From the ACL taping program on June 16, 2009:
If “esperanza” is the Spanish word for hope, then bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding could not have been given a more fitting name at birth. With uncanny instrumental chops and a multi-lingual voice, the 23-year-old “true original” (Jazz Observer) makes her Austin City Limits debut.
At age four, after watching classical cellist Yo Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the roadmap was suddenly very clear. “That was when I realized that I wanted to do something musical,” she says. “It was definitely the thing that hipped me to the whole idea of music as a creative pursuit.”
After years of study on her own, she left high school early and eventually received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music. Almost immediately after her 2005 graduation, she was hired by her alma mater as one of the youngest professors in the school’s history, but teaching didn’t interfere with creating music.
She released her first solo CD in 2006 to critical acclaim. Her 2008 follow-up Esperanza takes a fresh approach to jazz by incorporating the rich traditions of soul, pop, world music and so much more.
“She is an irresistible performer,” says The Seattle Times. “She sings and plays bass at the same time and does a sort of interpretive dance as she plays … Her analysis of what’s going on in jazz today is perceptive.”
“I want to make great music, but I also want to use that talent to lift people up, and maybe show them some degree of hope where there might not be any in their lives. My name means ‘hope’ in Spanish, and it’s a name I want to live up to.”
