Music for everyone

April 16, 2010 8:32 PM

We've had a post on bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding previously, but perhaps we could do with an update. Last year she played at the White House for Stevie Wonder's Gershwin Prize concert and again for the Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word (previously). In December she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and, according to wikipedia, her February 6 performance on Austin Cty Limits (PBS [US only?], with Madeleine Peyroux) made her the most-searched person, and the second-most-searched item on Google the next day.

More music (automatically loading) available at esperanzaspalding.com.

posted by Someday Bum (7 comments total)

She's playing tomorrow (the 17th) in San Antonio, and in Austin on the 23rd. If you're lucky enough to find yourself in either place there are still tickets available.
posted by Someday Bum at 8:32 PM on April 16, 2010

This woman's music is enchanting-- there are precious few bassists out there who aren't content to just find their pockets and walk their lines, and I can only name a few who are able to really take command of an ensemble: Charles Mingus, Edgar Meyer, and Esperanza Fucking Spalding. What makes this all the better is that she's so young-- we can expect to hear awesome music from her for decades.
posted by The White Hat at 8:52 PM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oops, I don't mean with Madeleine Peyroux. The first half of the show is Esperanza, the second half is Madeleine.
posted by Someday Bum at 9:00 PM on April 16, 2010

Stanley Clarke, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden, Christian McBride, Cecil McBee, William Parker, Paul Chambers, Brian Bromberg, Miroslav Vitous, Ray Brown, Buster Williams, John Pattitucci, Richard Davis, Ron Carter, George Mraz, Niels-Henning Orsted Petersen and Orlando Lopez are all outstanding jazz double bassists, soloists, and band leaders. While Ms Spalding is an excellent player it should not be forgotten that she comes from a tradition that includes more than three (3) ball-tearing exemplars.
posted by Wolof at 1:32 AM on April 17, 2010 [4 favorites]

@Wolof Six degrees of Paul Chambers connects one to everything great that ever happened in jazz.
posted by GamblingBlues at 6:10 AM on April 17, 2010

Oh! I was a fan of Noise for Pretend, back in the day. I need to see what she's up to lately.
posted by Casuistry at 6:42 AM on April 18, 2010

Oof. I had a huge crush on her after reading about her in the newspaper a year or two ago. This ain't helping. (Also: the PBS player works from france. Go PBS.)
posted by kjell at 11:54 PM on April 18, 2010