4 days ago
Esperanza Spalding set to mesmerise Johannesburg jazz lovers at Joy of Jazz festival
Five-time Grammy award-winning jazz singer, bassist, songwriter, and composer, Esperanza Emily Spalding, set to wow Standardbank Joy of Jazz crowd with her music
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Five-time Grammy award-winning jazz singer, bassist, songwriter, and composer, Esperanza Emily Spalding, known to music fans as simply Esperanza Spalding, is poised to grace the stage at the 26th edition of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival.
This much-anticipated event will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, showcasing over 50 acts over three days and celebrating a spirit of jazz that resonates deeply in South Africa.
Spalding, whose latest collaboration with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, titled Milton + esperanza, embodies the essence of friendship, is particularly excited about immersing herself in the vibrant Johannesburg music scene.
"I have some dear friends and the arts community in Johannesburg. I have heard some beautiful things about the people of Johannesburg and their spirit of community," the artist remarked. "Coming to Johannesburg for the Joy of Jazz is like coming to meet a community that I do not know yet. For me, it is about sharing and creating beauty through our art form, and I am excited."
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Having previously performed for the Cape Town crowd in her last visit to South Africa, just over ten years ago, the 38-year-old muso says she cannot wait to meet a new community of music lovers in Johannesburg.
"I have some dear friends and the arts community in Johannesburg. I have heard some beautiful things about the people of Johannesburg, about their spirit of community. So, coming to Johannesburg for the Joy of Jazz is like coming to meet a community that I do not know yet. For me, it is about sharing and creating the beauty through our art form, and I am excited," she said.
Having won five Grammys since the start of her career, Spalding says, like her music, her life has also grown, which is something she looks forward to sharing with her new community of jazz fans when she takes to the Joy of Jazz stage later this year.
"Even though Joburg is a different city from Cape Town, I look forward to sharing my music, which has grown over the past 15 years. I am excited to share what I have been building and what I have to offer. I am open and ready to meet Johannesburg and its people because you do not know a place until you get there and meet its people.
The 11-time Grammy nominee has previously released eight full-length albums and, in addition to working with her heroes, including Nascimento and Shorter.
She has also collaborated with Q-Tip, Janelle Monae, Robert Glasper, Terri Lyne Carrington, and many others. As a composer, her credits include writing the libretto for the opera Iphigenia with Wayne Shorter, which premiered in 2021, among many others.
Having been born in Portland, Spalding reflects on her time growing up in a musical family and a deeply cultural neighbourhood, which gave her first shot at music through a communal and community-driven mentorship, allowing her to blossom early in her now illustrious career as a professional musician and teacher.
"Growing up in Portland, the community realised that there was this gap, and learning about jazz music or contraband music, as it was called. There were music classes, and other elderly women ran a low-cost tuition for a string orchestra. It was a very big cultural mentorship program. Music was the first thing I knew growing up, and there was this association, and learning music became a thing that you could do at an early age, because grown-up people did and taught music to children, and my mother was also instrumental in teaching me,' she said.
