SMALL PRINT:ESPERANZA WHO? If that's your reaction at hearing that one Esperenza Spalding was this year's recipient of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, you will probably be relieved to know that you are not alone.
If your reaction is “WTF Esperanza OMFG ROFLOL”, you’re probably a Justin Bieber fan, as the teen star was pipped to the gong by Spalding.
If you actually knew who Spalding was before she bested Bieber, Florence The Machine, Drake and Mumford Sons on Sunday night, bully for you. To be honest, the rest of us probably wouldn’t recognise her if she came up and pinched our cheeks.
Although Arcade Fire winning the Grammy for album of the year for The Suburbsshocked many US Twitter users who had never heard of the Canadian band, Spalding's win was much more unexpected. She was the virtually unknown nominee, the act who seemed to be on the list as a token gesture in the midst of those high-profile pop acts.
“I certainly did not expect to even be considered for that type of nomination, me being a little old jazz musician and everything,” she said when the nominations were first announced. But her win means we all know about her now.
Spalding is a 26-year-old jazz bassist and vocalist who has been gathering rave reviews for her live shows (she recently supported Prince) and last year's Chamber Music Societyalbum, which blended pop, jazz and classical ideas. She's widely viewed as jazz's rising star, so there won't be many in that community who are surprised.
The pop world, though, may need more convincing about her potential. In beating such hotly tipped commercial acts – especially new acts who have sold a few records at a time when record sales aren’t easy to come by Spalding is now enjoying the sort of media exposure new jazz acts just never receive these days.
The trick for her now is to ensure that this momentum continues after the current news cycle ends. There have been a few crossover jazz acts in recent times (such as Michael Bublé and Norah Jones), but it remains to be seen if Spalding even wishes to follow in their footsteps.
She’s sharp enough to recognise that the difference between pop and jazz really comes down to sales. In an interview, she noted that when Norah Jones made her first album, it was placed in the jazz section, but when it started selling, it was switched to the pop racks.
Sunday's news means her Radio Music Societyalbum, which is due for release this year, will probably be stocked in both sections.
