Esperanza Spalding gives away the show with a free Chicago performance

March 4, 2009 at the Old Town School of Folk Music

By Selena Fragassi
Published: March 7th, 2009 | 1:10pm

It’s not often that a musical prodigy comes around in our day and age — unless, of course, you have paid witness to the marvel of jazz singing and bass playing phenom Esperanza Spalding, who recently premiered her scat-loving, string-hugging blend of world jazz to a rowdy house crowd at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music’s free World Music Wednesday series.

At the ripe age of 24, the Portland, Oregon–bred Spalding — of African American, Welsh, Spanish, and Native American descent — has done what few could accomplish at any age: teaching herself how to play violin by the time she was 5; being promoted to concertmaster of the Chamber Music Society of Oregon and playing in blues clubs at 15; becoming the youngest bass player in the Berklee College of Music program (under full scholarship) at 16, and in 2005, one of the institution’s youngest professors ever.

But if talent is the true test of measure, then Spalding proved to this Old Town School that she has passed at the head of the contemporary jazz class, with a complicated bass-playing rhythm and vocal furor that deafens her backing orchestra of piano, drums, and guitar, showing no mercy.

“Well it’s true, we’re gonna play jazz for you,” she said in the same melodic beat that graces her singing. “But none of this scooba-da-be boop stuff. No, we don’t do it like that — we bring it from the soul side.” With that, she blazed into her first song, a cover of Betty Carter’s “Jazz (Ain’t Nothin’ but Soul),” which declared her musical operandi as the “voice of my people” and ended with a breathy long-note of “Jazzzzzzzzzz” that showed her fine mastery in control.

The night was largely a showcase of covers including a unique arrangement of “Midnight Sun” once reserved for her teacher, and an evocatively haunting rendition of Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind.” The latter was performed with an operatic grandeur that staged an eerie piano intro that interlocked with the moodiness of her bass and crashed under powerful cymbals and snare that thundered with the meeting of cool and warm sounds.

But when she did have the chance to parade her original material, like the track “I Know You Know,” from her latest release, Esperanza (Heads Up International), it offered another side to Spalding that showed her visionary angle as a lyricist, something that began when she wrote for local indie group Noise for Pretend.

Dressed in a trendy polka dot top with high-waisted jeans, red hoops, and a la natural hair, Spalding’s youthful small frame belied her power. Even though her bass towered over her, she showed it who was boss: At one point she beat it like she was getting the dust out of its crevices, and at other times plucked the strings with the caressing touch of a long-lost lover. As her light soprano voice competed with its moody outbursts, both finally reached full volume when she put her hair up and plugged in.

“The electric bass is not typical fare, but sometimes you just need it,” she declared, and proved that even though she’s learned well from the masters, this trailblazer still has plenty of time to set the jazz world on fire.

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For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page