A Jazz Prodigy: The Ear Hears

March is National Women’s History Month! We’ll be sharing stories about some of the most accomplished women in jazz, both nationally and locally. We hope you enjoy this tribute to the women of jazz. 

Born in 1984, Esperanza Spalding was blessed with a musical ear. She would listen to her mother’s guitar or piano lessons – sometimes curled up under the piano —  and pick up the content with far more ease than the intended student. She attributes her earliest inspiration to watching Yo Yo Ma perform on the PBS  program “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” when she was four. She was playing violin with the Chamber  Music Society of Oregon at the age of five, and departed the group at 15 as a concertmaster. She learned to play the oboe and clarinet before discovering her special love for bass and cello.  She described her instant attraction to bass as “waking up one day and discovering you’re in love with a co-worker.” All this passion and talent earned her a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where, after graduating, she became the school’s youngest teacher.  But she was too busy to stay in the classroom for long.

With her talents as a jazz bassist, cellist, singer, and bandleader, Spalding quickly began a vibrant touring and recording career. She loves R&B, neo soul, bossa nova and jazz infusion, and is known for drawing on many genres in her own eclectic compositions. By the age of 31, she had participated in seven collaborative records and five solo albums.  She had also played at the 84^th Academy Awards,  in a televised tribute to Prince, opening night at the Park City Jazz Festival, PBS’s Austin City Limits, at the White House and, by invitation of President Obama, at the ceremony in Sweden in 2009 where Obama was presented with the Nobel Peace prize. Along the way, she has performed with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Harry Belafonte, Patti Labelle, Alicia Keys, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe. Oh, and she can sing in three languages: English, Spanish and Portugese.

Spalding is a four-time Grammy winner. In 2011, she won the Grammy for Best New Artist of the Year, making her the first jazz artist to ever win this award, beating out  Justin Bieber, Florence and the Machine, Mumford and Sons, and Drake. That same year, she was honored as “Jazz Artist of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards. Her album, Chamber Music Society, was the best selling contemporary jazz album of 2011 and she was the best selling jazz vocalist.

Accolades aside, Spalding admits it’s challenging to simultaneously play so many musical roles onstage and give the audience the best jazz experience possible. “What can be difficult is being a singer in the sense that you are engaged with the audience, and really responsible for emoting, and getting into the lyrics, melody, etc., and being an effective bassist and bandleader.” We hope Spalding knows her many fans think she’s doing just fine – making American jazz history while bringing original and beautiful jazz to the citizens of the world.