Esperanza Spalding to grace Dalton Center

By Evan Riddell
Western Herald

Fontana Chamber Arts is bringing stand-up bass prodigy Esperanza Spalding to the Dalton Center on Western Michigan University’s campus Saturday at 8 p.m. for their first jazz concert of the season.

The 23-year-old bassist and vocalist graduated from Berklee School of Music, has already taken a place on the faculty, recorded two of her own albums, appeared on a half-dozen more albums, and had the honor of performing twice at the White House.

A frighteningly accomplished musician, she is a force to be reckoned with. She sings simultaneously in a breathy soprano, a notoriously difficult task for even the most seasoned professional.

In an interview with “Bass Player” magazine, Spalding said that she started singing as a way to learn jazz standards more easily.

“It’s a great way to learn tunes and internalize the melody — you start hearing the harmony of counterpoint, even if you’re not singing out loud,” Spalding said.

“To hear that relationship between the melody and the bass — that’s really important.”

She’s put in hours of wood-shedding to be able to carry herself with such confidence and swagger onstage.

Spalding began her musical career when she was 5 playing violin in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon, where she rose through the ranks to concertmaster when she was only 15.

Originally from Portland, Ore., Spalding was home-schooled after a long illness kept her from the schoolhouse, which was for better, as she disliked her elementary school’s teaching methods.

The clever songstress earned her GED at 16 and she soon found herself at Portland State University as the youngest bass player in the school’s music program.

Spalding then moved on to Berklee and began catching the eyes and ears of some of modern jazz’s heavy hitters — notably, guitarist Pat Metheny, saxophonist Joe Lovano, and vibraphonist Dave Samuel.

Spalding’s lyrics bounce fluidly from English to Spanish to Portuguese and back again, and her bouncy and bubbly bass lines offer a perfect counterpoint to her soaring vocal melodies. Her group draws equally from swing, Brazilian-influenced grooves, and modern R&B.

In an interview with Jazz Review, she praised the value of fusion genres and mourned the loss of jazz as dance-hall music, which she said has been turned into music relegated to concert halls to be quietly appreciated.

“In its most popular days, [jazz] was the music of young people who considered themselves awfully hip,” Spalding said.
“So now, unless I want to go into hip-hop, or neo-soul, which is our ‘jazz’ now as far as the role these genres play in the music genre lineage, I have to be prepared for the seasoned ‘art’ community everywhere I go.”

Her two albums as a bandleader show her pulling jazz away from dusty records and overplayed standards, and drawing on “young people’s music” to liven up the overall sound.
Her first record, “Junjo,” was a sparse trio album, but on last year’s “Esperanza,” her American debut, Spalding filled out her group’s ranks and took a larger role in the creative process. The end result is representative of her — beautiful, feminine, understated, and full of new ideas.

General admission ticket prices are $35 and $28 for adults, and there are a limited number of $5 tickets for anyone 25 and under.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Sep 30 2009. Filed under Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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