Grammy-winning, jazz-soul phenom
Esperanza Spalding risked everything
when she left a 10-year classical career
for the jazz scene. Since then, she’s
played some of the most prestigious
events in the world, including at the White
House and Nobel Prize ceremonies.
Here she ruminates on fretless bass,
friendship, and the fine art of listening.
BY JAMES ROTONDI
Discovering the bass, says Esperanza Spalding, was like “waking up and
realizing you’re in love with a co-worker.”
Although she moved to upright bass at the
tender age of 15, the 27-year-old winner of
Best New Artist at last year’s Grammys was
already a classical concertmaster with 10
years of violin study and performance experience in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.
Switching to bass carried a slightly scan-
dalous whiff in Spalding’s previous circles,
but it didn’t matter—the appeal of jazz
greats like Slam Stewart, Scott LaFaro, and
Leroy Vinnegar had won heart. Indeed,
even more than her prodigious talent,
heart—her ability to “transmit a certain
kind of personal vision and energy that is
all her own”—is what Pat Metheny once
described as Spalding’s “X factor.”
That certainly extends to her bass
playing. As demonstrated on her second
album, 2010’s Chamber Music Society,
whether she’s playing a 7/8 or 3/4 upright
double-bass, Spalding shows a techni-
cal command that’s as at home with the
colors of Bartók and Webern as it is with
124 PREMIER GUITAR APRIL 2012
