Good, whatever it takes to get people to remember just how hip jazz is. The ladies of the view are so not hip, Esperanza can't help look good by comparison.
One thing that people don't discuss much, and which might have contributed to her winning the Grammy, is just how incredibly difficult it is to do what she does. An electric bass is about 4 times easier to play than an upright, but even then, it's very difficult to sing lead vocals and play one at the same time, unless you're basically playing a Dee Dee Ramone bassline. If both of your hands are doing something intricate, not to mention physically taxing, and you're singing too, you almost have to have a two-channel brain. I've tried it, and I know I can't do it. Whereas, rhythm guitar is much easier - you're usually just strumming and playing chords, which you can do mostly without thinking or concentrating much.
What Esperanza Spalding is doing would be more like lead guitar, but you almost never see lead guitarists singing while they're playing leads. You have to concentrate on what you're playing or you'll screw up. And yet, Esperanza Spalding rarely, if ever, screws up, even though the vocal parts are often completely at odds with what her hands are doing, in terms of rhythm and intricacy. And all this is with an upright bass, which is a big, unwieldy, physically-demanding instrument.
I'm sure there are other people who are (or were) able to do this to some extent... but who? I don't think Charles Mingus ever sang, did he? Did Stanley Clarke ever do any singing? Those are the only two guys I can think of off the top of my head - I'm not much of a jazz fan, though.
I actually think you aren't giving Spalding enough credit. There are singers who can play leads at the same time, but they are usually using their leads as an extension of the melody. Bass playing, while having it's own improvised character and usually relying on single notes (with interspersed double stops), functions differently in any piece and can't extend what is being sung. Moreover, the physical dimensions of the bass, particularly the strings, adds further complications. A Geddy Lee can play intricate lines on an electric bass, but he doesn't have to contend with his plucking hand being poorly rooted on the instrument, as would happen on upright. Rhythm plus melody plus improvisation--that's difficult.
I do believe that Mingus sang, though sometimes it was at the piano, not on bass.
What she does in incredibly difficult, but honestly I don't think that had anything to do with her winning the Grammy. I don't know why she won, apart from the fact that she deserved it. She composes, she plays, she sings, and she teaches at Berklee -- she's remarkably talented, but we all probably know many extremely talented musicians who can't make a living in music. I just doubt that the Grammy voters gave it that much thought.
Even with electric bass, you see very few bass players who also sing lead. I've tried and I can't do it either. Those who do both stand out: Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, and the one-named wonders (Sting! Lemmy!). I'm sure there are others, but not many.
Well, she's obviously waaaay better-looking than Justin Bieber too, but without knowing the male-to-female ratio of Grammy voters, it's difficult to determine if that was a significant (or major) factor. Though to be brutally frank, if I were a Grammy voter (being male myself) and I were contemplating choosing Bieber over Esperanza Spalding, I would have to seriously wonder if I were also subconsciously looking to switch to the other team, if you know what I'm sayin'.
FWIW, there is an American Idol contestant in the current iteration named Casey Abrams who during the audition process played the standup bass - and nicely mind you - and sang. I was suitably freaking impressed, because as others have noted that is not easy and not something you see a lot of.
Yeah, Casey impressed me, too. Poor Naima - I do like her style, but she probably won't garner that much praise from the average AI voter. She's a throwback to another day. (I'm assuming, aren't I?)
Comments
Whatever show gets her there is good enough for me.
One thing that people don't discuss much, and which might have contributed to her winning the Grammy, is just how incredibly difficult it is to do what she does. An electric bass is about 4 times easier to play than an upright, but even then, it's very difficult to sing lead vocals and play one at the same time, unless you're basically playing a Dee Dee Ramone bassline. If both of your hands are doing something intricate, not to mention physically taxing, and you're singing too, you almost have to have a two-channel brain. I've tried it, and I know I can't do it. Whereas, rhythm guitar is much easier - you're usually just strumming and playing chords, which you can do mostly without thinking or concentrating much.
What Esperanza Spalding is doing would be more like lead guitar, but you almost never see lead guitarists singing while they're playing leads. You have to concentrate on what you're playing or you'll screw up. And yet, Esperanza Spalding rarely, if ever, screws up, even though the vocal parts are often completely at odds with what her hands are doing, in terms of rhythm and intricacy. And all this is with an upright bass, which is a big, unwieldy, physically-demanding instrument.
I'm sure there are other people who are (or were) able to do this to some extent... but who? I don't think Charles Mingus ever sang, did he? Did Stanley Clarke ever do any singing? Those are the only two guys I can think of off the top of my head - I'm not much of a jazz fan, though.
I actually think you aren't giving Spalding enough credit. There are singers who can play leads at the same time, but they are usually using their leads as an extension of the melody. Bass playing, while having it's own improvised character and usually relying on single notes (with interspersed double stops), functions differently in any piece and can't extend what is being sung. Moreover, the physical dimensions of the bass, particularly the strings, adds further complications. A Geddy Lee can play intricate lines on an electric bass, but he doesn't have to contend with his plucking hand being poorly rooted on the instrument, as would happen on upright. Rhythm plus melody plus improvisation--that's difficult.
I do believe that Mingus sang, though sometimes it was at the piano, not on bass.
Even with electric bass, you see very few bass players who also sing lead. I've tried and I can't do it either. Those who do both stand out: Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, and the one-named wonders (Sting! Lemmy!). I'm sure there are others, but not many.
Also, her performance on Jimmy Kimmel (part 1 and part 2), The Early Show, and Austin City Limits (which is actually on PBS's site).
Also, I don't know if that clip was there when I originally checked...