Great Talent-Esperanza Spalding

So I mentioned in a post the other day that we left work early since we were all caught up on work and the weather had been so beautiful out. Spring fever, y'all know how that goes. My co-worker suggested we go "comparative shopping" which we did. But after the work hours we hit up a sake lounge for some light bites and happy hour cock-a-tails. The place wasn't to busy since it was so nice out and too early for happy hour just yet. While we were there, a music artist was there performing I had heard of somewhere. We caught just the tail end of her rehearsal and it was pretty damn incredible sounding. The artist was Esperanza Spalding, who is a jazz musician who resides in New Jersey.

Esperanza Spalding is an jazz bassist and singer. While most artist are usually a vocalist or a bassist, Esperanza does both and very well! I just love the sound of her voice and her tunes. Of course I am a lover of jazz music. I understand that Spalding had intended to play cello, but discovered the bass during a one year stint at age 14 at the prestigious performing arts high school, The Northwest Academy, to which she had won a scholarship. The school was not a good fit, but the bass was. Spalding found high school "easy — and boring" and dropped out. When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it wasn't a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her. Spalding says that for her discovering the bass was like "waking up one day and realizing you’re in love with a co-worker." By the time she randomly picked up the bass in music class and began experimenting with it, she had grown bored with her other instruments. Her band teacher showed her a blues line for the bass which she later used to secure her first gig. After that, she went in to play the bass daily and gradually fell in love. And ever since has been creating lasting melodies! She was amazing and in just that 20 minutes we heard her perform, I'm hooked. It's a good thing she wasn't just coming on to perform, otherwise the Mistress would have spent the entire night there, drinking sake, and getting sauced, then how would she get home!