She is very good, but her singing and bass playing does nothing for me.
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"Esperanza Spalding Is The 21st Century's Jazz Genius"
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I saw her live at JazzFest, and her chops on upright and electric bass are undeniable. Her singing voice is excellent. Her songwriting? Meh. Another musician with incredible chops who frankly should be playing someone else's music, and there's a bunch of 'em. Don't get me started on the guitarists on that list.
You're wrong though. She's insanely talented, and you just don't see it. She has the gift as an upright bassist. She has the gift on bass guitar. She has the gift as a singer. You prefer this person or that person, BIG DEAL. She's amazing. I don't take away from Dianne Reeves or Sam Jones or Mingus or Victor.
And you may think you take away from Esperanza, but your words are falling on deaf ears here, pal.
Who btw are all 20th century artists, along with almost all of the others mentioned as alternatives in this thread.
Anyway, jazz genius of the century is more of a title than a ranking. It maybe shouldn't be taken 100% literally. Like I mentioned, there are a handful of others that one might reasonably argue as qualified. The point is less to pick one specific one than to enjoy discovering the ones other people might bring up.
But the people who don't think she's strongly in contention just don't get it. By all means, if you don't ENJOY what she does, that's fine. But to deny her ridiculous talent and skill is ludicrous. Someone said "I don't like indie rock", what the hell does that have to do with how talented she is?
Anyway, people at parties tend to love fun funky soulful music, so no problems there at all.
There are insanely talented folks who I might not get into. That doesn't preclude me from recognizing that they are insanely talented.
As far as her not being a musical genius, to paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men...
she'll do 'til one gets here.
Another person who has blown me away this century... Jacob Collier. It's a pretty short list.
Do you really mean that or are you being hyperbolic? Because if you're serious that's ludicrous.
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I'm an Esperanza fan but I have to say this is a pretty astonishing statement to make... "if you're not moved by the music I am moved by you're a sociopath".
We are all different.
Good thing that's not what I said.
Anyway, I'm seeing a lot of "you cant say that!" and not a lot of "well, the music isn't actually that good because (x, y, and z actual tangible reasons)". I've made my case, if others want to make theirs, they're free to.
Anyway, I'm seeing a lot of "you cant say that!" and not a lot of "well, the music isn't actually that good because (x, y, and z actual tangible reasons)". I've made my case, if others want to make theirs, they're free to.
I disagree...
In fact, from a marketing perspective... Being a woman in any genre of music now is very marketable.
But, I personally don't care about that... I like my funk raw, and my musicians with frayed ends and attitude. I hate anything that is "polite."
And safe so we don't scare ... (ahem) folks...
I'd rather see the Prince of Darkness than the Princess of Polite. But, hey... She's talented. She's just
not my cup of tea, but we should support anyone getting by in the current climes.
Awesome! "DrayMiles" disagrees that it "ain't easy being a female musician." Phew, all you ladies can now RELAX! You're good. Quit your whining about how hard it is for you to get and keep a gig.
So you're now speaking for an entire gender and demographic? Maybe we should ask some of them how their doing out there? Of course, if YOU are a female musician, perhaps you can share how easy it is for you and how your taking advantage of this marketability?
With respect to Esperanza, you can like her or not of course. No issue there. That said, I don't consider her to be the "Princess of Polite." Yes, she is well spoken and educated, but is that now suddenly a bad thing? Maybe in this day of social media and corresponding vapidity, anyone who appears to have their proverbial "stuff" together is considered polite and uncool? Anyway, from all accounts, she has attitude in large measure and is known to curse like a sailor. While she doesn't string her profanities together during her jazz concerts, I don't know many who do, but I could be wrong there! Also, while she spread her wings a bit and incorporated some funk and rock on the Emily's D+ Evolution album and tour, she is first and foremost a jazz musician, not funk.
Genius? Well I gues when you're up against The Beiber you might be considered a genius
but she has a way to go.
but she has a way to go.
My understanding is that a more accurate test of sociopathy is the response to "do you like tort?", for which as we all know there is only one sane answer. I'm pretty sure there's a whole chapter in the latest DSM about it.
It was actually in response to something you wrote:
My point was, and is that taste in music is all completely subjective. I can objectively say that she is an amazing bass player. She truly is. She has a massive degree of mastery over her instrument. Once I step into "best ever" or "player of the century" kind of nonsense it becomes completely objective.
I generally think that absolutes are used far too often in America. Things like "best ever," "never another like," "all time great," etc. This shows how myopic people can be and it also shows their utter lack of historical knowledge.
I also find it odd, Mr. Monkey, that you are banging this drum so loudly and using words like "sociopath." Can we at least try to be civil human beings? You have different tastes than I (although I do love ES) and different values than I. That doesn't mean yours are right and mine aren't (or vice versa) it means we are different people who appreciate different things.
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As I result of all this I went and did an online sociopath test. So who's heard Esperanza's latest album? My favourite of hers is Chamber Music Society...
Agree. I like her but wouldn't call it genius or 'the best' or whatever.
I like her better on upright. I don't think her electric bass playing is that spectacular as some say but she has a good feel and groove.
Sorry for being European, but the whole idea of musical genius is bunk in my opinion. If you look at Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, you'll find that they have one thing in common - they were musical workaholics. They breathed that stuff every living minute, and put in the work to get to where they were. They stood, as the saying goes, "on the shoulders of giants" and studied the music of their predecessors and contemporaries relentlessly. You don't become a person of such stature by sheer inspiration alone.
Going into the 20th century, you know what Coltrane, Charlie Parker, etc have in common?
Going into the 20th century, you know what Coltrane, Charlie Parker, etc have in common?
