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Esperanza Spalding on a fretless jazz rippin it up..


bubinga5
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this is so cool my tongue is stuck to it...

I only know Esperanza from the DB playing that my sister listens to..(which she plays half way through the vid..) This is killer.. what a fantastic musician/bassist this girl is... very attractive girl too...ooooohhh.. :)

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aRC3YY3svs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aRC3YY3svs[/url]

Edited by Bilbo
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never dude..!! you can see the passion in her playing for sure.. reminds me very much of Meshell with the physical aspect of her playing, but a better voice....old school neck pickup tone shes getting from that jazz, possibly an extension of her DB?.... fantastic bass feel with great vocals... she actually sound a little like Barbra Streisand in her vocal style.. by the way i love Barbra Streisand

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[quote name='retrohelix' post='1353265' date='Aug 27 2011, 01:48 AM']ffs

quitting bass[/quote]
I felt the same way. She grabs the brain, the heart and the balls all at the same time.

Here's an interview with her:



I'm utterly transfixed by her bottom lip when she speaks BTW. I can never predict which way its going to bend...

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I'm worried for her. She is going to be arrested soon if she carries on like that because singing and playing at the same time is against "The Bass Law". Can we get a warning message to her somehow?

The upper register stuff in the Lauren Hill song in the Kiwi vid is sublime. It is really technical and to be pulling off that standard of intonation and fluidity up there is frankly not fair. But she is just using it to serve the music - as it always should be, but so frequently is not. It is just "here is a nice song with a nice accompaniment". I bet if she was a bloke she would be looking all aggressive and standing high up on a hydraulic riser with dry ice and all that.

Edited by owen
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Her new album is going to be called 'Radio Society Music' and will feature her on electric bass pretty much all the way through - it's going to be a mix of soul, pop and funky-fusion - she wants to bring improv back to the mainstream - which sounds good to me :)

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[quote name='urb' post='1353355' date='Aug 27 2011, 09:04 AM']she wants to bring improv back to the mainstream - which sounds good to me :)[/quote]
Hell yes. Can the woman do no wrong?! If she ever releases a funky/disco house improv album with Prince, I'll be erecting a modest shrine in her honour...she even makes a flabby sounding Fender Jazz sound good.

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oh dear [url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/8402191/Who-is-Esperanza-Spalding.html"]...President Obama and Prince among her biggest fans[/url] - i do hope BO doesnt start scmoozing her the same way that Tony Bliar did with the Brit Pop crowd :)

she seems a very modest young lady too ... her comment about stevie wonder's treatment of her song and now she cant do it herself because he made such a good job of it!

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[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1353391' date='Aug 27 2011, 10:37 AM']The jazz in that first clip sounds terrible. That's the only bad thing I have to say about anything I've heard her do.[/quote]

Agreed, only it's not the bass, bizarrely, I'd say it's the bassist, and it's not uncommon..
I find it so frustrating when people play like that. She's an amazing player but to my ears thatSodomd is shocking. But it's not the bass, it's playing over the neck pickup like that.
The string is loose and flappy and uncontrolled there, and the neck pickup sound has that plonky character.
If she played that same bass over the bridge pickup, where the string is tighter, and knocked the neck pickup and tone controls back a touch; she'd have a beautiful, tight, burly, burbly, punchy fingerstyke tone which was far more expressive and controlled and would make those glissandos really sing.
I only tend to play over the neck when apeing a particular sound or when after a deliberately plonky vintage tone. Even then it has to be done gently with restraint to avoid the that tone. It suits a slower bass line too.

Of course she's the famous bassist, I'm just some dude that's done a bit here 'n there, so
IMHO IME YMMV etc etc.
Everyone's tone goals are different, I just happen to hate that particular sound, and feel it's really out of place in that context.

Shes blimmin amazing though and I'm well after more of her when I get paid!! Cheers B5 :)

Ps: any jazz players that havnt tried this, give it a whirl, it hurts your fingers more initially. But it makes for a very tidy and punchy tone, esp when compressed.

Ime IMHO ymmv etc etc

Edited by gafbass02
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ive got to agree, im not a fan of that rubbery neck pickup tone.. but im guessing, shes been brought up on an old school DB type of tone, i like the bridge tone, but its so synonymous with Jaco, its a little refreshing to hear it dialed in differently..

much prefer pickups dialed in the same position with a bit of neck pup rolled off.. still got some bass punch but with a tad of definition.. i would agree to an extent that its the player and her position, but the tone will still be the same played on the bridge but with a gnats knacker more tightness...

Edited by bubinga5
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[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1353391' date='Aug 27 2011, 10:37 AM']The jazz in that first clip sounds terrible. That's the only bad thing I have to say about anything I've heard her do.[/quote]
Agreed. She is an amazing talent but that is a nasty, scratchy/plonky fretless sound

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[quote name='gafbass02' post='1353606' date='Aug 27 2011, 02:55 PM']If she played that same bass over the bridge pickup, where the string is tighter, and knocked the neck pickup and tone controls back a touch; she'd have a beautiful, tight, burly, burbly, punchy fingerstyke tone which was far more expressive and controlled and would make those glissandos really sing.
...
IMHO IME YMMV etc etc.
Everyone's tone goals are different, I just happen to hate that particular sound, and feel it's really out of place in that context.[/quote]

I don't think it's that. I play over the neck pup on my jazzes. I used to play by the bridge when I was young and I know what sound you mean, but I prefer a meatier sound now and I am a bit less heavy-handed with my picking than I used to be (I used to break strings all the time).

I do like the sound you're talking about - my Thumb does it brilliantly by default and it's my favourite bass - but on a jazz bass I prefer a more rounded sound.

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