Jazz prodigy Esperanza Spalding, still eager to teach – and learn

Bassist Esperanza Spalding takes her Latin fusion mainstream.

from the May 30, 2008 edition

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The singer's love of learning hasn't dimmed. When her mother recently shared an inspirational Thornton Wilder passage about women overcoming adversity, for example, Spalding posted the "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" excerpt on her MySpace blog.

Also on her MySpace page: A black- and-white television clip from the early to mid-1960s of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an African-American rhythm and blues artist, playing wild electric guitar in front of a gospel choir. Spalding wants everyone to know about the little-known singer she calls "the mother of rock 'n' roll."

"My alarm clock wakes me up to a local jazz station every morning, and she was guest singing on some big-band recording," she recalls. "I remembered her name and so when I finally woke up and got out of bed, I investigated who she was. I bought a book about her life and one of her records and put that YouTube up there once I found it."

Being an African-American woman herself, Spalding is worried that her successes – such as a scholarship to Berklee at age 16 – might be attributed to affirmative action. The work ethic spurred by that concern led her to commute three hours from Boston's outer suburbs each day – lugging an instrument shaped like a pregnant giraffe – to attend Berklee when she couldn't afford a city apartment.

"I remember many times being on the commuter rail and young kids my age, or even guys I thought were cute, looking at me and going, 'This woman is out of her mind!' " she laughs.

An audition to spend a summer touring with jazz singer Patti Austin turned her finances around. Later, her experience as a performer led to Berklee hiring her as an instructor after graduation.

"She has a seriousness about her, even though she's very relaxed, that I appreciate," says Rich Appleman, chair of Berklee's bass department. "That's one of the reasons she's gone on to teach in addition to perform."

This year Spalding is relishing a tour and the prospect of artistic growth. "I have a lot to learn," she says. "I'm trying to do an art form that takes decades to [master]."

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