Esperanza Spalding is Comtemporary Jazz

Esperanza Spalding is contemporary in terms of her youth, fresh creative genius and high spirited performances. Her 2011 Grammy Award win for Best New Artist was no fluke, and not only did it give music a much needed shot in the arm, it gives music a chance to remain music - keeping the art alive.

Esperanza Spalding is jazz. In the age of pyrotechnics and with entire dance troupes accompanying many of today's more popular acts, Spalding is a pure artist. Her roots run deep in music appreciation and education, her skills are accomplished, her musical mind is yielding fruits of crisp new composition, and her singing is as good as her musicianship.

She has played some of the biggest jazz stages in the world. Performances at Umbria Jazz Festival, in Perugia, Italy, Newport Jazz Festival, in Newport, Rhode Island, the Park City Jazz Festival in Park City, Utah, Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and her hometown Portland Jazz Festival. Her most notable appearance came in 2009 as she was invited by President Barack Obama to perform in his honor at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and Concert in Oslo, Norway. In 2005 after graduating from the famed Berklee College of Music, she became one of the school's youngest ever professors.

Spalding is no stranger in the jazz community, and like many of her jazz elders she has received acclaim at an early age. Her Grammy win was no surprise. It was about music.