalding: "Instrumental Prowess" pairs with an "Ethereal Voice"

IMN

April 23rd, 2013

From The Washington Post

Bassist Esperanza Spalding celebrates Earth Day at Warner Theatre
By: Roger Catlin

Esperanza Spalding was celebrating Earth Day in her concert Monday at the Warner Theatre, sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society, giving some shout-outs to the mother planet by the splendid show’s end.

There was already quite a bit of earthiness in her approach — a solid mastery of bass, whether on stand-up acoustic or electric. Nimble, never showy and not stopping for solos, she knew the instrument’s job was to keep the bottom on the expansive tunes even as she added a certain gleefulness to her variations. With a career built on instrumental prowess, Spalding’s longevity will likely rely on her equally playful, ethereal and elastic voice, which often gives way to scat phrasing.

The Portland, Ore., native, just 28, came to widespread fame two years ago at the Grammys when she became the first jazz figure to win best new artist — infuriating fans of her fellow nominees Drake, Mumford & Sons and especially Justin Bieber.

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Spalding Presides Over Night of Soulful Jazz in Miami

IMN

April 19th, 2013

From Miami Herlad

Esperanza Spalding presides over a night of soulful jazz in Miami this Friday
By: Michael Hamersly

The first thing that strikes you upon seeing Esperanza Spalding perform live, after of course marveling at her funk-tastic Afro, is how totally in control she is. The three-time Grammy-winning singer/bassist/composer completely rules the stage with masterful vocals, impeccable precision and inspiration on both the upright and electric bass, and a breezy confidence that keeps the audience and her backing band eager to see just what musical journey she might embark upon next.

On Friday night at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Spalding – who was crowned the Best New Artist by Grammy in 2011 – shares her next musical project: her “Radio Music Society” tour, which aspires to expand on the idea of jazz-inspired pop-radio music. She talked to The Miami Herald about the show, how she chose the bass over other musical instruments, and her feelings about being a role model.

What was the concept behind “Radio Music Society”?
A society of musicians making music for radio [laughs]. No, there’s a different story and evolution behind every song on the album, because I didn’t write them for the album. I made an album based off of the content that I had and wanted to share. But that being said, the kind of music that I was trying to perform and that I was into creating during the period when I was writing most of the music was – I don‘t know all these words that people say aren’t associated with jazz music, but I associate it with music that I would turn on the radio and hear it and it would catch me, catch my attention. I mean, jazz does that to me, too. But as a kid I’d listen to the quote-unquote “oldies” station – so what does radio music mean to me? And those songs are sort of like the best I can do of my version of what I would hear on the radio.

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Esperanza Spalding Brings Electric Performance to Knoxville

IMN

April 16th, 2013

From The Daily Beacon

Spalding brings electric performance to Knoxville
By: Melodi Erdogan

Esperanza may mean hope in Spanish, but by the end of Sunday night, hope was replaced with satisfaction.

The Cultural Attractions Committee, with help from AC Entertainment, presented jazz/fusion artist Esperanza Spalding on Sunday night at the Tennessee Theatre as a part of her Radio Music Society tour.

“For all of our events we’re looking for different kinds of cultures that will benefit the UT campus and the Knoxville community specifically,” Wade Scofield, the corresponding secretary for the CAC, said. “Esperanza … fit really well with our mission as a jazz/fusion cultural conglomeration that people aren’t usually getting, at least not here in Knoxville.”

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Esperanza Spalding On The Physical Experience of Music

IMN

April 12th, 2013

From Knoxville.com

Get physical: Esperanza Spalding says sometimes it’s your body feeling the music
By: Wayne Bledsoe

Esperanza Spalding was easily the most unlikely contender for the Grammy’s Best New Artist Category. In 2011, she beat Drake, Florence + The Machine, Justin Bieber and Mumford & Sons to win the award.

Although she’s become an accomplished vocalist, Spalding’s first calling is as a jazz bass player. Her massive afro hairstyle and progressive attitude make her seem like a throwback to the early 1970s. Her music draws from a number of different styles, but Spalding says she isn’t without musical bias.

“I do have musical prejudices,” says Spalding, “but I guess not against any genre. I’ve always said I don’t like hard rock, but I do love Nine Inch Nails, so I don’t know what that means!”

Spalding is animated and enthusiastic answering questions on the phone.

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Esperanza Spalding Brings "Afrofluent Funk" to Morristown

IMN

April 11th, 2013

From The Montclarion

Afrofluent Funk
By: Theadora Lecour

Four-time Grammy award winner Esperanza Spalding has blazed a trail for young, smart musicians in today’s day and age. The 28-year-old jazz super star has certainly found her bearings as an acclaimed bassist, vocalist and composer. With her third and latest album, Radio Music Society, sweeping up another two Grammys, Spalding has implied no less than a bright and long career.

Spalding, from Portland, Ore., infuses her rich cultural background into her music with lyrics in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Honoring her jazz forefathers, she was the first musician of her genre to win “Best New Artist” in 2011, defeating Justin Bieber and inspiring much hatred from his cult-following of “Beliebers,” This may or may not be another reason to like her.

Causing quite the stir during her mainstream debut, Spalding is doing exactly what she intended to do with her music—infiltrating the vanilla and typical pop and hip-hop scene that many have found wearisome. In fact, on the first track of her latest album, Spalding states: “Right now you need it / driving yourself through the hard times / traffic won’t speed up / so you turn the radio on / But it’s just the same on songs that makes you yawn.”

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Esperanza Spalding Amazes Crowd in West Reading

IMN

April 10th, 2013

From The Reading Eagle

Jazz Fest Review: Esperanza Spalding amazes crowd in West Reading
By: John Fidler

Only the dead and the rhythmically bereft would be unable to tap their feet, nod their heads, hunch their shoulders and sway to the music of Esperanza Spalding. And there weren’t any of those on hand Tuesday night for a Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest concert that one guest described as amazing as he left the concert hall. Yes, it was amazing.

Spalding brought her upright and electric basses and tightly coiled, perfectly balanced tentet along for a dazzling two-hour set drawn almost exclusively from her 2012 album, “Radio Music Society.” The concert was in the frigid (was the air conditioning on?) Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading.

Spalding, the only jazz artist to be get a Grammy for best new artist, believes in concepts, love and a sense of continuum. The set, like the album, is built around the experience of listening to the radio and the power of language, sung and spoken, solo and in pairs or trios.

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Esperanza Spalding Fills Michigan Theater with Exceptional Jazz

IMN

April 7th, 2013

From AnnArbor.com

Esperanza Spalding fills the Michigan Theater with exceptional jazz
By: Jennifer Eberbach

Jazz virtuoso Esperanza Spalding brought a big band and a big sound to the Michigan Theater on Saturday. Between her superhuman vocal control and impressive bass playing—both electric and upright—Spalding’s performance was mesmerizing.

Her 11-piece band, the Radio Music Society, was just as responsible for captivating Ann Arbor’s crowd. The layers of sound created by the large horn section, drums, keyboard, guitar, and Spalding on bass diverged, converged, and went on wonderful tangents. At times it made your brain tingle. In all, the songstress and her band put on an energetic, technically sophisticated show.

The Grammy-winning composer, vocalist, and bassist has a talent for music that parallels jazz masters much older than the 28-year-old. Already studying music at the college level by her mid-teens (she left high school with a GED when she was only 15), by age 20 she was the youngest faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

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Esperanza Spalding on Journey of Musical Discovery

IMN

April 5th, 2013

From The Star

Esperanza Spalding on journey of musical discovery
By: Peter Goddard

Jazz bassist and singer brings unique sound to Massey Hall Friday

Her bass playing has been called “fiercely rhythmic,” her singing “sultry” and her looks “stunning.” Her songwriting prowess along with her album-producing and band leading savvy on Radio Music Society, her fourth and latest album, are described as showing “enormous ambition.”

But there’s another art where Esperanza Spalding excels — the art of being discovered.

“Whatever brings you in there to the show, whether you love big bands or got the tickets free, once you’re here you want to find a good experience,” she says on the eve of her North American tour starting Friday at Massey Hall.

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Esperanza Spalding's Heady Brew of Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop

IMN

April 3rd, 2013

From AnnArbor.com

Acclaimed Esperanza Spalding playing Michigan Theater this weekend
By: Kevin Ransom

It’s been a very good couple of years for Esperanza Spalding. In 2011, Spalding—an extremely talented jazz bassist, composer and singer whose music also draws on rock, soul and other styles—shocked the music biz when she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. That was surprising on two levels: One, Justin Bieber was also nominated in that category, and, as we know, the Grammys often care more about popularity than artistry. And, two, she was the first jazz artist to ever win that award.

Then, in 2012, Spalding’s “Radio Music Society“—her most eclectic recording so far—debuted at No. 10 on Billboard’s jazz chart and soon leapt to the No. 1 position, and also received critical hosannas.

Fast-forward to this February, and Spalding was again a Grammy winner. She won the Best Jazz Vocal Album award for “Radio Music Society” and—along with her longtime teacher and mentor, trumpeter Thara Memory—also won in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category for the song “City of Roses.”

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Grammy-Winner Esperanza Spalding on the Power of Radio

IMN

April 1st, 2013

From National Post

Q&A: Grammy-winner Esperanza Spalding on the power of radio
By: Ben Kaplan

Beating Justin Bieber for the 2011 best new artist Grammy catapulted Esperanza Spalding to stardom, but the genre-busting bass player from Portland, OR., says that she’s not concerned with trophies. The 28-year-old talked to Ben Kaplan from a coffee shop near home in Manhattan, where she discussed Fela Kuti, “message songs” and Bieber’s mom.

David Letterman called you his coolest guest in three decades and twice you’ve performed for President Obama, but we’re a Canadian paper. What did you say to Justin Bieber after you whipped him at the Grammy Awards?

It’s not like I beat him in sprinting or something. It’s not the Olympics. I hope people didn’t look at it as a competition.

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Esperanza Spalding: Magic in Motion

IMN

March 15th, 2013

From Time Out Hong Kong

Esperanza Spalding
By: Li Meng de Bakker

For Esperanza Spalding, winning multiple Grammys, performing internationally and jamming with Prince or Stevie Wonder is all in a week’s work. A master instrumentalist, smooth vocalist and inventive composer, the crossover jazz artist draws inspiration from different cultures and languages, singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese. A tour de force all on her own, she often performs solo, singing and improvising on the bass but is no stranger to musical collaborations either.

Spalding was a prodigious musical talent, starting the violin at age five after seeing Yo-Yo Ma perform on television, and also entertaining flings with the guitar, clarinet, oboe and cello before finding her ultimate companion in the bass – both double bass and bass guitar, that is.

By 2011, the singer-songwriter had already released three critically-acclaimed albums: Junjo (2005), Esperanza (2008) and Chamber Music Society (2010) before her surprise Best New Artist win at the 53rd Grammy Awards, beating mega-selling acts like Justin Bieber and Drake.

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Watch Esperanza Spalding: Song For A 'City Of Roses'

IMN

February 25th, 2013

From NPR

Esperanza Spalding: Song For A ‘City Of Roses’
By John Kin

Esperanza Spalding has often said that she hopes to use the fame from her 2011 Best New Artist Grammy to help give her friends and mentors in the jazz world the recognition they deserve. She got her chance earlier this month, when Spalding and her longtime teacher and mentor, trumpeter Thara Memory, accepted the Grammy for their arrangement of “City of Roses” from Spalding’s 2012 album Radio Music Society.

Spalding started studying with Memory as an 8-year-old jazz prodigy, and credits his instruction with giving her a foundation in music. Memory went on to create the American Music Program, a magnet school which has been credited with training a new generation of jazz players — including Spalding and saxophonist Hailey Niswanger.

“City of Roses” is a celebration of Spalding’s hometown of Portland, Ore. For the recording, Spalding wanted to showcase the city’s jazz scene and the power of mentorship. She and Memory decided to include students from his Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra in the session, along with local professional musicians such as saxophonists Renato Caranto and trombonist Dan Brewster.

To watch the video click here