Esperanza Spaldingâs Quest to Find Healing in Music
The bassist, vocalist and producerâs latest project is a therapeutic suite of songs sparked at an artistsâ retreat she started during the pandemic.
“People use this weird uninvited breath of the pandemic to start the things that they’ve been putting off,” Esperanza Spalding said. “That definitely happened for me.”Credit.Will Matsuda for The New York Times
By Marcus J. Moore
April 1, 2021Updated 3:37 p.m. ET
Esperanza Spalding has never been one to sit idle. Her wandering spirit has brought this 36-year-old musician major achievements over the past decade and pushed her work in new directions. In 2017, Spalding, a bassist, vocalist and producer, spent 77 straight hours in the studio, writing and arranging songs. The resulting album, âExposure,â was pressed directly to CD and vinyl for a limited release of just 7,777 copies. Her next project, â12 Little Spells,â explored the healing po