Download - Downbeat

Jazz Artist of the Year " Esperanza Spalding
Breaking
Boundaries
By Shaun Brady " Photo by Andrea Canter
Esperanza Spalding has become one of the biggest breakout stars of 2011—
not just in jazz, but in all genres of music. The bassist/singer/composer has
been voted the DownBeat Readers Poll Jazz Artist of the Year. A few months
ago, she won a category in the DownBeat Critics Poll: Rising Star—Electric Bass.
The most shocking moment at this year’s Grammy ceremony
undoubtedly was Spalding’s win in the all-genre Best
New Artist category. For an understandably cynical jazz
community, it was shocking that she was even nominated
in a category without “jazz” in its name. For TV viewers,
it was shocking that this relative unknown could take an
award over pop superstars like Canadian r&b singer Drake,
English folk-rockers Mumford & Sons and of course, teen
idol Justin Bieber, whose heartbroken fans spent the rest of
that Feb. 13 evening calling for her head.
But most of all, on an awards show dominated by the
shallow, massive-selling glitz of mainstream pop music,
it was shocking simply because, as Joe Lovano says, “she
deserves it.”
Lovano is one member of the “incredible community
and family of musicians” that Spalding thanked by name
during her acceptance speech that night. Many other people
have recognized her talents, too. In just a few years, she’s
gone from studying at Berklee College of Music to sharing
stages with McCoy Tyner and Stevie Wonder and being
handpicked by President Obama to perform at the Nobel
Peace Prize ceremony.
When Spalding was profiled for a September 2010 cover
story in DownBeat, journalist Dan Ouellette asked her about
the future. She replied, “I want to hold on to that idea of
being small and unnoticed, yet excited and curious. I don’t
want to change that.” As her next album, Radio Music
Society, becomes one of the most anticipated releases of
2012, and she continues to attract media attention from far
outside the jazz world, it will be impossible for Spalding to
go unnoticed.
Producer Gil Goldstein, who worked with Spalding on
both her 2010 album, Chamber Music Society (Heads Up),
and its impending sequel, finds at least part of the key to her
spectacular ascent in her remarkable poise, as exemplified
by her grace in victory at the Grammys.
“I don’t remember anybody who looked that relaxed at
any awards ceremony over the last 25 years,” Goldstein
laughs. “She was so not blown away by the moment. She
didn’t stutter, she didn’t cry. She just was totally in the
moment, which is rare. That’s such a great skill to have. And
then, she came offstage and just went back to work. She’s
totally unaffected personally by the hype of it all. It was just
a moment in the sun and nice that the whole community got
recognized through her.”
Every so often, another artist comes along who seems to
offer a bridge for jazz and popular music to finally reunite.
“Crossover” may be a dirty word to some, but in Spalding
both camps might have to concede their approval, however
grudging. She’s a bassist with chops enough to stand her
ground alongside Lovano and a pair of serious drummers;
and she has a voice that can flit between jazz and soul idioms
with the ease of the “Little Fly” whose story opens Chamber
Music Society.
The demand for her talents has been intense. Just this
year, Spalding contributed to Francisco Mela’s Tree Of
Life (Half Note) and Tineke Postma’s The Dawn Of Light
(Challenge). On the latter, she illuminates “Leave Me A
Place Underground,” which is the saxophonist’s original setting
of a Pablo Neruda poem. Spalding also appeared on a
compilation of highlights from the Kennedy Center’s 2010
Women in Jazz tribute to Mary Lou Williams; contributed a
whimsical rendition of “Chim Chim Cher-ee” to the Disney
jazz tribute album Everybody Wants To Be A Cat; and provided
considerable inspiration for Terri Lyne Carrington’s
all-female recording The Mosaic Project (Concord).
“She kind of completed a circle for me,” Carrington says
of meeting Spalding. “I hadn’t played with any female bass
40 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2011