Esperanza Spalding

Jazz music just resonates with the frequency of me.

— Esperanza Spalding

I think there's so much negative influence on children in school settings. It becomes learning by rote to pass a test. It's…

— Esperanza Spalding

On nights that I'm feeling a need to stretch personally and artistically, I tend to put together outfits that are very quirky,…

— Esperanza Spalding

Genre boundaries are good for marketing but they all but disappear when you're a player.

— Esperanza Spalding

I like to read, and I like dance. I don't dance, but I like to see other people dance.

— Esperanza Spalding

The music that I make is pretty sincere; it's from my heart and I love it, and what just happened is more…

— Esperanza Spalding

When I read, you know, a rough neighborhood of Portland, I'm like - what? - they didn't have kombucha bars there?

— Esperanza Spalding

There's the juiciest music that makes me so happy, music that I need on that deserted island when I'm stranded for the…

— Esperanza Spalding

For what I can imagine and feel and think and hear, I can hardly do anything on the acoustic bass. It used…

— Esperanza Spalding

I love people, and I love to be with people and to make music with people, but my natural state is to…

— Esperanza Spalding

I just think music is so intrinsically linked with images in the culture that we live in that youll be hard-pressed to…

— Esperanza Spalding

I grew up with an incredibly loving and supportive family that gave me the impression there were a lot of options for…

— Esperanza Spalding

It's weird sometimes to have people not see me or see what I do.

— Esperanza Spalding

Anything I do has to have integrity, so if you just want to make music, it's not difficult finding support. The hard…

— Esperanza Spalding

Jazz has always been a melting pot of influences and I plan to incorporate them all.

— Esperanza Spalding

What I'm identifying with is the vision or the idea - whatever was the little nugget that started it.

— Esperanza Spalding

It's a pity that if someone who has a really profoundly potent art to share chooses not to or doesn't fit into…

— Esperanza Spalding

You can grow up with literally nothing and you don’t suffer if you know you’re loved and valued,

— Esperanza Spalding

I always say that the problem with jazz accessibility is not the content of the music, it's people's ability to access it.

— Esperanza Spalding

I fear that I won't get better and that I won't have time to practice. To be called a "jazz musician" -…

— Esperanza Spalding

People are more used to seeing men who are masters at an instrument than women. When people say, 'Oh, she plays like…

— Esperanza Spalding

You don't have to be fearless to do anything, you can be scared out of your mind.

— Esperanza Spalding

I did grow up in a rough neighborhood in Portland, which is an abstract concept for anybody who's rolled through Portland because…

— Esperanza Spalding

There is an assumption that if you're young and pretty, you will get all these opportunities that are way beyond your musical…

— Esperanza Spalding

I am insubordinate by nature. I can't help it.

— Esperanza Spalding