JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION AND JAZZWEEK RECOGNIZE ESPERANZA SPALDING WITH TWO AWARDS

 Bassist-singer wins JJA Jazz Award for Up & Coming Artist of the Year

Esperanza brings home Jazzweek’s Award for Record of the Year  

The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) announced winners of 2009 Jazz Awards at the Jazz Standard in New York City held Tuesday, June 16, honoring 25-year-old up and coming bassist-singer Esperanza Spalding, among 40 more musicians, presenters, jazz supporters and jazz journalists for the 13th year. Recipients of the Jazz Awards received engraved statuettes from the international organization of some 450 writers, broadcasters, photographers and new media producers. To see all finalists nominees, go to www.JazzJournalists.org" or www.Jazzhouse.org.

Esperanza Spalding:

Up & Coming Artist of the Year

Five days later, Spalding’s Esperanza scored Record of the Year at the annual JazzWeek Awards held Saturday, June 20, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel in Rochester, NY. The JazzWeek Awards are sponsored by JazzWeek, the national radio airplay chart that compiles a weekly report of the top fifty traditional jazz and contemporary jazz recordings played on radio stations across the United States. This year’s ceremony marks the seventh year of the JazzWeek Awards, where radio programmers representing jazz stations throughout North America voted on nominees in ten categories.

Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza: Record of the Year

Esperanza, Spalding’s debut on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, was released on May 20, 2008. Armed with uncanny instrumental chops, a siren voice that spans three languages, and composing and arranging skills that weave together the best elements of the old-school with the progressive, Spalding’s album takes a completely fresh approach to jazz by borrowing from the rich traditions of soul, pop, world music and so much more.