Heads Up Signs Bassist Esperanza Spalding

  I  

Heads Up International has signed acoustic bassist, singer and composer Esperanza Spalding, whose debut recording for the label will be released in late spring 2008.

“I am excited about working with Esperanza,” said Dave Love, president of Heads Up International. “She is a wonderful young person with so many gifts. She can deliver a song in three languages and her bass playing is at a very high level.”

Born in 1984, Spalding was 15 when she began working as musician at a blues club in Portland, Ore. Within a year, she was gigging as a bassist and vocalist with different groups, including two septets, a trio and a fusion group called Noise for Pretend that released two albums on the independent label Hush Records.

More info: headsup.com



  • Flea_by_Gus_Van_Sant_copy.jpg

    “Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”

  • Maria_Schneider_%C2%A92026_Mark_Sheldon_-07_copy.jpg

    “These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.

  • 2026_Cecil_McLorin_Salvant_Sullivan_Fortner_Big_Ears.jpg

    Cécile McLorin Salvant busts out Jelly Roll Morton’s “The Murder Ballad” at Big Ears, here with pianist Sullivan Fortner.

  • JAM_posters_-_a_selection_cropped.jpg

    Each of the 25 JAMs has delivered a poster featuring a jazz legend that is sent out to schools across the nation. This year’s poster features Tony Bennett.

  • NikBaertschs_RONIN_by_Christian_Senti.jpg

    “We thought it’s important that Ronin has a new statement,” said Nik Bärtsch of his band’s latest album, Spin. “The sound is differently produced, so it reflects more of who we are.”