Jazz singer Esperanza Spalding on the perks of being a Grammy winner.
- 12 years ago
The perks of being a Grammy winning artist.
Oregon native Esperanza Spalding became the first ever jazz musician to win best new artist at the Grammys last year, beating pop heavyweights such as Justin Bieber and Drake.
And while she has long enjoyed a keen following among jazz enthusiasts, Esperanza now sees many new faces come to her show.
SOUNDBITE: Esperanza Spalding, Grammy winning jazz artist, saying (English):
"Before the Grammy a lot of people came that had heard about my music through some sort of jazz related outlet, you know. Magazine or another band or maybe a jazz critical, whatever. And now a lot of people are coming that have heard about it somewhere else. So they're not necessarily the people who would sit down and listen to a saxophone solo, an improvised saxophone solo but they're coming here. They might not know what they're getting into, they are just going out of curiosity because they heard about it and then we get to share you know the music with an audience that wouldn't necessarily have showed up to a you know jazz infused concert or whatever you wanna call it."
Joined by a 12-piece band on Monday (May 28) Spalding played songs from her current album "Radio Music Society" to an enthusiastic crowd at KOKO nightclub in London.
While the Grammy win has certainly raised the singer's profile, Esperanza also saw some downsides to her newly found fame.
Disappointed fans of fellow nominee Justin Bieber took to social networking sites at the time to express their anger.
One year on Esperanza says there are no hard feelings.
SOUNDBITE: Esperanza Spalding, Grammy winning jazz artist, saying (English):
"I mean of all the things to get upset about you know. I mean something has to be on the news. Something has to be on Facebook so that 's what it was for that time. But you know."
So her brief collision with the pop world has not distracted Esperanza Spalding.
She continues to tour and promote her music. And judging by the crowd at KOKO there are plenty of takers.
Kathi Urban, Reuters
Oregon native Esperanza Spalding became the first ever jazz musician to win best new artist at the Grammys last year, beating pop heavyweights such as Justin Bieber and Drake.
And while she has long enjoyed a keen following among jazz enthusiasts, Esperanza now sees many new faces come to her show.
SOUNDBITE: Esperanza Spalding, Grammy winning jazz artist, saying (English):
"Before the Grammy a lot of people came that had heard about my music through some sort of jazz related outlet, you know. Magazine or another band or maybe a jazz critical, whatever. And now a lot of people are coming that have heard about it somewhere else. So they're not necessarily the people who would sit down and listen to a saxophone solo, an improvised saxophone solo but they're coming here. They might not know what they're getting into, they are just going out of curiosity because they heard about it and then we get to share you know the music with an audience that wouldn't necessarily have showed up to a you know jazz infused concert or whatever you wanna call it."
Joined by a 12-piece band on Monday (May 28) Spalding played songs from her current album "Radio Music Society" to an enthusiastic crowd at KOKO nightclub in London.
While the Grammy win has certainly raised the singer's profile, Esperanza also saw some downsides to her newly found fame.
Disappointed fans of fellow nominee Justin Bieber took to social networking sites at the time to express their anger.
One year on Esperanza says there are no hard feelings.
SOUNDBITE: Esperanza Spalding, Grammy winning jazz artist, saying (English):
"I mean of all the things to get upset about you know. I mean something has to be on the news. Something has to be on Facebook so that 's what it was for that time. But you know."
So her brief collision with the pop world has not distracted Esperanza Spalding.
She continues to tour and promote her music. And judging by the crowd at KOKO there are plenty of takers.
Kathi Urban, Reuters