Jazz Articles about Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

by Woodrow Wilkins
July 9, 2008

From a guest appearance on Stanley Clarke's The Toys of Men (Heads Up, 2007) to her self-titled debut, Esperanza Spalding is turning heads, and opening lots of ears. After an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, the host called the 23-year-old vocalist/bassist/composer “the coolest guest" he'd ever had. Spalding is indeed cool, having enrolled at Berklee College of Music at 16, and ultimately becoming the institution's youngest professor in its history. She landed gigs with Patti ...

Esperanza Spalding: Shining and Exploring

by Timothy J. O'Keefe
June 24, 2008

Fresh off a European tour with George Wein, Esperanza Spalding nestled into the cozy settings of the Regatta bar. Spalding, a former student and instructor at Berklee College of Music, has played numerous venues in Boston. But this occasion was special. May 29, 2008 celebrated the release of her most recent CD, Esperanza, and marked the first time the talented bassist and singer headlined this particular cornerstone on Boston's jazz scene. As Spalding gracefully strolled toward the ...

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

by Ernest Barteldes
June 4, 2008

On this major label debut, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding demonstrates plenty of eclecticism, taking on styles ranging from samba, hard-driving jazz and R&B, a risky combination in less confident hands. However, Spalding revels in the multiple directions without ever sounding pretentious. The Berklee College alum opens the disc singing in fluent Portuguese, with a small hint of an accent, on “Ponta de Areia," a Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brandt composition originally featured on Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer and often covered ...

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

by Jeff Winbush
May 17, 2008

For the purist who wants to know what all the excitement is about Esperanza Spalding, they can skip directly to track 11--"If That's True"--of her sophomore album Esperanza, where she works out on the acoustic bass in an all-out jam with Donald Harrison on alto saxophone and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. It flat-out smokes, and showcases the Berklee-trained bassist as potentially one of the more promising young talents in jazz. First though, she's going to have to ...

Nando Michelin Trio: Duende

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 13, 2007

Pianista eclettico e versatile, Nando Michelin è anche un raffinato compositore dalle mille sfumature, che coprono stili del jazz e culture musicali assai diverse: fra tutte il Brasile ed anche l'India, citata attraverso l'uso di tablas. Nel suo primo disco per la Fresh Sound - il settimo da leader -, si ritrovano alcune caratteristiche formali e di pratica strumentale che lo impongono all'attenzione del grande pubblico: fantasia; dinamismo ritmico; ottimo interplay; felice scelta dei compagni d'avventura. A cominciare dal batterista ...

Esperanza Spalding: Junjo

by Jim Santella
August 2, 2006

Esperanza Spalding's debut drives jazz's modern mainstream with a hip-sounding classic piano trio. Her emotional, wordless vocals and conversational bass playing offer a delightful celebration of music as folk art. Spalding's bass playing gets noticed while she interprets traditional jazz favorites as well as fresh new originals.

Spalding, who was born in 1984, is younger than most jazz all-stars. And yet the fierce power of her trio proves that these musicians have all paid their dues many times ...

Esperanza Spalding: Junjo

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
July 22, 2006

The debut recording by this 22-year-old Berklee instructor and Portland, Oregon native features Brazilian-inflected jazz in the company of Cuban bandmates, released by a Spanish record label. Put that way, Junjo sounds terribly worldly and logistically complicated, but in fact the record comes across as an intimate affair executed with a light touch.

The Brazilian accent is most discernible when Spalding accompanies her bass playing with wordless singing (except on “Cantoro de Yala," which she sings, diffidently, in Spanish). This ...