Five-time Grammy award-winning vocalist, bass player and composer esperanza spalding kicks off her highly anticipated return tour to Australia at QPAC in Brisbane for a very special one-night-only performance.
One of the most unique talents in music today, esperanza has created a jazz oeuvre that seamlessly fuses soul, funk, pop and rock into an intoxicating musical blend, becoming the first jazz musician to win the Grammy for Best New Artist (2011), beating out Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine and Mumford and Sons. She has since won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album an impressive three times, most recently in 2022.
In celebration of her latest shows and album, Milton + esperanza, a collaborative effort with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento, esperanza spoke with our own Peter Gray about her collaboration wish list and the full-bodied responsibility she takes to honour her fans with her shows.
Congratulations on this latest album, Milton + esperanza. I love the blend of jazz and bossa nova. Where did the inspiration initially come from to collaborate with Milton Nascimento?
Milton and I have done a couple things here and there over the last few years together. He’s guested on a record of mine, and I played with him for this big concert he did, Rock In Rio. There were lots of jam sessions at his house, talking about various things whenever we’re together. It’s just a fond dynamic. I totally adore him and his music. His contribution. His person. When we were celebrating his life in music for his farewell tour in 2022 I sat in for a couple of the gigs. I think the night before the second sit in, his son was talking about the kinds of things that he was wishing his dad would do in this era of his life, and he said, “I really want you to produce a record for him. It’s a duo record. It’s you and him and you’ll produce it.” And I was like, “Okay.” And that’s how it happened.
Looking at the collaborations you’ve had, is there anyone on your wish list that you’d like to collaborate with in some way?
There’s a lot of folks that I want to do things with. I’m hopefully doing a project with Joy Harjo, and I’d love to do something with Bjork. Probably Moses Sumney too. But, I mean, collaborations tend to emerge because you’ve done a gig together. They really are born out of relationality. Out of actually encountering each other and being like, “Oh, okay, let’s see what this vibe sounds like together.”
When you’re performing a One Night Only show like these in Australia, what’s the creative process like in deciding which songs you’re going to perform from across your catalogue?
Ooh, well, I have to do what feels good in my body. Because that’s part of what I’ve established as to what I’m offering. My guts, my internal compass of what feels needed is what I offer. I don’t take lightly that people like my songs. It’s such a privilege. Honestly, on this planet, it’s a rarity that a lot of people you don’t know really like your songs. I also want to honour that care and that connection. The care that people have for my work is why I want to play the songs that I know they want to hear.
So in that Venn diagram, I look at what are the songs that I know people want to hear, and what are the songs that I really need to play right now. Right where they meet is the set basically. It’s not very conceptual beyond that. And this project has dance in it, and that’s such a big part of what I’m doing now.
As you mentioned about knowing to play the songs that people want to hear, there are so many artists that the further they go with their careers, the less attached they feel to certain albums they might have released earlier into their career. Are you someone who finds connection to every piece of music you’ve released?
I definitely have favourites, and I definitely have sounds that were much more me at age 23 that I may not necessarily put on a record now, but that’s also my archive of being on Earth. Part of writing and publishing, and being a public figure, is that you’re evolving, hopefully, and sometimes those songs mean different things, and I can maybe find new things in them. I think about like actors who play the same role at different times of their evolution as an artist. I don’t feel vehemently committed to them either way. I’m not going to just do the newer, more cutting edge stuff. I take the responsibility very seriously of playing what’s needed.
And looking at the sounds you’ve created, is there an avenue you want to explore further in terms of a particular sound?
I wouldn’t say a particular sound, like an aesthetic sound, but I am deeply curious. The curiosity is deepening and expanding around the applications. The applications of music support our homeostasis, and that, to me, includes the environments that sustain the ecosystems that sustain us. And not just our body, but our mental well-being, our mind, our emotions. I’m deeply curious about that.
With the live performing aspect, is there one ingredient that resonates with you the most when it comes to putting these bodies of work together in that live atmosphere?
I really love the feeling of a live, full audience. Like, woah, we’re packed in here. That feels so good. It feels more intimate than when there’s empty seats. I don’t know, it’s like the vibe is broken up or something. Even if it’s a smaller venue, I love it when it’s full. When you’re shoulder to shoulder. That’s the only thing I can think of. That linking, or oneness of the fabric of the people, including us on stage, in one room.
I also really love these co-musicing labs that we’ve been doing as part of the songwriters apothecary lab, which are an evolving practice, but it’s a facilitated, co-compositional, responsive practice with a mix of non-musicians or people who identify as musicians. The things that come out of that space are so amazing. But that’s not me performing, I’m there to be a facilitator. It feels very ancient and very pointing towards something with a lot of potential.
And going off that feeling, is there an artist right now that you’re particularly vibing with?
Gosh. I feel like that about the people in my band. The folks I listen to? I’m not done with Geri Allen. I’m not done with Minnie Riperton and Prince. I’m not done with John Coltrane. I’m not done with Stevie Wonder. Just because there’s a lot of new music out, doesn’t mean there’s any less to immerse oneself. I really like Georgia Anne Muldrew. That’s somebody I really adore. Everything that she’s been putting out through the years, I think is so brilliant.
esperanza spalding will be playing one night only shows across Brisbane (22nd October, 2024, QPAC Concert Hall), Perth (24th October, 2024, Regal Theatre) and Melbourne (27th October, 2024, Hamer Hall). For more information and ticket sales, head to the official QPAC, Regal Theatre and Hamer Hall websites, respectively.
