[Dixielandjazz] Who is Grammy Winner Esperanza Spaulding?

[John Blegen]

It was great to see her win the Grammy.  My wife and I have been fans since we 
saw her sit in with Ellis Marsalis six years ago in Boston.  An amazing talent.

 John Blegen, clarinet
Evanston, IL, USA
jcblegen.com




________________________________
From: Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: John Blegen <jcblegen at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tue, February 15, 2011 10:08:23 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Who is Grammy Winner Esperanza Spaulding?

She won the Grammy for BEST NEW ARTIST, beating out Justin Bieber and Drake. 
Perhaps not OKOM, and not limited to jazz, she is a jazz musician. You go 
girl!!!



Cheers,

Steve Barbone

www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband



Esperanza Spalding is a petite, precociously gifted 26-year-old bassist. Ms. 
Spalding is also an artist, a bandleader, a vocalist and a star attraction, if 
not always in that order.

Ms. Spalding won best new artist at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in February 
2011. She was among the event's major surprises, and the first jazz musician to 
receive the award in decades, if not ever. The widely regarded favorites were 
Justin Bieber, the teen-pop juggernaut, and Drake, the slyly melancholy hip-hop 
star.

Ms. Spalding, who is originally from Portland, Ore., is a charismatic whirlwind 
proudly hailed, for some time, as some kind of vital infusion for jazz. She 
taught herself to play the violin at age 4 and joined the Chamber Music Society 
of Oregon a year later. At 16, she switched to the double bass.

She arrived with great reserves of talent and composure, becoming, at 20, one of 
the youngest musicians hired to teach at the Berklee College of Music, where she 
had just earned her degree. She released an auspicious instrumental debut, 
“Junjo” on the Ayva label in 2006, and a vocal follow-up, “Esperanza,” on Heads 
Up International in 2008. The album she released in 2010, also on Heads Up, was 
“Chamber Music Society,” which presented her lissome, light-gauge voice in a 
sparer light, framed by quietly sparkling arrangements.

Ms. Spalding’s relevance has never really been rooted in her output as a 
recording artist. As an authoritative upright bassist who also nimbly sings, she 
has no exact peer or precedent: the particulars of her talent are unique. And in 
the interval between “Esperanza” and "Chamber Music Society," she has wowed 
David Letterman, appeared in a Banana Republic ad campaign and performed by 
request at the White House and theNobel Peace Prize ceremony. She was tapped by 
Prince for a tribute at the BET Awards, and then as his opener at Madison Square 
Garden.

Her success is only tangential to jazz, really, even though jazz percolates 
through her music, along with Stevie Wonder-ish soul and Brazilian pop and much 
else besides. Some of her most enthusiastic admirers come from the more 
jazz-literate, bohemian wing of hip-hop.
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