By: Jaclyn Breeze — Esperanza Spalding is a bass player from Portland, Oregon. She is a versatile artist, combining improvisation, singing, composition, poetry, dance, music therapy, storytelling, teaching, agriculture, and more in her work. She began learning music as a violinist at age 5. She learned other instruments by herself, including the bass, as a teenager. She played with professional groups including the Chamber Music Society of Oregon, and blues, rock, and pop groups. She dropped out of school at 16, and completed her GED. She attended college for music at Portland State University and Berklee College of Music. Soon after graduation, she released her first album. She became popular with her light voice and her ability to create her own space – she has a unique sound that is likeable. She received very high praise in review, and continued releasing more albums.
So far, she has won five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and two honorary doctorates from Berklee and CalArts. She has taught music at Berklee and Harvard.
Listen to some of her work here:
Esperanza is on tour! See her dates HERE.
How many countries is she going to?
Where is her closest concert to you?
Which day of the week does she most often perform on?