Esperanza Spalding

The alluring Esperanza Spalding was only 15 when she began performing on the acoustic bass with a seasoned combo on the Portland, Oregon jazz circuit. Her knowledge was limited to one single bassline — blues in F — but she persevered. A virtuoso performer, she became the youngest teacher in the Berklee College of Music, recording luminous albums of jazz-inflected songs with a strong Brazilian influence. Spalding scats like a jazz diva and plays bass with infinite warmth. Our Essentials playlist not only includes key cuts from three solo albums, including 2010’s outstanding Chamber Music Society, as well as a number of intriguing collaborations . . . it also goes a long way to explaining how she pulled off a huge surprise by winning the 2011 Best New Artist GRAMMY® Award, seeing off strong competition from the likes of Drake and Justin Bieber, and becoming the first-ever jazz artist to receive that accolade.