Esperanza Spalding in Bass Player - Page 3

the low one · #41 04-18-2012, 05:10 AM

I've only just started to listen to Esperanza thanks to the article in BP mag. What a breath of fresh air. I've been waiting so long to discover a fretless player using a jazz bass with flatwound strings and favoring or soling the neck pickup, her tone is great and fits in with the music perfectly.

jonathanhughes · #42 04-18-2012, 07:56 PM

I just got back from her show in Buffalo. It was a great show, with great musicianship, and a nice mix of tightness and looser improvisation. The band is killer, and her ability to play complicated lines and sing complicated lines at the same time is pretty mind boggling. Definitely check her out if you get a chance.

macaroni tony · #43 04-19-2012, 08:36 AM

Just got the album. Listened to it on my way to work. Track 2 "Cinnamon Tree" threw me off track for a while. The lyrics, in part, were "rub off on me." Umm...

Zombbg4 · #44 04-19-2012, 11:57 PM

I'm a bit of an Esperanza nut. I've been following her shortly after Junjo came out-not her best album but a promise of what was to come. I've since seen her perform 6 times, each gig different and amazing. I even managed to help carry and load her luggage from the gig to a cab. I literally walked out of the venue's front doors and there she was lol Anyway, her new album is fantastic. Some of the most funky and mind bogglingly grooving bass lines I've heard in a while. I've had it spinning in my car for weeks now.

Also, people talking about seeing her career bloom should know that it has exploded in the last few years. She was well known in the jazz world, otherwise not so much and then she scored a gig playing for Obama at the white house, with Stevie Wonder, nabbed a Grammy, played at the Oscars to name a few...that's when she really grabbed some mass attention. She's been on her way and won't stop rising until who knows when!

So Low Bass · #45 04-20-2012, 08:18 AM

It’s quite revealing to read the comments like “lookin’ good, sexy, etc”. These boyish declamations are also made about the likes of Tal and Ronda on this board. Hmmm.

Also, I’ve watch her play, or according to some, learning to play, a donated electric fender on Austin City Limits. I wonder what she’ll sound like when she learns to play it. Any of you pros want to give her some pointers?

I, for one, wish I was “as deep’ into it!! How about YOU?

HolmeBass · #46 04-20-2012, 08:43 AM

Her Austin City Limits performance is very entertaining. She doubles on that, but does favor the Fender over her Czech-ease upright. She is a staggering talent, no doubt about that.

macaroni tony · #47 04-20-2012, 10:28 AM

I haven't gotten past "Can't Help It," yet. I keep starting it over. The bass run she does on the chorus just kills me!

Sub300Hertz · #48 05-04-2012, 08:27 AM

Last year she kicked ass at her Rock in Rio gig (with Milton Nascimento), despite the smaller stage her voice and bass guitar solos (yeah!) were stunning. I'm a fan since her 1st album... but I still can't decide who's hotter, Esperanza or Tal...