The easiest criticism to make of bassist Esperanza Spalding, in previous years, was that her live shows didn’t have any overarching theme or direction. She’d mix a typical jazz repertoire — standards, rearranged pop songs, ballads with revised lyrics — with scattered pieces of Brazilian music, or songs that more closely resembled contemporary R&B. Audience members occasionally accused her of solipsism, or at the very least, of being more concerned with her own creative muse than with putting on a great show.
- Esperanza Spalding
