Esperanza. Chamber Music Society. Radio Music Society. Emily’s D+Evolution. If you haven’t heard of these, I’ve got some homework for you. She has performed at the White House, sold thousands of copies and is one of the best with a double bass. Esperanza Spalding is a bassist, vocalist, composer, singer.. Supreme talent.

Portland’s own multi talented jazz goddess is back with a challenging task this September. On the 12th of the month, Esperanza Spalding enters the studio, recording ‘Exposure’, live over Facebook for three days. Everything will be made within that time. No prepared tunes or parts! It’s a bold and exciting adventure, and we will be able to view every moment! We will get to see exactly how the creativity, recording and improvisation process works for her in real time. Everything that happens in those 77 hours is what ends up on the album. It really explores the limit of improvisation, and will lay the musicians bare before us as the viewers. Hence the album’s name; ‘Exposure’. Everyone involved with the stream will share in the intimacy of that process, and then it’ll be gone. Very exciting!

How to take part

If you’re a fan of numbers, Esperanza aims to create this whole album in 77 hours. Not only that, but she has been practising writing entire songs in 77 minutes. More? Only 7,777 physical copies of the record are available. Talk about exclusive! You can try and grab one of those physical copies here and watch the live stream itself on Esperanza’s Facebook page here. Be sure to take part in a potentially historic musical moment and witness a master of her craft at work!

George Millington