The 2011 Grammy Awards..What a Night!

I have to tell you, I never miss the Grammy Awards. In my opinion the Grammys are always very well put together. this year was not exception. I thought that I would just share with you a few of my favorite moments in the 2011 Grammy's as well as some of my thoughts.

What better way to start the show than with that amazing tribute to Aretha Franklin, "The Queen Of Soul". As many of you may or may not know, Aretha, has been sick over the past year and could not be present at the Grammys this year, but she sent a video, to express her thanks and gratitude for all of the well wishes and prayers that she's received from her fellow artists and her fans.

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Then of course there was that incredible performance by Bruno Mars! He did a 50's, 60's style rendition of his hit song "Grenade" complete with black and white film footage! He's such a multi talent! Bruno also performed a trio with B.o.B. and Janelle Monet. Congrats to Bruno for coming away with a Grammy for Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Just The Way You Are".

Bruno Mars in rehearsals for his big Grammy performance

Another highlight of the show for me was Esperanza Spalding and her win for Best New Artist (I like Justin and all, but come on!) Esperanza is an incredibly gifted young lady who's been working her butt off to hone her craft since the age of four! Well done!



Ahhhh and who could get past Jusin Bieber's performance with Jaden Smith!! Will and Jada had me smiling from ear to ear! they were your typical proud and supportive parents! I Loved it!!



And can we talk about Eminem!!! I know...his language can get a little rated R, but his performance was awesome! Eminem was the hard core Grammy favorite with 10 nominations. He didn't score all 10, but he did come away with " Best Rap Album", and "Best Rap Solo Performance".



So we've covered what I liked about the 2011 Grammy's.....now for what I didn't like.....

How could Sade not win the one Grammy that she was nominated for, "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals".....this is Sade we're talking about people! don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the winner's, "Train"...but Sade god ripped off! but She did win for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals"....I would love to post a video of here acceptance accept for the fact that they didn't televise that category.

The second thing that I didn't like was that so many of the other categories weren't even televised! They didn't even have any of the major Latin Artist nominees perform! Pete's sake, I would have rather watched Alejandro Sanz  perform with Alicia Keys that watch Lady Gaga any day!

 (Oh by the way if you want to try and find the winners of the Latin Categories on the official Grammy list of nominees and winners, you'll have to scroll all the way down to number 57...but at least Alejandro wasn't number 109. That honor was saved for "Best Long Form Music Video" Zzzzzzzzz)

Well...with the Grammy's over and done, we're on to the Premio Lo Nuestro.....then we'll be able to get our Latin Groove On!! ESSSSSSSO!

~Peace

Esperanza Spalding, A Young Woman With An Old Soul

 Grammy Award Nominee for "Best New Artist"

You have to have respect for a young artist in this day and age of overnight celebrity being garnered from the likes of You Tube, or shows like "American Idol", who choose to introduce themselves to an audience that is typically outside the scope of their particular craft in their own way and their own time. I usually find that these are the artists that will not only rise to the top of their genre, but will at the right moment be seen and accepted by music lovers of other genres and to do it in their way in their time.

This is an excerpt of an article by the Associated Press:

"Esperanza Spalding is getting the wider audience she had sought, but her terms."
From the time Esperanza Spalding appeared on the scene in 2005, the dynamic singer, bassist, composer and arranger has been heralded as jazz’s next big thing. Her impressive musicianship has won her White House recital dates, praise from the likes of Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, and critical acclaim.

But last year, as she prepared to perform in front of a hug mainstream audience at a tribute to musical mentor Prince at the BET Awards, she started to think about how the moment could catapult her into pop stardom.
“I was really on this mission, kind of in my mind, to figure out how I was going to take my music to turn it accessible to the pop world. ‘How am I going to turn this into like an Alicia Keys thing?’” she recalled thinking.

But when she got to rehearsals with her famous counterparts – including her idol Keys – she decided fame had somehow warped the purity of their artistry, and she didn’t want that happening to her."

To read the rest

All About Esperanza
 
If “esperanza” is the Spanish word for hope, then bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding could not have been given a more fitting name at birth. Blessed with uncanny instrumental chops, a multi-lingual voice that is part angel and part siren, and a natural beauty that borders on the hypnotic, the 25-year-old prodigy-turned-pro might well be the hope for the future of jazz and instrumental music.

Spalding was born in 1984 and raised on what she calls “the other side of the tracks” in a multi-lingual household and neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. Growing up in a single-parent home amid economically adverse circumstances, she learned early lessons in the meaning of perseverance and moral character from the role model whom she holds in the highest regard to this day – her mother.

But even with a rock-solid role model, school did not come easy to Spalding, although not for any lack of intellectual acumen. She was both blessed and cursed with a highly intuitive learning style that often put her at odds with the traditional education system. On top of that, she was shut in by a lengthy illness as a child, and as a result, was home-schooled for a significant portion of her elementary school years. In the end, she never quite adjusted to learning by rote in the conventional school setting.

“It was just hard for me to fit into a setting where I was expected to sit in a room and swallow everything that was being fed to me,” she recalls. “Once I figured out what it was like to be home-schooled and basically self-taught, I couldn’t fit back into the traditional environment.”

However, the one pursuit that made sense to Spalding from a very early age was music. At age four, after watching classical cellist Yo Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the roadmap was suddenly very clear. “That was when I realized that I wanted to do something musical,” she says. “It was definitely the thing that hipped me to the whole idea of music as a creative pursuit.”

Within a year, she had essentially taught herself to play the violin well enough to land a spot in The Chamber Music Society of Oregon, a community orchestra that was open to both children and adult musicians. She stayed with the group for ten years, and by age 15, she had been elevated to a concertmaster position.
But by then, she had also discovered the bass, and all of the non-classical avenues that the instrument could open for her. Suddenly, playing classical music in a community orchestra wasn’t enough for this young teenager anymore. Before long she was playing blues, funk, hip-hop and a variety of other styles on the local club circuit. “The funny thing was, I was the songwriter, but I had never experienced love before. Being the lyricist and the lead singer, I was making up songs about red wagons, toys and other childish interests. No one knew what I was singing about, but they liked the sound of it and they just ate it up.”

To read more of Esperanza's bio click here

Discography

Junio 

Release Date 2006

Label Ayva

Esperanza

Release Date 2008

Label Heads Up Records

Chamber Music Society

Release Date 2010

Lable Tel Arc Jazz

Esperanza's Music can be found on iTunes.