First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight with a performance by Esperanza Spalding at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS. Stay tuned to Radio Music Society!

On March 11th, from 11pm – midnight ET, Erick Jackson on WGBH Radio will be broadcasting a selection of live recordings they have made over the years of Esperana Spalding.

Terri Lyne Carrington’s Grammy win this year in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Album for her album ‘The Mosaic Project’ allows her to share the spotlight with other female musicians in an extremely prominent way.

The drummer’s highly acclaimed ‘Mosaic Project’ features a number of top class female musicians and Grammy award winners such as bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, three-time Grammy winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, and two-time Grammy winning vocalist Cassandra Wilson.

Read full story at Examiner.com

UNESCO and Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock launch 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, launched the 40th anniversary celebration of the World Heritage Convention in a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters on 30 January. The launch featured a concert by jazz legend and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock, with performances by Corinne Bailey Rae, Esperanza Spalding, Manu Katché and Stephen Brown. An original song composed by Esperanza Spalding to celebrate heritage was performed for the first time during the concert.
Don’t miss Esperanza’s performance with Herbie Hancock.

Howard Reich from The Chicago Tribune has just published his top live jazz shows of 2011.

10 great shows that include Tammy McCann, McCoy Tyner, Tony Bennett and Esperanza Spalding among others.

For Reich, Spalding was able to present complex, sophisticated musical ideas in ways that were accessible and appealing to the mass audience she attracts. Traveling easily among jazz, classical and pop-tinged idioms, the bassist forged an ensemble sound at once melodically appealing and harmonically complex. If she can maintain her high musical standards amid all the attention that has been trained on her since she won the best new artist Grammy® Award in February (no easy task), she could bring new audiences to jazz.

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Esperanza‘s Chamber Music Society was the #1 biggest selling Contemporary Jazz Album of 2011 and Esperanza was #1 in the Contemporary Jazz Artist category as well.

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Grammy-winning bassist Esperanza Spalding, Berklee voice coach Maggie Scott, and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway conducted a clinic for students this week. Spalding and Hathaway are former students of Scott’s, to whom they paid tribute with a concert Thursday that also included alums Antonia Bennett, Robin McKelle, and Nadia Washington. It was Spalding’s first appearance in Boston since winning best new artist Grammy last February. Pictured (from left): Hathaway, Scott, and Spalding.

Learn more.

From The Boston Globe
By: Mark Shanahan and Merdith Goldstein

Search & Restore is a Brooklyn based non profit dedicated to the new jazz and improvised music scene. They’re trying to raise $200,000 for their 2012 operations by way of 8,000 $25 donations. Esperanza Spalding improvised for 25 seconds to encourage folks to give $25, see the video.

For more information visit searchandrestore.com

Esperanza Spalding closes the year winning the Jazz Artist of the Year award at the annual Boston Music Awards ceremony held at the Liberty Hotel on Sunday, November 20, 2011.

Check the The Boston Herald to see the full list of winners in all categories.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

Source All About Jazz

Since 1980, Berklee Professor Maggie Scott has hosted Jazz Vocal Night, an annual student recital where she is involved in all aspects, from auditioning the performers to accompanying them on piano. Celebrating Maggie Scott: 30 Years of Jazz Vocal Night, is part of the 2011-2012 Signature Series at Berklee and will take place at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA.

Scott and special guests Bennett, Hathaway, McKelle, Spalding, and Washington will perform jazz standards, and video footage of the alumnae from past Jazz Vocal nights will be shown during each artist’s introduction. The concert band features faculty members Tim Ray on piano, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, and Jon Lockwood on bass. Concert co-producer Greg Hopkins plans to have additional instrumentalists – including students – join on some tunes with guitar and trombone features, horn section, and a string quartet.

Learn more on Jazz News and venue information.