Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984), sometimes professionally known with the stylized name of esperanza spalding, is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and two honorary doctorates: one from her alma mater Berklee College of Music and one from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Spalding began playing music professionally in her childhood, performing as a violinist in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at age five. She was later both self-taught and trained on other instruments, including guitar and bass. Her proficiency earned her academic scholarships to Portland State University and Berklee College of Music, both of which she attended, studying music.
Spalding released her first album, Junjo, in 2006 on the Spanish label Ayva Musica, after which she signed with the independent American label Heads Up, who released her 2008 self-titled album. Her third studio album, Chamber Music Society (2010), was a commercial success, charting at number 34 on the Billboard 200, and resulting in Spalding winning her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist. She saw further acclaim for her fourth release, Radio Music Society (2012), which earned the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album, as well as the track "City of Roses" winning for Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals.
After spending the following several years performing as a supporting band player, Spalding released her fifth studio album, a funk rock-inspired concept album titled Emily's D+Evolution, co-produced by Tony Visconti, on Concord Records. The following year, she released the album Exposure, which was limited to 7,777 copies. Her subsequent sixth studio record, 12 Little Spells, was released in 2019, and peaked at number one on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums. The album also saw Spalding nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category.
In addition to writing and performing music, Spalding has also worked as an instructor, first at the Berklee College of Music, beginning at age 20. In 2017, Spalding was appointed professor of the practice of music at Harvard University, a position from which she resigned in 2022.
1984–2003: Early life and education
Esperanza Emily Spalding was born October 18, 1984, in Portland, Oregon, to an African American father and a mother of Welsh, Native American, and Hispanic descent. She was raised in the King neighborhood of northeast Portland, a neighborhood at that time known for gang violence. Her mother raised Spalding and her brother as a single parent. During her childhood, Spalding had juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and as a result spent much of her elementary school years being home-schooled, though she also attended King Elementary School in northeast Portland. During this period, Spalding found the opportunity to pick up instruction in music by listening to her mother's college professor, who instructed her mother in jazz guitar. Spalding said that she sometimes accompanied her mother to classes, sat listening under the piano, then at home repeated what the teacher had played. Spalding remained in the King neighborhood of Portland until age ten, when she relocated with her family to the suburbs of Portland.
Spalding's mother took note of her daughter's musical proclivity when Spalding was able to reproduce Beethoven by ear on the family's piano at a young age. Spalding herself credited watching classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as an integral part of her childhood, and it inspired her to pursue music. By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and began performing professionally with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. She remained with the group until she was 15 years old, and left as concertmaster. Though she has been described as a musical prodigy, Spalding has denounced this title, commenting in 2010: "I am surrounded by prodigies everywhere I go, but because they are a little older than me, or not a female, or not on a major label, they are not acknowledged as such."
Spalding also played oboe and clarinet in her youth before discovering the double bass while attending The Northwest Academy, a performing arts high school to which she had won a scholarship. She began performing live in clubs in Portland as a teenager, securing her first gig in a blues club at the age of 15, when she could play only one line on bass. One of the seasoned musicians with whom she played invited her to join the band's rehearsals, which led to regular performances spanning almost a year. According to Spalding, this served as a chance for her to learn and sharpen her abilities as a musician. When she was 15 or 16 years old, Spalding joined the local indie rock/pop group Noise for Pretend as a singer and lyricist. Although she had taken a few private voice lessons, which taught her how to project her voice, she said that her primary singing experience at the time had come from singing in the shower. Her desire to perform live evolved naturally out of the compositional process, when she would sing and play simultaneously to see how melody and voice fit together, but she acknowledges that performing both roles together can be challenging.
Spalding dropped out of The Northwest Academy at the age of 16, and after completing her GED, enrolled on a music scholarship in the music program at Portland State University, where she remembers being "the youngest bass player in the program." Although she lacked the training of her fellow students, she feels that her teachers nevertheless recognized her talent. She decided to apply to Berklee College of Music on the encouragement of her bass teacher, and did well enough in her audition to receive a full scholarship. In spite of the scholarship, Spalding found meeting living expenses a challenge, so her friends arranged a benefit concert that paid her airfare. Spalding's savings did not last long and she considered leaving music to study political science, a move jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny discouraged. He told her that she had "the 'X Factor'" and could make it if she applied herself. In 2002, she played bass on M. Ward's album Transfiguration of Vincent (Merge Records).
2004–2007: Career beginnings, teaching, and Junjo
Gary Burton, Executive Vice President at Berklee, said in 2004 that Spalding had "a great time feel, she can confidently read the most complicated compositions, and she communicates her upbeat personality in everything she plays."
Ben Ratliff wrote in The New York Times in 2006 that Spalding's voice is "light and high, up in Blossom Dearie's pitch range, and [that] she can sing quietly, almost in a daydream" and that Spalding "invents her own feminine space, a different sound from top to bottom." Spalding was the 2005 recipient of the Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship. Almost immediately after graduation from college later the same year, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music to teach bass performance and private lessons, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution's history, at the age of 20. As a teacher, Spalding tries to help her students focus their practice through a practice journal, which can help them recognize their strengths and what they need to pursue.
Her debut album, Junjo, was released in April 2006 by Ayva Music. It was created to display the dynamic that she felt among her trio. Though Junjo was released solely under her name, Spalding considers it a group effort.
When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it was not a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her. Spalding has said 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 that she later used to secure her first gig. After that, she went in to play the bass daily and gradually fell in love.