Portland's Grammy Award-winning musician Esperanza Spalding is embarking on a tour for the first time in five years, including a stop Aug. 3 at the Vanport Jazz Festival.
And, a new album drops Aug. 9. The album is a collaboration with Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, "Milton + esperanza" via Concord Records.
Spalding, a bassist and singer, has won five Grammy Awards and released eight full-length albums. On tour, she'll be joined by frequent collaborators and dancers, and perform from her Grammy Award-winning jazz albums "12 Little Spells" and "Songwriters Apothecary Lab" — her most previous album in 2021 — and more.
The Vanport Jazz Festival is Friday-Saturday, Aug. 2-3 at Colwood Golf Course, 7313 N.E. Columbia Blvd. Spalding performs at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3.
Her tour continues through November. In February and March 2025, she has a residency at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City.
Spalding has also been working to create a BIPOC artist sanctuary in Portland. She was born and raised in Portland and attended Portland State University, as well as Berklee College of Music.
As the story goes, Spalding has long dreamed about making music with Nascimento, since her days at Berklee in the early 2000s. Their connection was made through Herbie Hancock, who first told Nascimento about Spalding's music.
From publicity from Shore Fire Media: A mixture of classics from Nascimento’s catalog, new songs from spalding, and covers from other artists, including The Beatles and Michael Jackson, the album is a portrait of their creative relationship. “Ninety percent of things I write,” she said, “I’m thinking of him. I’m thinking of his voice. I’m imagining singing it with him. He’s a very present part of my creative imagination.” But, she clarifies, that doesn’t mean she’d gone so far as to imagine a collaborative album; that existed beyond her fantasies.
It's the latest collaboration for Spalding, who said, "In ways I did choose and did not choose, my life has brought me into close proximity and care and collaboration with elders."
She added: “My mother used to work in adult foster care homes, and I was homeschooled at that time, so I would hang out with elders all day long, other people's grandmas and grandpas. It was weird, wonderful, and incredible. I found that it’s a joy to be kicked out of my preference for relating, and get into another being’s rhythm. 'Yes, I've heard this story six times, but on the sixth time, I’ve heard something I hadn't heard before, and it means something different today.'"
Most Popular
Comments / 0