Bringing Jazz Back To The Kids

Is it my imagination, or are more women taking up the bass? Brandi Disterheft, for example, or the bassist featured on tonight's Canada Live broadcast, Esperanza Spalding. Esperanza means hope, and she had to have a lot, growing up on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks in Portland, in what people euphemistically describe as "economically deprived circumstances." She was poor. But not in determination.

From there to now...at 24 she's already played with people like Stevie Wonder -- and for Barack Obama at the White House. She's noted both for her bass playing, singing, and as a teacher (at Berklee, no less). As All About Jazz puts it, Spalding "might just be the kind of artist who will help bring jazz back to younger, more mainstream audiences thanks not only to her enormous talent, but also her charm and showmanship."

The performance you'll hear tonight was recorded at the Ottawa Jazz festival, and according to the Ottawa Sun:

"It was clearly a showcase for a new star-in-the-making. Throughout her 75-minute set, Spalding radiated sunny pleasure when performing, while her funky, bass-heavy improvisations kept the band, and the audience, on their toes."