![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Esperanza-SPALDING-QandA1.jpg\" "\\"Esperanza-SPALDING-QandA\\"")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nHOMETOWN:<\/strong> Portland, Ore. Jazz bass player and singer Esperanza Spalding\u00a0has accumulated a lifetime\u2019s worth of accomplishments at age 25, in part because she knew from a very early age what her destiny would be. She was only 4 when she saw classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma make a guest appearance on the kids\u2019 show Mister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em>. \u201cThat was when I realized that I wanted to do something musical,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was definitely the thing that hipped me to the whole idea of music as a creative pursuit.\u201d She taught herself to play violin, and performed on the instrument as part of a local community orchestra until she was 15.<\/p>\n By that time she had discovered the bass, and the following year she earned her GED and bolted to study in the music program at Portland State University. \u201cI was definitely the youngest bass player in the program,\u201d she says. \u201cI was 16, and I had been playing the bass for about a year and a half. Most of the cats in the program had already had at least eight years of training under their belts, and I was trying to play in these orchestras and do these Bach cello suites. It wasn\u2019t really flying\u2014but if nothing else, my teachers were saying, \u2018OK, she does have talent.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Spalding went on to study at Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music, where she became an instructor at the tender age of 20. She earned her stripes on the road playing with saxophonist Joe Lovano. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I was ready for the gig or not, but he had a lot of faith in me,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was an amazing learning experience.\u201d Spalding released her debut album, Junjo<\/em>, in 2006, but made her national breakthrough with 2008\u2019s Esperanza<\/em>. Her new follow-up, Chamber Music Society<\/em>, finds Spalding leading a modern chamber music group that encompasses elements of jazz, folk and world music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ESPERANZA SPALDING HOMETOWN: Portland, Ore. INFLUENCES: Cannonball Adderley, Ron Carter, Dave Holland ALBUM: Chamber Music Society, out now WEBSITE: esperanzaspalding.com Jazz bass player and singer Esperanza Spalding\u00a0has accumulated a lifetime\u2019s worth of accomplishments at age 25, in part because she knew from a very early age what her destiny would be. She was only 4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[83],"tags":[2208,2207,2209,1062,10160],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2863,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions\/2863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nINFLUENCES:<\/strong> Cannonball Adderley, Ron Carter, Dave Holland
\nALBUM:<\/strong> Chamber Music Society<\/em>, out now
\nWEBSITE:<\/strong> esperanzaspalding.com<\/p>\n