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This Pick of the Weekend brings you two spectacular artists: Esperanza Spalding and Dianne Reeves. Back in 2018, four-time GRAMMY award-winner Esperanza Spalding performed at the Library and premiered her Library commission written for piano and violin. One year earlier, as part of the Library's tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, five-time GRAMMY award-winner Dianne Reeves engaged in a conversation with Library jazz specialist Larry Applebaum about her interpretive approach to Fitzgerald's repertoire. We hope you enjoy!
A luminous artist with a magnetic stage presence and brilliant chops as an improviser, composer, bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding is grounded in jazz traditions but never bound by them. Her visionary, “funky yet cerebral” (Downbeat) musical voyages and performances with partners from Herbie Hancock to Prince have won her four GRAMMY awards and a worldwide fan base. Come for an electric, exhilarating evening that sees her unwrap a new violin and piano commission from the Library.
GRAMMY award-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves discusses her career and interpretations of Ella Fitzgerald's repertoire. This interview was filmed in conjunction with Reeves' concert at the Library, "Dianne Reeves Sings Ella," a commemoration of Ella Fitzgerald's centennial. The Library of Congress holds the Ella Fitzgerald Collection.
