Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding (born October 18, 1984, Portland, Oregon, U.S.) is an American bassist, singer, and composer whose precocious talent and musical adventurousness brought her considerable success both within and beyond the world of jazz. Spalding grew up in a multilingual multiethnic household (her single mother was of Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American descent, and her father was African American). Inspired by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whom she saw perform on the children’s television show Mister Rogers’...