The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.6 • 8.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimento's contrasting tones make a perfect team on Milton + esperanza, a collection of covers, duets, and original songs that have earned the pair a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Today, Brittany and Esperanza get into the years-long intergenerational friendship behind the music, and the Brazilian influences on the album.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, hello. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, |
| 0:07.7 | a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. |
| 0:19.5 | This is one of those interviews where my parents are going to be like, oh my God, you talked to her. |
| 0:25.8 | Aw. |
| 0:27.1 | That's right, mom and dad. |
| 0:28.5 | Today's guest is somebody you know I have been a fan of for a long time. |
| 0:34.6 | Back in 2010, I bought the CD of Chamber Music Society. It's been that long. I bought the CD. |
| 0:42.8 | I went to a boarders. Oh, my gosh. |
| 0:45.5 | Whoa. Last time. Today's guest is jazz singer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Esperanza |
| 0:53.8 | Spalding. She's a 2025 Grammy Award |
| 0:56.9 | nominee for Best Jazz Vocal album, but she's no stranger to that golden statue. You might remember her |
| 1:03.6 | as the winner of the 2011 Grammy for Best New Artist, beating out the likes of Florence and the Machine, |
| 1:09.7 | Mumford and Sons, Drake, and Justin Bieber. |
| 1:13.2 | I take this honor to heart so sincerely, and I'll do my damnedest to make a whole lot of |
| 1:18.5 | great music for all of you. |
| 1:20.9 | You are actually our third Grammy best new artist winner to appear on this show behind |
| 1:27.4 | Egot winner, John Legend, and one of your fellow nominees this year for Best Jazz Vocal album, Samara Joy. |
| 1:33.8 | Luscious Company. |
| 1:35.2 | I wonder, though, when it comes to the best new artists, is there a club, a group chat, a secret society, anything that we need to know about? |
| 1:43.6 | I mean, if there is, I'm not in it. As far as I know. |
| 1:50.6 | Since then, Esperanza has become a music luminary, with a sound that defies genres. |
... |
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