Esperanza (Turned Me Down)

I managed to cop a ticket to this show tonight, which was the first step in my plan to make Esperanza Spalding the next Frau Lobster.



I'm serious, I'd marry this chick in a New York minute. If she isn't perfect, she'll do until perfect can get here. And I'm not talking about her looks (she could easily make it in the modeling world), she's a singularity, an amazingly talented instrumentalist and astonishing vocalist.



Esperanza has a mood-casting power I've only experienced a few times. Andre Michel Schub has it. When I was in Youth Symphony, we did the Tchaikovsky piano concerto with him. We rehearsed with a grad student, performed with the Van Cliburn winner himself. And I just about couldn't play, I just wanted to listen to him. Miles had this gift, Bill Evans, too. Pat Metheny has it, see also Keith Jarrett.

But plenty of heavies don't have it, not quite. You can be a virtuoso, you can play beautiful music, you can mean it. But you might or might not be able to make people feel it.



Everyone, and I mean everyone, was eating out of Esperanza's hand.



So I hung out in the autograph line after the show. I didn't really want her autograph, I wanted her. So when I got up to the table, I asked her, 'Will you marry me?'



'No,' she said, and I could tell I wasn't the first fan to propose. 'This is my husband,' she said, pointing to the bass in one of her publicity stills.



Worth a try. I got an autograph and a photo, which I guess will have to do.

But if you change your mind, Esperanza, I'll still marry you anytime.

Postscript



I don't get out much, and while I was out I decided to see if I could catch Stephanie Laws at Benton's. I made it in time to catch three tunes. I'll have to see if I can't get down there sometime for a set or two.