Esperanza Spalding Reaches Wider Audience Her Way

Thursday February 10, 2011

From The Associated Press

Esperanza Spalding is getting the wider audience she had sought, but on her terms

From the time Esperanza Spalding appeared on the scene in 2005, the dynamic singer, bassist, composer and arranger has been heralded as jazz’s next big thing. Her impressive musicianship has won her White House recital dates, praise from the likes of Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, and critical acclaim.

But last year, as she prepared to perform in front of a huge mainstream audience at a tribute to musical mentor Prince at the BET Awards, she started to think about how the moment could catapult her into pop stardom.

“I was really on this mission, kind of in my mind, to figure out how I was going to take my music and make it accessible to the pop world. ‘How am I going to turn this into like an Alicia Keys thing?’” she recalled thinking.

But when she got to rehearsals with her famous counterparts — including her idol Keys — she decided fame had somehow warped the purity of their artistry, and she didn’t want that happening to her.

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

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

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