Comments on: Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding

honeyx — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:01:35 -0800

Esperanza Spalding first picked up the bass at fifteen. In the few years since, she has proven herself a master. She is now the youngest faculty member ever at Berklee and a rising star in the jazz scene. She is currently touring with another young and talented jazz gem, Gretchen Parlato.

By: billysumday

billysumday — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:11:40 -0800

Talented, sexy, beautiful voice, charismatic, bewitching. But I'm wondering who would listen to music like that.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:38:16 -0800

Me, for one. She sounds fantastic.

By: Rubbstone

Rubbstone — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:48:43 -0800

She sing so beautifully I could slip into a coma just listening to snippets of her voice and is so sexy her enthusiasm for who and what she is just rings like the loudest bell from the rooftops. If I'm lucky I'll find A girl like this to marry. The music is lovely and effortless and you can hear that for yourself by buying her album which is like 9 bucks on Itunes. That aside I am the only one who hopes for the return of Jam Bands and real Dance halls.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:01:49 -0800

I love the comments in the first YT link about how they can't understand the rhythm, which is pretty obvious (to me) after she starts singing.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:04:34 -0800

*watches clips* *resists the urge to put bass down and never pick it up again* *reminds self that most of self's favourite music is produced by non-prodigies and/or -virtuosos* *compliments honeyx on post*

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:07:27 -0800

Are you going to eat your fat? Spaulding!

By: voltairemodern

voltairemodern — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:16:56 -0800

Beautiful.

By: gd779

gd779 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:17:20 -0800

My God. She's amazing in that first video.

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:26:22 -0800

I want to marry her.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:37:26 -0800

But I'm wondering who would listen to music like that. Count me in too. Thanks for the post, honeyx!

By: hortense

hortense — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:40:36 -0800

Obligatory link BIRN. wishes I was a bass

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:43:44 -0800

Gretchen & I used to go to jams in LA together when she was in LA. Her dad played with Frank Zappa (little trivia fact: he's the originator of the phrase "Don't eat the yellow snow"), so music's in her blood. FYI, I just got an e-mail from her yesterday & she'll be playing in LA this month: * friday jan 25 -- live radio performance & interview on KPFK global village * saturday jan 26 -- duo performance with marcel camargo @ creative seeds

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:53:41 -0800

She looks so happy playing. Yay!

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:01:41 -0800

That was amazing. She's got a feather-light touch on the bass. That sort of playing is rare on such a physical instrument, too. Damn, she's talented.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:06:03 -0800

Cool; thanks.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:07:15 -0800

Gorgeous.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:15:45 -0800

Twenty one year old bass player Tal Wilkenfeld played with Jeff Beck at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival in 2007. Shes only been playing about four years but is being heralded as "the future of bass."

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:08:37 -0800

But I'm wondering who would listen to music like that. Other than the millions of jazz fans in the world, probably not too many would.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:21:37 -0800

Amazing, thanks honeyx.

By: gnutron

gnutron — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:19:44 -0800

Very nice stuff. *puts down bass, walks away, shaking head...*

By: Large Marge

Large Marge — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:19:59 -0800

I remember when the noise for pretend CD came out, man that's a good cd.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:17:35 -0800

You didn't say she could sing, too!

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:37:49 -0800

I was thinking she was pretty good on the bass... then when she started singing, wow!

By: chihiro

chihiro — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:45:05 -0800

Holy wow, this is a great post. Thank you!

By: footnote

footnote — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:54:44 -0800

Yay, girl jazz instrumentalists! That's pretty rare, isn't is Miss Lynster?

By: Wolof

Wolof — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:59:13 -0800

Really great!

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:27:27 -0800

Well, jazz is still a serious boys club still so yeah, it is rare. Most of my female instrumentalist friends are horn players. I only know three female bassists. And one of them started out as a guy. You have to have thick skin & talent to really stand out and move forward (especially as a singer because there's a definite "singers aren't musicians" vibe thrown around). If you have both of those, then you'll earn respect... but it can take time and experience. The thing that both of these girls have that many people don't (including myself) is that they started at very, very young ages and they can't imagine a life that wasn't about making music. It's like breathing air. That kind of comfort takes away 90% of the fear and insecurity that will hold people back.

By: StrangerInAStrainedLand

StrangerInAStrainedLand — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:48:07 -0800

Wow.. this blows me away, but I can't say I'm surprised. The only surprising thing is that I haven't heard anything about her since the week spent at a jazz workshop with the Mel Brown quintet (who still play great weekly sets at Jimmy Mak's in Portland, very much worth checking out) where Esperanza and I were both students. This was about 7 years ago, but it was pretty clear at that point that she was hugely talented. The now infamous Andre St. James was more or less taking her on as an understudy, and aside from her musical talent she had a confidence about her that no one could argue with. Go Esperanza!

By: footnote

footnote — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:06:46 -0800

You have to have thick skin & talent to really stand out and move forward (especially as a singer because there's a definite "singers aren't musicians" vibe thrown around). Interesting, especially since singers are the most likely to be women, right? And aren't the singers usually the ones who get the gigs and dole out the checks to the instrumentalists?

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:03:18 -0800

And aren't the singers usually the ones who get the gigs and dole out the checks to the instrumentalists? I wouldn't say *that*, really, but singers generally are the focus of the performance and account for most of a band's unique sound. And I say that as a hyperactive bass guitarist. (So it pisses me off a little bit -- why should he/she get all the attention when I'm workin my ass off over here??)

By: Wolof

Wolof — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:12:18 -0800

why should he/she get all the attention when I'm workin my ass off over here?? Because she's the singer, dude. Mine is four years old, and she whips my bassplaying arse into line in about one second. When your instrument can vocalise like that you can bend suckers to your will too. Also, you have to work on the bass? Mine just about plays itself. My bit is to stay out of the way and let the music through.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:40:58 -0800

Yeah, we play differently, I'm sure. Rock on.

By: Wolof

Wolof — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:03:29 -0800

You too!