PORTLAND, Ore. — Singer, bassist, and composer Esperanza Spalding celebrated her 41st birthday in grand style with the Oregon Symphony on Oct. 18, drawing a nearly full house to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The five-time Grammy winner and Portland native delivered a jazz-inflected program of her songs and two pieces by 12-time Grammy-winning composer Wayne Shorter. Saxophonist Dayna Stephens, pianist Leonardo Genovese, and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington, who has received four Grammys, provided all-star collaboration with Spalding as the spotlighted jazz quartet. They were positioned in front of the orchestra, which was led by guest conductor Clark Rundell.
Soon after Spalding walked onto the stage, she was showered with birthday shout-outs, which jelled into 2,000 voices serenading her with the “Happy Birthday” song. Spalding graciously accepted the impromptu greeting and added to the comfortable ambiance by saying, “We’ll just treat this concert like we’re in the living room.”
Known for her ability to draw from a wide variety of musical cultures, Spalding began with a set for the four songs, starting with Genovese’s “Chacarera” in an arrangement by Gil Golstein. The title refers to a traditional dance and folk music from Argentina, and the song was released as part of her Chamber Music Society album (2010). Spalding unleashed a breezy, wordless stream that conveyed joy, and she made it look effortless, although the bouncy rhythms underneath were sophisticated.
Another selection from Chamber Music Society was “Apple Blossom,” which was also arranged by Goldstein. Spalding introduced it as a song that conveys our “intimate connection to the land,” but it was difficult to understand the words she sang because the orchestra was too loud.
Getting the right balance between the orchestra and the jazz quartet also plagued “Judas,” which had a lot more words. In speaking about the piece, which came from the Emily’s D+Evolution recording (2016), Spalding noted how we should take another look at understanding villains and what made them become bad people. Even though I only caught snatches of text, the repetition of four descending notes on Spalding’s electric guitar gave the piece a groovy, light texture.
In her introduction to “To Tide Us Over” from her 12 Little Spells CD (2018), Spalding told the audience that she is a “student of metaphorical anatomy” and that the piece is basically an ode to the mouth, because it is instrumental in releasing our thoughts. The strings initiated scratchy tones as Spalding intoned a hum followed by a flow of words that again were difficult to understand, yet her fluid voice imbued the music with a mesmerizing quality that evoked a beautiful dream.
After intermission, the orchestra played Rundell’s arrangement of Causeways, which originally was part of Shorter’s Joy Ryder album (1988). Perhaps it was meant to elicit an image of the stars, but its heavy, unrelenting, pulsating beat suggested an urban grittiness that was augmented by riffs from Stephens’ soprano saxophone.
Next came Gaia (Earth), a 30-minute work for orchestra and jazz quartet that Shorter finished in 2013. According to Spalding, he wrote it in ink and wanted the music to express depth — “break through cultural cobwebs to get to our transformational power.” With a hypnotic effect, Gaia gradually shifted between two chords in the orchestra, establishing a harmonic background for Spalding and her colleagues. While playing the double bass, she sang beautifully, highlighted by her uncanny ability to hit a constellation of notes that gave the piece an ethereal and life-enhancing quality.
The audience responded to her astounding musicality with one of the most vociferous standing ovations I have ever witnessed. The quartet returned to center stage three times, but the yelling for an encore continued until it became really obvious that she wasn’t going to give one.
The cheering was a fitting ending to a concert that began with Jessie Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone. It flashed Copland-like chords before settling on a walking bass line that supported a lovely melody, which was then exchanged throughout the orchestra. The muffled bass drum, tubular bells, and solemn tones from the low brass brought the piece to a satisfying and thoughtful conclusion.
