Esperanza Spalding

On October 17, 2012, I attended a performance by Esperanza Spalding at the Brooks Theatre. I personally did not care for the concert. Part of the reason is because I do not care for the jazz genre of music, however, the main part of the reason is because I did not feel that there was anything that had a “wow” factor. For a Grammy award-winning artist, I expected the performance to be a lot more impressive than it really was. I do not deny that Esperanza and the Radio Music Society have musical talent, I just feel as though the talent wasn’t harnessed and used in a way that drew you in and made you want to hear more or go out and buy the album.
Esperanza Spalding knew she wanted to be a musician from a very young age after seeing the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform. From there, she went on to teach herself violin at the age of five and earned herself a spot in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon, where she landed the role of concertmaster by age fifteen. Spalding soon branched out from classical music and found her niche in the genre of jazz, playing both acoustic and electric bass, and became the first jazz musician to win a Grammy for “Best New Artist”. The jazz genre of music, born out of a mix of African American and European music, got its start at the beginning of the twentieth century, predominantly in black communities across the Southern United States and has since developed into many distinctive styles, ranging from New Orleans jazz and soul jazz, to jazz rock and punk jazz. Even though I am not a fan of it, It was evident that Spalding captured the roots and essence of the polyrhythms, syncopations, and blues notes that make jazz its very own, unique, music style.
Throughout the performance, I could tell Esperanza Spalding and the Radio Music Society knew the story they were trying to tell. They would move to the beat and get lost in the music, and it was clear that they believed every note had something to say. I, on the other hand, struggled over...