PREVIEW Going Her Own Way, Esperanza Spalding Signals a New Moment in Jazz

Thursday September 23, 2010

From The Pittsburgh City Paper

Going Her Own Way, Esperanza Spalding Signals a New Moment in Jazz
By Brentin Mock

Esperanza Spalding’s presence on the jazz scene is akin to the moment in pop music that occurred in 1984, the year she was born: a year that produced Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Prince’s Purple Rain and Tina Turner’s often overlooked Private Dancer. Motown may have produced the first black mainstream pop artists — Jackson included — but they were still seen mostly as black artists doing pop music. In 1984, Jackson, Prince and Turner were pop artists who only happened to be not white, and who redefined the parameters of a new era. They didn’t take Motown into a new age — they made new audiences basically forget Motown existed.

The 25-year-old Spalding could’ve taken the Norah Jones route to Blue Note, which still attempts to present itself as the label of jazz legitimacy. Instead, she has carved out her own identity not only in jazz, but in the larger musical landscape, welcoming the votes of authenticity from the Dead Trumpets Society, but not relying on them for esteem.

While jazz great McCoy Tyrner called her “the real thing” in a March New Yorker profile, purist Wynton Marsalis declined comment. The profile notes that Spalding is “diametrically opposed” to Marsalis’ philosophy of jazz — and he must hate that she wears a nappy fro, loves hip hop and isn’t above wearing fashionably tattered jeans to her performances.

To read the full article click here

Radio Song (clip)	1:01	Esperanza Spalding
Black Gold	5:17	Esperanza Spalding

[+] open in new window

Watch what's on

*Radio Music Society Trailer
Esperanza Spalding at the Oscars
Black Gold
Esperanza Spalding at the Nobel Prize Ceremony

[+] open in new window

News Archive

IMN - International Music Network