esperanza spalding





“i wish to channel the spaciousness, harmony and renewing power of the fecund land, channel it to the middle of the man-made fires

learn how to send it through the center of the ache, constriction, resistance, pain, stress, woe, worry…

I want to flow a music of soothing, energizing, and remembrance of life-sustaining systems through which we are each woven…

i want to carry a flow of that remembering into the center of the city…and the city of self.”

esperanza spalding (also known as irma nejando, or, i.e.) is a being who has grown to recognize love in the abstract and aspirational, and is now fully dedicated to learning how she can serve and embody actualized love through honor for and receptivity to, fellow humans, teachers, and practitioners of various regenerative arts.

bass, piano, composition, performance, voice and lyrics are tools and disciplines she is engaged in deeply to cultivate her own channel for transmitting care and beauty through vibration/sound/presence.

she has written an Opera with Wayne Shorter, it premiered in Fall 2021 // she is currently developing a mockumentary in collaboration with brontë velez and San Francisco Symphony // researching and developing liberation rituals in jazz and black dance //  and continuing a lifelong collaboration with practitioners in various fields relating to music, healing and cognition to develop music with enhanced therapeutic potential.

in collaboration with Songwrights Apothecary Lab and AntonioBrownDance she is developing a series of multi-week residencies between local museums, universities, and performance-venues, through which local students, dance-music professionals, health researchers and practitioners co-learn and co-develop creative practices toward the restoration of people and land.





songwrights apothecary lab
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