Quotes from Esperanza Spalding

Genre boundaries are good for marketing but they all but disappear when you're a player.

It's a pity that if someone who has a really profoundly potent art to share chooses not to or doesn't fit into this very thin slice of what's desirable and marketable, chances are the public will never get a chance to hear what they're doing.

I fear that I won't get better and that I won't have time to practice. To be called a "jazz musician" - it's a big responsibility.

I'm realizing now that I was always really curious about inviting people into a space and sharing information that way. But I didn't have any context for it. It was just fun because I was homeschooled and lonely and bored, and I'd do things to get people to come over.

I don't think it's about playing and singing, to be honest. That seems like old news, you know? I wasn't thinking about that. I just think that's in my body now. Dancers don't think about their legs moving one way and their arms moving another. Over time, you incorporate that into your instrument.

And I feel that it's inevitable that the work that I do will reflect the life that I live. And the life I live feels very diverse.

I think there's so much negative influence on children in school settings. It becomes learning by rote to pass a test. It's not contextualized.

I love people, and I love to be with people and to make music with people, but my natural state is to revert back to being by myself in my house, which is cool because that's where I practice and write and listen and study.

The benefit of the radio is, something beyond your realm of knowledge can surprise you, can enter your realm of knowledge.

My earliest attempts at writing were when I was seven. I would sit at the piano and transcribe the songs I heard on the radio. I'd change little things in the music and write different lyrics.

There's a guy I used to pay to work with me who'd call me 'kiddo.' I said, 'There's nothing that justifies you expressing that to me, your boss.'

My name means 'hope' in Spanish and it's a name I want to live up to.

I write at the piano, so I write things that fit comfortably under my hands, and I'm not thinking in terms of any specific compositional methods. I'm just seeking sounds.

People are more used to seeing men who are masters at an instrument than women.

I was exposed to many kinds of music including rock and disco, classical and folk, Midtown and Miles Davis, Sly Stone and David Bowie.

I just want to say, if you're going crazy, take a break. I felt overwhelmed by stuff that wasn't satisfying me, things I was supposed to do for my career. I stopped and said, 'Let me get back to the basics.'

You can grow up with literally nothing and you don't suffer if you know you're loved and valued.

On nights that I'm feeling a need to stretch personally and artistically, I tend to put together outfits that are very quirky, mismatched and over-the-top eclectic.

There is an assumption that if you're young and pretty, you will get all these opportunities that are way beyond your musical foundation.

Whoever you are, if you know what you're doing, you don't want other people to overtake the merit of your art.

I love people, and I love to be with people and to make music with people, but my natural state is to revert back to being by myself in my house, which is cool because that's where I practice and write and listen and study.

I focused primarily on being an instrumentalist and studying music and on my primary means of expression: composing and playing.